• PM To Join • Take my hand, erase the past forever

[Faith Augustin]

62nd Vhalar, 717
Have to have a songstamp.......

Looking down at her hand, on which sparkled her engagement ring, Faith's heart was thumping in her chest.

It wasn't so much that she was nervous, it was just that this feeling, this excitement and overwhelming sense of anticipation was so strong it would wake her if it was all just a dream. So, she prayed that it was not and that, if it was, she stay in it. Lifting her head at the sound, Faith smiled as Katie came in to the room. "Well, look at you." The older woman spoke kindly and Faith smiled in pleasure.

"You look lovely, Katie. Thank you so much for to-trial. You've been so helpful." Katie waved her hand in a dismissive gesture and spoke her simple truth. "You're family, Faith. Cyrus and I are so pleased for you. But for Padraig too. Cyrus tells me he's never seen Padraig so happy." Faith shook her head, looking at Katie with an earnest gaze. "I know. I need him, Katie, but I would never do this if I didn't think, didn't know that it makes him happy. That I do. " Putting the deep red flower into her hair, Faith stood up and looked at Katie and Cally. "I think I'm ready."

It was time, she knew. So, Faith picked up the flowers which she would wear wrapped around her wrist and she glanced at Katie. "Cyrus has the ring, yes?" Katie just smiled and nodded. Having looked around, Faith and Padraig had decided that they were going to get married at the Temple. It was beautiful there, the building dedicated to Moseke. People usually met at the place where they were to be married; in this case that would mean inside the Temple. Yet, they'd decided that they weren't going to do that. Katie, Luna, Cally, Nir'wei, Niv and Cyrus would be inside the temple with Kura and the two of them? They'd meet outside and walk in together.

It was right, she knew. They were walking into this wedding together, into this marriage and so they would walk in to the place where it was held.

The three of them, Katie, Faith and Cally, made their way to the Temple. There, waiting outside were Cyrus and Luna, and so Katie and Cally met the two of them and the four together went into the ancient tree, up the only stone in sight as they ascended the steps, and the door closed behind them. Faith breathed in and forced herself to calm her nerves. She was excited, not afraid and as she stepped around the corner to make her way to the Temple, so did he.

Her dress shimmered in the light, the colours of the trim at the bottom, the ribbon which sat over the swelling of her waist constantly shifting colour. In the fabric itself, as they got close enough that he could see, there were tiny sparkling stars, matching the effect of the large stone in the tiara he had bought her for her birthday. Delicate lace cap sleeves wrapped over shoulders, though her arms were bare and the deep neck meant that the topmost leaves of the tree tattoo which marked her as one of Moseke's favored was just visible. Faith breathed in and she prayed to Famula, thanking Her for both her own soul and the soul of this man; whatever souls were crafted from, theirs were made from the same material, Faith knew. In each lifetime before and in every one to come, they would be one. To Moseke, she prayed her thanks for her life, for his life and for the life they shared. To many, she knew, the ceremony they were about to undergo marked the beginning of a life together. Faith knew that what it did was marked the reality of a life that had been thus since the moment they met. So she gave thanks for that, and for the ground on which her bare feet walked this trial and every trial to come. To Vri, of course, Faith gave thanks for the love which she had no words to explain.

More and more, she was coming to realise that it was because there were no words for what they shared.

So, she thanked Vri with everything she had, as she had Moseke and Famula and then she looked at him as they met in front of the Temple. Emotion shone from her eyes as her gaze met his, a little shyly. "I was going to say something witty," she admitted. "I practiced it, too." She didn't say it, though and in truth she couldn't remember it. Instead, she put her hand out, to take his; as she did that, he undoubtedly felt that she was shaking from head to toe. There were a hundred things she wanted to say, to tell him; how he looked, how she felt, how it was. Instead, she smiled and held on to him as though afraid he might disappear. "It's everything I never dared to dream of, you know. Our life. You. Us. Would you like to get married?" Shoddy, she knew, but there it was.

[Padraig]

"Loosen up boy and stop looking so grim," Cyrus Augustin scolded Padraig as he brushed a bit of lint off the back of his grandson's coat. "You'd think you were about to attend a wake instead of your own wedding. And what's that thing you keep reading there? Don't tell me your not. I can see your lips moving." Padraig frowned, and tugged at the collar that his grandfather had buttoned up against his throat. "It's what I'm planning to say when I see her," he pointed out, aggravated that Cyrus had interrupted his train of thought. "Well there's your problem right there. You look like you're trying to memorize a eulogy."

