The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 202

Part 28

"Done!" Fire laughed, and the two shook on it with their free hands. "And by the way," she continued as they made their way to an open space on the second-highest lawn with their lunch, "You're probably right about how many devoted fans we have, and how devoted they are, and you're right that I never thought about it before. But I'm not going to let any of them become as devoted to me as you are to my father. I' never allow an uncontrolled Compulsion of loyalty to me to be cast like Alilia did, though to be fair to her there was no predicting what you and the others of The Volunteers did then. That was pretty crazy, but now that it's happened once we know to watch out for it.

"Father's love-life is so complex it's mind-boggling, and while he seems to be making it work, I'll never risk going through that. I may have elven blood, but it's my human blood that seems to rule that way. I'll love one man, and no other. I'll share myself with him, and no other."

"Hmm." Balen went with a sly smile as they sat down on the lawn to eat. "You almost sound like you have him picked out already."

Then she saw the stricken expression that suddenly appeared on Fire's face. "Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." she said, and trailed off as she realized that she didn't know what she was being sorry for. There was a very long and strained silence that passed between them as both of them seemed caught in the gaze of the other, then Fire's face hardened with determination.

She'd been casting to subtly ensure the privacy of their conversation from the ears and minds around them without giving it very much consideration, but now she ceased that, and spoke in such a sharp tone that it drew the attention of all around her. "I have, I do have him picked out already, and I am absolutely sick of hiding it!"

She set her plate down and stood. "It isn't easy being seven and having many of the feelings of adults, you know! Especially since in many ways I'm still seven, and I still have many of the normal feelings of seven-year-olds! And we don't know what the hell everyone expects of us, we don't know how much adult behavior the world will accept from us, so we hide what we think everyone else might not accept, but to hell with that! To hell with anyone who won't accept me for what I really am! To hell with anyone who won't accept the love I share with others!"

She rose above the lawn and floated three meters in the air, and suddenly her tightly-controlled power was obvious to almost everyone there as it gathered with the intensity of her emotions.

The big gathering fell silent as she drew their attention, and she emanated such a palpable aura of danger that many there discreetly cast defensive spells around themselves and the loved ones they were with.

"I don't give a crap anymore about anyone who's so mind-locked into their old-fashioned and obsolete attitudes that they might disapprove of my life-choices! I'm laying the truth bare in front of the whole world, and I'm doing it right now!"

She turned in the air with a sudden motion and met the eyes of Karz, who was still on the patio. "I declare right now, before everyone, that Karzog is my destined love, the first love of my life, the man I'm going to marry! It doesn't matter that he's a dragon and I'm a half-elven, half-human warlock! He's an elf for me whenever I want him to be one, and I'm a dragon for him whenever he wants me to!"

"You just speak your heart girl!" Balen called to her in enthusiastic encouragement.

Fire suddenly assumed the dragon Simulacrum that she'd previously worn only for Karzog, with almost the same coloring as her normal body.

"I love you Karz, I'm declaring it to the world and I don't care who knows it, and if anyone has any objections about it I will deal with them most severely!"

Karzog Translocated the twenty-one meters that separated them and hugged her with both arms, both legs, both wings, his sinuous neck and his tail. She did the same to him, which made for a visually confusing tangle of dragon-limbs.

Mark appeared in the air beside them and declared in a determined tone; "I approve of their love wholeheartedly. Any who disapprove had better not let me hear about them speaking of my daughter's love- choice in impolite terms, or they will face my immediate and personal disapproval."

Povon and Kragorram appeared in

the air above them, and Povon declared; "We stand with Karzog and Fire and Mark in this. There is no practical reason why Fire and

Karzog should not share a deep and profound love, and it's been building since she was born. They're of different races, but that's irrelevant. Let none disparage them, or face our

wrath."

In a few fractions of a moment they were joined in their declaration by Talia, Alilia, Six, Val, all of The Volunteers, all of The Forty-four, Silaran, Equemev, Yazadril, Nemia, Hilsith, Dalia, and Bezedil. It was a strange moment. All of them knew that it was a public declaration, and that many of the thousands watching would have shared their experience with the rest of the world. A moment of absolute stillness ensued. It seemed they waited to see if any would appear to dispute them, but none did.

Mark moved to address Karz, and to look him in the eye. "You're still young, and your love has many stages to go before you're ready for marriage. But we still recognize the profound depth of the love that you and Fire share. We, being Talia and Alilia and myself, already think of you as our son-in-law, and the son of our hearts."

"The bond you share with our son

has been bringing us all closer for a long time." Kragorram declared to Fire. "It's a big part of why we all feel like family, Povon and I and your parents, and all of our children. It seems that sometimes the

elhet

differences in our races are the least of the differences between us, and atPof those differences pafe in significance to the similarities and love that unite us. You are the daughter of my heart and you always will be, whether your relationship with Karzog flourishes or fails."

"Thank you, thank you all so much." Fire declared as she hugged Karzog in mid-air. She shared a quick thought with him, and then they were their humanoid selves; she in her natural form, and he in the elven Simulacrum that was the only humanoid form he ever assumed.

They hugged tightly; she and Karz, and the rest of the gathering couldn't help but cheer with joy at the obvious and profound love that they shared, and the relief they felt with the end of secrecy and the sharing of their love with everyone.

"This is our marriage." she murmured as she hugged him, while knowing that it wasn't private. "Or actually our engagement, I guess. It's not legal or binding, but it's our declaration of our love to the world. We'll have a binding ceremony later in Laylas Valley when we're both adults, but that's a different thing.

"Ours may not be the first love that ever occurred between two who are of such different races as you and I, but it's the first publicly acknowledged inter-racial relationship between such disparate lovers as us. And we haven't even reached puberty or become sexual yet. At this stage, whether we ever have children is irrelevant to me. Any child that we decide to love as our own is our child, be they elven or human or dragon or anything else. If we choose to fulfill our potential and become gods, we might be able to truly have children together, but I don't see how it could be possible in any other way. And it doesn't matter.

“Perhaps in the future there will be Kag who fall in love with gnomes, simply because the gnome they love is so beautiful and wonderful that they can't help themselves. Unicorns may love giants, humans may love Triax, Mer may love gargoyles.

"All of them are depending on us, my love. They are depending on us to make their love socially acceptable. They are depending on us to make it an everyday occurrence for anyone to love anyone else in any way they choose, regardless of the differences between them."☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

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