The weather is still a bit unpleasant, but looks like it's getting better, and regardless of weather, I'm going to propose to Kari today. But to take advantage of the daylight, and give my balls and penis a chance to recover a bit from the brief but intense moment with Alith, since I was an arsehole that forgot that I'm going to propose to Kari today, we're wiring and installing the outdoor arc-light 'floodlights'.

One outdoor lamp is just under the roof on the corner of the wing towards the road to the courtyard, and will light up the entire courtyard and the main entrance and the wing entrance. Hanging three and a half meters up, it won't be possible for anyone to reach the arc lamp by accident, and it will need a ladder, so the lamp hang on a small chain so it can be lowered for maintenance and replacement of carbon rods, and the chain will follow along underneath the edge of the roof and fasten outside the attic window where we already have a thermometer and other things. This prevents anyone outside from easy access to the chain and thus lowering, and the cable follows the same path and the plug will be just inside the window, so can be easily disconnected before lowering of the lamp and maintenance, and it is easy to installation the switch down by the wings door. It would be usable to have a switch in the guards day room beside the main entrance to turn the light on or off, but a long and annoying wiring route. However, I think we have free 'signal wires' that it can be used for remote control if I install a relay, and frankly, that could be another good electrical installation training.

The second outdoor lamp is hung high on the outside left corner of the main entrance, so that the courtyard and a guest are illuminated from two directions and much easier to see face. Its chain and cable is similarly run to the nearby window on the second floor, and it will be relatively easy to run the cable down through the floor to a switch in the guards dayroom.

The third outdoor lamp will be in the corner outside my workshop and above the greenhouse, and thus illuminate the basement side and lower courtyard, the pavilion door and stairs and the southside of the mansion and greenhouse, with a similar solution with chain and cable outside the workshop window. Placement there also makes it easier with remote switching and power supply. With all outdoor lamps being remote controlled, if the bodyguards hear something outside or there is a knock on the door, they can then remotely switch on the lamp or lamps needed and look out through the appropriate window.

Tonight when it gets dark, it will be fun to test how much light these arc light lamps will give and their usability. In the future there will be much more outdoor lighting, and nicer and better outdoor lighting, but we will gain experience with this installation and lamps, and these lamps have a useful purpose and not just for pure testing.

We have the steam engine and its generator, but generally charging is dependent on wind, and we don't have enough power generation to be able to have the lamps on for many hours each night without using the steam engine generator, but if someone is going to do something outside like shovelling snow or just being able to see who it is, we have outdoor illumination on all the important sides of the building. The short side of the main building outside the dining room and my bedroom will be dark, but it is just a vertical rock wall straight down, and I won't be using my outdoor balcony during nights. It really haven't seen much use at all, but probably will, come spring and summer. So even though we have the courtyard lamps available, they won't be lit all the time, so we will continue having the small courtyard lantern lit, because in addition to giving some courtyard illumination that can be lit all night, it makes it easier to light the kitchen oven, etc in the morning, and the kitchen and hallway gets some light too.

The weather has improved and there will be some sun, so I take the opportunity and get the kitchen and Caecilia to quickly prepare a fika basket, with some cookies, buns, hot drinks, etc. I also have he prepare for a future hot bath with candles. I light some candles even though it is sunny, because Kari likes candle light, and I get Alith and Gunhild to watch and guard, but to stay on the pavilion and not listen so we have a more private and special the moment. Both seems to guess what's going to happen. Then I invite Kari out to the greenhouse.

Kari arrives without getting any warning what for, but as soon as she sees the arrangement her face quickly goes through wondering surprise to held back emotions, and she breath, focus and blinks away tears starting to form in her eyes. I'm pretty sure she knows what I'm going to do. I did tell her that I was going to marry her a few months after I married Iselin, and Kari hasn't forgotten, and she knows how I took Iselin for a fika and then proposed to her. So I take Kari's hand and lead her to the fur covered chair, wrap her in a nice blanket, and we start to have a nice fika while the sunlight occasionally makes the snow outside look beautiful.

I signal to Alith as I walk over to the pre-prepared camera, which Kari have already noticed, and probably reassured her because it is there. I turn it on and start filming, and as I turn round, Kari smile and quietly say;

"If you're going to do what I think you're going to do - and since we're alone - I'd like you to use my real name and title, to make it really official and so I've heard it once in my life."

