Chapter 58

I had to admit it was a relief to finally have most of the pressure, by the way of the Rogothi project, off me. For all there was some interest from viewers wanting to purchase some of the sketches, it was made plain that none of them were for sale. Once the Expo was over most would be handed over to the governing council on Rogoth where part of the original plant still remained. The works would be on view there as part of a memorial display, next to a monolith inscribed with the names of the known victims. Nor were the sketches the most horrific of my works. Only the Empress held those and had no intention of allowing anyone but authorised historians and investigators to view them.

Also, with Rogoth out of the way, Amanda and I were drawn into the minutiae of our wedding. For all we had the assistance of the Palace Retainers and the AIs, we were still needed to ‘sign off’ on various decisions, the big one being the date. This Amanda insisted be brought forward as much as possible with the only proviso being that all that were expected to attend, by way of foreign dignitaries, could attend. Most of it was naturally out of our hands and we were only being told what was happening, though it was necessary for us to know.

The wedding had also been timed to happen during the leave time of Vicki and Plenna as she was a bridesmaid and he my ‘best man’, a dad term he used to describe the Imperial tradition of the groom’s aide.

The other bridesmaids were Truna, Galh and Princess Raisa of Gershon, with Trusha being one of the maids of honour along with my sister Kiria so Amanda could have the close protection Trusha was determined to give. Plus, it was easier just to give in rather than have the subject brought up endlessly every time we had a discussion on the details of the wedding.

The wedding itself would take place at the Royal Palace on Lassos. This was a given as the security concerns surrounding some of our guests had to be taken into account. This in particular applied to the presence of Amir Grian, Amanda’s brother, who would be attending representing the Emirate Realm. Naturally the Emirate Paladin Command, their intelligence network (amongst a few other things), were very interested in the security arrangements that would be in place for the first ever out-of-Realm trip for an official visit of one of the Emirate’s ruling family. This had them bumping heads with ImpSec, who weren’t any too keen on members of a foreign intelligence network having access to the Royal Palace.

Fortunately there was an easy solution to this in the shape of Kilios who were placed in charge of Palace security. The Paladin Command were informed that they could have one observer with the Amir and their ‘team’ could monitor from the quarters he would be set up in. This had caused some ... grumbling, but was accepted as the Paladins generally were on good terms with Kilios and Grian would also have a Kilios bodyguard with him.

Others attending were the former Dynasta of the Autarchy, Millonra, who was actually a good friend of Amantil. She would also be going over various alterations to the Imperial Autarchy Treaty to bring the two Realms into a closer alignment. In this, they would be joined by Prince Jerra of Gershon and Voice of Truth Aramissa of the Hegemony to go over the details as the Alliance was strengthened and brought into closer alignment militarily, economically and socially.

The other thing of note involving Gershon was the final victory of Jessin over her conservative hardliners. Her coronation as Queen being finally forced through by the reform group and allowing her to greatly extend the reforms necessary to accelerate Gershon’s growth, which was lagging behind the other worlds of the Alliance. Jessin would be crowned during the binary cycle after our wedding and a visit by us to represent the Empire had already been arranged.

Public interest in the wedding was naturally very high and this necessitated various interviews with the newsies, though we tried to limit these to as few as possible. Naturally they included our friend Teelae and Miri my sister-in-law. It did, however, include a few others from the main agencies, some of whom we didn’t particularly like, but decided to do anyway to show an even hand with the agencies who were muttering constantly about ‘fairness’ even though they all wanted an exclusive.

Amanda and I turned up at Teelae’s studio for the first of our round of newsie interviews, most of them aimed at the wedding, though we suspected that Teelae would cover a wide range of subjects, including the Rogothi outcome.

“Hi, you two, and welcome,” she greeted us brightly after a quick scan of the studio by Trusha and Liono.

“Good to be here,” I replied, getting a hug along with Amanda.

“Sit down and relax. I’m not planning an ambush,” she chuckled.

“We know,” I smiled as we settled into the very comfortable chairs while Teelae fussed with her tri-dee cams.

“Welcome all,” Teelae began as she spoke directly to the cams. “My guests tonight are Princess Amanda and the Royal Consort Dayyev.”

“Good to be here,” I replied as Amanda simply smiled and nodded.

“It’s been an eventful year for you two. Care to take us through the highlights and the lows?”

“Highlight for me,” Amanda replied, “was my Dayyev asking me to marry him. After that it was visiting the Imperial worlds as well as the other Realms.”

“Yes, your popularity index eclipsed your mother’s,” Teelae replied. “Is this a cause of concern?”

“Not really. My mother knew it was a possibility and is happy just to be allowed to run the Empire whilst I’m the public face of the Imperial Royal family.”

“No plans for her to sit back and relax?”