Before he could stop him, his grandfather had snagged the piece of paper from his hand, crumpled it up and tossed it into the low burning hearth. "Hey! I wasn't done with it yet." The thing was beyond getting back intact, the flames licking at the paper and consuming the handwritten declarations that he'd spent the better part of a break composing. "When have you ever thought before speaking?" Cyrus asked as Padraig undid the top bottom of his shirt and smoothed out the edges of his coat. "Say what you're thinking and feeling when you see her. She wouldn't recognize you any other way. What did you say the first time you saw her?"

Padraig frowned, thinking back, and uttered three words he'd ever spoken to Faith when he'd found her outside his door. "You're a slave." Cyrus snorted, finally stepping back to take a look at his work. "Maybe think of something else after all." The younger man asked for probably the third, maybe fourth time, if Cyrus had the rings. Of course he did, and the older man pulled them out of his pocket to show him once again before his work was done, and he left his grandson alone with his thoughts, so he could go meet the others at the temple. "Relax. Just tell her what you're thinking," he said before he was gone.

He arrived outside the temple just a few bits before Faith did, and was still aggravated that Cyrus had burned his lines. He forgot all about them however when he laid eyes on her and she reached for his hand. Something witty? "So was I." More or less. "Cyrus snatched it away before I could memorize it," he added with a smile, unable to take his eyes off of her. "Truth is, one look at you and I'd have forgotten it anyway." To say she looked beautiful would have been a gross understatement. They could have taken away the temple, the setting, the trees and the blue skies. Even the fine clothes and headpieces, and she'd still have been more beautiful this trial than he'd ever seen her before. Truth was though, every trial was like that. "You're a vision," he said.

"That first trial, when you turned up at my door. You a slave, and me a tutor hoping to be something more," he told her. "I didn't realize it that trial, that it would come to this. But I think that it was always going to be. I just didn't know it yet." Still, Padraig was not unlike his grandfather. A dry wit, a droll delivery and when she asked would he like...Should they? He grinned and looped his arm in his in order to escort her in. "We might as well. We're here now aren't we? Shame to leave those inside wondering if we decided to elope after all." Of course, he'd have been happy, was it just them and only them, any place and any time. But as settings went, they hardly could have done better.

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

Kura looked down at Phelan, who was looking restless, and smiled slightly at the wolf. Phelan was not a creature built for waiting, but he was doing his level best. "Almost time." she said, and the wolf chuffed at her before fidgeting again. Speck was up above them, perched on the statue of Ymiden and surveying the room. Kura, for her part, was wearing the red satin dress that Faith had helped her pick out back in Rharne. It was the most wedding appropriate thing she owned, besides a military outfit and she figured that cultural differences would render that rather out of place. She'd even made an effort to get her hair to look nice for the event, though all that had accomplished was making it look like she had just gotten out of a particularly nice bed.

Still, she was ready for her part, and she grinned at the others as they walked into the temple. Cally was dressed in the black tunic and trousers that seemed to be her only wearable outfit, experimentation had not figured out a way to change her clothes and the solidified ghost had refused point blank to allow anyone to spend any money trying to dress her, given that her solidity was not a consistent thing. Still, she had some lovely flowers in her hair and had, at some point, elected to make a belt out of multi-colored leaves and vines to provide some color to her clothes.

"How are they doin'?" Kura asked, her tone cheerful as she looked at the guests and witnesses.

"Faith's bein' all nervous and silly. Good thing we're far enough away from the restaurant that she can't be tryin' to cater this thing." the ghost said, laughing. She'd been mostly silent while helping Faith get ready, as she figured Faith did not need rambling spectral distractions this morning. She looked back at the closed doors. "We should probably be gettin' into position, they'll be on their way in here soon as they finish bein' smooshie with each other." Cally said as she stepped to where she needed to be for the ceremony.

Kura grinned at Cally. It was good to be able to talk with her old friend again, and Cally's tendency towards bluntness and sass hadn't changed a bit from before the girl had died. "Aye, we best be ready when they are." she said, which in Kura's case just meant standing up straight. They were ready, all they needed now were the starts of the show.

