North vs. South

Status
Not open for further replies.
The food itself was better than he could have have hoped for. He had to repeatedly remind himself that he was required to maintain an elegant style of eating, rather than wolf it down like he would in a pub. His father on the other hand seemed to care little for what he looked like at the table, and he was practically drowning himself in wine already. Despite how powerful and respected he was around the kingdom, there was no one more exuberant when intoxicated like he was. After gorging himself with as much food as he could muster, Willem could hear the musicians playing more melodies that seemed to excite the guests even more than they already were. He leaned over to Amira with a mischievous smile. "Would my lady give me the honor of a dance?"
 
Amira was used to elegant food but she had never tasted anything what they had. Even though she had the best of what her kingdom could offer she still enjoyed every new taste. Naturally she eat slowly and calmly unlike her father-in-law. But she was used to visiting guests to let it bother her. Her father on the other hand was more like her when it came to eating. Slow and calm, although he did seem to drink more then he normally would have. When Willem offered her his hand to dance she smiled as she took his hand, "I'd love to!" She stood up and once again let him guide her to that dance floor. She placed one hand on his shoulder and the other was still in his hand as they began to dance. It was slow dance that speed up slightly and she was having the time of her life laughing and carrying on.
 
He gripped her left hand firmly with his right, and placed his won left hand delicately on her waist as they moved together as one. He locked eyes with her and gave her a gentle kiss. It made him ecstatic to see her this happy, and it was not something he wanted to see end anytime soon, though he knew it would not be long before he would have to ride off to war again. But he elected to avoid those thoughts for now and gave a quick nod to the musicians. They ended their soothing, slow melody and immediately began a fast, brisk song. Willem laughed and lifted Amira off her feet, then gently placed her on the ground before giving her a twirl. He did not mind the slow paced dances, but anything upbeat was more to his liking.
 
As they danced she noticed that he was thinking about something else and as soon as she had an opportunity she would ask him what it was. She had a feeling that it was the upcoming war and it was something she herself didn't want to think about. When the dancing sped up she laughed in joy and giggled as he lifted and twirled her about. She held on to him carefully for she was know to fall if going to fast and she didn't want to trip in front of everyone. After they had danced to two of the fast songs her legs screamed for relief. So she quickly walked back to the table almost falling into her chair, laughing the whole time. She glanced at her father and she could tell that he was enjoying himself as well and she was happy to it. "I'm sorry, Willem, that last song wore me out," she said above the music and laughing. She then leaned against him and placed her hands around his neck. "You're worried about the war aren't you?" she said so only he could hear her. "Well don't. We have a week to ourselves before we are swallowed up by all that mess and I plan to enjoy every last minute with you. Once it's over I will the worrier of us both." She smiled at him as she gave him another kiss.
 
Willem could feel his exhaustion coming quickly as well, or perhaps it was the wine kicking in. Either way, he was relieved when Amira pulled him away from the dance floor. He slumped down next to her, still laughing joyously. His smile faded, however, when she mentioned the invasion that was soon to come. It was the last thing he wanted to think about tonight, but it was always sitting there in the back of his head, like a tick that would not be removed no matter how hard you pulled at it. "I do not wish for tonight's mood to suffer because of future conflicts. We are meant to enjoy this night, and I will have no other alternative than to make sure I do just that with the woman I love." He accepted her kiss with enthusiasm and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He could tell by the redness in her face and her constant giggling that the wine was getting to her too. But that was to be expected. It was one of the strongest and most potent brews they kept in the cellars, and it was only ever used for special occasions.
 
She smiled when he said that he didn't want for the future to ruin the fun they were having right now. Her movements began to get sloppy and at first she didn't know why. Puzzled she looked at him and saw that the room was getting a fuzzy. She didn't grow up drinking wine and even when she did start to drink wine she didn't drink much of it. So she began to drink the strong wine it was beginning to quickly get to her head. She tried to stand, but the world seemed to tilt and she fell back down in her chair. "Willem?" she started slowly, "I don't think your wine agrees with me." She gave him another puzzled look as she tried to find his hand. She didn't feel sick, but she did feel buzzed or rather drunk and she had never been drunk before so she didn't know what it felt like.
 
Willem resisted the urge to laugh, though a small chuckle escaped his lips. He stood and lifted her out of the chair, supporting her by throwing one of her arms over his shoulder. "I suppose I should have warned you about the wine. It's a bit strong, even for me." Her ability to walk was slightly impaired now, and he could not help but find it funny. The lady of the house, the future queen, was drunker than he was. "What do you say we go up for some time? You might want to lay down for some time until your head clears." He lifted her into his arms and made is way out of the hall and up the large spiral stairs. His own movements were also slightly impeded, but not nearly as much as her's were. The stairs gave him some slight trouble, but nothing he could not manage. He somehow managed to avoid tripping and dropping her on the stone floor.
 
  • Love
Reactions: 1 person
She made a funny face as he began to carry her. "I do want to lay down," she said a little sleepily. Her eyes began to get heavy and her arms felt like lead. She was surprised that he could carry her up the stairs, "I fell like a lead weight and I'm surprised you can carry up the stairs." Her words began to slur and her hands felt his biceps, "Wow, you're big and strong!" she exclaimed as she started to laugh oddly. Before they reached the room Amira was soundly asleep in his arms. She had one hand that was loosely around his neck and the other hung loose beside her.
 
Willem swelled with pride at her compliment. He already knew he was fairly strong, but it was always nice to hear it, particularly from Amira. He laughed lightly as she fell asleep in his arms, then kicked open the door to their chambers and promptly laid her into the bed with a mighty heave. Clearly he needed to watch her intake of wine next time there was a wedding. He bent down and kissed her lightly on the forehead and smiled warmly. The room was rather warm and cozy tonight, but he still wished to see the others downstairs celebrating the night away. He would be awake later on, and by then he would hopefully already be up again himself. He made his way back down, stopping on the way to send three handmaidens up to assist Amira if she needed anything.
 
