FIC: Ho'ohanohano ho'okolokolo: Test of Honor- 6/6
Title: Ho'ohanohano ho'okolokolo: Test of Honor
Author: queenmidalah
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0/Black Jewels Fusion
Pairing(s): Danny/Rachel; Steve/Kono
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Language and a scene of violence
Word Count: 15,986
Summary: Danny Williams is a Sapphire-Jeweled Warlord Prince from Terreille who will do anything for his daughter, Grace, and her mother, Rachel. Rachel decides that the only way for her daughter to have any kind of future is to immigrate to Kaeleer and Danny follows them. Now he is in a territory where all the rules are different then those he grew up with-- and he must contend with Lucivar Yaslana's second-in-command; a Red-Jeweled Warlord Prince named Steve McGarrett.
Fanart/Fanmix: Fanart cover by: queenmidalah can be gotten here. :: Fanmix by not_from_stars can be found here.
Author's Notes: Thank you to the wonderful masteralida for beta-ing this for me. This story starts six months before "Queen of the Darkness". Written for au_bigbang
Part 1 :: Part 2 :: Part 3 :: Part 4 :: Part 5 :: Part 6
~~~
Wo Fat was a slippery bastard, but they had finally gotten him dead to rights on a few of his plots and plans within the small village he resided in along the mountain edge of Dea al Mon. The problem was, he knew a lot of the moves that many of the Dea al Mon would use to try and capture him.
Lucivar knew, immediately, as they entered the village that they wouldn’t find him. Steve, unfortunately, needed to see it for himself. A few of the women skirted away from the anger radiating off the men. Some of the village’s men wanted to approach Steve and challenge him, but the sight of Chaosti walking alongside the other man held a lot of weight with them. If their own Queen’s Consort and husband trusted McGarrett, had everything they heard he had done been a lie?
Steve’s eyes scanned the village, frustration starting to fill him as he realized that Wo Fat had gone to ground. He wanted to rage at *something* when he realized he saw movement from a nearby home. Barely sparing a glance to Lucivar and Chaosti, he ran towards the burly, wingless, half-Eyrien he recognized from the times he had visited the village. He also recognized him was one of the men that was often the first to speak up in favor of Wo Fat.
“Don’t hesitate!” Lucivar snarled.
He didn’t have to be told twice. Within the span of one thought to the next, Steve had called in his personal Eyrien stick with the blades and he was swinging in an elegant arc. With a cry of pain and a fumbled attempt to blast out with his Yellow jewel, the larger man went down, his legs neatly severed. Steve was easily able to contain the Yellow blast with his Birthright Opal. He kicked the man over and used basic healing Craft to seal the blood vessels at his legs.
Swinging the stick, Steve brought it up and down. Lucivar almost spoke, but he watched as the blade stopped a whisper away from the man’s skin near his throat. He flicked a hand at the other men of the Dark Court, giving them indication that he was letting Steve set this scene.
“I need a healer!” the man cried out. “Damn you all to the bowels of Hell, I need a healer!”
“Answers first, then we’ll consider it,” Danny said, stepping up beside Steve. He barely acknowledged the mental tap from Lucivar when he told him this was Steve’s. He didn’t move, but he did defer to Steve.
“I need a healer,” he moaned.
“Suck it up, Kojiar,” Steve snapped. “You may not have the wings, but you are half-Eyrien...”
“And a lot of good that did me,” Kojiar snapped in return. “Treated as half of what I am because I don’t have my father’s wings. Looked down upon because I can’t take flight like the other warriors.”
“Wings do not make you a warrior,” Lucivar finally said. “Or an Eyrien. The fact that you could never accept that is why you are treated as you are.”
“You’re one to talk, you bastard,” Kojiar snarled. “You have your wings!”
Lucivar simply gave him a lazy grin. “Yes, I do, and I’ll be sure to let the High Lord know what you think of me when he has the pleasure of your company in Hell.”
“I can’t get a healer there!” Kojiar screamed.
“You aren’t going to need one if you don’t start talking,” Steve got out. “Where is Wo Fat?”
A sick, twisted smile began to form on Kojiar’s face. “Went to ground, didn’t he? Ah well, suppose that’s best. You’ll never keep him from laying waste to this territory. Not with the power he has.”
“You forget who we serve, Warlord,” Chaosti said too softly. “Oh how you forget.”
