Chapter 5 #2
Bagua jogged past us, either crossing the bridge behind us or heading back that way from the celebration, carrying what had to be fried food on sticks as well as things that looked like pancakes. Music was playing as well, with bells and strings and people singing.
It was a lot, especially since I hadn’t experienced crowds and that amount of noise for the past two years.
In short order, yet another stereotype was ripped away, because while I might’ve thought bagua didn’t have cars and relied on whatever their equivalent of a horse-drawn carriage was, I spotted a sedan-sized vehicle with a chimney-like thing in the back, like the kind the very first train engines had.
This car didn’t look clunky and boxy like early cars on Earth had though, and it didn’t have a roof either, probably to accommodate the bagua’s horns.
The car was streamlined and it easily navigated even the narrower streets.
It had one bagu in the back who was holding a crate and gesturing for people to get out of the way, same as the driver.
It didn’t look like they had traffic rules here yet.
I didn’t get to examine the car any closer, however, because the festival grounds and the press of people we had walked into didn’t allow for anything but foot traffic, and even that moved slowly.
Several bagua approached us and spoke, but we didn’t so much as slow down, and one of the others always smiled and waved the strangers off.
I was really glad to have Nokim and Lissir on either side of me, because the noise and everything else was starting to get to me. It was just so much all at once.
After maybe ten minutes, we came to a quieter courtyard with a fountain in the middle. It was three-tiered, the water flowing from one dish to the next, the sound soothing. Bagua were sitting on its stone basin to chat and eat and drink away from party central.
I looked around, secretly hoping to spot Inkiri. “Where are we going?”
Vergis looked over at me. “Sometimes, I can’t tell whether you just play slow or whether you actually are.”
Lissir hissed something at Vergis in LaGuardia before smiling at me. “We’re simply getting you registered as Inkiri’s mate with the Raiken magistrate’s office. It makes sense to do it now since we’re here on Aer.”
I froze, and Lissir stopped as well, giving me a quizzical look.
My jaw dropped. “Are you saying you’re taking me to marry Ink?”
“Oh dear, what’s wrong?” I heard Nokim say, but I couldn’t see. My eyes were overflowing, my vision drowned in tears.
“Are you saying I’m getting married?” I dissolved into a flummoxed heap of happiness, leaning on Lissir, whose excitement was turning to concern.
Vergis groaned. “For the sake of fuck, can you at least wait another ten minutes before turning into a snot ball?”
“Is he well? What’s wrong, Rory? Vergis, what’s wrong with him?” Lissir asked.
Vergis groaned. “It’s normal. Some humans lose their shit at weddings like that, especially their own. It’s customary to simply tie them up and deliver them to their waiting spouse, so feel free.”
“You’re…so mean,” I told Vergis while I did my best to wipe my tears away. “Why didn’t anyone tell me that today is my wedding day?”
Nokim huffed. “Oh. Well. We talked about it at the clothes store. I didn’t even think…”
Lissir had relaxed now that Vergis had lied to him that my reaction was normal. “I did, and I wanted to surprise you. I didn’t want to deliver you back to Inkiri like this though.” He handed me a pale gray handkerchief with purple flower petals embroidered on it.
“Sorry.” I wiped my face and willed my tears to stop already.
The stage fright was real though. I was getting married.
Married. I would be married to my husband, who had horns.
No one had ever given me happier news, but the nerves were something else.
Was there a special bagu ceremony? Did I have to say anything in LaGuardia?
Two bagua who had been sitting around the fountain came over and spoke to Nokim. I was probably a human buzzkill of the festival feeling, and they were complaining about my sniffle noises or something.
But that wasn’t it at all. Nokim turned to me. “They want to make sure you’re all right.” He cocked his head. “You are, aren’t you?”
I glanced up at Nokim and the two bagua. “Happy tears.” A ridiculously wide grin settled on my face. “I’m really, really happy.”
Vergis made a gurgling sound. “You look fucking creepy grinning like that. Also, this is just bureaucracy. You’re not going to be walking on flower petals or some silly shit like that.”
“You can be my maid of honor,” I said, because darn it, I knew Vergis was an ass, but he wasn’t mean for no good reason.
Sometimes. Once or twice since I’d known him.
More importantly, he hadn’t left me to become monster fodder when I knew he wanted to be where I was now.
On my way to get properly monster married to Inkiri.
I flinched when I realized that he might take it the wrong way, seeing as how he’d had a thing for Inkiri, but damn my mouth.