[Faith Augustin]

He was going to say something witty too? Faith rather suspected that witty wasn't the correct word there. Knowing Padraig, it would be carefully crafted words which tried to express just how he felt. But he'd have forgotten it when he saw her and she felt the same, her words leaving her at the sight of him there. It wasn't just what he wore, or the place, or.. any of it, really. It was all of it and none, from his undone top button to the way his eyes looked when he spoke to her.

Faith smiled in memory of that first trial, the total tailspin she'd gone into at the prospect of a free man making her a cup of tea. She'd been so excited to learn, so keen to do well and when she met him? He'd fascinated her and she'd more or less begged him for homework, she recalled. Faith lifted her hand to touch his cheek and she smiled, relaxing at the contact.

We might as well, he said. A chuckle escaped her as he said that and she shook her head, but put her arm in his. "Well, you know, it would be typical of us to elope twice. Elope from our elopement?" Having taken just one step forward, though, Faith stopped and turned to look at him with an earnest gaze. "It's already all true, you know. The words I'm about to say, what it means. It's already all true and this is about trying to explain something which defies definition. You know that, Padraig, don't you? I know I'm shoddy at saying it, but I feel it. All of it." He knew, she fully believed he did, but of all the trials, on this one she had to be sure.

But into the Temple they walked, Faith holding on to Padraig's arm. The place was beautiful and she felt almost like she was seeing it for the first time. The sapling in the middle of the Temple was where they were going to be married, the statue of Moseke holding on to Ymiden's hand and, on the other side, on to the hand of a small child would be what they stood next to. As they walked in, Faith's arm tightened in Padraig's her free hand resting on her stomach, where their child grew.

The sight of the small group, caused her to simultaneously beam with delight and to feel tears prickle against her eyes. These people were family in the true meaning of the word. They were not blood, not one of them, but that did not change the simple truth of them. Famula, Vri, Moseke. These were the Immortals who had marked her and here, in the Temple to Moseke, Faith gave thanks to all of them for the souls in this room, for the love they shared and for the lives which had touched and enhanced hers. As they approached Kura, Faith looked at her friend and her smile was pure delight. They took their places, standing next to each other and Faith realised that she had no idea what they were going to do now, how this was going to work. It wasn't planned, it wasn't structured, it was just them here in this place and it was exactly how it should be.

Off Topic

I know not everyone who said they were gonna post here has yet, but want to keep this moving. However, if you're invited / there and haven't posted last time - feel free to this time!

[Nir'wei]

Gods, he didn't know what he was meant to do. A wedding. Faith's wedding. He'd never thought he'd even be alive to see this a few seasons ago. An arc ago he'd never thought he'd see her travelling the world and doing things that her then-owner would beat her for or something. Now he was standing in a temple, waiting for the bride and groom to walk in and announce their vows. He wished he could be alone with his thoughts, to reflect on his life, but unfortunately it seemed his days of solitude were rapidly dwindling.

On the seat next to him was Jasper, curled-up and fast asleep. Damn lazy sod. He prodded the otter, and he looked up just long enough to yawn far wider and longer than necessary before curling back up again and draping his tail over his eyes. Between his legs sat Greyhide, alert as ever, ears perked and back straight... but his attention was split between the entrance and Phelan in equal measure, and he could feel the tenseness in his body through their bond. "You're unbelievable, you know that right."

The thought floated down their connection and it seemed to slide straight off Greyhide for a good while before he finally became aware of his surroundings again and shook himself down, fur bristling. "Oh shush! You were there, you saw how I acted." Greyhide's ears flattened to his skull. "It's unbecoming of a young gentleman to act so rude." Nir'wei looked down at the wolf and cocked his head marginally. Fragments of Greyhide's past seemed to appear at the strangest of moments. They painted the picture of a young, intelligent boy, studious and proper... not the sort that he'd ever imagined would get involved with something as primal as Becoming, but that still wasn't a subject he dared touch quite yet. There'd be plenty of time for that in other days.

