Kexing had been told to expect foreign guests but still hadn't quiet believed that it would happen. He half expected the Seleucid to turn up because their military had just completed exercises in the Mhorish with the Empire's own Navy and a significant number of Seleucid soldiers were now acting as guinea pigs for the Lijiang hospitality industry. As the duo of Princesses from East Moreland arrived the old man gave a respectful bow to the pair. "Your Highnesses" It was possibly the first time he had seen a noble woman in the flesh wearing trousers and he considered the fashion statement not really making sense to him but he was an old man and he supposed that sooner or later these foreign fashions would find a route into the Empire. "We are excited to meet you both. As for your swords I think we can trust you with them as long as you promise not to chop any heads off." He smiled hoping his words didn't offend. "We as a nation believe traditions are a great bedrock and I would hope to learn more about yours as you learn about ours. Please pass on our greetings to your brother and please enjoy the day." A young man dressed in a red traditional suit appeared with a tray of soft drinks, mostly fruit juices and asked the royals to follow him as he lead them to an upstairs room that overlooked the entrance to the Palace.
Then the Seleucid arrived, they had been the one nation that they had expected to come and so Kexing had been prepared. "General" he extended a hand to the Seleucid officer. "First thank you for helping our military as of late. My grand-son meet a few of your men as he serves in the Army and spoke very positively of the experience of working with them. They sound like they have been a real credit to you, and of course to your King. I understand that he can't spend all his time here in our Empire but please let him know we are always thrilled to welcome him." He then turned to the wife and daughter of the General. "I hope you are finding our nation welcoming. We are hoping to see many more people from your homeland here soon." Having just restocked his tray the young man with the drinks reappeared and lead them upstairs ensuring he announced them formally to the Morelanders as he did so.
Kexing bowed deeply as Emperor Peter of Achkaerin introduced himself and his wife. "Your Imperial Majesty we are honoured to welcome you to our lands. Perhaps I think this is the first time in many centuries a monarch of Achkaerin has visited these lands, maybe the first time ever....I'm sadly no scholar of history. I understand you also govern Gowu which I suppose makes us Ardian neighbours in a way so I hope as neighbours you will find your stay here pleasant." Having finished depositing the Seleucid General and his family upstairs the young man served drinks to the Emperor and Empress before checking on the pronunciation of their nation before formally announcing them as he entered the upstairs room.
Next was another Ardian nation and Kexing bowed deeply to Emperor Arkan before extending a hand to Jishek. "Your Imperial Majesty" He addressed Arkan, "We are delighted you accepted the invitation. I know in the coming months the Dragon-Emperor hopes to ensure the Majestic Empire sets up a path to ensuring we are all good neighbours. I know he will be excited to speak with you but perhaps today he may miss the opportunity please forgive us if that is the case." The steward was back once more his tray restocked and his pronounciation perfected he ensured the correct introduction was given before once more skipping down stairs having seen another arrival from the balcony.
It was likely these would be the final foreign guests as Kexing looked at his watch. The Tamorans were a nation friends with Royal Seleucid and Kexing knew the two nations had a track record of co-operation so hoped this would be a nation that perhaps would be a step ahead of the others in terms of their opinions on the Majestic Empire. He was rather surprised that the Emperor himself had come as he understood that the Emperor did not leave his nation, yet alone Midaranye very often. Kexing bowed again deeply to each in turn. "Emperor Abbas, Empress Alya" he addressed each as he did so. "I know that His Imperial Majesty will be honoured to have you here. We've so far enjoyed meeting Midaranye nations and I hope our good fortune continues." This time as the red suited youngster arrived Kexing followed them up the stairs and waited for the introduction to be given before he addressed everyone. "Very shortly we should see the arrival of members of the Imperial Guard, they are a kind of cross between the Dragon-Emperors personal guard and a ceremonial unit. Today they will be dressed in
their black armour and will form a guard of honour between here and the Sanctum of the Two Dragons" Kexing pointed across the valley where an almost exact replica of the Imperial Palace stood just over a mile away. Some of you may have passed them on your way here." In the distance the sound of music drifted down the valley as the guards band played got closer. "We shall then see a mounted group arrive escorting the future Azure Dragon Queen."
