Aaron looked suspiciously at Elena, her expression suggesting she was surprised as well. He wondered; had she really said yes or was this Kieran's attempt at making her agree in front of everyone?

"Oh my goodness!" Mara exclaimed and looked towards Anne, who shrugged speechlessly.

The Commander looked like this was the best news he'd heard all day.
"Is this real, son?" He had to ask, to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

Kieran nodded. "I asked Lady Elena earlier today, and she gave me her word," he said and looked at said woman standing next to him. "Isn't that right?"

Elena looked from Kieran to her father, who like everyone else, was awaiting her confirmation. She remembered how she'd sworn on Rivera's honor, and thus replied, "I did."

Once more, Mara's gasp was the loudest in the room.

"Oh wow." Victoria breathed, her hand on her chest. She could not believe that the General had proposed to her daughter. She thought it'd be the other way around!

"That scoundrel," Aaron thought and smirked. "He really did it."

"This is wonderful news!" The Commander proclaimed, raising his arms and laughing. "It was about time, son!"

"I agree," Lord Rivera said. His reaction was a lot calmer than the Commander's but it was clear he too, was happy. "I am glad my first daughter is finally getting married."
He looked fondly at Elena, thinking about how he'd almost given up hope of her choosing a husband.

"How soon do you want the wedding?" The Commander asked Kieran, unable to mask the eagerness in his voice and face.
Elena panicked, and exchanged glances with Kieran.

"W-well..." Elena said, "w-we're n-not in any kind of r-r-rush..." she tried to smile politely as she said this.

"Lady Elena is right," said Kieran. "I was just informing you so you could stop sending out those courtship proposals." He looked pointedly at his father.

Alyssa laughed and Xerthes nodded, "That's fair," he said.

"Still," Victoria chipped in, and her mood mirrored the Commander's. "A wedding is going to happen sooner or later. We should start thinking about 'when' now so we can prepare for the arrangements."

"What's the hurry, Victoria?" Alyssa asked. "The kids have to court first anyway, so let them get to know each other better before you start fussing."

Victoria pursed her lips in silent rebellion. Elena knew her mother liked things like these; organising parties, doing the shopping, and bossing people around. She was already over the moon with Anne's engagement coming up.

"I have an idea," said Xerthes. "Why don't you all join me and my family tomorrow? I'll organise a luncheon and we can discuss all the details then."

"I agree," said Alyssa. "Our families will converge first tomorrow since it's already getting late now. Then Kieran and Elena will be able to spend the rest of the day together."

Everyone was at par with the idea, and soon, the Hammedathas were saying their goodbyes.

"Congratulations," Aaron told Elena, and with a smile, added, "future sister-in-law." before making his exit.

Elena didn't know how to feel about that word. Everything had happened so quickly. Before that day, she hadn't even had a suitor in mind, and now she was about to be engaged to be married to the person she least expected.
What a whirlwind.

Once they had all left, Victoria came to Elena.
"You naughty girl," she said, pinching her chin. "After I told you you weren't good enough for the General, you just had to go and prove me wrong, didn't you?"

"Mother, that's not it."

"Oh, save the modesty, girl." Victoria dismissed her claim. "I know you wanted to rub it in by making him come all the way here to announce the marriage."

She smiled sneakily and looked at Elena like she was some sly fox."I have newfound respect for you, my girl." She winked, and Elena looked at her mother wearily.

"Cut her some slack, Victoria," Lord Rivera said, walking to them. "It's not my daughter's fault that she's so special."

"And who does she take after?" Victoria asked and used her hands to smugly gesture down herself.

Lord Rivera laughed and placed his hands on his daughter's shoulders.
He maintained eye contact and spoke softly, and tenderly. "I am proud of you, Elena. You have finally grown up and decided to get married. And you have picked a most suitable groom."

Elena couldn't tell her father that she hadn't actually picked Kieran, and that it was all a result of her recklessly swearing on Rivera's honor. So she kept quiet.