The moment Archailist had found he could still manipulate Greyhide's spirit while he materialised, he'd taken full advantage. Manifesting atop Greyhide's head, he tugged idly on one of his ears, making it twitch until the wolf shook himself and Archailist floated up into the air instead, grinning down on him. "Oh, on the contrary," the squirrel-spirit replied in a sing-song voice. "It's unbecoming of a young gentleman to act like a pining little puppy desperate to run along and make friends with the big boys. I know they get dogs neutered, but wolves too? I mean, woof." Nir'wei could feel the growl rising in Greyhide's throat before it even came out and quashed it instantly through their mental connection. Archailist earned a slap for good measure, but with much more control over spirit-bonds, he shrugged it off as easily as one would a fleck of dust on their shoulder. "How about you take your eyes off that one and settle it on the task at hand. Come on, at least one of us needs to show a little class."

Nir'wei gave Archailist a much harder mental smack for that. He felt rather proud of the outfits! Yes, plural. Nir'wei had found strips of black silk and used them to fashion three small bow-ties. One for Jasper, which he'd already pawed at until it was a knotted mess hanging loose around his neck; one for Greyhide, who wore it as proudly as any medal and after his rebuking, stared straight ahead with all the marshalled steel of a soldier at attention... and one for Traveller, currently perched on the thickest branch of the tree that made up the temple. As Faith, Padraig and a few others he'd never seen before began their walk down the aisle, the Sohr Khal pushed his head through one of the open windows high above and gave an appreciative rumble, a deep thrum in the back of his throat.

He agreed. They looked beautiful. Faith wasn't the only one with tears prickling. Her dress, her jewellery all turned her into a walking, sparkling diamond. The man on her arm... well, he was alright. He beamed at them both as wide as his cheeks would allow and grit his teeth to avoid listening to Archailist's obnoxiously-loud wolf-whistle. Thank the gods he couldn't manifest like Greyhide. Some several hundred arcs of being able to do as he pleased with no response from the rest of the material world, not to mention the lack of company, had made him entirely oblivious to normal social protocol.

[Niv]

This was a momentous Trial, two of Niv’s dear friends were bonding their souls together with love in the temple dedicated to the immortal of nature and life. Niv was wearing the dress Faith had sewn her with the elegant butterfly wing design, which she had been anticipating wearing since it was discussed seasons ago. A top a stone pedestal reserved for Tunawa of importance, Niv looked at the people before her, dressed in their finest garments and wearing cheerful smiles. Faith especially looked like her dress was woven from the night sky and her special flower Padraig looked quite dashing as well.

Niv should have been exploding with joy but she just couldn’t find even the tiniest sliver of contentment. She was still sick with worry for her Papa and the other Tunawa that were captured and taken to what was sure to be a horrible place. Her whole body felt stiff, numb and full of cracks but she took a deep breath and did her best took keep the pain from spilling out and making a mess of things. She pushed her tiny mouth into a smile as hard as she could and tried not to let her mind wander to unpleasant things.

As Faith and Padraig walked down the isle with hands tied together with ribbon, Niv waved at them to make her presence known. It was a good way to keep her hand from trembling and appear normal. Niv hoped she could get through this Trial and not ruin it for her friends. She just smiled her face smile and tried to act like she normally would, continuously assuring herself that everyone would be too distracted by everything to notice her facade.

The Tunawa was so busy focusing on appearing happy that she almost didn’t notice the familiar face near her. It was Kura whom Niv had only seen in a dream, the very dream she had met Faith in. as soon as Niv caught sight of her, the tunawa gave the women a long open eyed stare for an uncomfortable about of time before turning her gaze back to the bride and groom. How were you supposed to talk to someone about something like that during a ritual such as this. It was best to let those things be, maybe address them later, yes later would be best.

She didn’t pay as much attention to Nir’wei or his many spiritual familiars, which would have normally caught her interest. She turned when the wolf spirit made loud noises and gave Greyhide a look. Her eyes moved up to stare straight at Arch for a few trills but didn’t address him. He looked like a squirrel she should know but All squirrels kind of looked the same, this one just happened to be a spirit but there was plenty of those too.