There was a sound of footsteps on the stairs and Kexing turned to see Prince Chun, the Dragon-Emperor's 17 year old son appear and Kexing immediately bowed before presenting him to the group. The young man was tall and his posture stiff even inside a rather flowing robe of yellow. "It is my deep honour to meet you all." Chun gave a bow to the room. "My father extends his thanks for coming and hopes to during the day enjoy the company of each of you. I have been asked to tell you a little about the procedure for the day." Chun still wasn't sure how he felt about the wedding if he was honest he knew very well the tradition of the Empire meant his father was due to marry many women and produce many children but the idea though that his soon to be step-mother, a term not really used in the Majestic Empire, was a year younger than him made him a little uncomfortable. "First I thank you all for not wearing Yellow. It is the Imperial Colour and on state occasions such as the royal wedding only members of the Imperial Family may wear the colour for the ceremony a groom shall always wear red while in today's ceremony the future Queen will wear the colour of the Dragon's that have adopted her, in this case blue. The rest of us who are members of the Imperial Family shall be wearing yellow. You will notice in many of the Palace rooms today and over the river in the Sanctum a strip of yellow tiles, or bricks on the floor. This is known as the Imperial Road and only the Imperial Family may walk upon it freely. Anyone else must be invited to do so but naturally such esteemed guests as yourselves are automatically invited." That had been much debated by the various councils but Tielin had been rather assertive that he would ensure from the very outset an invitation to use the Imperial Road would be given to all his guests regardless of where they were from. When we reach the Sanctuary over the other side of the river you shall see many of us take patches such as this." He reached inside a fold in his robe and removed a coloured square piece of silk about 6 inches by 6 inches, "We call them prayer flags and they are used in our worship. Today they are tied to a string extended around the gatehouse, we will each tie our cloth to the string making a wish for the newlyweds as we do. Some even have messages on." He held his own prepared one up which had been stitched ready for the day by his sister Wenjun. "We have spares for each of you if you wish." He gestured to a basket by the balcony door with neatly folded squares of various bright colours, except yellow of course, stacked inside. A thick marker pen stood ready for incase people wished to leave a message. "7 days after the wedding these are taken down and shall be made into a blanket by Dandan and her household." Before he could go on any further there was a trumpet blast announcing the arrival of the first group of Imperial Guard as they gathered into a corridor of black armour below Chun noticed his father step out of the Palace to greet them. Some of the soldiers brushed flower petals off their armour and from the ridges in their helmet while fixing garlands and other gifts from the crowds that had lined the roads to their spear tips or armour straps.
It was only five minutes later that Dandan arrived and did not enter the Imperial Palace instead waited at the gate. "Please follow me." Chun turned stiffly on the spot with his hands behind his back before descending the steps without even looking back to see if the guests were following him. He moved between the line of the soldiers towards the gate before stopping just before exiting the Palace. He turned to see the guests following and motioned to the side of the gatehouse. "Please take a place in a carriage, we shall depart shortly" Chun waited as the guests boarded the waiting horse and carriages while his father came down to the gatehouse and other than a quick nod of greeting to the guests focused on the gatehouse. His wife Dragon-Empress Jing stood now beside him while Chun moved to join his siblings a step behind. Dandan was helped from her carriage and stood nervously on the outside of the gatehouse alone. With almost perfect timing a phalanx of white and blue robed women appeared from over the bridge, the arrival of the Priestesses and at their head, the only one riding a horse, was the Dragon-Priestess. Her attire was more elaborate than the others with a head-dress
topped with a gold dragon carefully balanced to complete the grandeur. She remained seated on her horse as she took up position to the right of the gatehouse, Dandan on the left and the Dragon-Emperor making the point of the triangle in the gatehouse arch.
