The new fresh morning rose over the Tiger Castle. The sun shone brightly, the chilly wind was blowing and moving the branches of naked trees, it was simply the start of a nice autumn day.
Sienna was up early getting ready to visit Tyrell's parents. She dressed up quickly in a light blue velvet dress. It made her look innocent and matched her golden hair, which Sienna decided to hold in place with an exquisite golden hairnet with a soft veil attached. It looked fit for a medieval princess and Sienna decided to make Tyrell proud and dress up a bit. Then she sat on her bed, making a silver thread-decorated exquisite cream silk scarf for Tyrell's mother. Tyrell sat beside her, watching her stitch as fast as she could.
"You do not need to do this, my love."He said softly.
"But I do want to make a present for your mother. "Sienna noted, it is almost done."
"As you wish. She will surely love it. But eat your breakfast as well, before we go," Tyrell smiled and went to pick her warm oat porridge with apples and cinnamon.
Tyrell watched as Sienna carefully packed her present and added a neatly written note. He felt so proud of how sweet, thoughtful and talented his Queen was. She was his heart. Tyrell had a new sword for his father. He bought it at the market from the blacksmith yesterday. He looked at the sharp diamond edge of the steel sword carefully and glanced at Sienna gobbling up her food.
"Do not rush that much my love."Tyrell smiled as he could see how excited she was to go."
"Does your father fight a lot?"Sienna asked curiously.
"Sure. He likes to train every morning." he nodded.
"Maybe you should too."Sienna nodded."You are always buried in paperwork."She bit her lips.
"Do you think I'm not strong enough for you?"Tyrell asked jokingly.
"No, it is just you deserve some fun too and training is healthy."She smiled."And I like to watch you!" she blushed.
"In that case, I can't disappoint you, my love." he nodded pleased that his mate likes to ogle him.
"Good," Sienna smirked at Tyrell flirtatiously. She finished her food and went to the bathroom. She washed her hands, brushed her teeth again and put on a coral-coloured lipstick. The shade palettes from Sarcos were just great!
"Ready to go!"Sienna came back to him in a few minutes.
Tyrell covered Sienna in a warm golden velvet cape and they walked from the castle together. Tyrell decided that he would take Sienna by himself. He left Bran in charge of the Crystal City together with Tiger Castle and went out feeling a free man. His heart rejoiced to have Sienna just for himself that day. He got all day to spend with her and take her out. It felt like a little miracle to him!
Sienna went with Tyrell out of the City Gate holding his hand. They walked the road together just enjoying being out.
"This is so nice."Sienna squeezed his hand softly."
"I know."Tyrell noted."My father's winter settlement is about an hour of a fast walk."
"Ok, so two hours for me then?"Sienna smiled cheekily.
"Well, probably three, "Tyrell chuckled. "But I do not want you to walk for that long."He smiled and changed into his White Tiger. Sienna sat on his back, holding onto his golden necklace and petting his long white fur. It was so soft as silk. Sienna agreed it was much more comfortable than walking! He did not rush so much and after they took a turn from the main road, they walked through the wide forest path. Sienna watched the sky through the crowns of the trees and listened to the birds chirping. The forest was full of life! She spotted a few deers drinking water by the babbling stream and felt so safe and comfortable with Tyrell. It was magical to be out together just the two of them! It felt so intimate and relaxing...
Sienna was thinking of how his parents were and what it would be like. She was a little scared but excited to finally meet them. She enjoyed being with Tyrell alone, but as the forest path ended, a big fortified village was in her view! It had wooden spiky walls around it, reminding Sienna of Ancient Roman camps. Tyrell changed into his human form in front of the big wooden gate with two high watchtowers.
"We are here, my love. Have no worries, everyone will love you for sure! As I love you." he smiled kissing her lips softly. He fixed a few of Sienna's loose hairs from her face and held her hand gently as they entered a big wooden gate.
Sienna watched in awe, the village was quite a big settlement with pretty wooden houses, a clear blue lake, parks and big pebble roads.
"Why is this not a city?" she asked Tyrell.
"It will be in a few generations. It does not have enough people to be called a city yet."He smiled "And all the cities have to have stone walls and a castle. "My people like to live more free and wild." he smiled..."We have nice parks and gardens we can enjoy together." he added softly.
"I see."Sienna nodded and watched as the people were greeting them politely.
They walked around a big park with a beautiful lake till they stopped in front of a spacious wooden house. It looked like a fairytale two-storey villa!
Tyrell went to knock on the door, but his mother opened it excitedly all of a sudden.
"She must be waiting for us!"Sienna thought. Tyrell's mother was a tall, elegant tiger female with sparkly hazel eyes and long brown hair, styled carefully into a small bun and long tresses. She wore a warm dark green velvet gown with long golden embroidered sleeves. She looked regal and kind at the same time. Her face was smooth and pale and she had light make-up on. She looked like a woman who likes to take care of herself and takes pride in her appearance.
"Welcome! Finally, you are here!" she smiled excitedly."Tyrell, my baby!" she hugged her overgrown baby son really tight.
"This is my Queen Sienna, mother."Tyrell introduced Sienna to his mother.
"I'm so happy to finally see you in real, my dearie. You look so much better than your figurines and pictures," Tyrell's mother noted satisfied and Sienna blushed at the mention of the figurines. She hoped her mother-in-law didn't have the last one!!!!
