Dawn had enjoyed just being alone with her husband for a few hours while the others slept. But she did not complain when they woke up. If just because, pragmatically speaking, they could now head for home again.
And she wanted to go home.
She was pleased that the company were pretty quick about packing up. Her own packing was even quicker than theirs though.
She could almost feel the undercurrent of excitement among everyone. They were all ready to just go home now. Back to whatever lives they had led.
As she happily thought about home and hearth, she suddenly felt two arms wrap around her as she was lifted off of the ground.
She was surprised, though she instantly knew it was Arrion. No one else would do something like that to her. She turned to look at him but before she could say anything, she was tossed up on Zyph's back.
Her husband swung himself up beside of her and kissed her cheek while she was still a little stunned.
A soft laugh left her lips and she placed a kiss on his cheek in return. He slipped an arm loosely around her and leaned his head on her shoulder.
"Sit properly." She admonished him gently as she fixed her own posture atop of the griffon.
"An order?" He glanced up at her, then sat up and scooted so he wasn't sitting weirdly anymore, "Yes, ma'am."
She shook her head and then leaned back into him. His arms wrapped around her waist, gripping her snugly. She rather liked just how much her husband definitely had no plan to leave her alone any time soon.
He was being rather quiet though. Just holding her, and occasionally nuzzling against her. Dawn was fully aware of something that really did not surprise her with his personality. Despite the fact that everyone knew who he was, he was still leaving her in charge. Even though he outranked her, and everyone would not have batted an eye if he just took the lead.
But, her husband was enjoying himself too much to really bother with leadership. And she did not have the heart to force it on him. For two reasons. One, he still seemed just a little bit confused. And two, he would have to be fully in charge once they did get home and so she wanted to let him enjoy his little break to the full.
The silence was not unenjoyable. Sure, she would not have minded having a conversation with her beloved, but just being near him was rather nice. And the silence enhanced some of the comfortable companionship they had together.
So, they did not talk much in the morning. And in fact, not even until midafternoon, when Arrion suddenly peeled himself a bit off of where he had been happily snuggling her into his chest. He had a contemplative expression on his face as he asked an absurd question, "So, out of curiosity, what was my funeral like?"
Dawn was not quite sure how to answer that question. But after pursing her lips, she looked away from him and said quietly, "You really did not have much of one. Without your body, it wasn't like we could bury you."
"I see." He laughed.
"There was a nice memorial speech given. And the entire kingdom went into mourning. I hardly even had to tell anyone to, either. Just announcing your death, my love, was enough to make everyone feel the loss."
"So, they'll be happy to know that it was a misunderstanding then?"
"Yes, though I would not be surprised if some people just assumed you faked your own death."
A chuckle left his mouth, as a grin crept up his face, "That does sound like something I might pull."
"If you ever dare…"
"I wouldn't though, like I might think of it, but that is not something I would actually go through on. There are limits to what I would do, you know. And putting an entire kingdom into a state of mourning on purpose is not something I would dare actually do."
"Good," She was still frowning at him so he pulled her to face him more and planted a kiss on her lips.
"And I would not do that to you either." He smiled happily, "Even if I was to do so, I would let you in one it."
She gave him a look. And he smiled innocently at her. She decided that it would just be better to believe him rather than suspect that he would do something so terrible.