Dragon Priestess Xi Mengyao spoke loudly "We have arrived here at the point where the Two Worlds, the spiritual and the physical worlds of our lands meet. We have gathered to see our Dragon-Emperor take the Lady Dandan as his wife and future Queen of the Azure Dragons. Lady Dandan come forward." the girl moved forward to stand next to the Dragon-Priestesses horse. "You have been blessed by the Azure Dragons, they recognise you as their representative on Mundus and should the Dragon-Emperor accept you they shall make you their Queen. Do you accept her?" The Dragon-Priestess pointed at the Dragon-Emperor.
Tielin stepped forward crossing the gatehouse threashold, "I will accept her as I trust the Azure Dragons." The Dragon-Priestess nodded happily and turned her horse.
"We shall now leave from the physical world and enter the spiritual world of Lijiang. There we shall entwine the souls of these individuals." Without another word the group of Priestesses, some just 10 years old entered the Palace and stood next to one of the black armoured soldiers. The Dragon-Emperor began to follow the horse of the Dragon-Priestess with his wife Jing next to him and his family behind. Dandan was flanked by two women of a similar age to her who represented her household however Dandan's situation had meant they had only been selected a week ago. The young girl was the daughter of one of the former High Lords who had defied the Dragon-Priestess before Tielin had been named Dragon-Emperor, the girl should have by tradition been executed along with the daughters of two other High Lords but Tielin had wished to send a message and so one had been sent into exile in Tamora with Tielin's support remaining secret, a second had been forced into becoming a concubine of the Dragon-Emperor and Dandan had been selected to become Tielin's 2nd wife, thus showing he was merciful but ensuring the loyalty of their fathers followers. The horse and carriages with the foreign guests followed along making a right turn to leave the gatehouse giving them the first view of the road that lead down to a stone bridge decorated with black carved dragon sides before the road rose up to the gatehouse of the faiths HQ where the wedding would take place. The sight of hundreds of black armoured guards and white robed Priestesses lining the road every few meters greeted them. The procession from the city waited for the Dragon-Emperor and the foreign guests to pass before following along on foot.
It took about 15 minutes for the Imperial's and Dandan to walk the route across the the Sanctury of the Two Dragons while the foreign guests travelled by horse and carriage. As they arrived at the huge walled temple complex that housed the faith Kexing appeared to speak with the guests. "There is no rule stating this but it is common when entering a sacred site here in Lijiang that women enter with the right foot first, men with the left. If you wish to leave a prayer flag now is the time." He removed his own, found the string extending around the gatehouse and tied his blue coloured prayer flag to the twine before stepping, left foot first into the grounds of the complex. There was then a series of steps that lead up to a large flat grey floored terrace that then housed the multi-story squat white square of a building that made up the Sanctuary. By the time Kexing had reached that terrace he was breathing heavily and had to take his time addressing the group. "We shall shortly have a ritual joining the pair. We then have a celebration" Kexing turned to Abbas and Alya but ensured his words could be thought to address everyone. "There shall be a great deal of alcohol consumed by the thousands in attendance and the celebration will take place here and also over at the Imperial Palace, even on the valley floor." Kexing motioned back behind them to where you could see hundreds of tents being set up along the valley floor where some of the nobles not directly given entry to the two venues would celebrate. "Many of our alcoholic drinks are simply more fermented versions of regular drinks, we understand some of you by faith my not consume alcohol so all glass wear shall be colour coded, blue shall be booze free. I suggest during the banquets you ensure that you keep such a vessel as then our servers will ensure you don't accidently get such drink. I think though food wise you should all be fine as we have a huge variety and much of it is vegetarian." Kexing personally didn't understand how people could be so picky over food, the Two Dragons had given mankind dominion over the whole of Mundus, if they hadn't wished a creature to be consumed they'd have placed them in the cosmos alongside them rather than putting them under the control of mankind. A gong began to be continiously rung, "We must take a seat." The ceremony was taking place outside and a huge circle of seats around a platform had been laid out. Kexing took them down to the front and showed them a seat. "It will be about ten minutes until we start so feel free to relax a little, if you have any questions we can answer them while you wait."