Future Dreams (28 page)

“So, will you finally show me your room?” Jame asked. It had been a point of discussion ever since they boarded the ship to Ingor. Tigh refused to describe the personal sanctuary where she grew up.

“Come on.” Tigh pulled Jame along.

“I like your family,” Jame said as Tigh guided her into the main hall with its high octagonal ceiling and stone staircases that swept up to the other floors.

“Most Ingorans are good people,” Tigh said. “If you get past the merchant mentality.”

They wandered down a gallery punctuated by small sitting rooms, went through another large garden room, and out a side door. Before them were several small cottages circling a shallow fishpond.

Tigh paused and stared at the golden fish sparkling in the water, illuminated by sheltered night torches. “I spent a lot of time dreaming of studying in Artocia while watching those fish go about their watery lives.” She squeezed Jame’s hand. “Now I have a new dream.”

“It’s funny how things turn out,” Jame said.

“This way,” Tigh said as they skirted around the pond to the first cottage. She opened the door. The fireplace and several lamps had been lit and their belongings were piled next to the bed.

Jame stepped into the chamber and took in the small wing made up as a sitting area and another wing with walls of shelves full of scrolls and a worktable and chair. A washing chamber was through an opening in the back, next to the bed.

“It doesn’t look too much different from my room back in Emor,” she said, noting the subdued colors and high quality of the materials and furniture.

“Really?” Tigh asked.

“I mean, my chamber is a part of a cave, but everything else is much the same,” Jame said. “Of course, Jyac or the Council would never ever let us stay there together until we were joined.”

“Fortunately for us we’re in Ingor.” Tigh grinned and lifted a startled Jame and carried her to the bed. “In fact it’s considered good luck if the happy couple are too exhausted to remember the words of their joining ceremony.”

“Hmmm.” Jame pulled Tigh onto the bed. “We can’t go against Ingoran tradition can we?”

TIGH ROLLED HER eyes at her family’s idea of casual. She’d never imagined casual joining ceremonies had become a stylish trend in Ingor since the end of the Wars. Or that there was a line of casual clothing created for those attending the joinings. Never mind all that control contradicted the concept of casual.

Tigh and Jame had on the same clothing they wore during the Solstice. A decision that had more to do with how they liked the way the leathers looked on each other than any sort of concern over proper casual joining apparel.

Jame looked panicked as the brightly painted trolley box they were in lurched and plummeted downward. “These are much more interesting to look at than to travel in.”

Tigh wrapped reassuring arms around her. “At least we didn’t indulge in the traditional joining wine.” Tigh glanced at her family who were watching the neighbors’ estates fly by. Ingorans were always in search of new landscape and architectural ideas.

Jame grimaced. “I would have surely embarrassed myself. Ingorans ride these things all the time?”

“Since practically the day we’re born,” Tigh said.

“And a little spicy food upsets your stomach?” Jame arched an eyebrow at Tigh.

The trolley scraped to a stop. With Tigh’s help, a relieved Jame climbed out of the apparatus, then she watched with widening eyes as the Paldar clan climbed onto another trolley.

“That one’s going up.” Tigh led Jame to the roomier carrier. “It goes right to Miterie Park.”

Tigh grinned as the trolley crept up and around the hill, revealing whitewashed panoramas of Ingor and the boat-filled Nirlion Sea glistening in the morning sun.

“It’s beautiful,” Jame said.

“We’re very proud of our city.” Paldon stared at the harmonious meeting of city and sea. “There’s Miterie Park. A wonderful choice for a joining.”

“It seemed right, somehow,” Tigh said.

 The trolley rolled to a stop on the harbor side of the park. Jame climbed out and looked around. The Temple to Bal was a small ornamental building with all sides open to the hilltop breezes. Terraces where people lounged and enjoyed the stunning view cascaded down from the Temple. The rest of the knob was neatly trimmed expanses of grass accentuated by the occasional statue or small plot of flowers. She could just make out a Glak field with narrow stone spectator stands on the far edge of the green.

