Chapter 28

- Noker -

Bronwen gives me a little smile and squeezes my hand. "Yes. I want that."

The world suddenly spins around me, and I have to steady myself on the baking oven.

"Noker," Bronwen exclaims, alarmed. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," I rasp. "I just never expected that you'd say yes. But I had to try. It just seems too wonderful to be true."

"It is true, Noker. Don't I keep coming back to you? And don't you keep coming for me?"

I straighten up and hug her hard. "I always do. And now, I always will." I kiss her hair and her forehead and her mouth in a frenzy of relief and joy.

"I was sure getting all your friends to come here was completely unnecessary," I go on as a deep happiness fills me. "Because you would never say yes. But Sprisk said that he would tell them about my plan to ask you to marry me. And then they would make their own decisions."

Bronwen stares up at me. "That why they came along?! They knew you'd ask?"

"I assume so. Sprisk knew I would, and he must have told them the way he said he would."

"Alder tok boutda paris sherton wuz bulshi," she mutters in her own language. "Ey shulda knoun. They thought I would say yes then," she goes on with more understandable words. "Because they not here for the question, Noker. They here for the wedding."

I scratch my chin. "Ah. The wedding. Well, there is a shaman in the camp now…"

She chuckles and punches my chest lightly with her little fist. "Oh, you and the girls have all thought it out. All right, my love. If we're getting married, might as well right away. Tomorrow, that your plan?"

"Tomorrow would be good," I agree. "Today is still the day of Crotar's funeral. But tomorrow is a new and fresh day in the clan."

- - -

The women spend the night on three other platforms, hoisted high up above the clansbrothers. I share a platform with Sprisk.

He laughs softly when I tell him about the question. "Of course she would say yes! She kept looking at you the same way Piper looks at Brak. I was certain. And so were the women, when I told them about your plan to ask. They packed everything they would need for a wedding."

"Everyone knew except me," I grunt. "So I almost fainted when she said yes."

"Everyone sees who you are," Sprisk chuckles. "Except you."

- - -

Nobody sees any reason to wait until a certain time for the wedding, so when everyone's ready, it starts.

Astrid is wearing a long robe made from the skin of several Bigs. It's one that comes from the shaman's hut in the Borok village, Sprisk told me. She doesn't have Melr'ax's shaman's hat, because this is not a tribe and we don't really have shamans. Even so, she's clearly a good choice. With her round, alien frame and dark skin, she looks mysterious and secretive. We all know she came from the stars, like all the women, so for us Foundlings, she's even more appropriate for this than a triber shaman would be.

Bronwen is wearing a long wrap made from the fine fabric that the Borok tribe seems to have in great amounts. Her hair shines in the sun, and I know that Alba spent a long time on it this morning. She's wearing a circle of colorful flowers around her head, and she holds a small bunch of them in her hands, too. In short, she's the most breathtaking thing anyone on Xren has ever laid eyes on.

I'm in the shorts she made for me, which is perfectly fine. I have also hung some pieces of various skins around my waist, mostly to hide the bulge that keeps appearing in the front of the shorts. Since that will apparently never end, I have asked some clansbrothers to make a little bag that I can hang in front. But it's not done yet.

A small altar has been placed in a suitable spot at the outskirts of the camp. We all gather there.

Astrid says some moving and still holy words about love and the stars, and then she asks me if I agree to marry Bronwen and to live with her for the rest of our lives.

"Yes," I state, making sure everyone in the clan can hear it.

"Ey du," Bronwen says when it's her turn.

Astrid says some more words and declares us married.

I take Bronwen's hand. "That was easy."

"I not think is supposed to be hard," she says with her bright voice, her eyes shimmering. They have that mysterious look again, with black lines around them. "I think the hardest part is behind us."

"Good." I could stare into those eyes forever.

"Kis, kis, kis," the women start chanting.

"They want us to kiss," Bronwen tells me.

I grin. "I want that too."

I lift her chin and bend down to kiss her full lips. There's a tiny crack and a spark as our lips touch.

"Sorry," I growl. "I'm very excited."

"No, I think that was me," Bronwen says. "Wait, I'll try again." She reaches up with both arms and puts them around my neck, and then we kiss deeply without any more sparks.

The women start cheering, and so do the clansbrothers.

"I never knew they could make so much noise," I tell my wife as I straighten up. "I think a new age has started for the clan. Wait. Give me your arm.

She reaches out her thin, bare arm and I put a small bracelet around her wrist. "You will notice it has been made from the necklace the Borok tribe gave me. By all rights, it should be made from the teeth and nails of the outcasts, but that didn't appeal to me."

"I'm glad," Bronwen says as she admires the bracelet. "This much better. I thought your necklace look smaller today, but I thought it because you very strong and muscle."

