27. Lisa

“Are you ready?” Beth asks me, holding a simple veil to place over my head. I never knew I could be so excited. Nervous, too. A lot is riding on today. Mating ceremony day.

“I think so,” I say sheepishly. I find a vision of a lovely woman in the mirror. It’s hard to believe that woman is me, about to bind herself with a mate for life. Zhara plays in a playpen nearby, blissfully unaware of what a big day today is for her parents.

“Don’t tell me you”re nervous,” Beth teases, pinning the veil onto my head. It’s a simple, very long piece of sheer fabric.

“We’re supposed to stare at each other until sunset. Tell me you wouldn”t be nervous. Everyone there, watching. What if I can’t do it? What if I fail?”

“You won’t fail,” she says, fitting me to perfection. She grabs me by the shoulders and presents me to myself. “If the rumors are true, his love will sustain you.”

“You’re right,” I realize, allowing the color to return to my cheeks. I’ve never been one for speeches or public events. Maybe that’s the reason my nerves are rattled the way they are. Life feels a little different when everything is on display.

I hear a knock at the door, telling me the sun is hanging high in the atmosphere above and it’s time to begin the ceremony.

Beth and I walk out towards a beautifully sunlit day, with small clouds just beginning to form overhead. She holds my baby in her arms, ready to take charge of her while we unite our family for good in front of these friends and relatives.

“It’s not supposed to rain, is it?” I fret, feeling a bit of chill in the air around me.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s your big day, and everything will be perfect,” she assures me.

She leads me into the main arena Ozadus and I rented for our mating ceremony. My heart skips a beat, watching the area fill up with faces.

“Looks like everybody made it,” Beth notes as my vision sets towards my friends. Tryla’s there wearing her best captain’s suit. Dannet and Vin look eager, too, sitting up in the arena.

“Do you know all these Kaleidians?” she says, noting the many blue-scaled aliens filling the area.

“Not a one.” I smirk under the veil. Beth and I walk towards the center of the ring where twin benches have been placed in the middle. A circle of flowers designates where our ceremony will take place.

Beth holds Zhara for me while I snuggle her one last time before the ceremony starts. I can’t see Ozadus yet. Just the back of his body adorned in a nice, natural linen suit.

When he finally turns to face me, my heart flutters with joy. Even though I’m wrought with embarrassment, I feel deep down that I can do this. This one small day marks the beginning of everything with my fated mate. All that came before washes away when he smiles at me, seeing me in my veil for the first time.

“Is that you in there?” he teases, tugging at my covering.

“Who else?” I shoot back, gripping it away from him. “I wanted a traditional human look, okay?”

“I think you’re stunning. Like an angel bathed in white.” He steps in to graze my neck with a kiss.

“Can’t you wait? We have hours to go.” I scold him halfheartedly as a priestess joins us in the middle.

“I really can’t.” He smiles, pulling me closer. “I can’t wait to get through this veil.”

“Then you’ll just have to wait,” I tease back, doing a small twirl that causes my dress and veil to swirl with me.

The sun beams high overhead and the priestess takes a serious look, telling us it’s time for the ceremony to begin. She holds her hands over both of our heads, calling everyone to attention.

“Greetings, soul travelers,” she says, smiling. Her blue spines flex in the sunlight as her head tips up towards the sky. Gray clouds loom overhead, but mentally I shove them away. Nothing can ruin my day today.

“Today we recognize two such traveling souls who have chosen to walk their paths together. They have been blessed to receive the Jalshagar, and we come to bear witness to the strength of their bond. From high noon to sunset, they will sit in revered silence. They will look to each other, learn from each other, and lean on each other. Do we agree to bear witness to this act?”

The audience assents with raucous loud cheers. I feel anxiety flush into my cheeks all over again, thinking of how many mating ceremonies my beloved has been to in his lifetime.

This is my first.

Taking us by the hands, the priestess sets me at a bench opposite Ozadus. She pulls a timepiece from her pocket, and it seems the ceremonious side of things has already passed. The real test is about to begin.

From opposite me, I see the Priestess walk toward the gong. Suddenly, my eyes are glued to Ozadus. I don”t know where the next few hours will take us. I don”t fully understand the details of this ceremony, not the way he does, but I do understand faith.