“I forget nothing, you pointy eared bastard,” Kojiar yelled. “That bitch you call a Queen will be spreading her legs for the one that will conquer her, you wait. The Dark Priestess has plans, and there is nothing you can do about them.”
Not even Steve could have moved as quickly as Chaosti did. All he knew was one minute the Dea al Mon was standing behind him, the next his blade had sliced open Kojiar’s belly and his guts were spilling onto the ground as he died. A quick flash of Chaosti’s Gray jewel ricocheted off the sudden Ebon-gray shield that was thrown around the body.
Spinning, the Warlord Prince snarled at the Eyrien. Lucivar simply waited, calmly, until Chaosti stepped back from the killing edge enough that it was safe enough to talk without him exploding back to that shaky plateau.
“Do not finish the kill,” Lucivar said. “The High Lord will want to speak with this one. Personally.”
Chaosti put a hand on his chest and inclined his head to Lucivar, fully stepping back from that angry plateau. He turned and vanished the body before turning on his heel to leave with the other males. Chin and Danny glanced at Steve and Lucivar. The Eyrien flicked a gaze to them and tipped his head very slightly. With small nods, the two other men turned to follow the other males, leaving Steve and Lucivar alone.
“The Dark Priestess and Wo Fat?” Steve said quietly after a moment. He called in a cloth to clean his bladed stick before vanishing both. “What in the hell could those two possibly be doing together?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” Lucivar said. “We’ll inform the High Lord and he can get the rest of the information from Kojiar.”
“But Wo Fat still got away,” Steve said. “There is more to this then just him working with the Dark Priestess.”
“We’ll find out, Steve,” Lucivar said. “What’s important is your name is cleared now.”
Steve glanced at him, sighing before turning to walk beside him as they left the village. “Somehow, that just seems so empty now.”
~~
“Rach?” Danny asked as he entered the gardens. He looked around, frowning when he didn’t see Rachel anywhere. Grace had told him she went for a walk out here when he stopped in their room after returning from Dea al Mon.
“You’re alive,” Rachel said from behind him, her tone dull.
Danny turned, his smile dying before it ever formed as he saw the look on her face. She looked crushed, yet hopeful as well. It was a contradiction that concerned him.
“I’m alive,” Danny said. He watched her walk over to him before he found himself fending off her small fists as she tried to beat him. Her training with Lucivar and the boyos was showing, because he had to really work to keep from getting seriously hurt. He finally got a hold of her wrists.
“Rachel! What the Hell?!” he demanded.
“You could have died!” Rachel said, jerking her wrists from him. “You could have been gone, leaving me alone with Grace and you didn’t even care!”
“Wha-- I did it for you and Grace!” Danny said, his voice angry. “Some bastard was going to any lengths to destroy someone I trust you and Grace with. It’s obvious that he has no problems hurting innocent people. I had to go with to try and get him.”
“But you didn’t, Danny,” Rachel snapped. “You didn’t ‘get him’, and that means he’s still out there somewhere!”
“No, we didn’t get him. Yes, he’s gone to ground,” Danny said. “But we still had to try!”
“And what if he comes back?” Rachel asked. “What happens if he comes back and he doesn’t go away and I lose you?!”
Danny felt some of his annoyance slip out of his body. While Rachel spoke, her voice had cracked. He moved closer to her as she folded in on herself, covering her face with her hands and starting to cry. He put his arms around her, tightening his hold when she tried to shrug him off and move away. Finally giving up, she collapsed against him and began to sob.
“You aren’t going to lose me, Rachel,” he said, pressing a kiss to her hair. “I love you. I love Grace. I want us to be the family we’re meant to be.”
“We are a family,” Rachel said, hiccuping.
“A proper family,” Danny said. “I want us to marry. I’ve wanted us to marry for awhile, but I was scared you didn’t love me anymore.”
Rachel hiccuped again, lifting her head, tears slipping from her eyes. “Not love you anymore? I felt like I loved you too much,” she admitted. “I could never not love you, even when you are at your most infuriating.”
Danny grinned, laughter alight in his eyes. “That’s when I’m at my best,” he said. “Marry me, Rachel. Today even. As soon as we can get a Priestess to marry us.”
“Yes,” Rachel said. “I’ll marry you, but I have nothing to wear. We have to plan. Figure it all out.”
“Give me a day then,” Danny said. “You find a dress for you and Gracie, I’ll take care of the rest.” He gently cupped her face. “Give me one day and then we’ll be married.”
