Mary looks up at the cloaked man and tries to see under his hood, but there is only a black void. "You ask me to marry you when I cannot even see your face."
"Dear Mary, I would love nothing more. But you are a mortal woman, though your beauty is beyond the planes. To view my face without the powers of a wizard would drive you mad. This hood is for your protection."
"So even if we were to wed and you took me in your arms at night, you would still hide your face from me?"
"To protect you, my love. Though I will more than make up for the inconvenience with all the pleasures and comforts of the world you would ever wish for."
Mary turns away to think before asking him another question. "I don't know, Wizard. I don't even know your name."
"To speak my name aloud to you would surely make you go dead from hearing the celestial tongue. Only other wizards or magic folk could ever comprehend it."
Mary frowns. "So even if we were to wed and were I to carry your child, even then I could not know your name?"
"No, my Dear Mary. But our child will powerful and he will know all the magic in the world."
"But then I could not know his name either." Mary goes up to the Wizard and his staff, kissing the staff. She can feel his power radiating through it and it is very pleasurable to touch. But even then, the other men in her past still enter her mind. "Wizard, you make a very tempting offer. But I don't know yet. My heart is being pulled in many different directions and it is so hard for me to choose."
"Tell me, Lady Mary, who else your heart is calling for and I will best them in any trial you see fit. I will win you if I must."
The crowd that has gathered begins to cheer. It seems the people of Buttundoa wish to see such a tournament. Nothing entertaining has come to town in years. "The people are starving for a show of glory. Let me serve you in this way and proclaim a festival in your name so that you may know that I am the superior mate."
The crowd cheers and Mary finds herself being waited on. "I suppose it would not hurt. If you want to, Sir Wizard."
He turns to the crowd and raises his staff. "People of Buttundoa. In three days, I will host a tournament in the honor of the fair Lady Mary to win the right to her hand. All those who wish to apply are welcome to sign up. Give me a challenge so that I may prove myself worthy." The crowd erupts into applause as the Wizard kneels at Mary's feet. "I must take my leave to prepare. Bless you, dearest Mary. You will be my wife." He slams the end of his staff on the ground and disappears just as he did in the forest the day before.
The crowd mostly disperses to spread the news of the Wizard's tournament. In three days, the town of Buttundoa will be privy to spectacle of impressive magic and battle, surely unlike anything the town has ever seen. And Mary and her ruby amulet are at the center of everyone's attention.