Enchanter's End Game

Nothing could make her relent in her singleminded drive to make him over. It was so unfair. He was quite content to accept her exactly as she was. She had her flaws - many of them - but he was willing to take the good with the bad. Why couldn't she extend him the same courtesy? But each time he tried to put his foot down and absolutely refuse one of her whims, her eyes would fill with tears, her lip would tremble, and the fatal, "You don't love me any more," would drop quaveringly upon him.
    Belgarion of Riva had considered flight several times during that long winter.
    Now it was spring again, and the storms which isolated the Isle of the Winds during the winter months were past. The day which Garion felt would never come had suddenly rushed upon him. Today was the day in which he would take the Imperial Princess Ce'Nedra to wife, and it was too late to run.
    He knew that if he brooded about it much longer, he'd push himself over the edge into total panic, and so he stood up and quickly dressed himself in plain tunic and hose, ignoring the more ostentatious garments which his valet - at Ce'Nedra's explicit instructions - had laid out for him.
    It was about an hour before daylight as the young king of Riva opened the door to the royal apartment and slipped into the silent corridor outside.
    He wandered for a time through the dim, empty halls of the Citadel, and then, inevitably, his undirected steps led him to Aunt Pol's door. She was already awake and seated by her fire with a cup of fragrant tea in her hands. She wore a deep blue dressing gown, and her dark hair flowed down across her shoulders in a lustrous wave.
    "You're up early," she noted.
    "I couldn't sleep."
    "You should have. You have a very full day ahead of you."
    "I know. That's why I couldn't sleep."
    "Tea?"
    "No, thanks." He sat in the carved chair on the other side of the fireplace. "Everything's changing, Aunt Pol," he said after a moment of thoughtful silence. "After today, nothing will ever be the same again, will it?"
    "Probably not," she said, "but that doesn't necessarily mean that it will be a change for the worse."
    "How do you feel about the idea of getting married?"
    "A bit nervous," she admitted calmly.
    "You?"
    "I've never been married before either, Garion."
    Something had been bothering him about that. "Was it really such a good idea, Aunt Pol?" he asked her. "I mean, arranging to have you and Durnik get married on the same day as Ce'Nedra and I? What I'm trying to say is that you're the most important woman in the world. Shouldn't your wedding be a special occasion?"
    "That was what we were trying to avoid, Garion," she replied. "Durnik and I decided that we wanted our wedding to be private, and we hope that it will be lost in all the confusion and ceremony that's going to surround yours."
    "How is he? I haven't seen him for several days now."
    "He's still a bit strange. I don't think he'll ever be the same man we all knew."
    "He's all right, isn't he?" Garion's guestion was concerned.
    "He's fine, Garion. He's just a bit different, that's all. Something happened to him that's never happened to any other man, and it changed him. He's as practical as ever, but now he looks at the other side of things as well. I think I rather like that."
    "Do you really have to leave Riva?" he asked suddenly. "You and Durnik could stay here in the Citadel."
    "We want our own place, Garion," she told him. "We need to be alone with each other. Besides, if I were here, every time you and Ce'Nedra had a squabble, I'd have one or both of you hammering on my door. I've done my best to raise you two. Now you're going to have to work things out on your own."
    "Where will you go?"
    "To the Vale. My mother's cottage is still standing there. It's a very solid house. All it needs is new thatching on the roof and new doors and windows. Durnik will know how to take care of that, and it will be a good place for Errand to grow up."
    "Errand? You're taking him with you?"
    "Someone has to care for him, and I've grown used to having a small boy around. Besides, father and I've decided that we'd like for him to be some distance from the Orb. He's still the only one besides you who can touch it. Someone at some time might seize upon that and try to use him in the same way Zedar did."
    "What'd be the point? I mean, Torak's gone now. What good would the Orb do anybody else?" .
    She looked at him very gravely, and the white lock of her brow seemed to glow in the soft light. "I