Meerkat frowned when Deathbringer stopped yet again at another stand.

"Whoah! I've never seen these kind of blades before. Nice sharp edges and small enough to hide in my ear... how much?"

Clay and Riptide face-taloned while Meerkat counted to ten to steady his patience.

Deathbringer was like a little dragonet sometimes, which was understandable on why the RainWing queen complained about him often.

"Aren't we supposed to be looking for Meerkat's ceremony outfit instead of... what did he say? Blades!" Starflight exclaimed with an annoyed expression.

Deathbringer slightly tilted his head to their direction but never took his eyes off the gleaming weapons.

"Hey buddy, would you prefer if I sliced your stomach open and let the guts spill, or decapitated you with a dull sword," the ex-assassin casually asked.

Starflight shivered at the murderous thoughts and lowered his posture to one that mimicked a wolf in submission.

"That's why I said, let's keep looking at blades," the Jade Mountain librarian awkwardly laughed.

Meerkat sighed and grabbed Deathbringer's wing, dragging him away from his shiny blades.

"Hey! I was just gonna pay for them! I could slice your neck right now..."

The growl in the bodyguard's voice was the complete opposite of quiet.

"I'm not scared of you, and I certainly do not want to show up at my wedding with just a band on my tail. We can go back to the blades on the way back," Meerkat said and walked next to Clay.

The ex-assassin glared at him but just mumbled and took his place next to Riptide.

"Nice one. All that Deathbringer lives for is Glory and his assassin thinga-things," Clay chuckled.

Meerkat laughed and walked along the streets of Possibility's market area.

"I'm actually terrified of that dragon, but I can't fail Sunny on our special day."

Clay kindly smiled at him, "You really care about her."

It wasn't a question, it was a true statement.

"Of course I do, it would be impossible to not care about Sunny," Meerkat easily said with the well-known gleam in his eyes whenever he talked about the SandWing Princess.

The MudWing nodded and was about to say something else, but Riptide beat him to it.

"Bow ties!"

"What?"

The three of them stared at the sky blue SeaWing, (Starflight couldn't stare so he just faced his head in his direction) wondering what his mind was thinking.

"There's a stand with bow ties over there! We can get a really nice one for Meerkat and then some for us," Riptide suggested with a hopeful look.

Clay and Meerkat shared an amused look but nodded their heads.

"Bow ties? Please, only silly dragons wear bow ties," Deathbringer scoffed as if the mention of the simple accessory was a stab at his ego.

Twenty minutes later, Glory's bodyguard was admiring a dark purple bow tie made out of silk.

"Look at it! It makes me look ten times handsomer than what I used to be, and that's saying something," he gushed as he looked in the mirror with a puffed up chest.

"I'm not sure handsomer is even an actual word," Riptide cut in, awkwardly wearing his light pink bow tie.

"It actually is," Starflight said with a reluctant voice.

The NightWing scholar was wearing a jade green bow tie that he had randomly picked, saying that he didn't care what color it was since he couldn't see it either ways.

Meerkat laughed and continued to look over the bow ties on the table.

There were so many of them, but he couldn't choose which one suited him best.

It was as if someone had taken the time to look at every color in the world and then made a bow tie with it.

Clay walked up to him and adjusted his orange bow tie as he talked.

"Which one will it be?"

Meerkat sighed and picked up a random neon yellow bow tie.

"I don't know, I just can't seem to find the right one."

He placed the bow tie back on the table and his shoulders slumped in defeat.

Clay smiled kindly at him, "Don't worry, maybe there's another stand like this one up ahead."

"Nope, there isn't. I did a quick scan of the place, and this is the only one," Deathbringer said as he made his way to them.

"That's worrisome," Meerkat observed with a frown.

"Guys? Can someone help me? I think this is a little too- agh!"

Everyone's heads turned to Starflight, who had walked the wrong way and bumped into a wooden box that had been placed at the side of the table.

At least fifty bow ties fell to the ground.
Bow ties that no one had bothered to take out and see them.

The SandWing vendor gasped and frantically rushed to pick them up.

"Oh no, what did I do? I'm so sorry!" Starflight panicked and reached down to try and help with whatever he could.

"No, don't worry. It's okay," the SandWing reassured as she picked up the bow ties and placed them back in the box.

"Ma'm, is it okay if we look through them?" Meerkat cautiously asked with a new hope in his dark eyes.

"Uh, yeah, of course! I was going to put them up for display later on today, but I forgot. My daughter would be so mad if she found out," the vendor laughed.

"Why would she be mad?" Starflight asked with curiosity.

"These bow ties are the ones she makes. See, she wants to continue this little business when she grows up."

While Starflight and the vendor had been talking, Meerkat had already chosen the bow tie that was perfect for his wedding.