"Maybe it's both," I modestly suggest.

The crowd comes flocking around us, and Bronwen is surrounded by her friends. They're all wearing their fabric garments, all in the same color, but apparently that's the way it should be. They certainly seem happy.

"Well done, clansbrother," Brak says and slaps me on the back. "The more married men in the clan, the better. Because the more women we have, the better our clan will be."

"That's the way it seems. Certainly our clan has never been better than it is now."

Clansbrother Kerek waves at me from waist height. "The special foam is ready now, Noker. As are the other things."

"Thank you, Kerek. I think we will need them after we eat."

"That's what I thought." He moves off on both hands, his lack of legs not stopping him from getting around.

Bronwen and I get on the middle platform, and it stays just a man's height or so above the ground. The closest platforms hang just a little higher, and the outer platforms hang the highest. That way, everyone can see the bride, which is apparently important. And I must admit it is nice to be the center of attention with Bronwen.

The frit flows, and the alien women have brought food from the Borok tribe, so everyone eats their fill and the mood is jollier than I've ever seen it in the camp, despite the funeral yesterday.

After a long party, the clansbrothers lower their platforms and go to do their various chores. We have divided the things that must be done among us all, giving everyone in the clan more to do except Brak, Sprisk, and me. The three of us have fewer duties now, instead of doing practically everything like before. And the clansbrothers seem to enjoy it.

I lean into Bronwen and sniff her hair. "Perhaps we can try the oven today."

"I was hoping we could," she says. "We just have to find some drap roots and maybe other things."

"I wonder if maybe we have what we need," I tell her. "Shall we look?"

She looks up at me with an excited smile. "Let's go."

We get to the baking oven. There's still no roof over it, but the clansbrothers have been busy here.

"There's so much!" Bronwen exclaims. "Dried drap roots and dried fruits and… I not know the names!"

"Neither do I," I confess. "It was Kerek and some of the others who knew about these. I never thought of asking them until yesterday, and then it turns out they know everything about every plant in the jungle. Here's the special foam. Here's something that is supposedly sweet. These fruits are not dried, but have a stickiness to them that Kerek thought might be useful. Here is water. These are ground nuts. The other things… You'll have to ask Kerek to tell you about them."

Bronwen practically jumps from joy and embraces me again and again. "This is wonderful! I never thought could be this good!"

"Oh, and there's firewood. Shall I light the oven?"

She rubs her hands together. "Yes, please. Just a little wood first. We can add later. Oh, these pots be very useful…"

I stand back and watch my wife enjoy herself. She hums and talks to herself and sometimes looks around for me, giving me an adorable smile every time she sees me. It warms my heart to see her this happy.

Finally she has a pot full of a sticky mix of most of the plant items Kerek and the others prepared. She brings it to her nose. "That smells right. We'll leave it for a while as it rises."

"What does that mean?" I ask, suspicious. "Will it explode?"

"Only if I did it right," she chirps. "No, my love. I don't think will explode. Letting something rise is… oh, it's what happens to this when I take off my clothes." She touches my shorts right at my crotch.

"And that pot will do the same?"

She grins. "Exactly the same. Except I can keep my clothes on."

"How long will it take for it to rise?"

"Not long. But probably long enough for what you're thinking."

"Oh. You saw it?"

"Just now, actually, because you keep look up at it. But that is a platform hanging from that tree, right?"

"It is," I admit. "And it was put there for us to use. Shall we see if it will hold us?"

"All right." She slaps her hands together, creating a small, white cloud of baking ingredients.

I lower the platform from the nearby tree and let Bronwen get on. Then I hoist us all the way up, the way she both fears and likes, once we get there. "We never got a chance to check if a platform like this is good for proper Mating. And it's the kind of thing a married couple must know."

"It really is," my wife says and gets comfortable on the heap of skins and furs I've placed here. "Oh, there's a rock up here."

I sit down in front of her, reach out, and touch her cheek. "I will need a rock or something to hold every time we Mate. Because when the good feelings come, I can't control the special gift."

"I noticed the bangs and light, and the rocks that split," Bronwen tells me. "But it nice. I make you lose control."

"You really do," I admit, kissing her. "But I made sure to lead the power somewhere else, and not into you."

"Some power goes into me," she purrs. "I really like your touch."

I slide my hand past her cheek, towards her ear. "I like touching you."

She closes her eyes. "Oooh…"

Her skin is warm and soft and perfectly smooth. I could explore her with my fingers all day and all night. And now I can.

"We're married," I say softly, letting my fingertips do what they want. "We're husband and wife. I can touch you. Forever."

Bronwen sighs with pleasure. "You better, my Foundling."