In the same year that Charles, Prince of Wales, married his long-time
sweetheart, Camilla Parker Bowles, the Vanguard community had its
own fairytale wedding. On December 17, 2005, our own princess, Cindy
Bowens, eloped with her Spanish prince, Kumar Daryanani, better known
to us as Destral.

It was a romance of heart-satisfying proportions, and it all started back
at the Vanguard Summit in San Diego, October 2004. Granted Cindy had known
of Destral before that. He has been a long-time member of the Vanguard community
and a frequent visitor to the IRC channel. Cindy recalls that she enjoyed
talking with him on the channel, but felt that he was just one of the many
people that she made friends with.

Then Destral came to America. For the October Summit, Sigil had arranged
to have some free spots handy so that the community could offer their
choice on who went to the Summit to represent them. Destral got tons of
votes. Unfortunately, he lived in Barcelona, Spain, and Sigil was committed
to provide the travel costs for its invitees only in North America. Destral,
being the self-sufficient guy that he is, decided to heck with it and
came on his own. Even here, Fate had a hand in it. All the invitee spots
had been filled, but, by the time Dest got there, one of the guests had
been reluctantly compelled to cancel, so Sigil could extend the invitation
to Destral after all.

Let's take up with Cindy's story here. I had been talking to her about
when she and Dest first met. She thought of him as a friend, but no more.
Besides, she had a personal rule.

"I had a rule about that... I have never dated anyone from the community.
I have always kept my work life separate from my personal life. Or tried
to anyway," she told me.

"When I met him at the Summit," Cindy continued, "I was
very attracted to him...I thought, 'This guy could get me in trouble...
could make me want to break my rule.' I really liked him...but didn't
think anything would ever come of it. I had no intention of getting involved
with someone from my own community."

So how on earth did these two ever get together, I wondered.

"Before he left, he asked if I would like to play WoW with him,"
Cindy explained. "We started playing together right after that. We
played for a few weeks and eventually we didn't play anymore...we just
chatted a lot. We became very good friends that way. And the whole time,
I wondered if we were just becoming good friends or if we were kind of
flirting." Cindy laughed ruefully.

I couldn't wait to hear what happened next. Cindy started talking about
E3, which had run from May 18-21, 2005.

"He told me he was planning to attend E3," Cindy said. "And
he asked me to go out for coffee with him there. So we met at E3 and spent
as much time together as we could through that week. Which wasn't much...I
was working E3, after all."

This was getting very exciting. "What was the basis?" I asked
Cindy. "Were you friends that slipped into lovers--or just still
good friends?"

Cindy laughed. "I didn't know on what basis! The whole time leading
up to E3, I wasn't sure if it was a date or just coffee."

The plot thickened.

"During the time at E3, I think we realized we felt more than friendship.
So we decided we would spend the weekend together in LA after E3..."
Cindy paused.

This is when Fate once again stepped in to take a hand in the affairs
of men (and women).

"The morning after E3, I woke up very ill. I have a chronic stomach
disorder that causes me a lot of pain and requires that I be hospitalized
occasionally," she said.

I was on the edge of my seat by this time and urged her to continue.

"I was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. And he went with
me. I was in the hospital for three days. And he never left me the whole
time," Cindy continued.

I gave a happy sigh and wanted to know what happened then.

"He had to leave right after I got released from the hospital."

"Oh, no!" I said. "You didn't get to know each other then."

Cindy expanded on the story for me. "The whole time we were together
all week [at E3], I was very hesitant about getting involved with him.
Like I said, I have never dated someone from the community. And he worked
for one of our Affiliates. That also complicated things. So while I was
still trying to figure out if I should get that close to him, I got sick."

"So you didn't really have a chance to get to know each other?"
I asked.

Apparently, that was not exactly true.

"There I was with the ambulance guys asking me all sorts of personal
questions. Dest had to pack my suitcase for me, even!" Cindy laughed.
"There was no privacy after that. Once I was in the hospital, I was
still very sick and on a lot of medication that kept me pretty zonked
out. But every time I would wake up, he was there. I would wake to find
him sleeping on the floor beside my bed."

She added, "He had a friend in LA he could have stayed with. But
he refused to leave me the whole time I was there."

I gave another huge, happy sigh. It was so romantic! Cindy's next words
plunged me back to reality.

"He had to leave the day after I was released from the hospital,"
she said. "I was so sad for him to leave. I wasn't ready to admit
it to anyone or even myself at the time...but I felt something for him
by then that I have never felt before. I wasn't ready to say it was love
yet...but it was."

Even though I knew the outcome, this was like a movie unfolding before
my eyes. I wanted to know what happened next.

"We didn't tell anyone for some time," Cindy said. "He
went home and we continued to communicate online. We started using Skype
and talked every day, sometimes for hours at a time. And we continued
to game together."

That sounded interesting. I asked her what they played.

"WoW and several other games. We tried a lot of things," she
said. "But mostly, we talked."

I nodded, having experienced that in my own life.

"He came back in July to spend some more time with me," Cindy
said. "That went wonderfully well, and it was even harder to see
him leave that time."

Before I even had time to get sad again, she added, "He returned
in September and we have been very happy together every minute since he
has gotten here."

Cindy continued. "So we decided to go ahead and make it official.
That's when we decided to elope to Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. Before
that, on Thanksgiving, we went to Colorado to visit my family. I was so
happy that my family was able to meet him before we got married."

I wanted to know what her family thought of this stranger from Barcelona.

"My family loves him," Cindy said. "They can all see that
I am very happy and that's what matters to them. I am very lucky."

Destral's family is in Spain, but, as far as Cindy knew, they were happy
for Dest and his new bride.