“Yes, Danny. Yes.”
~~
“You want to what?” Kono asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I want to plan a wedding,” Danny said.
“By tomorrow?” she asked. She glanced at Steve and Chin Ho.
“By tomorrow.”
“We are so going to need the coven and boyos’ help.”
~~
Kono looked around at the hustle and bustle of the Hall’s staff as they arranged everything needed for Danny and Rachel’s wedding in just a few hours. She should have realized that once Jaenelle and the rest of the coven got a hold of the idea Danny had, it would come to fruition in hours, let alone in a day. Hadn’t they done that very thing when Lucivar and Marian married? She had to wonder if they would ever be doing this for her, and if a certain Warlord Prince could possibly be the groom who’d be waiting for her.
“You look pretty lost in your thoughts there,” Steve said behind her.
Kono jumped and turned. She smiled at the slight boyish grin he wore. She took the flower he held in his hand.
“Aww, thank you,” she said. “I was a little.”
“And what did you have in that pretty head of yours?” he asked. Ever since that day in Danny and Rachel’s suite, Steve had been quietly courting her.
“Just wondering about something...” Kono lifted the rose in her hand to smell its fragrance.
“And what’s that?” Steve asked. A blush suffused Kono’s cheeks. *Oh now she has to tell me...*
“Just curious if this would be something done for me one day,” she admitted quietly.
“If I have any say, yes,” Steve said. Kono looked at him. He smiled and pulled a box from his pocket. He flipped it open, showing her the gold ring with sapphires and rubies along the band.
“Steve...”
“Kono, I love you. I always have since I first met you,” Steve said. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“But your life is in Ebon Rih,” Kono said quietly. “Mine is in Dea--.”
“My life is where you are, Kono,” Steve interrupted. “I’ve already told Lucivar that I may step down as his second-in-command so I can move to your village. I’ll always be there for the Dark Court, but my life is with you. My future is with you. I want you to marry me.”
“You really want me to marry you?” Kono asked quietly.
“I really do,” Steve said. “I’ve already talked to Gabrielle, Chaosti and Chin Ho.”
Kono’s eyebrow arched, surprise evident in her too large dark eyes. “You talked to...”
“Your Queen and kinsmen, yes,” Steve said. “I wanted their permission and welcome to ask you to be my wife.”
A slow smile crossed over her features. “Is that what you are asking, Prince McGarrett?”
“Yes, Lady Kono, that’s exactly what I’m asking,” he said.
“Then yes, I will marry--.” The ring was on her finger and his lips on hers before she could finish the sentence. She didn’t have to finish the words aloud, simply pouring her feelings for Steve into their kiss.
~~
“Need a drink?” Chin Ho asked Danny as he tied his tie for the fourth time.
“No,” Danny said.
“What about a club to the head?” Steve asked as he came into the room.
Danny glared at him in the mirror, Chin laughing. He pointed at Steve’s reflection. “Where the hell have you been? You were supposed to be here an hour ago!”
“I had something to take care of first,” Steve said, winking at Chin.
“Did it go as you hoped?” Chin asked. Steve simply grinned. “Good news, Brother.”
Danny turned to stare at the two men, his eyes moving from one to the other. “Okay, spill, what did you have to take care of?”
“Nothing that won’t keep ‘til after the ceremony,” Steve said, waving his hand. “You got the tie wrong...” He walked over to straighten it, laughing when Danny slapped his hands away.
“I know how to tie a tie!” he said. “Now. Talk.”
Steve grinned, glancing at Chin. The other man simply waved his hand. Steve finally looked at Danny. “I asked Kono to marry me.”
“Really?” Danny asked, grinning. “That’s grea-- wait she said yes, right?”
“No, I’m this happy because she said no, of course she said yes!” Steve said.
Danny laughed and actually pulled Steve into a hug, slapping his back. “Great news, man,” he said. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Steve said. “But that’s for later. For now.” He reached up and straightened Danny’s tie, earning a smack on the back of the hand.
“For now, let’s get you to your bride.”
~~
Steve had to chuckle as he watched Grace drag Chin into the street and dance to the music. If the girl were Eyrien, he would swear that her wings would be moving and she’d be fluttering up to dance with the Dea al Mon Warlord Prince. His gaze shifted to where he saw Kono and Danny dancing, laughing over something between them so much that they missed a few steps in the dance. His eyes scanned the crowd, seeing Rachel speaking to Gabrielle and Chaosti, smiling as they spoke. It was quite a change from the scared Healer that had entered Kaeleer six months before.