“Not at the moment. She actually mostly enjoys her work.”

“What were the lows for you, Dayyev?” Teelae asked, changing the subject.

“Rogoth mostly,” I answered. “But Parros was stressful too.”

“I guess it would be. Though Rogoth’s recovery and assimilation is going well, plus two other worlds nearby have also requested and been granted entry to the Empire.”

“Yes, there are plans for us to revisit Rogoth soon,” I added with a nod.

“Parros was where you unveiled your full authority, Amanda?” Teelae asked, switching her attention again.

“Yes, it was necessary,” Amanda agreed. “Though it’s the only time I’ve ever done it. I suspect some worlds who might have been tempted were stopped in their tracks when the Empire displayed what might be termed its ‘soft power’.”

“The ability to regain control of a world simply by using Imperial Royal authority,” Teelae explained for the benefit of the audience.

“Yes, not something I expect to use very often. But the people of Parros needed help.”

“And so, the marriage?” Teelae enquired, changing the subject again, after a quick glance at the skyrocketing viewing figures.

“Looking forward to it,” Amanda replied. “Bit of a public spectacle, in a sense, but worth it to get my man.”

“Yes, much as we would have liked to just pop into a public officiator’s office, we knew it was going to be a royal wedding and that standards need to be maintained,” I added.

“Yes. We didn’t want to let our families down either,” Amanda smiled.

“Upper-level purity laws,” Teelae interpolated with a smile.

“Very much so.”

“Meant we had a chaperone whenever we were together and the AIs looking over our shoulders as well,” I chuckled.

“We were at least allowed to kiss and cuddle,” Amanda giggled.

“But never alone,” I smiled.

“No, never alone,” she nodded.

“Honeymoon?” Teelae asked.

“There’s an Imperial lodge near the equator on Lassos. We’ll spend most of it there,” Amanda replied.

“Guess there will be no artwork of the wedding, Dayyev?”

“Oh, I’ll put some together from the tri-dee images afterwards. But no, you’ll not see me with a sketchpad at my wedding,” I laughed.

“Will we get a happy couple picture?”

“Yes, though it will be posed by the AIs, not a live sketch.”

“Though you’ll add your special touches, no doubt?”

“I’ll try, though I’ve never actually sketched myself,” I chuckled.

“Really?”

“Yep. It was always someone or something else.”

“He’s right. I’ve never seen a sketch of him at all,” Amanda added, looking a little surprised.

“Hopefully you will soon,” Teelae said with a smile.

“Yes, I’m quite looking forward to seeing how he sees himself.”

The interview went on its course, Teelae often skipping around subjects but keeping a narrative going. We fielded questions from the audience as well, though there was nothing more intrusive other than ‘were you ever tempted to do more than kiss’, to which we admitted we had been, though had resisted the temptation as I did not want Amanda’s reputation to be sullied.

“Well done, both of you,” Teelae congratulated us once it was over.

“Thanks, it doesn’t get any easier,” I chuckled, feeling relieved.

“You come across well,” Teelae acknowledged. “Quite natural and unforced.”

“She’s right,” Amanda confirmed. “I only know you’re nervous because I know you so well.”

“Doubt I’ll ever get used to it,” I nodded as we headed for the lift.

That set the tone for the day, with us calling in at various studios to be interviewed, usually blandly, but occasionally quite intrusively. All this we took in our stride and, unlike the Teelae interview, we always kept our ‘game faces’ on, not giving any hints as to our real views on the plethora of questions we faced.

The interview with Miri, being our final one, allowed us to relax as she took us through a conversation about our relationship from the earliest of days. Still, it was good for them to be over. We mostly ignored the ensuing media battles over viewing figures, they all pretty much tried to put their own spin on the interview and claim exclusive content. As ever, Teelae emerged the big winner, though Miri’s ‘conversation’ ran it close once it was finally released, just before the wedding.

My mum surprised all who knew her by not going into a meltdown of what to wear for the wedding. Apparently she’d chosen well in advance from one of the outfits she’d rejected for Kiria’s wedding and had held it in reserve for this occasion. She got teased a little from the rest of the family over it, though it was obvious the kids, at least, were actually impressed.

Amanda and the rest of the female members of the bridal party were keeping their choice of attire hidden from me and the rest of the Empire, apart from those who really needed to know. Nor were the attempts of the various fashionistas in the newsie corporations to find out successful. With Kilios looking after the personal protection of Amanda, no attempt to spy on her through others was working.

I had been under the impression that I could just turn up wearing an off the shelf wedding outfit, as my dad, Herrick and all the rest of the men I knew, were doing. Unfortunately, Amanda was having no such thing and the royal couturier had been instructed to ensure I was wearing the made-to-measure silks that were expected of the groom in an elite upper-level/royal wedding.