Art credit to Yoshitaka Amano

[Padraig]

When she said that they might elope twice, Padraig grinned as he took Faith's arm. "I would be the norm for us, now wouldn't it?" he added when they neared the threshold of the temple. "And..." he added the last in a whisper for her ears alone. "If I did nothing else for the rest of my arcs, I'd happily elope with you, over and over again." As an afterthought, he really wished that Cyrus hadn't snatched his written notes away and tossed them into the fire. If ever he was able to speak in eloquent or romantic terms, those moments tended to strike him at the most inopportune of moments. Not on demand. Not by a long shot.

"I know. We know. And if we both end up at a loss for words inside, we'll still know, and hopefully our guests will look kindly and allow us to live it down." As they stepped inside the temple, Cyrus, Katie, Luna were already there. Kura was waiting for them, and a man he recognized as Nir'wei presumably, based on what Faith had told him. Assorted companions and Cally. And Padraig grinned a little again when he spotted his best maid Niv watching from a pedestal. Padraig wondered, if for old time's sake, he might have chosen to carry his little friend into the temple inside his pocket.

But mostly, while he saw them all there, he had eyes only for Faith, even as they approached the altar. The gown was beautiful. The hairpiece, the slippers and glittering ring, every inch of her from crown to toe. But if she'd been dressed in a makeshift sack, he'd have found her to be no less of a vision. He didn't need anyone to tell him how lucky he was to have found and won her. Each morning when he awoke and saw her there, over and over again his good fortune was a wonder to him.

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

As they waited for Faith and Padraig to enter, Kura looked at the rest of the guests. Nir'wei looked much better than he had when they had first met, and Greyhide wore his status as a Velduris wolf remarkably well. She didn't really have an opinion on the otter, but the Sohr Kahl was a beauty. Niv seemed down about something, but it was possible she was misreading the Tunawa's body language. She hadn't met very many of the plant-people before, and while she had met Niv during the same dream she had met Faith, she remembered far less of the part of the dream that Niv had been there for, before Famula had apparently made the dream real. Still, it was nice to finally meet the third party of that meeting.

Then Faith and Padraig walked in and Kura and Cally both shifted from their fairly relaxed positions to something more formal and serious, as befitted the situation. Kura had been given relatively free reign as to what she said, but this was an important day, and she wanted to give it the gravitas it deserved. She paused a moment, returning Faith's happy, joyous smile with a warm one, then took a deep breath and spoke. "Today is a celebration. A celebration of love, of commitment, of friendship, of family, and of two people who are in it for forever." she said, her tone calm, peaceful, though she pitched it to make sure all the attendees could hear.

The Mortalborn paused a moment, then smiled again. "To see two such people who are so perfectly made for each for each other is a rarity, but for them find each other is rarer still. Let us then celebrate your love, Padraig and Faith Augustine, and see it bound and made eternal by the ties that you yourselves made together." she said, causing Cally to take the bindings the pair had made in Scalvoris out from behind her and hand them to Faith. The spirit had insisted on taking care of the bindings, operating on some level of logic that none of the living surrounding her had quite understood. In the unlikely event that anyone was looking at Kura instead of where they were supposed to be, they would notice a gold tint to the Mortalborn's eyes.

[Faith Augustin]

The people here were her family in every meaning of the word which mattered; she was holding on to the man she loved in ways which she could not explain, describe or give voice to. Yet her mouth went suddenly dry and her palms started to sweat. As she put one foot in front of the other, Faith felt herself start to shake and she held on to him, emotions washing over her in waves. Her hand held on to Padraig's, anchoring her as they stood in front of Kura and Cally and she looked at him. Whilst she kept eye contact, she was calmer.

Because when she looked at him, it all made sense.

Faith was aware of the people there and she made sure, as they walked in, to look at each of them and smile. Each of them, they were part of the story of her life, as she was part of the story of theirs. Her friends, her family. People who had accepted her as a slave, been kind to her in dreams and the waking world; those who had laughed with her when laughter was a rare thing for her. Each one of them had been on this journey and Nir'wei, Niv, Cally and Kura, they all knew her before she had known Padraig. Before she had met him. The delight in her silver eyes was entirely honest as she looked at each one of them, Cyrus, Luna and Katie too ~ they were people who were incredibly important and they were all here to share this trial.

Yet, all she knew was him.

These people were her friends, they were her family. But him? He was her heart and her soul, her belief in herself. He was hers and Faith prayed to Vri in thanks for the love she gave and received. To Famula for their souls which walked together, she was sure, in every lifetime and to Moseke for the lifetime they shared. Putting her hand out to take the bindings, Faith smiled and whispered her thanks to Cally. Then, she turned to Cyrus, who handed her Padraig's ring.

