We waited to be married for the recovery of her parents; three weeks saw sufficient recovery and we were married. We stayed in the castle for our wedding night, in the "hidden room " on the colorful blankets that had comforted Cleo that awful night.

The first night with Cleo was wonderful. She was attentive and active as a lover, anxiously gave up her virginity as we gently made happy love together. Her body was responsive, she was playful and joyous since the time I proposed. Our lives had changed, and we decided to spend our honeymoon in service to our kingdom. Beginning the next morning, we did a walking tour of some local villages, just talking to many from our kingdom about the things they need.

On return, the efforts to establish schools and train physicians had already started, and larger sums being spent to build roads and provide more patrols of the roads against highwaymen. The most violent among the robbers were executed; the simple thieves were put to work on the roads themselves, to make them wider, flatter, and safer for those who used them.

Tama and Jing had settled into ruling work again, assisting in judging the hardest cases, and directing the work on the schools. We all settled into an extended period of peace for the kingdom, and by the time our oldest children were ten and eleven, the schools were showing good effect. Parents were learning as well. Physicians were finishing their training with work in the villages, and more children were living past childbirth and through sicknesses. Peasants were learning about keeping their cesspools far enough away from their wells, and preventing livestock droppings from getting into drinking water. Roads were done; wide, clear, and safe with regular patrols by well-armed, well-trained troops who lived in the villages they protected.

A cloud was forming in the north-east, however... invaders saw the kingdom becoming rich and strong, and desired it.