Marakaran was a fairly large world, covered with blue oceans and fairly large land masses that looked lush and green with life.
From above, it resembled Earth, but as they got closer, Candace realized that it was different. Earth was much more polluted, much less pristine.
Marakaran was an absolutely perfect jewel, shining with flawless brilliance and clarity.
Candace was standing at the large glass window looking out onto the world below with Lucas when Dante approached her with a couple of glasses of champagne in his hand.
"Beautiful isn't it?" He handed her a glass.
Candace took it with a murmured 'thank you' into his mind and began sipping with appreciation.
"Hey, where's mine?" Lucas grinned.
"Get your own drink. I only have two hands and I have to take care of my wife first." Dante took a sip of the champagne.
Lucas laughed and signaled for an attendant to order his drink.
"Wow. It looks so alive and pristine." Candace breathed with appreciation as she stared out the window at Marakaran.
"The oceans are cobalt blue and the continents are emerald green. It looks like a sparkling jewel floating out in space!"
"Wait till CandyLand gets built there. You will have a permanent vacation penthouse there waiting for you to visit since part of every single CandyLand also includes a luxury hotel on-premise." Dante announced with a bright gleam in his bottle green eyes.
"I hope it gets built near Heliconia Beach." Lucas rubbed his hands in anticipation. "It's a surfer's paradise. The wave action is always good there."
Dante grinned. "I haven't talked that level of detail with Ash yet, but let me throw that idea out and see what he says."
"Ash?" Lucas shot an appreciative eye at Dante. "You mean THE elusive King Ashwyn of Marakaran? No way!!!"
"What am I, chopped liver?" Dante sniffed with faked hurt pride, even as Lucas grinned with mirth.
"Seriously, is there any other Ash that I would take the time out of my busy schedule to talk to?" Dante raised his eyebrows.
"I'm impressed." Lucas whistled. "It's hard to reach that man. He's always out somewhere doing something."
"No kidding." Dante shook his head. "The first time I tried to contact him, it took me twenty minutes to get through." He pressed his hand to his chest. "ME!!! The Crown Prince Dante of Erenveil Empire had to wait that long to get in touch with him!"
Lucas and Candace laughed. Normally, it was Dante who left people waiting because his schedule was so hectic.
"Whatever you do, and whatever happens, Marakaran is such a beautiful place that I'm sure it will be a huge success." She assured him with a mental kiss.
"And we hope it remains that way." Dante murmured into her ear, returning her mental kiss with a wet sloppy real one of his own.
"I promise you that I'm going to try my best to keep it as natural and unspoiled as possible while still allowing the inhabitants to live comfortably."
They continued to watch the place until it was time to land.
By the time they were able to touch down on their tiny transport pod, it was nearly time for lunch.
"Brothers! Candace!" Poppy yelled as she ran across the landing field with her arms wide open.
A man in basic white bodysuit with long ash blond hair followed behind with an indulgent doting look. He was quite tall with a wiry frame and skin so pale it was almost translucent.
As he got closer, they could see that his eyes were a light crystal blue and his lips were a shell pink. He had sharp cheek bones, high thin nose, a pointed chin and pointed ears.
This was most definitely an elf from this world.
Candace broke into a bright smile as she caught sight of Poppy ran up to her.
"Poppy!" She yelled and waved enthusiastically.
"Oh my gosh, you all look so great!" Poppy laughed and hugged them all with great joy.
"Let me introduce you to my good friend Ash. He lives here on Marakaran." She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards them.
"Ash, this is my family. This is my brand new sister-in-law Candace, and her husbands are these dorky brothers of mine."
She pointed to each, introducing them in turn. "This is Dante, Byron, Lucas, Leonardo, Jason, Jared, and Slate."
Ash and Dante nodded their silent greetings. It was their first physical meeting as they sized each other up and made a few quick changes in their estimates of each other.
In Dante's eyes, the man who looked at his sister with such gentle fondness deserved special consideration. Poppy had not had a particularly gentle life and deserved to be loved with gentle kindness.
As for Ash, in his eyes, Dante was a fair honest man who dealt with his business partners in a straight-forward manner. It would seem that Dante's fame of his word being worth his entire fortune was absolutely correct.
Everyone else greeted Ash with a fair amount of curiosity. Poppy did not have many friends and to have such a striking man follow her to the landing field was something that would be noteworthy.
It quickly became obvious that Poppy had no idea he was the King of Marakaran.
She chattered non-stop with Candace about the beauty of the world and the location that she had managed to scout, thanks to her new friend, the tall pale elf behind them who seemed to know all the best places to do all the most fun things.
Meanwhile, behind her, Ash gave a silent signal pleading for the men to keep his secret from Poppy.
Dante raised his eyebrow but said nothing. He would have a small quiet chat with Poppy later, but this was probably not a good time to cause Poppy distress.
Lucas was the only other person who knew what was going on. He took a deep breath and zipped his mouth.. If Dante wasn't going to say anything, who was he to pop the surprise bubble.
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