[center][h1]Marriage under the Sunshower[/h1]
Collab between by [@Zinita] and [@AdorableSaucer]
[/center]

A simple tale, one that is known to all across the land, is that beyond the desolated seas of sand, where Ze’Kelia’s gentle embrace turned into a suffocating overpowering hold, there lies an oasis where the winds of winter come to life and push back the desert, leaving behind fertile lands that last all year. 

The elders however will soon warn that this land of plenty is no paradise, for its wealth lies with a price. The lands, and all of its people, were slaves to a great sorceress, it is said many travelers, their mouths dry from long trips through the desert, arrived at the icy oasis and were offered their water, food and hospitality, unknown to them, the cost of these gifts would be their eternal servitude to the sorceress and they would never be allowed to leave her realm ever again. 

The young will soon question their elders, why, if all travellers have been caught and eternally bound, how is it possible that the tale was spread? The answer is simple, not all young travellers forget the wisdom of the older and seasoned. Some knew an oasis flanked by icy mansions was no place to lurk into, so they merely observed, and saw the beautiful young enchantress in her tower of ice, her many content subjects, but also those who sang homesick songs when working in the farms or carving the ice.

Yet not all were wise enough to heed the elders’ warnings - some were even too brave to do so. One such brave soul was none other than the young Emperor who had come to claim this land. It was Ossurman the First, hardly sixteen years old and sporting only the first few twists of a coming beard. The young man had heard tales from local villages of the ice queen and showed up with his warriors to seize her lands for his growing realm. 

At the door of her mansion a day when the Su’une stood at its peak, he waited in his golden armour and linen dressings, backed by a horde of soldiers and villagers. She would give him her lands if he so had to force her.

The villagers gasped as the door to the mansion started to move, they had never seen the sorceress leave her home, much less at the request of a stranger. Still, the ice crystal door slowly opened up, and waiting at the other side was a young woman, a teen, her white hair contrasting with her dark skin, a cold chill filling the air as soon as she appeared. She took a few steps forward, her face not hiding her annoyance.

“Who are you, who comes to my home, to my lands? Who are you whose shadow takes the form of a horde of ruffians?”

The young golden-armoured man at the head of the force stepped forth and cast his arms out to the sides in a diplomatic, yet assertive stance. The scales of his armour rung with movement and behind a thick throat guard that reached him to underneath the nose, he spoke, “Be calm and be at peace - I am Ossurman, and I have come to bargain.”

“I have seen merchants before, but none that bargained with soldiers. An odd good to sell, but I am unsure if I need those, as by irony of fate the heavy armor is easily outmatched by the soft snow.” as she spoke her words the shadow of a cloud would creep across the land, dimming the light for just a brief moment. It was not a lone cloud, the horizon that was once clear now had a sea of white and gray slowly creeping forward.

The young lady looked smug yet she did not smile, she shook her head. “But still. What example would I give to my people were I to be this rude? Please, be welcomed to my palace so we may talk. But ah… I only have two cups, two chairs and two plates, I am afraid I cannot serve your friends and as such it is best if they do not come in.”

The Emperor bowed as low as his armour allowed him to. “Oh, that is quite already. I just had a drink in my tent.” He snapped his fingers and two servants came over with a small yet comfortable stool, upon which he sat down, just before her door. “How about we talk on your porch instead?”

The enchantress stared down at the emperor for a long moment, her icy blue eyes not revealing what emotions she felt. But she nodded, bowing back only so slightly despite her flowing black silk dress not hindering her movement in any way. “That too is fine. So, Ossurman, what brings you to the porch of Thea, she who brings the snowfall? What is this bargain that sent you across the dry deserts in search of my oasis?”

The young man gestured outwards. “A thousand leagues from here, people spoke of a jewel in the drylands - a gem without equal. I have come and I have seen her lands and her house.” He looked up at her with a glint in his eyes and unhooked the throat guard to reveal a broad, boyish smile. He lifted off his helmet, unleashing a bushy mess of short, sweaty hair and handed it to his servants. “And I would like to ask for her hand.”

With wide eyes the sorceress gasped. It was like seeing an icy mirror break as all of the sudden she truly looked just like a young girl, not the feared magician. Covering her mouth she looked away from the young emperor, trying to hide a dark blush in her cheeks. She had heard of the emperor, she was no fool, but she had expected threats and claims of her land, not of her hand.

"How presumptions! Do not take me for a foolish woman." She said without facing Ossurman, quickly and somewhat clumsily stepping back as the door started to close. "Now begone. The ice storm will soon be here, and if you insist I will make it a full blizzard by nightfall!"

The Emperor blinked briefly, but then nodded with the same smile. “Very well. I will leave for today.” He bowed again. “But I will come back tomorrow.” He then turned on his heel and walked away, his servants following faithfully.

The snow would continue to fall throughout the rest of that day and into the next one, the morning mist lasting almost into the peak of Su’une, many soldiers shivering as it was clear the ice enchantress was trying to make them leave. Nevertheless, the next day, the Emperor showed up at her door again, dressed in his armour fed thick with unam fur, though his servants still wore their desert attires and tried to move as much as they could when their Emperor wasn’t looking. The young man knocked on the door and sat down on his stool.

He was made to wait for a long time, but eventually the icy hinges made a cracking noise as the door opened ever so slightly. “You are awfully persistent. You might lose your army and your life here if you insist on this courtship.” the sorceress whispered as she peeked through the door.

The young Emperor snickered. “My men and women would die for me if I asked them to, just as I would die for them and for my empire.” He tugged the fur around his neck a little tighter around his body. One of his servants glared with envy for a brief second. “Before I came here, snow was unfamiliar to me: The lands which I rule have much to see, but nowhere does it snow; nowhere except here.” He clicked his tongue flirtingly. “You have shown me a great deal of beauty, my fair lady. Won’t you continue to do so by my side?”