After about an hour Amira woke up with a terrible headache. With a little bit of a temper she asked one of the handmaids why she was her room instead of with Willem down at the party. The woman replied shyly that she had been drunk and Willem had brought her up to the room to sleep off the wine. Amira couldn't help laugh at the fact that she had gotten drunk, but she believed the woman none the less. So she had the three women fix up her hair and dress and Amira went back down to the party to find Willem. She was not going to miss this party for anything including a massive headache! This party was not just for her and Willem's wedding it was a party that signified the union between two waring countries. "Willem!" she shouted. It was hard to get his attention when everyone was shouting and carrying on. There a lot of people who were also drunk from the wine, but Amira was going to stay away from it as much as possible this time. "Willem!" she shouted again.
 
During the time that Amira had spent sleeping, Willem had been mingling with some of the high-end lords, both northern and southern. The wine and merriment seemed to dampen their thoughts, so they were not nearly as uptight as they might have been elsewhere. Later on he danced with Loxly before she was asked by many other men to do the same for them. Being the woman that she was, she turned down all but one of them, though why she had picked the one she did baffled Willem. He was rather short and not the broadest of shoulder, but he did seem to possess a certain humorous charm that she took a liking to. Afterwards, Willem was speaking to him mother when he heard the sound of Amira's voice. He turned swiftly to see her finally up and about once more. The crowd of dancers was dense, but Willem pushed his way through until he was face to face with his wife once more. "Took you long enough. Would you like some more wine, or is it time we set a limit on your intake?"
 
When he said wine she could feel her headache get worse, "No!" If she drank another glass of wine she felt like she would be a completely different person. "The wine is way to strong for me and I didn't drink a lot of wine before so it's probably best that I stick to water for the rest of the night." Despite having a large headache and the music and yelling didn't help she did start to have fun again. She was able to get to know Willem's sister better and she loved Loxly. She felt like she had gained a sister from her union with Willem and that meant a lot to her since she was an only child growing up. Loxly would tell Amira stories about Willem when he was younger and most of them were the embarrassing ones that he probably didn't want her to know about, but Amira just laughed and stored them away for future use.
 
Willem laughed heartily and grabbed her by the hand, puling her around the hall to meet the northern lords she had not already met. She did not seem too interested with their stories of old wars from the past, though she took an exceptional liking to his sister. To his dismay, Loxly went on about many of the stories he would rather not have told, like the episode in which he fell off his first horse ride because he pulled on the horse's tail like a daft fool. He smacked his palm against his forehead as the stories went on and decided he had best remove himself from the conversation before he felt the urge to to stop her with force. As he stood up, however, he heard his father's voice ring throughout the hall and everyone fell silent. He lifted his cup of wine and grinned like a man who was clearly drunk beyond reason. "To the royal couple, and a kingdom united once again." After everyone applauded and drank to his toast, the king shouted heartily once more. "I say it is time for the bedding ceremony!" The hall echoed with deafening cheers and hollers from all of the guests.
 
He was right that she didn't want to hear about the battles between the North and the South kingdom. But she listened anyway for Willem's sake for the Lord's sake as well. Amira couldn't help but laugh as Willem's face turned red as his sister continued to tell on him. "Oh don't worry, Willem! I love these stories of you," she winked. As he was about to get up her father-in -law announced that is was time for the bedding ceremony. After all the cheers and hollers, Amira's face turned red as she stood next to Willem. "Um-what's involved in the bedding ceremony?" she asked nervously while holding onto his arm as if someone would take her away from him.
 
He smiled and took her hand firmly. "Well first they will be carrying us up to our chambers. I just hope they are not too drunk to pull that off, or we might be falling down some stone steps. After that they lock us in and... well I am sure you can figure out the rest." He almost had to shout the last few words as he found himself being lifted up and away from her. There were hoots and hollers from everyone, and he was not quite sure who it was that was carrying him, or even how many at that. He could see them lifting Amira up as well, and he could not help but laugh loudly at her surprise. This was clearly not a part of the southern tradition, which made it all the more amusing for him. He hoped King Hadrian was not appalled by the behavior.
 
She barely heard that last part when she felt hands start to lift her up. When she screamed they only cheered loudly and her face burned in embarrassment. She watched as Willem seemed to enjoy it, but she couldn't say the same. Feeling other people's hands feeling you was not something she enjoyed and she knew that few hands were there just to feel her out and since it was so dense she couldn't see who had done it. But as they climbed up the steps she couldn't help but close her eyes and hope that they don't drop her. She didn't want to get hurt on her wedding night. When they finally reached the bedchamber they set Willem down on his feet, but with her they set her int he bed. As they left they gave Willem hardy hand shakes and pats on the back basically congratulating him for having such a lovely girl to bed that night. Again her faced flushed as the last man left the room and she heard the resounding lock of the door.
 
Willem was not used to being carried anywhere, especially up a flight of stairs. He was more than relieved when they put him down, and he brushed himself off, mostly out of habit. Amira was placed on the bed, and the men left them alone, still hollering and cheering like mad men. He expected nothing less from them, though it began to grow a little annoying. He was relieved when he heard the sound of the door lock behind him. Amira's face was a bright shade of red, and he could see how uncomfortable she had been with the whole carrying aspect of the ceremony. He knelt beside her and smiled warmly. "Don't worry too much about that. It's a long standing tradition. If I could have it removed I would, but that is unlikely." He placed his hand against her cheek tenderly. "I will only do this if you are ready."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.