Faith will guide me. Ozadus sees it, too, as his eyes sharpen and focus on me. I feel ready like never before, which is good because the gong sounds a moment later and our time has begun.

I knew I couldn’t trust those clouds.

Two hours into our ceremony, I can feel the tiny pellets coming down on top of my head. My veil is soaked, my clothes dripping, but otherwise, nothing has changed. As far as I know, I am one with Ozadus. I am bound to him at this moment, as unmovable as a stone.

All of time and space has paused itself to make this moment for Ozadus and me. We have a lot of life left to live together. We may have more children. We might travel and move to Kalei, who knows? But one thing in life is certain – struggle.

If I can count on one thing for sure in this marriage, if I can place my bet on any lot, it’s that more struggle will come. But like the rain soaking my skin now and the water drenching me from skull to seat, I realize that this very moment is the fuel in my tank for the years to come.

If we can get through this moment together unscathed, there’s nothing we can’t take on. Nothing that fate could throw our way to deter whatever path we want to take. It’s beautiful, it”s supple, and it’s pure. This bonding ceremony has nothing to do with people-watching. It’s only about us.

The hours fly by, and when the gong sounds later, the whole arena has left us to ourselves. I can feel their eyes on me from the banquet hall beyond, watching comfortably from indoors while Ozadus and I endure our bond together. It’s only my beloved and me, and a mess of puddles at our feet.

At long last, the darkness within the storm overtakes the evening sky and the sun sets over our heads. Our priestess rejoins us in the middle of the arena, sounding the gong. I can”t believe it’s already over.

We did it.

Ozadus is the first to stand. I’m still too mesmerized to move. He comes to me, taking me by the hand and throwing the soaked veil from my face. Our drenched bodies long for each other in an intensely indescribable way. I have never wanted anything more than I do now, craving his body with mine.

“Too bad for the rain,” he miffs, pulling me closer.

“Oh, no!” I protest. “You don’t understand. Rain on a day like today is considered very lucky in human tradition. It’s a very good sign.”

He shrugs. “I don’t get it, but if it makes you happy.”

After the second sound of the gong, our guests rejoin us. They salute us for a job well done, though I’m sure we’re all relieved that the party can finally begin.

Guests start clapping and stomping their feet as the priestess raises her hands once more.

“Allow me to present to you all this mated, bonded pair. Ozadus and Lisa.”

“To Ozadus and Lisa,” the crowd chants, holding up goblets of drink. Finally, Ozadus is free to take me into his arms and kiss me with the finality that steals the breath from my lungs.

“Shall we go in?” he asks, ready to lead me to the reception inside.

“I might freshen up first. I’m soaked through,” I confess, feeling Beth press her fingers against my elbow. Ozadus nods, and soon I let Beth steal me back to my dressing room.

“How about something dry?” she suggests.

“Fuck yes. Help.” And like any best friend, she has me covered, with a backup dress and hair dryer. My curves shine free in a short-cut white circle skirt as I step back into the lights of my reception, ready to tackle the toughest job of the day. Meeting my in-laws.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Kaleidians and humans alike, we’d like to introduce Mr. and Mrs Ozadus Vynip.”

Ozadus twirls me into the banquet room, wearing a drier version of his wedding clothes. Music pours into the room as servers pass around fizzing glasses of Zakini twists to our guests. Zhara now sits on Beth’s lap, squealing contentedly at the plate of chocolate cake before her.

As much as I feared meeting all of Ozadus’s Kaleidian relatives at once, we all get into the swing of things when the music picks up and the food courses are exhausted. Each table is littered with empty plates of food and cake. It looks more like the human weddings I’ve seen before.

It’s amazing how my fear melts away when Ozadus is around. Before I know how we got here, his arms encircle my waist on the dance floor. A slow song strums overhead. The empty banquet hall fills us like a party of its own, long after our guests have excused themselves for the night.

I’m still drifting in his arms when the sound of my baby daughter being carted off to bed by her Auntie Beth reaches me on the dance floor. Somewhere in my heightened state, the bond between us signals that he feels within me my need to check on her one more time before I can sleep for the night.

“Okay,” he says, bending forward and kissing me on the forehead. “After this dance.”