I raise my eyes in a questioning expression and Kari just nods happily. I look around to make sure no one is standing outside or in the window of my workshop. It's kind of cute how Gunhild is standing on the pavilion, looking discreetly and expectantly at us while clutching of her shield like a big teddybear, while Alith is looking the other way but a glance and smile from her means she probably got an update from Gunhild. There's a bit of wind outside, and probably no chance of anyone being able to read lips, and I'll be facing Kari, so I kneel down in front of her, take Kari's trembling hands in mine, give them a kiss and say;

"Princess Kari Arildsdotter. Will you give me the honour to be your husband, and to marry me and become my wife about one week before the spring equinox, and to live the rest of our years together?"

Kari just looks at me, lowers her head a little more and closes her eyes. Tears run down her cheeks as she nods and nods while tightly squeezing my hands. After many long seconds she manages to get out a weak broken "Yes" and finally she looks up at me. Kari is so beautiful as she glows with happiness with happy tears running down her cheeks as she clearly state:

"Yes, Robert! I want to be your wife! I want to be Kari Robertsfru!"

We hug and kiss as she repeats the answer one more time, just because she finally can. We sit in the greenhouse and have a nice fika, with Kari on my lap and we are wrapped in a blanket, and there are many kisses as we hold each other and feed each other.

She said yes!

We smoulder the candles and leave to tell the others the news, and I've just led Kari to where Alith and Gunhild are standing happily smiling by the stairs to the pavilion, when the pavilion door of the wing is thrown open and Iselin comes rushing out and down the stairs, although she tries to take it easy and hold on to the ledge, and Ciara follows. Jane smiles from the top by the door. Iselin looks very excited and expectant so I wait to say anything until my wife and Ciara have come all the way down. I inform them that I have asked Kari to marry me, and she has said yes, and we are getting married a week before the spring equinox. They congratulate us while Iselin throws her arms in the air in a victory gesture, hugging Kari and congratulating her extra much, before Ciara tries to hug us all. I'm glad that Iselin is so happy to share the title and position of being my wife, it's just a bit sad that she can't be alone with it. Ciara clearly being happy is another relief. I hear Jane's voice:

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Iselin and Ciara have taken peeks from the mezzanine window since Kari left, but didn't want anyone of us to look so Kari got her special moment. Since they saw Kari sitting in you lap and you were kissing and so on, they have been peeking just to see when you would leave. Caecilia have gathered the staff in the dining room, but Iselin and Ciara couldn't wait."

There are more congratulations from everyone. Kari obviously remembers how Iselin and I had a long bathroom session together in the bathtub, enjoying each other's hands soaping up and massaging to candles and music. I've had such sessions with everyone of my sambos at least once, and Kari loves that I have prepared one.

She said yes!

The rest of my day is Kari's and when we are alone in the bath, I give Kari my small and strange proposal gift, which is that when she wants it, we will use the wooden cross in the b-room, and as expected, Kari wants us to make sure we're extra clean and it doesn't take long before we are down there, using both the cross and the bed.

Kari and I continue chatting, listening to music, cuddling and just holding each other and sitting on the sofa and in my bedroom, although we have occasional company of others. Iselin lets us know that Haera's workers have arrived and been accommodated.

Not surprisingly, Iselin and Kari have already done a lot of the preparations for Kari's wedding too, as they have counted on me to keep my word and apparently our rings are already ready, but I don't get to see them. There is not much extra preparation that needs to be done, as many things like the sauna, the marriage ceremony location with its arch, the altar and benches are already prepared, and so is the pavilion walls to make that more winter friendly. We haven't even taken down all the walls from the pavilion yet in order for the pavilion to be more weather protected during the winter. It's nice to have all the the experience from the first marriage ceremony and feast, but I'm not looking forward to another long week with guests and feasting. I am, however, looking forward to being married to Kari. I will have two wives. That will probably stop feeling weird, eventually.

We discus all the invitations and will send someone with a horse to inform a couple of them, and Caecilia have already informed and invited Asta, Unn, Olafr and Pedr, which have come to congratulate us. We will need more houses on the island for guests. Olafr now lives in his nice apartment at the end of the apartment block, and although he immediately was looking forward to having Digraldi's group stay with him, it feels a bit wrong. It doesn't matter that Olafr barely uses the space in his apartment. The space above the entrance has also become Bekkhilda's workspace. The smithy and metal workshop is Olafr's workplace.

