Preparations

While Hanna began the preparations for the wedding, the eight mortals sat down and exchanged information in a small office. Aurora had returned the Guardian's cloak to Zan, and he had draped it lovingly across his shoulders. "Hello, old friend," he had whispered.

"I am sorry for whatever you find in its recesses. I am afraid I will never find all my things," the girl had lamented.

Around a thick stone table, the events of the previous weeks were laid out. The Empress was saddened by the events that had occurred in her absence, and part of her considered abandoning her nuptials to attend to the urgent matters. But in her heart, she knew that she must wed first. The time had come for the fake Emperor to become the real one.

Zan listened carefully to the others' encounters with the fairies, elves and gnomes. As both elves and gnomes were among their company now and he did not wish to offend them, he chose only to comment on the fairies. "Bolemir and his family did