"I can't believe my daughter is getting married to the General of the Prince's Guard," Victoria said. "My daughter! I'm going to have a delicious dinner made right now to celebrate this spectacular blessing. Elena dear, go wash up and we'll eat together."

Elena nodded and turned around. She froze when she saw Anne and Mara standing side by side, smiling creepily at her. Giddily, they grabbed Elena, each by either arm, and rushed with her through the hallway and up the stairs to her room, all the while giggling.

"Oh my goodness, sister!" Mara exclaimed as Anne closed the door. "All this while I thought you got nervous whenever we mentioned the General's name because you were afraid of him, but it turns out it's because you were in love with him!"

"Mara, that's not it at all!" Elena whined.

"What are you saying? We all saw with our own eyes what happened out there," Mara said. "You and the General were like this," she crossed her middle and index finger, and thrust them in her sister's face.

"You two were holding hands," Anne put speech into Mara's actions.

"Because he pulled me inside!" Elena explained in frustration. "Mara, you saw that."

Mara closed her eyes and looked away, "I saw nothing and heard nothing," she claimed, and whirled her head back to Elena. "Except how you said yes to General Kieran's marriage proposal!"

Elena sighed. If she couldn't tell her father, she could at least tell her sisters what really happened.

"Elena, tell us," Anne said, her voice much calmer than Mara's. "This happened all too suddenly. Were you so easily charmed by the General that you agreed to marry him this quickly? Have you really fallen for him?"

"OR!" Mara shouted. "Ooor she's been in love with him this whole time!" She stood arms at akimbo and gave Elena an accusing look.

"Stop with your baseless accusations, Mara," said Elena. "None of what either of you are saying is the truth."
Anne and Mara waited for her to continue.

"Actually, what happened was that the General saved my life today, so I swore on Rivera's honor that I would do what he asked of me," Elena said, "and he asked me to to marry him."

Mara and Anne's jaws dropped.

"That's kind of hot." Mara mused.

"You swore on Rivera's honor!" Anne exclaimed, and Elena had to hush her.

"Look, you can't tell mother or father. It will be uncomfortable for them if they find out the real circumstances of this marriage," Elena said worriedly.

"Of course dear, but this..." Anne said, and looked into her cousin's eyes. "I know you have no choice, but do you really want to marry him?"

"I..." Elena said, and frowned. "I don't know."

"What do you mean?" Mara demanded, "That General was pretty smooth in his proposal. You should be flattered."

"Is this because of your past with him?" Anne asked.

"I...I don't know." Elena whimpered, her eyes apologetic.

"Elena!" Mara and Anne chorused.

"I told him about our past," she said quickly. "He remembered everything and I apologised, and he still wanted to marry me."

"Well of course he still wanted to marry you," said Mara. "I told you a hundred times he never cared for your past mistakes, but you didn't listen,did you? You just went and made a mountain out of a mole hill."

"Elena, if your past is not a big deal to him then why are you unsure of the marriage?" Anne asked. "General Kieran is a good man."

"It's just...I'm uncertain of his intentions."

"Did he not tell you why he wanted to marry you?"

"Well, he said I was his best choice..."

"That's enough reason!" Mara said, "Besides, unlike Mara Rivera, you are beautiful and well behaved. You come from a great family. You know that's all there is to marriage in this era, right? Anne is just lucky that she was picked by someone she was already in love with."

Mara was right. Most girls got married to the men their parents picked, but her parents had left the final choice of a life partner up to her - and she had messed it up.

"Elena," Anne said. "If you are uncertain of his intentions, then you can talk to him about it tomorrow. You can ask him whatever you want and talk it out until your mind is clear. Alright?"

Elena looked at Anne, who had always been the voice of reason and had an answer to everything. She nodded, agreeing with her.

"Enough of this now," Mara waved her hand tiredly. "Why don't you tell us exactly how General Kieran saved your life?"

Both of them looked at Elena expectantly, and she cleared her throat, her mood lifted.

