Queen Irene, employing her both hands, clasped Eliana to her bosom, which contained a vast wealth of love and affection for her. And, currently, a prodigious amount of tension as well.
Last night, they had three hours' colloquy, and Eliana almost broke her back over this issue, in an endeavor to assuage the fears of her mother, reassuring her time and again that she would take care of herself, and tread cautiously around them.
However, it didn't seem to dispel the Queen's fears, not even tenth of a hundred. Her heavy breathing, which she was heaving out, fighting back the emerging tears, betokened the ample tension soaring all over her heart.
"I will minister to my health, and safety. Also, Gigi will carry my messages to you the every other day." Eliana said, after her mother placed an adoring kiss on her forehead with trembling lips.
Queen Irene filled her lungs with a sharp intake of breath, then pushed it back in a heavy exhale, with the object of expelling the stacked melancholy through the metaphorical exhaust fumes.
"Well, in accordance with Firebreath's custom, the bride needs to bathe right at the break of day. And, dragons are just as ritualistic as bards claimed them to be." The Queen said, choking back her ire. "Three eunuchs, two belonging to the Empress Dowager, and one to Emperor Hades already came to check whether you had finished your bath yet…"
"Yes, and they seemed to have placed a profound value on it. We can't shilly-shally here any longer. Before the sun reflects off the water surface, we must set the seal on all their religious rites of the wedding bath." Isabella draped her hand around Eliana's thin shoulder, helping her to her feet, before leading her to the right side of the bedchamber, where a huge wooden tub had taken up almost two meters space.
Winifred, the fairy of water, swayed her wand over the empty tub, and turquoise water seeping out from nowhere commenced filling it.
Charlotte uncloaked the ornate platter, exposing a mound of turmeric powder, which had arrived from Firebreath. She was on the brink of bending the platter, nevertheless, the Queen suspended it.
"We will follow our tradition first." Queen Irene dug into her pouch, and produced a gold round disc. Then, she pulled the plaited strings to close her potli bag, and hang it on her wrist. "This gold coin is our, the royal family's pious heirloom. It's our founder's lucky charm which has been passed down to us. Read the epigraph in it, then skim the disc across the water."
Eliana, conforming to her mother's wish, took the hand-made minted disc with a diameter of approximately a hundred centimeters.
The obverse of the gold coin didn't feature any portrait, contrary to the normalcy. Instead, thickets of stalks laden with blooming flowers trailing out onto the flat surface had been meticulously impressed onto it. The rim was, as well, decorated with evenly spaced bumps.
As for the reverse, it was plain apart from an inscription engraved in an ancient tongue.
Eliana read it audibly, which translated as, "Bless me with the signs of future." She held the decorative edge of the coin between her thumb and forefinger, then threw it across the water in sidearm without thinking much.
Queen Irene, out of anxiousness, starved her lungs of air, while her daughter-in-laws kept a weather eye on the scenario unfolding before them with tensed anticipation.
The disc, which magneted everyone's gaze to it, gilded quickly and lightly over the water. It bounced off the surface three times, travelling all the way across the tub, before it sank beside the edge, without bumping into it.
"Mother, the coin bounced all the way across the tub and it sank without any collision!" Isabella exclaimed, after releasing her breath in a sigh of relief.
Queen Irene's tensed muscles unknotted, and a healthy flow of blood plunged away all her worries momentarily. First dose of happiness in days rolled over her in gentle waves of air.
"It prognosticates that my daughter's conjugal life will be full of love, trust, and respect! She will lead a very happy life in Firebreath!"
The Queen couldn't shackle the happy tears escaping the boundary of her eyes, as she hugged Eliana sideways, plucking a kiss on her temple.
Eliana had to force a stiff smile on her mouth, before all the eyes. However, she couldn't but feel a tiny bug crawling on her heart. 'Love, trust and respect?' These were the three main ingredients for an ideal marriage, and she planned to leave no compartments for them!
She averted her gaze from the Queen's beatific smile, and set it on the shimmering disc at the depth of one and half meters. She was relieved that it thinned out her mother's trepidation and loosened her emotional strain. However, believing its authenticity was something she couldn't find in herself.
Relief washed over everyone else present there, doubling their eagerness. Enthusiasm bubbled over their eyes, and merriment spurted out of their lips in rings of cordial laughs.
"By Heaven's grace, all our initial worries have been found unnecessary!" Agnes, The Fifth Prince's wife, said, as she looked at the Queen. "Mother, now that our ritual is done, shouldn't we carry out theirs?"
"Yes! Hurry up, before the sun lights our land up!"
Eliana climbed the wooden stairs, submerged into the tub, wrinkling the calm surface.
"Unclothe all the platters, and do exactly how they instructed." The Queen ordered, full of the joys of spring. Apparently, the gold coin did lift her spirits.
Matilda, the Sixth Prince's wife, removed the red rectangular piece of cloth hanging over the big copper bowl in her hand, and emptied it onto the water, making sure her fingers didn't touch a thing.
"These are the petals of the legendary Elusive Rose which blooms exclusively in the Moonshine Forest. As these flowers hide themselves in others' presence, Emperor Hades had to catch them himself."
Eliana swiped her hands across the surface and gathered a handful of petals in the pocket of her joined palms, before bringing them closer to her sensitive nose.
The fragrance was very soothing and it calmed her nerves slowly. Through her divine vision, she could see a swarm of transparent mana, besprinkling the petals, like a flock of lit up fireflies in the dark of night; and upon coming in contact with her, these magic sparks infused into her manastream.
Apparently, the Elusive Rose was claimed to possess two qualities. First, this flower was a pro at absorbing mana from its surroundings. But, as soon as someone touched them, their mana would be automatically transferred to that beastperson; the reason why they would conceal their existence.
Secondly, this flower had another element in it, which would extract all the impurities and dirts from one's skin, if he/she were to bathe with them.
Eliana appropriated all the mana the petals had to offer. Suddenly, a question wrinkled her eyebrows. "How did Hades capture the flowers without touching them? Because, if he touched, then the mana would have gone to him."
The petals clung to Eliana's body, as if she was metal and they were magnets. They absorbed every bit of dust and dirt she gained from her arduous journey, turning her squeaky clean. Then, they hang loosely on her.