Chapter 19: Dragon's Garden

In the morning hours, Aymeri helps Allyriane tend to her garden.

When they're done tending the plants, he sings her songs about her father's heroic exploits.

"What happened to all the stars?" he asks her one evening, "The last time I visited the mundane world, the night skies were full of stars."

"Light pollution," Allyriane says with a sigh, "The stars are still there, but the electric lights we use at night prevent us from seeing them."

At night, he shares her bed. Allyriane cannot imagine a happier life, and has yet to venture out and seek a career as her classmates all have.

But that doesn't mean there isn't important work to be done. Still unwilling to drive a petroleum burning source of pollution, Allyriane makes the long bike ride down to City Hall to petition for better public transportation from the hillside residential area into the city proper. The City Council laughs at her suggestion, "That's the wealthiest part of town," they tell her, "No one that lives there would use public transportation."

"Summerdream is just letting you go?" Thierry asks, skeptical.

"I'm not hers to command," Aymeri answers, "I've long been allied to her house, but I go where I will."

"I doubt you've heard the last of her," Thierry warns.

Aymeri nods, "I know, she's not happy to lose me. But I belong to your daughter now, and I won't leave her. My friend, will you grant me her hand in marriage?"

"You know you are welcome into my family," Thierry answers happily, "But we don't do it like that any more. Allyriane's hand is her own to give."

"It will be strange to call you son, old friend," Thierry says, embracing his soon to be son-in-law.

"I asked your father for your hand today," Aymeri tells Allyriane, meeting her at night by Butterfly Pond.

"You're supposed to ask me for that," she answers with a laugh.

"So he told me," Aymeri answers, "But I already have your answer."

"You could at least pretend to be in doubt," she teases.

"We are above such pretense, don't you think? I know your heart, and you know mine."

Aymeri gets on one knee to present his ring. Unnoticed by the couple, Moth hovers above Aymeri's shoulder, watching, to report back to Summerdream.

Allyriane and Aymeri return home to celebrate their betrothal.

Tristan and Adele are the first guests to arrive to the wedding.

Adele is pregnant with their first child.

Once all the guests have arrived, the couple take their vows.

And exchange rings.

And kiss.

"You are beautiful, my heart," Aymeri whispers.

The party begins when the couple cut their wedding cake.

"Lara, I'm going to sneak inside and swipe something while everyone is distracted."

"I'd prefer you didn't," Laramie answers, "You aren't working today."

Li Feng checks the kitchen sink. She's been fretting about it since she moved out.

Thierry and Amelia reminisce about their own wedding.

"Is she going to be all right?" Amelia asks, remembering how quickly her honeymoon ended, and the long time she had live without her husband at her side, "Will he really stay here with her?"

"He will," Thierry says, wishing he was as sure of that as he pretends. He has no doubts of his friend's intentions, but Summerdream won't let her dragon ally go that easily, he's sure of it.

Mayor Adrien Landgraab came to the wedding at Amelia's request; as a high ranking military commander and an astronaut, she has a lot of sway. But that's not enough to make the mayor amenable to Allyriane's request for extending the subway system into the hills.

As the last guests trickle out of their yard, Aymeri and Allyriane conclude their wedding celebration in private.

City Council and the mayor were unwilling to spend taxpayer dollars on the public transportation system, so Allyriane put her family's money into it. With her funding, the city added a new subway stop into the hillside neighborhood.

The parcel of land around the station was transformed into a park. At Amelia's request, martial arts training equipment were added.

Allyriane named the park Dragon's Garden. Most people think it was named for he dragon fountain and topiaries, but she knows she named it for her husband.


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Challenge Notes:
The bike ride  into the city really is long, and since I can't use cars during the Living Green generation, adding a subway station became a necessity. So I used that for my park building requirement.
Buying the park cost just under 60k, and it's not actually going to earn any income for the family unless I add 17k more to it. Which isn't too likely to happen, as I don't have room for much more stuff there. So, it's a money sink.
It's zoned as a Chinese Garden.

Allyriane is in the Political career, but for story purposes, she's just been going to City Hall to pester City Council about public transportation. When she reaches the levels of actual elected office, I will acknowledge her career in the story.

Aymeri has started his job hopping career in the Music career, but it's not going to make it into the story. He worked for two days, he took a day off for the wedding party, and then he's got another bunch of forced days off before he has to get to his next week of job hopping (next career is 'none'), so I'm just not going to mention it in the story.
He comes into the family with one tattoo already in place. He'll be doing the Tattoo Addict part of this generation as well. A new tattoo and a new job for every week.