What one of Kondor’s cousins had once called “The Great Wedding Machine” was in full operation.  The ceremony would be held at the capital, and Kondor and Leah would be given the use of Slade’s old room for as long as they wished.  The Amir said that of course Zeke should stay at the capital while they did, but hoped he would return to his palace duties at the Amirate eventually.  Mohammed was not entirely happy with the place, but then, he was not entirely unhappy either, as he would not have to bear many of the costs of his sister’s wedding or entertain the couple immediately following their marriage.  He did promise to have her room at home refurbished to suit the couple whenever they managed to make it there.

The ceremony would be accompanied by a feast, and there were to be decorations.  Kondor was not particularly involved in any of this, although occasionally people asked his preferences as if he had any.  The one aspect in which he was involved, though, was dress.  He had always been laid back about dress, not even really having brought his dress military uniform, and hadn’t thought that this would be less than adequate for the wedding.  He didn’t remember what Derek wore, but Slade had told him about their wedding, and the fighter had been married in his leathers.  Wedding clothes were for the ladies, who wanted to look their best on their wedding days; but apparently they were also for the men, whose ladies wanted them to look their best as well.  That meant tailors showing him fabrics and discussing styles.  He was completely out of his depth.  Had he been in New York or London discussing tuxedo design, cummerbund or vest, bow tie or necktie, flat shirt or ruffled, white or pastel, tails or not, patent leather shoes or—well, he would still have been out of his depth, not knowing quality fabrics from ordinary ones.  But here it was the worse, because the Arabian robes all looked much the same to him.  He was constantly saying, “Which do you think?” and then going with the advice when he could, although frequently the answer he got would be something like, “well this one is good because, but that one is good because,” and it wasn’t really getting him anywhere.

He tried to involve Zeke in this.  He had an excuse, in that his companion was going to be part of the wedding party and so decisions Kondor made about what he as groom would wear would affect what Zeke and Mohammed and other male wedding participants would be wearing.  Zeke, though, didn’t care, and said it was up to him more often than not.

There were also travel arrangements to be made.  Leah had already returned home with Mohammed to prepare there (and Kondor thought it would be difficult to coordinate his clothing with hers with her in the next Amirate), and she would come to the capital the day before the wedding.  He, meanwhile, was to get there a few days ahead of her, whether overland or by river, make sure that their room for their wedding night was properly arranged and that accommodations for Mohammed’s people were readied, and go over the last minute checks on the ceremony preparations.  He thought this was ridiculous as he had never done this before and wouldn’t know what he was doing, but then he realized that most men in his situation had never done it before, and he probably wasn’t worse off for that than the rest of them.

Invitations were not sent in the way he would have expected, but messengers were dispatched to the other Amirates to announce the impending nuptials, and messages returned stating who would be attending.  He was not involved in this, as Leah knew who to invite and the Caliph’s staff were the people who needed to know who was coming.

As the day approached, he, Zeke, the Amir, and a substantial number of local nobles and household staff boarded several riverboats and began the two-day haul upstream to the capital.

There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with twenty other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #437:  Characters Relate.  Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter.  It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.

As to the old stories that have long been here:

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