“You sure about leaving?” Lucivar asked to his left, breaking into his thoughts.
Turning, Steve glanced at his friend. He smiled a bit and nodded. “I am,” he said. “I won’t be far, you know that. But my place is with the Dea al Mon now.” He wasn’t the only one leaving. Danny, Rachel and Grace would be settling in Halaway where Rachel was offered a healer’s position with Lady Sylvia’s healer. Like Steve, Kono and Chin, they would still be available if the Dark Court needed them.
“It always has been,” Lucivar reminded him as he looked out over the rest of the crowd that had gathered for Rachel and Danny’s wedding. “Just took you some time to figure it out.”
Steve huffed out a laugh, shaking his head. “So everyone keeps telling me, even Mary,” he said.
“Like I said, just took time for you to figure it out,” Lucivar said. “Mary found her place faster, you and Kono simply needed time to realize it was time to stop dancing around one another and stake claims.”
“That’s the pot calling the kettle black, if memory serves about what I’ve heard regarding your courtship of Marian,” Steve teased.
“Yes, but I was on unfamiliar territory being from Terreille,” Lucivar reminded him. “So was she. But it all worked in the end.”
“That it did,” Steve said. He sobered a little. “Service fair starts tomorrow.”
Lucivar nodded, watching Andulvar as he danced with Marian. “I know. Aaron, Khary and I are heading there tomorrow morning,” he said.
“Ladvarian’s been very anxious,” Steve said.
“He’s convinced this time will be the time,” Lucivar said. “He’s certain Daemon will be there.”
Steve stood with his friend, letting his thoughts mull over as he watched Danny and Chin switch partners as father began dancing with daughter and cousin with cousin. He hated to voice his concerns, but he knew that he had to. He wouldn’t be in Ebon Rih when Lucivar returned to talk to him, leaving for Kono and Chin’s village to begin his life with his future wife.
“What if he’s wrong?” Steve finally asked. Two sets of gazes, one gold, one blue-green, found the form of the golden-haired woman they both called their Queen. Finally, Lucivar spoke.
“If the Darkness is kind, he won’t be.”
~~Fin... maybe~~
Author: queenmidalah
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0/Black Jewels Fusion
Pairing(s): Danny/Rachel; Steve/Kono
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Language and a scene of violence
Word Count: 15,986
Summary: Danny Williams is a Sapphire-Jeweled Warlord Prince from Terreille who will do anything for his daughter, Grace, and her mother, Rachel. Rachel decides that the only way for her daughter to have any kind of future is to immigrate to Kaeleer and Danny follows them. Now he is in a territory where all the rules are different then those he grew up with-- and he must contend with Lucivar Yaslana's second-in-command; a Red-Jeweled Warlord Prince named Steve McGarrett.
Fanart/Fanmix: Fanart cover by: queenmidalah can be gotten here. :: Fanmix by not_from_stars can be found here.
Author's Notes: Thank you to the wonderful masteralida for beta-ing this for me. This story starts six months before "Queen of the Darkness". Written for au_bigbang
Part 1 :: Part 2 :: Part 3 :: Part 4 :: Part 5 :: Part 6
~~~
Wo Fat was a slippery bastard, but they had finally gotten him dead to rights on a few of his plots and plans within the small village he resided in along the mountain edge of Dea al Mon. The problem was, he knew a lot of the moves that many of the Dea al Mon would use to try and capture him.
Lucivar knew, immediately, as they entered the village that they wouldn’t find him. Steve, unfortunately, needed to see it for himself. A few of the women skirted away from the anger radiating off the men. Some of the village’s men wanted to approach Steve and challenge him, but the sight of Chaosti walking alongside the other man held a lot of weight with them. If their own Queen’s Consort and husband trusted McGarrett, had everything they heard he had done been a lie?
Steve’s eyes scanned the village, frustration starting to fill him as he realized that Wo Fat had gone to ground. He wanted to rage at *something* when he realized he saw movement from a nearby home. Barely sparing a glance to Lucivar and Chaosti, he ran towards the burly, wingless, half-Eyrien he recognized from the times he had visited the village. He also recognized him was one of the men that was often the first to speak up in favor of Wo Fat.
“Don’t hesitate!” Lucivar snarled.