Her hold on the door became tight enough for her nails to carve a trail into the ice. “Beauty? That is… I have never seen it like that. But perhaps that is because since I was born I was always followed by the snowfall, one may find the winter gorgeous at first, but given time they will learn to dislike it. It's cold, it's treacherous, and it has an icy heart. You say you want me to be your bride, but how long until you tire of a woman that cannot smile? Of a woman that when embraced does not bring warmth but instead chills.”

The young emperor smiled and reached out his mittened hand. “What man cannot help but reach out to a woman in such suffering? What groom can stand on the side as an angel of ice lives alone and abandoned in the middle of the desert? You say you cannot smile, but I say that is a challenge.” He grinned. “You will smile for me.”

Her lips stayed firmly pressed into a line, yet her eyes for a moment showed a sign of hope, and then a hint of doubt, they darted to the side again, unsurely moving by the empty porch, yet outside, a few rays of light started to shine, the cold breaking just a bit. Her grip on the door loosened and Thea opened it a bit more with a shy step forward. “You truly are a fool.” she scolded. “But for some reason I want to hear more of those words of yours…”

The Emperor smiled and flexed his hand again. “Then take my hand and be mine for eternity. Together, we will be the rulers of this world - my crystalline angel, my winter lotus.”

The sorceress rose her own hand but kept it reluctantly close to herself. “I never… For all my life my only company was this ice palace, it is a beautiful place. In the morning I tended to my garden of crystalline roses and at night I played my harp. I did not want to step outside, into the sun, but, maybe…” she stepped closer towards the young emperor, small steps, but little by little she descended the stairs.

As she walked into the sun her body gained a gorgeous light, her icy white hair sparkling like strands of diamond, her eyes deep and showing a sense of trust towards Ossurman. The young emperor had set off in this journey merely desiring her lands, but up this close, the sight of Thea, the ice sorceress, was as mesmerizing as the stars high above, and there was something about someone so powerful being so vulnerable as well that simply invoked a desire to protect and cherish. Still, the flames of ambition did not burn any less bright, with the powers she had showcased in these two days, the ability to control the weather, there was no doubt having her as a consort would bring great prosperity to the empire, which always had to be alert against droughts and dry spells.

She was now in front of the emperor, looking up into his brown eyes. She extended her hand back to him, allowing her cold skin to touch his. “Ah… it's so warm.”

The emperor had removed his mitten for the moment, and his eyes flinched briefly at the painful cold. He forced his charming smile to remain unchanged and snickered kindly. “And yours is like a welcome breeze in the blazing sun.” He removed his other mitten and, with a bracing swallow, he cupped her hand between his own. “Come out into the sunlight, will you not? Feel it on your skin.”

She did as he had asked, stepping into the sun so she could be closer to him, her body scintillating like the light rain that comes when the sun is still unhidden by clouds. Feeling a turmoil of emotions she had never thought to be possible, she felt light-headed and tumbled forward, into his warm embrace, her hands going to his shoulder for support. “Ah… I never thought I could feel such warmth within my heart. I thought all that was left for me was an eternity locked away in the palace, hiding from the world in my icy cage with my heart growing ever so colder. But now, I feel like I am free…” she still did not smile, but her delicate lips did relax, as if she was ready to.

“You are, my snowbird, my sweet empress - you are free to join me. Leave me not alone with this burning emotions - come with me, marry me.” The emperor discreetly switched the hand touching the icy hand and gestured southwards where in the distance, the snow looked to fade. “You are no longer a prisoner - you are a free woman.”

She nodded at those words. “Free… indeed.” her cold hands rose up from his shoulders and touched Ossurman’s cheeks, guiding his head to not look at the distant lands but at her. She then delivered a soft kiss to his lips. The closeness of her skin and hair forced the emperor to close his eyes, it was then that he would notice something very strange happening. As he held her, he could feel her weight becoming lighter, her hold on him weaker, the air was quickly warming up and the soldiers said something to him but in that moment of love he could not listen to them.

The sound of massive walls of ice crashing upon one another, however, was impossible not to listen. The emperor’s attention was stolen from his wife-to-be and forced upon the mansion, or what was left of it, as everything, from the pillars to the roof to the garden, lost its form and shape under the light of the desert sun. 

Realization would strike the emperor only when it was too late, when he returned his gaze upon Thea he was no longer holding the sorceress, instead, he would see snow quickly melting within his embrace, fleeing in between his fingers, falling to the ground and sand, before rising upwards towards the heavens.

Thea, now free of the weight of a solid ice heart, would have smiled brightly at the emperor, but clouds of vapor could do no such thing. And she traveled the land, falling and rising again, she would say “I am glad to have met you. Thank you for sharing your warmth with me” if only rain could speak.

It was strange how fast the heart could jump aflutter with emotions of love, and the emperor had genuinely fallen in love at first sight with this angel of ice. So it was that when all of her disappeared, he lost all the charm in his face and smile and instead collapsed to his knees. Lost for words, he could hardly even weep. Instead, he lifted his naked hands and face to the heavens to feel the warming rain. It would be his tears.

[hider=summary]
The young emperor Ossurman goes out in the desert seeking an ice witch who lives in an oasis, it is his plan to gain her hand and along with it her lands and power over the weather so he can bring more rainfall to the empire. Upon meeting her, however, a feeling of genuine love starts to form between the two of them, and, with great effort, he manages to break through the ice witch's cold heart. The warmth of love, however, makes it so the ice witch melts away, leaving the emperor behind as she raises to the sky as a cloud, which later brings down rain upon the empire.[/hider]