Dusk had settled by the time they reached the White Gardens. The dock was lined with children carrying flower garlands with Diana at the front. The platform as well as the path to the inner gardens had been lit with beautifully decorated torches. Leyla watched Raphael, Annabelle and three ministers disembark from the first boat. The tallest of the three men, the minister of defence, was Annabelle's father - or so Delphine had told her in an attempt to explain why the woman was riding with the Prorex.

"Please don't feel insulted," Delphine had said. "The Prorex would never do anything to disrespect his fiancé, especially not with Annabelle."

Hah! It had been eye opening to realize that it was not considered acceptable for the Prorex to have a mistress. It was also obvious that Delphine did not know Raphael as well as she might think.

Leyla straightened her shoulders as their boat began its approach next; she would not allow anger to dictate her moves. She hadn't spoken to Raphael since ordering him out of her room, but now she had to find a way to be civil. Just asking him to remove the bracelet was obviously not going to do the trick, so Leyla had to play nice while finding out how exactly the thing could be taken off. If it just required Raphael's hands on it, then there would be plenty of ways to make that happen...

"Consort!" Diana came to the edge of the dock, smiling broadly as their boat came to a stop.

The passengers all touched their fingertips to their foreheads in greeting: "Teacher."

"Come, come, welcome to all!" Diana motioned them to rise. Everyone, even the Book Keeper stepped aside to let Leyla out first.

Michael gave her a nudge when she hesitated. "Let's go La-La, can't keep your mother-in-law waiting!"

"You're lucky you saved my life yesterday, or you'd be swimming right now," Leyla hissed back. Then she was taking the steps up to the dock and being enveloped in Diana's arms. The embrace was warm and strangely not too uncomfortable.

"I heard you had an accident. Are you alright?"

Leyla's eyes met Raphael's over his mother's shoulder. Standing side by side with the woman who had caused the 'accident', he was watching her without comment. Annabelle, on the other hand, had a soft smile on her face as she took a small step closer to the Prorex.

"I'm fine, it was nothing really," Leyla pulled out of the older woman's grasp, but the Teacher had no intention of letting her get away. Threading her arm through Leyla's she began leading her forward.

"I'm so glad to hear that, dear! Now, let me tell you about tonight's ceremony, because I doubt my ever-busy son has had a moment to enlighten you." Diana attempted to walk them off the dock, but the children broke out of their perfect lines and suddenly encircled them.

Leyla recognized many of the faces from the two days she spent in the Gardens and couldn't help smiling at their excitement. With their little fingers touching their foreheads, they greeted her as 'Little Teacher' then thrust flower garlands in her direction.

"Now, now!" Diana said in a stern voice, "The Consort can't possibly wear all your garlands, so we will have to pick a few, alright?"

The cacophony of groans was followed by laughter from the adults on the dock. Only Leyla did not laugh. She knew well what it felt like to crave attention or a simple kind word as a child and did not want these kids to be let down, especially not on her account. Leyla stepped forward then, and pointed to the flowers.

"These are beautiful, you are all so talented and thoughtful." The kids beamed at her words of praise. "But it wouldn't be fair of me to take them all when there are so many excited visitors waiting to receive one, don't you think?" The children looked around at the smiling adults, then they were looking back at Leyla and shaking their heads in agreement. "Alright, how about we mix them all up so no one knows whose Garland is which? Then all of the visitors can get one and think of it as a gift from all of you. Would that work?"

The children blinked in silence for a moment and then they were cheering with excitement as they stacked their flower necklaces in her arms. Leyla laughed at their exuberance, then picked one at random. As she placed it around her neck, she saw Raphael watching her with a look that could have been mistaken for prIde.

It angered her that she was warmed by the look. How could he watch her that way as he stood beside his lover? Leyla wanted to wipe the smile off his face with a well aimed punch, but forced herself to smile instead. The surprise in his eyes was worth the effort.

Giving the extra garlands to Michael and Delphine to pass around, Leyla turned back to the children. "Thank you all for the lovely gift."

"You're welcome, Little Teacher!" They smiled in chorus.

Diana strung her arm through Leyla's once more, addressing the adults behind them. "Now that that is done. Let us proceed to the central garden."