"They are hoping to visit soon," Cindy said, "And I am
sure we will visit there soon as well."

What did Brad have to say about the marriage? I wanted to know.

"He was happy for me," Cindy said with a smile. "Everyone
around here has been really happy for me. It's been very nice."

Next were details about the wedding.

"The wedding itself was total Vegas...limo to the little wedding
chapel, the package deal, all over in a matter of minutes," Cindy
said. "We didn't have an Elvis impersonator, but we thought about
it."

We both laughed.

"I am still getting used to it," she said. "I still keep
noticing the ring on my hand and thinking 'Wow! We really got married!'"

Although she is entitled to be called Mrs. Kumar Daryanani, she has decided
to keep her former name for the time being. It makes her business dealings
easier for her.

I asked Cindy if she was learning to speak Spanish.

"No, but I guess I should start. He speaks perfect English,"
she said. "But if I am going to visit his family, I would like to
be able to communicate better with them."

To round off the interview, I asked Cindy how she felt at the "I
do's."

"That it was all so unbelievable. I still keep thinking that. I
didn't think I would ever get married again. And I never expected to fall
so hard for anyone. But now I couldn't be happier."

* * *

After interviewing Cindy, I got the chance to talk with Destral. It was
a lovely finish to a lovely story.

He told me about his heritage…his mother is Spanish and his father
is East Indian. He calls himself half and half. I wanted to know how he
had learned to speak and write English so beautifully. I have read several
of his articles and have concluded that Destral is one of the few writers
I have seen with English as their second language who can outdo English-speaking
writers.

Dest cleared up the mystery: "I went to a British school in Barcelona,
so pretty much all of my education was in English. I actually don't know
which of the two (English or Spanish) I speak/read/write better."

In Barcelona, Destral was a respected craftsman with his own shop, working
in goldsmithing and creating beautiful jewelry. I asked him his plans
for the United States.

"As soon as I get my paperwork sorted out I'll start looking for
a job," he said.

"Cindy told me the story of your romance and marriage," I told
him. "It is a sweet and romantic story."

Dest smiled at that.

"Can you tell me some of the highlights from your point of view?
For instance, when was the first time you realized you were in love with
Cindy?" I asked.

"Right after E3," Destral said. "The morning after the
event closed, Cindy fell sick and had to be taken to the hospital in an
ambulance. I sorted out a couple of things with the hotel and then went
to the hospital to be with her."

He paused, thinking. "I can't remember if there was anyone from
Sigil still around in LA by then, but, as I sat next to her bed and watched
her in her sedative-induced sleep, I knew that I couldn't just up and
leave her there to fend for herself, so I decided to stay with her until
she was ready to go. It ended up being something like three days before
she could leave, but when she woke up we'd talk and, at some point during
that time, I realized that there was something strong there."

"Cindy told me about that," I said. "She said you slept
on the floor next to her bed. She was so touched by that. I think it is
one of the most beautiful side stories in this whole big story."

"I did, for most of the first night," Dest said. "At some
point someone woke me up and brought me a recliner, but I did spent a
long time on the floor. I was pretty sore when I woke up."

"So you were aware that there was definitely something there,"
I said. "I bet it was hard to go back to Barcelona after finding
that out."

"It was. When we parted ways a couple of days later (we drove down
to Carlsbad the day after she got out of hospital), it was very hard to
watch her go," Dest said. "She ended up having to go back to
hospital, which didn't make things any easier."

I wanted to know how hard it had been to keep this a secret from Dest's
Last Fanboy friends.

"It was kind of hard, but at the same time, to me it's very important
to respect Cindy's privacy," he answered. "As it turns out,
though, apparently one of them saw us together on the night before E3.
He was a really good sport about it and didn't mention it to anyone, which
makes me respect him all the more."

"When you went back to Barcelona, Cindy said you and she talked
on Skype, sometimes for hours on end. What kind of things did you talk
about?" I asked.

"It's another thing I love about Cindy," Dest said. "We're
very in-tune with each other, so we can talk for hours on end because
the conversation just flows naturally. It's hard to find someone with
whom you click on so many levels, who understands all of the subjects
you talk about."

I asked Dest to tell me in his own words about the wedding, how he felt,
etc. He was very forthcoming.

"It was a very intimate thing--just her, me, and one of my longest-standing
friends (we've known each other for over pretty much all of our lives),"
he said. "We didn't have very much time to plan or arrange things,
so we weren't able to have all the people there we would have liked, but
I don't think I've been happier in all my life. (I'm sure the photos all
reflect this, I could feel the goofy grin on my face.)"

He added, "And I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to have a big
anniversary celebration with all the flash and bang that such and occasion
requires."

I sent a flurry of questions his way.

Raya: How did your folks react to this impromptu wedding?

Destral: They were very happy for us, my mother especially.

Raya: That makes it nice for you. How do you like living in California?
How different is it from Barcelona?

Destral: Things are really different here. For one thing, everything
is so spread out. Barcelona is a really compact city, with lots of public
transport options, whereas in California having a car is a must. And,
much to my surprise, California doesn't really have a winter. Not that
I miss it, though, heheh.

Raya: And Barcelona does? That's surprising. I thought it was
semi-tropical.

Destral: Barcelona does indeed have a winter. We don't get snow
that often, maybe once every 10-15 years, but it's definitely coat-and-gloves
temperatures.

The interview ended with me putting in my bid for pictures of Dest with
his "goofy grin." He was a good sport about it and you can see
the results in both pictures above. He certainly had a country-wide smile.

I'm sure the Vanguard community joins me in wishing this lovely couple
well. With a romantic fairytale beginning like this, the rest of it will
fall into place as naturally as spring rain after a Barcelona winter.
And may our prince and princess live happily ever after.