(one year ago)
"Nay! Never!" Neriah cried out as her father, the King, carefully broke the news of her impending marriage to her.
For one hundred and eighty years, she had kept herself chaste and pure. All that time she spent reading and dreaming about the Arela moonlight rituals that were held once a year under the fullness of the lover's moon.
A ritual for young maiden elves who reached the age of one hundred and eighty, and were ready to begin new lives. It was a ritual that led maidens and bachelors to their fated partners.
The goddess herself blessed them on that night, directing them to their various life partners.
And if you had a partner whom you loved before the ritual, then the goddess would bless your union and you'd both prosper, bear strong and healthy little elves, and live happily ever after.
So the tales were told. And the Arela ritual had been her dream for a long time.
But now, the walls around her dreams were fiercely being pulled down by her own father!
"Neriah, my love, it is not as bad as you think." Her father, King Gerald was a good man—a great king. He was willing to sacrifice any and everything so as to keep his kingdom peaceful and safe. Unfortunately for Neriah, she was part of such sacrifices.
"Father! This is preposterous!" she snapped. "I believed you loved me, in fact, I was of the notion that amongst all your children, I was your very favorite. But now I can see, I can tell. You have no love for me at all!"
"Oh my dear child, do not say that. How can you say that?" He asked, pinching the area between his eyes tiredly.
"I can say that! And I am saying it." She stomped her feet on the ground angrily. "No loving parent would deprive their child who has finally come of age, the chance to dance under the lover's moon. No loving parent would deprive their child of the privilege of a partner handpicked by the goddess herself! No loving parent deprives their child of a fated union!!" Her anger was quickly causing the color of her face to match her hair.
"Oh, come on now, Neriah my dear. There are a number of people who did not get their life partners on the day of the Arela ritual. I, for one, attended a lot of Arela rituals and danced under the lover's moon countless of times when I was a younger man, but I assure you, that was not where I met your mother."
Neriah could not begin to comprehend or digest the words of her father! Just because he never found his wife there, didn't mean he had any right to deprive her the ecstasy of attending the event.
She was a strong devotee to the goddess, she went to the temple four times in seven days. She prayed and worshiped the goddess more than anyone else, she was sure.
So she was certain that the goddess would bless her.
"Father! You did not meet mother in the moon dance, is that the reason you have decided to give me away to a smelling, sweating, disgusting old barbarian?!" liquid glisters had filled her eyes. She was doing her all to hold them back.
"Neriah, I do not believe he is old," King Gerald said, then added, "I think." and Neriah's teary eyes widened.
She opened her mouth to protest, but Gerald beat her to it. "Listen daughter, you think of the people of the Trago Kingdom with disdain and contempt because of the way history has painted them. The days when they were smelling, sweating and disgusting are past. Barbarians they may be, I assure you my child, they have become decent barbarians."
A dry laugh escaped Neriah's lips. Decent barbarians, how on earth did those two words even fit together? Neriah could only wonder wryly.
"Trust me my child, it is for the good of the nation. Marriage has always been a show of trust and friendship between two nations. You are not just any mere maiden, you are a princess of this nation. And as much as I would love to give you a marriage of your heart's desire, my dear, marriage of the members of the royal family has mostly been political. You have duties, and they have to be fulfilled."
"Father!"
"Enough!" he retorted. "I will have no more of your childish behavior! I am your father and your king and come the next full moon you will marry the man I have chosen. Prince Barak of the Trago Kingdom. And you shall learn to love, honor, respect and cherish him till death do thee part!"
"But—"
"I said enough! I will hear no more of this!"
"Mother! You will just sit there?!" she inquired. Fiercely holding back the tears that stung her hers.
Queen Erra, who had been sitting there silently, made no move even though Neriah had cried out to her. She barely nodded her head to her child, and she seemed to silently tell Neriah to accept her father's command.
Neriah could not believe it, no one was on her side! Not even her own mother!
Anger, hate and pain filled her heart that afternoon as she turned her back to her king and queen. The tears she had long held back finally trailed down her cheeks as she ran off devastated and dream-wrecked.