He didn’t have to be told twice. Within the span of one thought to the next, Steve had called in his personal Eyrien stick with the blades and he was swinging in an elegant arc. With a cry of pain and a fumbled attempt to blast out with his Yellow jewel, the larger man went down, his legs neatly severed. Steve was easily able to contain the Yellow blast with his Birthright Opal. He kicked the man over and used basic healing Craft to seal the blood vessels at his legs.
Swinging the stick, Steve brought it up and down. Lucivar almost spoke, but he watched as the blade stopped a whisper away from the man’s skin near his throat. He flicked a hand at the other men of the Dark Court, giving them indication that he was letting Steve set this scene.
“I need a healer!” the man cried out. “Damn you all to the bowels of Hell, I need a healer!”
“Answers first, then we’ll consider it,” Danny said, stepping up beside Steve. He barely acknowledged the mental tap from Lucivar when he told him this was Steve’s. He didn’t move, but he did defer to Steve.
“I need a healer,” he moaned.
“Suck it up, Kojiar,” Steve snapped. “You may not have the wings, but you are half-Eyrien...”
“And a lot of good that did me,” Kojiar snapped in return. “Treated as half of what I am because I don’t have my father’s wings. Looked down upon because I can’t take flight like the other warriors.”
“Wings do not make you a warrior,” Lucivar finally said. “Or an Eyrien. The fact that you could never accept that is why you are treated as you are.”
“You’re one to talk, you bastard,” Kojiar snarled. “You have your wings!”
Lucivar simply gave him a lazy grin. “Yes, I do, and I’ll be sure to let the High Lord know what you think of me when he has the pleasure of your company in Hell.”
“I can’t get a healer there!” Kojiar screamed.
“You aren’t going to need one if you don’t start talking,” Steve got out. “Where is Wo Fat?”
A sick, twisted smile began to form on Kojiar’s face. “Went to ground, didn’t he? Ah well, suppose that’s best. You’ll never keep him from laying waste to this territory. Not with the power he has.”
“You forget who we serve, Warlord,” Chaosti said too softly. “Oh how you forget.”
“I forget nothing, you pointy eared bastard,” Kojiar yelled. “That bitch you call a Queen will be spreading her legs for the one that will conquer her, you wait. The Dark Priestess has plans, and there is nothing you can do about them.”
Not even Steve could have moved as quickly as Chaosti did. All he knew was one minute the Dea al Mon was standing behind him, the next his blade had sliced open Kojiar’s belly and his guts were spilling onto the ground as he died. A quick flash of Chaosti’s Gray jewel ricocheted off the sudden Ebon-gray shield that was thrown around the body.
Spinning, the Warlord Prince snarled at the Eyrien. Lucivar simply waited, calmly, until Chaosti stepped back from the killing edge enough that it was safe enough to talk without him exploding back to that shaky plateau.
“Do not finish the kill,” Lucivar said. “The High Lord will want to speak with this one. Personally.”
Chaosti put a hand on his chest and inclined his head to Lucivar, fully stepping back from that angry plateau. He turned and vanished the body before turning on his heel to leave with the other males. Chin and Danny glanced at Steve and Lucivar. The Eyrien flicked a gaze to them and tipped his head very slightly. With small nods, the two other men turned to follow the other males, leaving Steve and Lucivar alone.
“The Dark Priestess and Wo Fat?” Steve said quietly after a moment. He called in a cloth to clean his bladed stick before vanishing both. “What in the hell could those two possibly be doing together?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” Lucivar said. “We’ll inform the High Lord and he can get the rest of the information from Kojiar.”
“But Wo Fat still got away,” Steve said. “There is more to this then just him working with the Dark Priestess.”
“We’ll find out, Steve,” Lucivar said. “What’s important is your name is cleared now.”
Steve glanced at him, sighing before turning to walk beside him as they left the village. “Somehow, that just seems so empty now.”
~~
“Rach?” Danny asked as he entered the gardens. He looked around, frowning when he didn’t see Rachel anywhere. Grace had told him she went for a walk out here when he stopped in their room after returning from Dea al Mon.
“You’re alive,” Rachel said from behind him, her tone dull.
Danny turned, his smile dying before it ever formed as he saw the look on her face. She looked crushed, yet hopeful as well. It was a contradiction that concerned him.