"So there I was, picking flowers..."

     *****     *****     *****     *****

The moment they arrived home, Commander Xerthes called for a family meeting in which he announced Kieran's marriage, as well as the luncheon with the Riveras. Joshua and Raymond were more shocked than surprised, and Aira was joyous.

"This is wonderful!" she said happily to Kieran. "You are giving me a sister at last!"

She gasped when she re-counted the Rivera daughters. "Actually, I'm going to have three sisters now."
She shrieked and clapped her hands excitedly.

Then she glared at all four of her brothers who stood around her. "I'll finally get a break from having to live with and hang around just the four of you."

Raymond stuck his tongue out at her, and she did the same. With a snort, and making sure her braid hit Ray's nose as she turned on her heel, she stomped off.

Ignoring her, Ray nodded towards Kieran. "Brother, I thought we'd all agreed that Aaron would be the first to get married. What changed?"

"What changed is that I happened to find a suitable wife," Kieran replied, easily.

"Thought that chance was once in a million," Ray said, his eyes narrowed.

"Then I was lucky," Kieran said with a shrug, and Aaron smiled.

"Elena Rivera is to become your sister-in-law soon, so treat her and her family well from now on," Kieran said to Joshua and Raymond in particular before departing from the room. The two brothers looked at him suspiciously as he left.

"Looks like he was enchanted by her dance a lot more than we thought," said Ray.

"No," Joshua said, folding his arms. "The Kieran I know wouldn't reach such a decision because of one little dance."

"Have you forgotten?" Ray asked, smirking. "You were enchanted by that dance too."

"Shut up, Ray," Josh warned. "Anyway, my guess is he finally gave in to Father's pressure. And Elena Rivera was the best choice."

"What do you think, Aaron?" Ray asked. "You were there with Kieran."

On their way back home, Aaron had gotten Kieran to talk on how he'd convinced Elena; and Kieran had made him promise to not tell anyone else about the circumstances of his marriage.

"Well, Joshua is right," Aaron replied. "She was his best choice. That's all there is to it."

With those few words, he also left, and Ray turned to his remaining brother.
"Hey Josh. If Kieran picked her himself, then there must be something special about her, right?"

Joshua sighed. "Ray, don't think too much about this, okay? The fact is; eventually, Kieran had to pick a wife and he finally has. Chapter closed. All other details are irrelevant now."

Without letting Ray add another word, Joshua walked away as well. Ray could only shrug in defeat.

     *****     *****     *****     *****
That night, Kieran lay on his bed with his arms behind his head. He allowed himself to become engrossed in his childhood memories; especially the ones that had Elena in them.

As the eldest children of the noble families living within the Northern sector of Rievelt, they'd received their education under the wing of instructor Garilaya, and most of their lessons were at his home. It was also where they used to play. He had taken them to a common farm on one of their leisure  activities, and that was when the horse dung incident happened.

Kieran remembered swearing revenge as he retreated from the laughing children and washed his face. Since his hair had been shabbily cut by Elena before, he had been having trouble keeping it in order and out of his face.
He had been so annoyed, he'd decided to stomp back and give her a piece of his mind.

Except he'd found her telling off the other kids. She'd been a stuttering mess even as she shouted at them for laughing, and kept on saying what had happened had been an accident, but they had not believed her.

Kieran had thought the kids were idiots, but he thought her a bigger idiot for grabbing a blade from an older kid and cutting off her long braid with it. And he thought her the biggest idiot yet for letting herself fall face first into the giant heap of horse dung.

Then again, he'd never seen someone go so far just to prove a point- and stick up for him. The rage had fled from his body instantly, and it had been replaced by feelings of admiration, warmth and comfort towards her.
She was an idiot as she was a klutz, but he had been moved by her actions. He never got to see her again after that day, until only recently.

It was no wonder he kept on being drawn to her, Kieran thought. For even though his mind had forgotten, his heart had not.

