Chapter 8

Over the next three months, life was amazingly disorganized, and full of plans to get organized. Zelda, Chazdon, Link and Malon all planned to be married at one ceremony in the castle. This only made things more difficult. The brides had to find dresses that matched, for themselves and the maids of honour (Impa and Saria I). The grooms watched arguement upon argument over whether or not the maids of honour should wear identicle dresses. Zelda said yes, Malon said no. They had finally decided on similar but not identicle, when Saria threw a gear in the works by suggesting they just have one maid of honour, or a bunch of brides maids. This sounded like a good plan, so the five female sages and Rabay were enlisted as brides maids.
Saria II would be the flower girl, they thought. But the problem was that she couldn't walk yet. That plan fell threw, so two young children of royal servants were cast as the flower girl and the ring bearer. Saria was dubbed too young to attend the wedding. So who would take care of her? Talon? No, he would be in the procession. A royal servant was given the task.
But what of Talon? Had he patched things up enough with Malon (and Link, for that matter) to give her away? There were doubts and tension. Malon asked him on a daily basis if he planned to come to the wedding, but she wouldn't say what he answered. He never came to rehersals, so the general assumption was that he wasn't going to be at the real thing.
The time was ticking down. Royal semstresses sewed dresses. The couples took dancing lessons (Zelda already knew how to dance, and Link sort of did, but they went anyway for their fiancee's sakes, and to brush up on their own rather rusty skills.
Flowers, food, music, decor. The planning was even more spectacular then it had been for Zelda and Link's wedding. Three months flew by, and before anyone knew what was happening, the wedding was in two days.
There was a last minute rehersal two days before the wedding, then everyone took the day before the wedding to sleep. No one involved in the wedding was seen that day. Besides Link and Zeldas very breif and rare telepathic conversations, they didn't talk. The conversations usually went something like this:
*Are you nervous?*
*I'm scared out of my mind. You?*
* Same. But I know we're doing the right thing here...right?*
*Of course...I just can't beleive it's tomorrow!*
*You're not helping me get over my nerves.*
*Hey, what do you want from me?*
*I'm leaving. You're making me more scared.*
If Malon and Chezdon had telepathy, their conversations would have been like that, too. Except for the fact that Malon spent the day with her father trying to talk him into coming.
"Dad, you'll have to choose. Him and me or neither of us."
"Malon, you'll have to choose. Him or me, but not both."
"If you won't accept him as my husband, you're going to lose me."
"Where are you going to go? Where are you going to send me?"
"You told me the ranch was mine when I got married!"
"And it will be! I can't deny you what is yours. All I'm saying is that I can't lose you. You can't run away from me."
"You don't get it, do you? Don't make me choose between you, because in my heart I know I can't! But in my head, I'm so annoyed with you lately that I'm not going to choose you! I would appreciate a little support, if nothing else, on the day that I am getting married! You are the father of the bride, and if you don't give me away, I'll give myself away! But I will marry him! You can't stop me!"
"I know I can't. You're a grown woman, and I can't make you do anything. Farore knows parents always try to stop their kids from getting married."
"Did your parents?"
"Oh, yes. They thought your mother was much too high and mighty for me. Thought she wouldn't get off her high horse and get her hands dirty working on a ranch. Thought she'd leave me the minute she found out she wouldn't have servants. They didn't realize that we were in love, and that they..."
Malon was smiling. Talon realized he'd walked into his own trap.
"Alright, alright! I'll give you away. I just want the best for you."
"So did your parents, and you and I both know they were wrong. But thank you so much! I couldn't imagine being married without my Dad there!" She embraced her father, and then returned to her chores. As she walked away, she called, "You know Link's not as stuck up as Darvin. He'll be willing to get dirty and do chores. You'll see he's a much better choice than Darvin for me."
Talon spoke, though not loudly enough for Malon to hear, and said, "I really hope you're right."

The next day was busy. Almost everyone in the kingdom was dressed in their best and in attendance at the royal wedding. Chefs did last minute cooking, flower arrangments arrived, guests were seated, Talon was briefed on what he had to do. And the two couples got dressed.
Link and Chezdon shared one dressing room, and Malon and Zelda had another. In the men's chamber, Link was trying to calm Chezdon down.
"Link... I feel sick. I think I'm gonna throw up."
"No, you're not. You'll be fine. You love her, right?"
"Of course I do, I just think I might be coming down with something."
Link laughed, "You're not coming down with anything. Just think of Zelda and you'll be fine."
"I don't think I deserve her. I'm just some guy who nobody would have ever heard of if not for the fact that my brother's famous. She's the queen. Her life is more important than... than anything! People guard her day and night to make sure no one tries to kill her. No one would bother trying to kill me. And if they did, it wouldn't be a big deal. We're from two different worlds. She deserves more than me. Link, she deserved you. Why didn't you stay married to her?"
"Because I love Malon. You're great, Chezdon, and if she's in love with you than she deserves you. The fact that she's queen is just because she got lucky, not because she did anything special. The fact that you're not a celebrity is for the same reason. And after today, you'll be just as valuble as her."
"No, I won't. I never will be."
Link sighed. There was no convincing Chezdon of anything. He had always been stubborn. Well, as long as he didn't back out at the alter or anything, it would be okay. Maybe if Link handcuffed himself to Chezdon so he couldn't run away... Nah, to much trouble.
Meanwhile, the ladies were handling things much better. Having been married before, neither of them was scared. Malon was a bit nervous because her previous wedding had not been this publicized. There had only been a few close friends, nothing like this. Still, she knew she was doing the right thing, and it would be wonderful to have the whole world see her married to the man she loved. She clutched her purple beaded bracelet and kissed it for good luck. She couldn't wear it because it would look funny with her beautifully elaborate wedding gown, but she could hold it until the big event.
Zelda was pacing because she couldn't sit, lest she wrinkle hundreds of layers of chiffon. She was getting fidgity, so she played with a lock of her hair. When that got boring, she played with the beadwork on her dress. Then went back to the hair. She felt like she was going to scream with boredom.
"When can we start this wedding?! We've been waiting for hours!"
Malon glanced at the clock in their room and said mildly, "It's been twenty minutes since we got here. That's including the time it took us to get dressed. So we've only been waiting for about five minutes."
Zelda shot her a look. Malon shrugged, because she couldn't think of any other response. She wanted the wedding to get underway so she wouldn't have to deal with the queen's temper. Who knew what could happen if she got frustrated? Maybe she'd work some magic to kill time, such as turning Malon into various small animals. Malon sure hoped not.
Soon after this thought had crossed her mind, Malon heard a knock. Zelda irritably demanded to know who it was and what they wanted.
"Your Highness," came Rabay's voice, "the wedding will be starting in five minutes. If you don't have your veils on, you should put them on now. I'll be back to get you shortly."
"Thank you, Rabay." said Zelda and Malon in unison. Zelda's anger seemed to melt away now that things had started moving.