“I’m alive,” Danny said. He watched her walk over to him before he found himself fending off her small fists as she tried to beat him. Her training with Lucivar and the boyos was showing, because he had to really work to keep from getting seriously hurt. He finally got a hold of her wrists.
“Rachel! What the Hell?!” he demanded.
“You could have died!” Rachel said, jerking her wrists from him. “You could have been gone, leaving me alone with Grace and you didn’t even care!”
“Wha-- I did it for you and Grace!” Danny said, his voice angry. “Some bastard was going to any lengths to destroy someone I trust you and Grace with. It’s obvious that he has no problems hurting innocent people. I had to go with to try and get him.”
“But you didn’t, Danny,” Rachel snapped. “You didn’t ‘get him’, and that means he’s still out there somewhere!”
“No, we didn’t get him. Yes, he’s gone to ground,” Danny said. “But we still had to try!”
“And what if he comes back?” Rachel asked. “What happens if he comes back and he doesn’t go away and I lose you?!”
Danny felt some of his annoyance slip out of his body. While Rachel spoke, her voice had cracked. He moved closer to her as she folded in on herself, covering her face with her hands and starting to cry. He put his arms around her, tightening his hold when she tried to shrug him off and move away. Finally giving up, she collapsed against him and began to sob.
“You aren’t going to lose me, Rachel,” he said, pressing a kiss to her hair. “I love you. I love Grace. I want us to be the family we’re meant to be.”
“We are a family,” Rachel said, hiccuping.
“A proper family,” Danny said. “I want us to marry. I’ve wanted us to marry for awhile, but I was scared you didn’t love me anymore.”
Rachel hiccuped again, lifting her head, tears slipping from her eyes. “Not love you anymore? I felt like I loved you too much,” she admitted. “I could never not love you, even when you are at your most infuriating.”
Danny grinned, laughter alight in his eyes. “That’s when I’m at my best,” he said. “Marry me, Rachel. Today even. As soon as we can get a Priestess to marry us.”
“Yes,” Rachel said. “I’ll marry you, but I have nothing to wear. We have to plan. Figure it all out.”
“Give me a day then,” Danny said. “You find a dress for you and Gracie, I’ll take care of the rest.” He gently cupped her face. “Give me one day and then we’ll be married.”
“Yes, Danny. Yes.”
~~
“You want to what?” Kono asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I want to plan a wedding,” Danny said.
“By tomorrow?” she asked. She glanced at Steve and Chin Ho.
“By tomorrow.”
“We are so going to need the coven and boyos’ help.”
~~
Kono looked around at the hustle and bustle of the Hall’s staff as they arranged everything needed for Danny and Rachel’s wedding in just a few hours. She should have realized that once Jaenelle and the rest of the coven got a hold of the idea Danny had, it would come to fruition in hours, let alone in a day. Hadn’t they done that very thing when Lucivar and Marian married? She had to wonder if they would ever be doing this for her, and if a certain Warlord Prince could possibly be the groom who’d be waiting for her.
“You look pretty lost in your thoughts there,” Steve said behind her.
Kono jumped and turned. She smiled at the slight boyish grin he wore. She took the flower he held in his hand.
“Aww, thank you,” she said. “I was a little.”
“And what did you have in that pretty head of yours?” he asked. Ever since that day in Danny and Rachel’s suite, Steve had been quietly courting her.
“Just wondering about something...” Kono lifted the rose in her hand to smell its fragrance.
“And what’s that?” Steve asked. A blush suffused Kono’s cheeks. *Oh now she has to tell me...*
“Just curious if this would be something done for me one day,” she admitted quietly.
“If I have any say, yes,” Steve said. Kono looked at him. He smiled and pulled a box from his pocket. He flipped it open, showing her the gold ring with sapphires and rubies along the band.
“Steve...”
“Kono, I love you. I always have since I first met you,” Steve said. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“But your life is in Ebon Rih,” Kono said quietly. “Mine is in Dea--.”
“My life is where you are, Kono,” Steve interrupted. “I’ve already told Lucivar that I may step down as his second-in-command so I can move to your village. I’ll always be there for the Dark Court, but my life is with you. My future is with you. I want you to marry me.”
“You really want me to marry you?” Kono asked quietly.
“I really do,” Steve said. “I’ve already talked to Gabrielle, Chaosti and Chin Ho.”
Kono’s eyebrow arched, surprise evident in her too large dark eyes. “You talked to...”
“Your Queen and kinsmen, yes,” Steve said. “I wanted their permission and welcome to ask you to be my wife.”