The wedding and feast and such will be basically the same as before, although Haera can't be a guest because Asbjörn will be. She can't be at an official feast where he's attending, and Hagthorn and their daughters will probably attend as well. Iselin and I glance at each other as we realise that it will be visible that Haera is with child then, and Kari and others will know that Haera is pregnant with my child, and I have no doubt that that knowledge will spread at the feast, and the same with Jalida's pregnancy. Haera is looking forward to seeing the actual marriage ceremony, even though she has to see it from a far and stay hidden in the background nature. Forcing Haera to stay in her room for a week won't work, so where she will stay in the meantime is a future issoe that will have to be solved. It's still a couple of months away. She'll probably have to live in one of the first 6x4 houses in the village. They are in the wrong direction from the village to the mansion and where guests living in the village won't have to go.

The biggest change is that we pretty much need to invite Jarl Naeswulf as well. Kari is a Storman, and her lands are a part of Jarl Naeswulf's territory, and they are fairly close neighbours as it's only about a 4 to 5 hours walk between Kari's mansion and Jarl Naeswulf's in Elfrhamr. Kari's grandfather Skarde and Naeswulf didn't get along at all, which is probably why Skarde wasn't invited to Naeswulf's feast last autumn. But it's better that she and Naeswulf try to start over on a blank piece of paper, and for Kari to reach out a welcoming hand. The thing is, Jarl Naeswulf and King Asbjörn don't get along, so this feast gets 'interesting', because both of them basically have to say yes, and partly to not show weakness to the other other side, and they need to be friendly to each other here, since they're guests at an important feast. But they are never at the same event except when they have to.

Kari's heritage from Skarde have layers of intrigue, because Jarl Naeswulf certainly didn't know that Skarde was her grandfather, but he now knows that Asbjörn knew. So at the feast where he planned to offer me marriage to his daughter and an alliance, Kari was sitting there being an incredibly more valuable wife than either of us knew. Much more valuable than his daughter. That I pre-emptively told them that I was going to marry Kari, they may have interpreted as I knew, or received some sign from Freya. They are probably overjoyed that they didn't invite Skarde, because it would have been 'complicated' if Skarde had revealed his relationship to Kari during the feast. Jarl Naeswulf's small insults by mistake also become another thing. Jarl Naeswulf is likely egotistical enough to take my prioritisation of Laxlanda as a deliberate jab at him, regardless of it being far closer to Laxlanda and easier to travel there from here.

Another problem is that the main road between Elfrhamr and the coast goes across Kari's land. Kari will upgrade her lands, and not only her mansion, but also the road, bridges, the village Karisby etc, so about half the road out to the coast will be excellent road, which can divert gods away from the road down to Laxlanda, which is something Jarl Naeswulf earns a lot of silver on. With my future ferry carrying goods across the river and her estates on the coast, trade going past Elfrhamr will probably increase, and Jarl Naeswulf can't oppose it because the ferry is a goodwill and prestige project for him and me. He will probably take it as I have been a pawn in Asbjörn and Asbjörn's family's intrigues against him.

In short, this wedding will be extra 'interesting'.

The evenings darkness is dispelled by the powerful arc light from the courtyard lamps! This is probably the most powerful building illumination Alfheimr has ever seen! A big fire just doesn't compare or count, and this is so much stronger than a torch! The day has been a great success, but I'm glad that I'm actually most happy because Kari said yes. The arc light lamps are nice, but expected. Kari's acceptance was also expected, but of course it is a completely different joy and feeling. And Kari is clearly enjoying that I am currently hugging her from behind while we look at the others and the courtyard in the magical light, and I give her a kiss she smilingly returns. Sambos, staff and long-term guests are impressed by the incredibly magical light, and even Jane is radiantly pleased. 100% Alfheimr electric floodlights! And three that we can switch on and off proves that one is not a coincidence! This is something we can build more off! Kari wants electric power and similar illumination at her mansion, both outdoors and indoors and in the main hall, so that will happen next winter as long as power generation is solved. Haera of course wants similar in her mansion. The Academy will also have similar, and by next winter I hope there will be sufficient power available to have some street lighting in the village, the harbour and the roads between. It would be beneficial and very nice with a 'powerful' steam engine generator producing 15-20kW of reliable power for the islands. Depending on the lamp wattage, 15kW can be enough for more than a hundred arc lamps, and may be enough for each household to have at least one electric lamp. Our own production of lamps and carbon rods and import of fuel for the generator, should be more cost effective than everyone using candles and lanterns, and produce significantly stronger light and more practical.

We go inside and I made notes of thoughts and lessons and mark the day in my diary log. I have already saved screen shots from the proposal movie to give to Jane, and Kari deserves all my attention, so we continue to enjoy each other on the sofa in my rooms attic, and finish in bed. Kari is so happy and content with the day, and I agree with that too! I look forward to being able to call Kari my wife in just two months!

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