A ring like no other for him. A puzzle ring made of four distinct pieces which she held in her hand and showed him. They clicked together to make the whole ring – but only when put together in the correct order and she did that now, more clumsily than she'd have liked due to the shaking of her hands. Each piece was translucent and glowing, looking for all the world like it was lit with stars. He might notice now or later that there was strange engraving on the inside of the ring. It made no sense whilst the pieces were apart, but once it was clicked together into a single piece the engraving on the inside turned out to be numbers. On the left side, 1,800,003 and the right, 76,234,897. She didn’t say what they were, because she knew he’d know. They were the numbers of their stars. The numbers they’d chosen for each other, stargazing off Faldrass just before pirates attacked.

She put the ring on his finger, smiling slightly when it actually fitted and that particular worry didn't come true. Then, when he'd done the same with the ring for her, she entwined her fingers into his. They were supposed to say something, she knew. She'd practiced, she'd thought, she'd worried and fussed. There were no words, she knew that. Or if there were, she didn't have them.

"When you hear the story of my life, it sounds like a miracle," Faith said, her voice breaking with emotion. "It isn't. You are. You make everything possible and I don't even have the words to promise you the things that already are, that will always be between us. I don't have the words to tell you what I should. All I can tell you is that I am yours in this and every lifetime. My soul is yours, freely given." She didn't see the tint in Kura's eyes, she didn't see the temple or the tree, the statue or any of the guests. She saw him and nothing else.

Taking her piece of the cord they'd made, she did nothing till he had spoken his words and then, with him and entirely clumsy in her current state, she started her half of tying their hands together.

Off Topic

Ring metal pre -approved by Ent.
400gn deducted and she has the remainder of the ingot of Star Metal.

[Nir'wei]

In the brief moment before the official ceremony began, he supposed, he took the time to look around a little and notice that he actually didn't know too many of the other people gathered there. There was a Tunawa... he didn't know why, but there was one there. Archailist seemed to focus a lot on her, and stranger still, from the corner of his eye, he noticed that the Tunawa seemed to focus straight back. He tried to probe a little through the mental connection, ask if perhaps he knew the little one, but all he got in reply was an odd silence. Not at all fitting, considering how much of a little shit he'd acted today.

He'd never seen the girl who stood up beside Kura either, but he was sure there'd be time to ask for names to match faces soon enough. At her smile, he beamed as bright as he could, and even Greyhide made a matching effort, somehow lifting the corners of his mouth in the best resemblance of a smile as he'd ever seen on a wolf. As they reached the front, he shifted a little to give Greyhide more room, though the wolf never moved a hair. His eyes were back to darting between the couple and Phelan again. Damn good thing Kura was otherwise occupied. Damn shame he was as well, or he'd give Greyhide a kick right now and tell him to keep his eyes on the couple!

After all, they were here to witness a miracle in the making. Kura couldn't be closer to the truth. For all the things he'd seen Faith walk through, and for all the things he'd only heard about, she deserved every bit of this and more - and from the way she'd talked about Padraig, in the few and far moments that she had, it was clear that he was everything she deserved too. For the first time, he felt an incredible pang of jealousy, and pushed it down as deep as it'd fit. "No, I don't think Padraig has a brother, Nir'wei." There was something in Greyhide's amused tone that he couldn't quite put a finger on, but now he really wanted to kick the wolf the moment they made it outside and away from public eyes.

Damnit, they were so wonderful together. He didn't even notice that his eyes had started watering until the first tear tracked its way down his cheek. Hastily he reached up and rubbed it away with the back of his hand, suppressing a sniffle and trying to play it off as a little bit of dust had trickled into his eye. He needed to contain himself, now was not the time! But they looked so wonderful together. But no crying! "You're an absolute bloody mess." Greyhide leaned just enough against his inner calf to make his presence known, without actually putting any weight down. "Either hold back those tears, or I'm dragging you out of here and making even more of a scene." That surprisingly helped. Minor emergency suppressed, he focused on the hand-tying... which surely had to be some foreign ritual. Something from Rynmere, maybe?