"You can call me Ellaine or Mother."Whichever you like most, but Ellaine is maybe better, it does not make me feel so old."Tyrell's mother chirped as she kissed Sienna's cheeks while squeezing her hands warmly.
"I'm so happy to meet you Ellaine."Sienna smiled gently. Tyrell's mother was full of life and Sienna could see that she loved Tyrell dearly. She almost suffocated him with her love just within the door!
"Your father is training again today morning," Ellaine said to Tyrell. "He could not fight his fighting habits even on such a special day. I hope he will come back soon."She smiled gently.
"I will go find him, Mother. Take care of my sweet Queen for now..."Tyrell kissed Sienna's forehead and went to find his father. He had to pay him respect as to the Tribal Chief of the village first.
"Well, come here, dearie! "Ellaine pulled Sienna inside and gave her another excited hug."My sweet daughter-in-law, I can't believe you are finally here!"She smiled happily. "Feel like home, I will show you around the house first." she chirped.
"OK," Sienna nodded gently."Here, I made you a present."She gave Ellaine a neat packet.
"Aw, how sweet of you! Let's open it at lunch today. I'm so excited to see what you have made me, but I want to share the moment with my mate, Tyrell's father."She explained to Sienna eagerly and her face lit up more and more as she stared at her softly."You are such a special gift to us by yourself!"Ellaine placed the present carefully at the side table and took Sienna's hand...
Sienna felt a little out of place. She would rather go for this house tour with Tyrell as well, but as she was aware of his workaholic manners, she put a serene smile on her lips and followed his sweet mother around...
Ellaine was so excited to show Sienna her big house because she was very proud of her neat home. She led Sienna to a big hall, with an enormous fireplace and decorated animal furs hanging on the walls, a huge dining room with beautiful wild tigers depicting tapestries and a massive wooden table which looked so sturdy that Sienna could imagine doing a lot of other things on it apart from eating and kept glancing at it as Ellaine kept explaining her the details of the room decor!
"Hm, I see you are distracted a little."Ellaine noticed chuckling."Come, I will show you something you will surely like." she said smiling. Sienna reminded her of herself while she was younger. That was the reason why Tyrion built that big table in the first place. They made Tyrell on it!!! Ellaine felt she really liked Sienna, she could feel her playful nature and a good heart and was excited and glad for her son.
"This is my favourite room."Ellaine took Sienna to her sewing room which looked like a shabby chic lavender haven full of embroidered cushions and neatly stocked fabrics.
"Oh, this is so lovely."Sienna sighed sweetly as her eyes scanned Ellaine's crafty room. "Finally, a mother-in-law who likes to sew!"Sienna thought feeling closer to her. Sienna would love to sit in there and sew the whole day if she could, it looked that welcoming!
"I'm so happy you like it, I heard you like to sew too."Ellaine chirped and watched Sienna nodding eagerly. It was so nice to meet a close crafter soul again! "Come, I have one more room to show you."Ellaine ushered Sienna up the stairs and then she opened the door to a spacious loft room...
"This was Tyrell's room before, but now I refurbished it as a room for you two." she smiled happily.
Sienna watched in awe the cosy spacious room with romantic rosy and turquoise decor.
"Will Tyrell be ok with this?"Sienna was surprised because the room was completely girlied up!
"Sure, you are his mate, he needs to make you comfortable first. " Ellaine nodded eagerly."Here is your wardrobe, look!" she opened the huge wardrobe and it was full of dresses!" I made most of them for you, I hope you will fit them, you are more curvy than I anticipated, but you will surely fit."She measured Sienna's hips with her eyes."You have such a beautiful figure, so perfect for bearing children!" she smiled excitedly.
"Well, in time..." Sienna smiled gently and looked at the dresses curiously. She praised some of them which made Ellaine to be even more happy when she looked at the armoured warrior princess outfit.
"What is this dress for?" Sienna asked, the dress was looking like armour!
"Aahh, this is ...aaa...this is a traditional fighting dress," Ellaine smiled sweetly.
"For what it was?"Sienna asked really surprised."Why would the females need to fight if my mates forbid it to me?" she asked surprised.
"In ancient times, tiger females had to fight to get a King mate."Ellaine smiled sheepishly.
"Aha...so why do you have it for here?"Sienna was still questioning.
"It is our family heirloom. It is hundreds of years old. It is our ancient tradition. I keep repairing it to remind myself of how lucky we are now."Ellaine kept nodding eagerly.
"Ahmm, I'm quite happy I didn't need to fight to get my mates..."Sienna nodded her head jokingly.
"Silly, it was very long ago, "Ellaine smiled at her cheerfully, " The tribes had more females than males after the long wars so this was a necessity...To ensure the strongest will procreate and our tribe will survive." she smiled.
"Aha..."Sienna nodded still thinking about it. She was a bit shocked if she imagined she would have to fight to get a man! "I would rather stay single than humiliate myself by fighting over a man."Sienna shook her head.
"Well, it was considered a privilege to compete, only the best tigresses were invited. There would be a big wooden arena built entirely by women and the King with his warriors would sit and watch them fight, sometimes to death."Ellaine nodded.
"What?"Sienna turned to her shocked."Was the King so weak in his head, that he could not just choose a mate?" She asked plainly. She found it ridiculous!
"Shhh, that is not a way to speak of our ancestors, dearie."Ellaine shook her head worriedly.