It was differently made than the ones on the table, with its slightly bigger bow and sprinkled with a glittery powder, it was definitely mesmerizing.

The color was beautiful too, at the center it was a dark and rich forest green, but the color naturally faded into a sea glass shade from an inside-out direction.

"I'm taking this one " Meerkat smiled widely and held it up.

"Nice choice, Sunny will faint when she sees you in it," Deathbringer smirked, "just how Glory will faint when she sees me in mine."

Meerkat rolled his eyes with a smile as he gave the bow tie to the vendor so she could pack it up along with the others.

"Actually, I'm sure it's going to be the other way around," Meerkat replied.

He knew there was a large possibility that he would faint at the sight of Sunny in her wedding attire.

She was the sun itself when she didn't wear any jewelry, so Meerkat knew that his princess would blind everyone in the nearby area when she showed up covered in the finest silks and jewels of the kingdom.

"What else are we getting besides the bow ties?" Clay asked as they paid the kind vendor and moved on along the path.

"Jewelry would be a good idea," Riptide offered.

"Sometimes I would sneak into Queen Coral's palace when there were parties or ceremonies. There wasn't a single dragon who didn't have at least five different pieces of jewelry on them."

Meerkat thoughtfully nodded, "Maybe not that much jewelry, but a few bands would be nice."

"Just so we're clear, a bracelet is the most you will ever be able to get on me," Deathbringer passionately announced as he disapprovingly looked at a passing dragon that was practically made out of rubies.

Riptide, thinking he could trigger the NightWing for fun, said, "Why? Saving your claws for Glory's ring?"

He failed, for Deathbringer smirked and gave the SeaWing a look that proved him right.

"Exactly."

Meerkat laughed and shook his head at his friends.

"Sometimes we get a little crazy and weird, but you'll get used to it soon enough," Clay laughed.

Meerkat felt his heart skip a beat.

The soon-to-marry SandWing grinned widely and he couldn't care less if he looked like an out of control Deathbringer.

"You mean, I'm... part of your group now?"

Clay smiled, "Of course you are. Well, I never thought us as a 'group'... but yeah. You're our friend and Sunny's almost-husband, and you get me food every other day."

Meerkat hugged Clay, not bothering himself with the passing strangers.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Clay hugged Meerkat with a large smile of his own, "Uh, you're welcome?"

"Guys, where's Starflight? And Deathbringer?"

Meerkat pulled away and stared at Riptide with a shocked face.

"You weren't taking care of them?"

"I REFUSE to be the babysitter in this relationship!"

Meerkat face-taloned and looked around with worried eyes.

"Okay, umm... oh moons. Deathbringer must have gone back to the blades. Uh, Starflight... where could Starflight have gone too?"

"Did you loose this?"

Meerkat turned around to see the Queen of the RainWings and NightWings holding her bodyguard by the ear.

"I was just trying to get some last minute things for tomorrow and then this idiot pops out of nowhere," Glory complained as she pushed Deathbringer toward them.

Meerkat frowned at the NightWing and looked up at Glory.

"Sorry, won't happen again," he apologized with a small smile.

Glory grinned back at him but her emerald eyes glared at Deathbringer.

"You, please do continue pestering me with your presence. I hate not having you by my side," the queen sarcastically said and turned around to leave.

"I know, you practically can't live without me," Deathbringer smirked and watched Glory's scales turn a dark red.

However, the queen didn't turn back around or say anything else, she just left.

"Okay then, we have one out of two. Where's Starflight?"

Clay and Riptide shrugged helplessly.

"That smarty dude? I think I saw him sleeping on the pile of scrolls by the antique area," Deathbringer casually said as he gave them a confused look.

"How?! It's literally been fifteen minutes since we got the bow ties!"

Clay sympathetically patted Meerkat on the back.

"Don't worry buddy, we'll find him. And we will also get the jewelry and whatever else we need, just you see," the MudWing said.

"How are you so calm about this?" Meerkat asked with admiration.

Clay sighed and his eyes foreshadowed his words.

"It's not the first time we've been in a situation like this."

—————————————————————-

I'm sorry this took longer than expected, I truly am.

I've been just... so busy with my schoolwork and all the exams that are coming up. It's been worse than hectic.

But this is about 1,760 words long, so it's an extra long treat for you.

Thanks to TheRealDrakeRedwing  for being the greatest supporter. And of course, the idea of the bow ties! And as I've said a hundred times before, this book is co written with him. Please go check out his story The Question. He's planning on releasing a full out novel, so make sure you got and see what it's about!

Next part, I promise will be the actual wedding ceremony!!!

Thanks so much as always, you guys are more than what I ever asked for!

Okie Dokie

The trees are moving and it's sad cause they're not even saying hi.

-Sofi