The aura of peacefulness enveloped Jame as she walked into the airy Temple. She thought this change in atmosphere strange, since the Temple didn’t have any walls and they were still outside. An acolyte wrapped in the pale robes of Bal stepped through an opening on the widest pillar holding up the roof of the Temple. Jame noticed the pillar covered a set of steps that led downward to beneath the stone floor.

“Our daughter wants to be joined,” Paldon said.

“Such a beautiful morning for a joining,” the acolyte murmured. “Come and gather around the altar.”

Tigh took Jame’s hand and gave it a squeeze and Jame smiled up at her. The acolyte made them stand in front of a pedestal that supported a shallow ceramic bowl flanked by two silver cups. The Tigis clan stood in a circle around the pedestal.

The acolyte took her place on the other side of the pedestal. She dipped the end of her sleeve into the sweet fragrant water in the bowl and wiped it across Tigh and Jame’s foreheads.

“Hold your hands over the bowl, palms down,” the acolyte said. She cupped her palms together and dipped them into the bowl and trickled the liquid over Tigh and Jame’s hands. “Turn your palms up.” She repeated the ritual cleansing of their hands. She then guided Jame behind one of the silver cups and Tigh behind the other so they faced each other with the pedestal in between. Their eyes met as the acolyte directed them to hold hands over the bowl.

“Bal smiles on you and gives you the good fortune of his blessing,” the acolyte intoned. “All he asks in return is that you continue to love and honor each other for as long as you walk this earth and as you journey through eternity.” She turned to Jame. “Will you honor and love for as long as your souls exist?”

“I will.” Jame’s voice was husky from the emotion swelling inside her.

The acolyte turned to Tigh. “And will you honor and love for as long as your souls exist?”

“I will,” Tigh whispered.

Everyone but Jame was startled when Tigh crumpled onto the polished Temple floor. Having a proficient knowledge of Tigh’s body language, she saw it coming before Tigh uttered the words and had released Tigh’s hands as she swayed and fell.

A grinning Juon stepped forward and patted Tigh’s cheek. Her eyes popped opened and she stared at him in profound puzzlement.

“Come on, Sis.” Juon helped her to her feet. The rest of the family smiled at Tigh’s obvious depth of feeling for Jame.

“Sorry.” Tigh’s expression was sheepish and, to Jame, endearing.

“I’ll take it as a compliment,” Jame said and they clasped hands once more.

The acolyte pulled a long strip of cloth from her sleeve. “In the eyes of Bal and the city-state of Ingor you are joined.” She wrapped the cloth around the closest set of hands. She then lifted a jar from the bottom of the pedestal and removed the glass cork, releasing the aroma of the joining wine. After pouring a bit into each silver cup, she made the sign of Bal’s blessing over the liquid offering. “Take your cups and offer the wine to your life companion as a toast to many long lifetimes of happiness together.”

Tigh lifted the cup with a trembling hand as Jame, surprised that her own hand shook a bit, did the same. Their eyes fixed on each other as they guided the cups to waiting lips and drank the warm vibrant liquid.

The air around Jame crackled with magic as everything fell away from her senses, leaving just the two of them to share their souls at the alter of Bal.

Somehow the cups were lowered back to the pedestal and the acolyte removed the cloth from their bound hands. Jame snapped out of the momentary dance in the realm of Bal, and Tigh looked equally dazed.

The acolyte smiled. “You may affirm your joining with a kiss.” Tigh stepped around the pedestal and gathered Jame in her arms. The sounds of her laughing and cheering family faded as she captured Jame’s lips with her own.

As her family indulged in a glass of the joining wine, Tigh led Jame to the top of the terrace overlooking the harbor.

“Will I ever be able to live down fainting at our joining?” Tigh asked, as they wandered hand in hand along the wide expanse of stone that comprised the first terrace.

Jame pretended to ponder the question. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll never mention it, if you promise not to faint at our joining in Emoria.”

Tigh stopped walking and turned to Jame. “Does the ceremony involve sweetly fragrant water and talk of honor and love through eternity?”

Jame worked to keep a solemn expression. “It involves a sword and the ceremonial spilling of blood.”

“In that case, I promise I won’t faint,” Tigh said.

Their laughter echoed across the park as they walked hand in hand into their dreams of the future.

THE END