A slow smile crossed over her features. “Is that what you are asking, Prince McGarrett?”
“Yes, Lady Kono, that’s exactly what I’m asking,” he said.
“Then yes, I will marry--.” The ring was on her finger and his lips on hers before she could finish the sentence. She didn’t have to finish the words aloud, simply pouring her feelings for Steve into their kiss.
~~
“Need a drink?” Chin Ho asked Danny as he tied his tie for the fourth time.
“No,” Danny said.
“What about a club to the head?” Steve asked as he came into the room.
Danny glared at him in the mirror, Chin laughing. He pointed at Steve’s reflection. “Where the hell have you been? You were supposed to be here an hour ago!”
“I had something to take care of first,” Steve said, winking at Chin.
“Did it go as you hoped?” Chin asked. Steve simply grinned. “Good news, Brother.”
Danny turned to stare at the two men, his eyes moving from one to the other. “Okay, spill, what did you have to take care of?”
“Nothing that won’t keep ‘til after the ceremony,” Steve said, waving his hand. “You got the tie wrong...” He walked over to straighten it, laughing when Danny slapped his hands away.
“I know how to tie a tie!” he said. “Now. Talk.”
Steve grinned, glancing at Chin. The other man simply waved his hand. Steve finally looked at Danny. “I asked Kono to marry me.”
“Really?” Danny asked, grinning. “That’s grea-- wait she said yes, right?”
“No, I’m this happy because she said no, of course she said yes!” Steve said.
Danny laughed and actually pulled Steve into a hug, slapping his back. “Great news, man,” he said. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Steve said. “But that’s for later. For now.” He reached up and straightened Danny’s tie, earning a smack on the back of the hand.
“For now, let’s get you to your bride.”
~~
Steve had to chuckle as he watched Grace drag Chin into the street and dance to the music. If the girl were Eyrien, he would swear that her wings would be moving and she’d be fluttering up to dance with the Dea al Mon Warlord Prince. His gaze shifted to where he saw Kono and Danny dancing, laughing over something between them so much that they missed a few steps in the dance. His eyes scanned the crowd, seeing Rachel speaking to Gabrielle and Chaosti, smiling as they spoke. It was quite a change from the scared Healer that had entered Kaeleer six months before.
“You sure about leaving?” Lucivar asked to his left, breaking into his thoughts.
Turning, Steve glanced at his friend. He smiled a bit and nodded. “I am,” he said. “I won’t be far, you know that. But my place is with the Dea al Mon now.” He wasn’t the only one leaving. Danny, Rachel and Grace would be settling in Halaway where Rachel was offered a healer’s position with Lady Sylvia’s healer. Like Steve, Kono and Chin, they would still be available if the Dark Court needed them.
“It always has been,” Lucivar reminded him as he looked out over the rest of the crowd that had gathered for Rachel and Danny’s wedding. “Just took you some time to figure it out.”
Steve huffed out a laugh, shaking his head. “So everyone keeps telling me, even Mary,” he said.
“Like I said, just took time for you to figure it out,” Lucivar said. “Mary found her place faster, you and Kono simply needed time to realize it was time to stop dancing around one another and stake claims.”
“That’s the pot calling the kettle black, if memory serves about what I’ve heard regarding your courtship of Marian,” Steve teased.
“Yes, but I was on unfamiliar territory being from Terreille,” Lucivar reminded him. “So was she. But it all worked in the end.”
“That it did,” Steve said. He sobered a little. “Service fair starts tomorrow.”
Lucivar nodded, watching Andulvar as he danced with Marian. “I know. Aaron, Khary and I are heading there tomorrow morning,” he said.
“Ladvarian’s been very anxious,” Steve said.
“He’s convinced this time will be the time,” Lucivar said. “He’s certain Daemon will be there.”
Steve stood with his friend, letting his thoughts mull over as he watched Danny and Chin switch partners as father began dancing with daughter and cousin with cousin. He hated to voice his concerns, but he knew that he had to. He wouldn’t be in Ebon Rih when Lucivar returned to talk to him, leaving for Kono and Chin’s village to begin his life with his future wife.
“What if he’s wrong?” Steve finally asked. Two sets of gazes, one gold, one blue-green, found the form of the golden-haired woman they both called their Queen. Finally, Lucivar spoke.
“If the Darkness is kind, he won’t be.”
~~Fin... maybe~~