“Or hangu of honor. That’s a thing, right? ” I asked, trying to soften it.
Lissir grinned at me. “That honor maid title is for someone very close, isn’t it?
” He turned to Vergis, who looked sort of…
pissed off, but in a good way? “See, Vergis? Even Rory knows you’re family.
I’ve told you.” He added something to the two bagua Nokim was still talking to. “Now, can we go inside?”
I nodded. “Can I keep this?” I waved his handkerchief. “Might need it again.” Then I grinned. “Something borrowed.”
Vergis rolled his eyes and mumbled something I didn’t catch.
Lissir tilted his head. “Of course it’s borrowed, but you can keep it. Do you want to keep it?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s a wedding tradition. You have to have something borrowed, something blue, and something old. It brings luck.”
At least I thought that was the reason for the tradition.
Honestly, I wasn’t so sure. I’d thought about marriage—what theater kid growing up in the end stages of capitalism hadn’t?
—but I’d never thought it would really happen for me.
I’d never made any definitive plans for what my very gay wedding should look like.
Vergis crossed his arms. “A wedding superstition, more like. Besides, you got it wrong. You need something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. And a silver sixpence in your shoe. The bride’s supposed to have all of the above for a happy marriage.”
Lissir narrowed his eyes. “Now you’re telling me this, Vergis? Tell me again, what do we need to satisfy this human custom?”
I reached for Lissir’s shoulder. “No, you don’t have to—”
Lissir patted the back of my hand. “You focus on not crying, Rory. You are far from home, and we all have learned that marriage is considered a significant step for humans, so we’ll make sure you get these things. Vergis?”
Vergis sighed. “Something old, something new—”
I pulled on my shirt. “New clothes, that works.”
Nokim clicked. “Give him one of your knives, Vergis. They are old, aren’t they?”
Vergis glared. “I will do no such thing. There’s also something borrowed, and something blue, but he’s marrying something blue, so that just leaves the silver coin.”
“Oh! That I have!” Nokim pulled a coin from his pants pocket. “Do I put it in his shoe? His feet are so delicate, and this might hurt him.”
“Just give it to me,” I said, and Nokim placed the coin in my palm. It was a Euro, an Irish one, with the harp on one side. I just knew that was a good omen right there.
The two bagua who had walked up to make sure I was okay were talking again, and Lissir and Nokim were chatting back. From how Nokim was counting things off on his fingers, he was explaining what we were doing.
One of the bagua rocked back and forth on his feet excitedly, a lot like Nokim always did, then he turned and beckoned for me to follow.
“He says he has an idea.” Lissir walked with them to the fountain. There was some back-and-forth and gesturing.
Next to me, Vergis groaned. “I can’t believe this. What a fucking production.”
“What? Tell me what’s happening, oh hangu of honor.”
He really could produce a withering glare at the drop of a hat.
I wondered whether he’d practiced that in front of a mirror.
“Call me that again, and we’ll have ourselves a problem.
That protector says it’s customary to toss those stones the river carries to shore here into the fountain, but only if they have a hole in them. Like adder stones, I guess.”
I looked at the rippling surface of the water. “Like what?”
“It’s what we call them on Earth, which you should know, seeing as how you’re from there,” Vergis said.
“I’ll get him one.” Nokim rolled up his sleeve.
“Is it okay to just take one out?” I didn’t want to get arrested on the same day I was getting married. It would make the day even more memorable, but not in a good way.
Lissir nodded. “They say this is fine. They understand the situation.”
Vergis cackled and leaned over Nokim’s shoulder. “You could fall in. It’s customary for the drunk uncle to fall into the fountain at weddings, I think.”
I rubbed my suddenly sweaty palms on my new pants. “You know, Vergis, you seem to know a lot about wedding customs for someone who doesn’t want to be at one. I had no idea I needed a silver coin.”
Vergis didn’t let me faze him. “I also know a lot about dressing and skinning and deboning dinner, but this seemed more useful in the situation. Unless you want me to demonstrate?”
For once, Vergis didn’t scare me. “Nope, thanks. I was just trying to pay my hangu of honor a compliment.”
Lissir anxiously watched Nokim, who was leaning precariously on the rim of the fountain. “Yes, you’re almost there, Nokim. Vergis, accept a compliment. I don’t ask you to do it graciously, just accept it. I myself am sure your deboning skills are just as amazing as your wedding planning skills.”