     *****    *****     *****     *****

The Hammedatha Manor was buzzing with busy bodies the next morning, with most of the focus in the kitchen.
More furniture was being brought into the sitting room, and the dining table was being expanded to accommodate more people.

Alyssa was bringing out her finest imported utensils and Aira was helping her to sort out which ones to use for the luncheon. Kieran and Joshua had left early to witness the execution of Alecuss Zorg in the Central, and Ray was busy with his morning workout in the West Wing of the Manor, where the training chambers were.

This left Aaron and Aira to help out in the arrangements for the luncheon, with Aaron doing most of the supervision.

The Commander was sitting quietly in the outdoor wood pavilion situated in the back lawn of the Eastern wing of the Manor. He was away from the hustle and bustle of the main house, enjoying a nice cup of tea.

As soon as Kieran and Joshua arrived, Aira dragged Kieran with her to his room, excited to pick out what he was to wear. Since it was a simple friendly lunch, she didn't see the need for Kieran to wear his uniform or anything that had the Kingdom's crest or Guard emblem embedded on it.

"Today you are going to meet your future wife not as the General of the Prince's Guard, but as Kieran Hammedatha," Aira instructed and went straight to rummaging through his wardrobe.

It was the first time he'd let his only sister choose his clothing, and he had not realised how exhausting it would be until then. All the clothes she had him try on didn't make much difference to him since they were all clothes anyway, but Aira seemed to see some sort of in invisible disparity in each article of clothing.

She looked to be enjoying herself in making him her puppet, and he liked to see her happy, so he went along with everything.
Finally, she settled on a long sleeved maroon kurta and white pants. Kieran stood with his hands behind his back, his poise upright as he faced her.

Aira placed her hands on her cheeks and giggled. "What did I do to deserve such a handsome brother?"

Kieran looked at the floor and smiled. It would have been annoying to be complimented by someone else, but when Aira said it, he felt flattered.

"Now let's do your hair." Aira said, and Kieran's smile dropped. It wasn't over yet?

It seemed, however that she'd already pre-decided what she wanted to do with his hair. For after she made him sit at the dressing table, she merely brushed through it, gathered his front locks back into a bun, and used a hair pin to hold it in place, leaving the rest of his hair to rest on his shoulders. It took only a few seconds.

"All done," Aira concluded, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Now she can see your face clearly."

*****     *****     *****

As the gates of the Hammedatha Manor were opened to let in the carriages driven by horses, members of the family lined up infront of the terrace to greet their visitors.

"You look dashing," Aaron said to Kieran, who was standing next to him. "Glad you ditched the shoulder pads."

Kieran merely shook his head.

The Riveras arrived bearing gifts which had been brought in a separate carriage. It was a joyous meeting in which the two families exchanged greetings, and for some of the children, names as well. The servants carried the gifts into the house.

"Oh my goodness, sister," Mara whispered to Elena as they followed the queue into the house. "Look at your future husband. He isn't wearing his General's attire or keeping any weapons on him. Doesn't he look a lot more appealing without dressing his capacity?"

Elena gazed forward at Kieran, who was talking and smiling with her mother.
"He does look...taller," Elena said, titling her head to the side as she narrowed her eyes to study his form. "And his hair is different, I suppose."

"Hey!" Mara slapped her sister on the arm, to which she quietly yelped.

"Are you blind or what?" Mara snapped. "How can you not see the hunk infront of your eyes?"

"You did not have to hit me!" Elena mewled, rubbing her stinging arm.

"He dressed up so well for you and you wore this simple dress, insisting on how it was just a simple lunch," Mara said and pinched her arm, to which she yelped again. "Do you see anything simple about this?" she hissed.

"Did you have to pinch me!" Elena complained.

"I can't with you," Mara said and went to link arms with Aira.

Elena paid more attention to the house-well, mansion. Unlike her sisters, it was her first time to be at the Commander's and it was definitely splendid, befitting of a family of the higher nobility. It was much bigger than the Rivera Manor and one could tell even from the exterior.

There was a lobby upon entrance, that acted like a junction, with a hallway to right, a hallway to the left (which led to the kitchen), and stairs up ahead. They were lead through the hallway to the right, and  into the sitting room as well as dining area.

"Because we are a military family, we have quite a number of chambers for different uses and activities," The Commander said as he led everyone to the dining area. "I believe a tour is in order after our lunch."

"Good idea, Commander," Lord Rivera agreed, enthralled.

Everyone sat down at the table, and with a signal from the Commander, servants filled in with the appetizers.
"Is there anything simple about this?" Mara whispered to Elena on her left.

Elena inwardly groaned and looked at Ray, who sat directly opposite her. He winked at her, and she smiled. Kieran noticed this as he sat next to Ray, and glowered at him.

One servant stood in each corner of the room, ready to refill the chalices, and one specifically to be called upon by Alyssa to bring in the main course, then dessert, at specific intervals.

All the while, conversation never stopped. Where the children weren't telling stories about their quests or Kieran's most courageous moments, the parents would fill in with stories of their children's younger days.
Alyssa's vivid narrative of the first time Ray rode a horse, or in actuality, got dragged around by the horse, cracked everyone up.

In interacting with all the Hammedathas at the same time, Elena saw how strong the bond they shared was. She hadn't even known Alyssa was a warrior until she told of how she'd met the Commander in battle with her homeland, Zefiria. In fact, everyone in the family was a warrior, including Aira, who like three of her brothers, was part of the Prince's Guard.
She couldn't help but wonder whether she'd actually fit in as a daughter-in-law, her who was even afraid to ride a horse alone.

After lunch, they split up for the tour. The parents formed one party, and the children another.
Ray beckoned the Rivera daughters to follow him, and he was never a step too far from Elena.

They toured the Central Wing, which contained the Guard's meeting room and Army's meeting room on one floor, the bedrooms on the second floor.
The Eastern Wing comprised the library, study room and guest rooms, while the Western wing comprised the training chambers and meditation rooms.

By the time they were finished with the interior, Mara was complaining of joint pains from walking too much.

"We haven't even gone outside yet," Aira chirped."There's the outdoor training grounds and the gardens.."

"Let's just go to the gardens and sit." Mara said quickly, making herself seem out of breath. "How far are they from here?"

"Depends on which gardens you mean." Aira said brightly, but she was met with a dark look from Mara.

"Let's just go back inside." She resigned.

Joshua folded his arms and shook his head. "Weak. This Manor is not for the faint hearted."

As they all walked through the cloister that led from the West Wing to the Central, Elena felt someone take her hand from behind. Upon turning, she saw that it was Alyssa.

"Come with me," Alyssa said, wearing a kind smile.

They were at the back part of the Manor, and Alyssa led Elena onto the lawn and down a couple of steps. There was a stone path that led to a gazebo, and a beautiful flower garden beside it.
Beyond the gazebo was a small lake over which arched a stone bridge to a stretch of meadow, and the horses strolled about it calmly.
She saw there was someone standing in the gazebo.

"It's Kieran," Alyssa said. "You should go to him."

She let go of Elena's hand and let her walk along the stone path to the gazebo.

She finally recognised him by his hair, perfect poise and his hands that were held behind his back, as he looked out to the meadow. She did need to talk to him anyway, to clear everything up as Anne had said.
There were two chairs in the small house, and she wondered why he didn't sit.

Carefully, she stepped inside and looked at his back. He didn't turn, nor did he speak. Had he not noticed her presence yet?

"General," Elena called out to him first.

Kieran turned his head just a bit to the side, at the sound of her voice.

"I wanted to speak to you," she added.

He then stepped around to face her, and noticed that her face expressed worry.
"What about?" he drawled, eventhough he pretty much knew her answer.

"This marriage," she replied, and he smiled knowingly.

A/N:
Fourth Chapter down.
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