Redwood Wedding
#4 of Permithia Universe
Arc and Nyx's wedding. Another old story I cleaned up a little and felt like posting.
Nyx paced back and forth in her changing room, her good friend Trithy leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.
"Holy radiance, I'm nervous," Nyx said, breathing out slowly, her shark tail twitching from side to side in anticipation. "Why am I nervous? I never get nervous. Facing down a horde of Mindless by myself? By the abyss, you bet. But this? I was never expecting this."
"You didn't have the heart to ask her, hun." Trithy said. "She got to it first."
Nyx stopped in front of the full-body mirror hanging from the wall and placed her hands on either side, looking at what she was wearing.
Gray elbow length fingerless silk gloves. Hair curled. Touch of makeup. Slender black lace wedding dress.
A wedding dress.
Of all the things she's worn in her lifetime, she never expected to be wearing something like this. She'd worn dresses before, naturally. Her parents kept an entire closet dedicated to them for her and her sister. In fact, when she first started out as a bounty hunter, she wore a battle skirt. That phase didn't last long, but still.
"I wish I could go outside and swing my scythe around to get rid of some of these nerves." Nyx muttered under her breath.
Her jackal friend laughed. "Arc wouldn't want you ruining that dress. Besides, those butterflies in your stomach are natural. Just don't let them get control."
"The butterflies should burn."
"Not everything can be solved with blatant violence."
Nyx rolled her eyes.
Applying the brush to the heart tattoo on her eye one last time, Arc set the powdered dye on the table and took a step back to get a better look at herself. She had just applied a temporary powdered dye to her tattoos to help them pop out a bit more against her stark white fur.
Her wedding dress was a little unorthodox. A natural white color, it was a simple long sleeved form-fitting wedding top with the bottom half being the standard flow-y style you usually see with wedding dresses. The top was cut at her midriff to show off the tattoo that curled around her waist. Her hair, which was usually kept in a messy ponytail, had been carefully braided except for a couple strands she had hanging down near her ears. To top it all off, a simple purple choker with a red gem in it's center to match her eyes.
She smiled a bit, happy with the way she looked, and hoped Nyx felt the same.
She picked up a small red stud earring off the table her make-up was on and walked over to sit in one of the chairs placed in the corner of her dressing room. She had opted to change alone. It's not that she didn't have friends to help provide verbal support or to straighten every wrinkle from her dress, she wanted to let her excitement simmer in silent peace for the time being.
Holding up the earring carefully in her filed claws, she turned it around to catch the light.
Her parents believed in the Way of Light. The main religion of the kingdom, it followed the teachings of the goddess Iridescence. Mostly it was about finding enlightenment through light. When she got older, Arc fell away from the religion a bit. She loved the teachings and the leaders and the religion, but they condoned bounty hunters.
Between helping beastmen or living a life sitting in Lestit's rays, Arc had to choose beastmen.
But she always dreamed of having a standard Way of Light wedding in tribute of her parents.
Couples would stand at an altar under the sun and cup each other's faces with one hand. In the opposite hand they would hold an earring, which would be clipped to the others' ear. The earring symbolizes how well you know your spouse, and with ears usually being the highest point on the body for most, it also symbolizes the goddess Iridescence binding a couple together.
That's the basics of it, Arc never got around to learning the details.
But she didn't need to. Today was going to be perfect.
Trithy glanced at the clock on the wall. "Well, now's about the time."
"Oh Umbyr. Ok, I'm ready." Nyx said, turning to the door.
"You want to be out there while Lestit's at its highest."
"Right. Way of Light religious cult semantics."
Trithy raised an eyebrow at her. "Careful what you say. If a Brightened heard you say something like that, they'd tie you to the roof and let the sun roast you alive."
"Ha! Those religious leader airbags could try." Nyx said, walking over and opening the door. "I'm only doing this for Arc."
Trithy held the door open but didn't follow Nyx out. "If that's the case," she started. "Then you better not forget her earring."
Nyx sighed. "Right."
She pivoted on one paw to turn around, but when she took a step after doing so her other paw landed a bit strangely and twisted viciously to the side. She found herself on her hands and knees, a sharp pain coming from her left ankle. She grit her shark-like teeth, clenching and unclenching her hand as she slowly stood upright.
"You alright, hun?" Trithy asked.
"Sweet mother of iridescence." Nyx growled. "This is not what I wanted right now."
The pain was manageable, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt immensely. She took a few steps forward, fighting the urge to limp as she picked up Arcs earring from a nearby table. It was a cuff with two long strings connected to a light purple and an aqua feather.
"I feel like breaking something." Nyx said. "Really really badly."
Trithy glanced at the clock again. "We don't have time to wrap it in a support bandage, so, walk it off, I guess."
Nyx smiled sarcastically. "Oh, yes, thanks for that. Let's just hope I don't fall over at the altar."
Arc was already standing in her designated spot when Nyx walked out of her dressing room. She wanted to be sure she could see her soon-to-be in her dress so she could admire her in it when it was time to walk up to the altar.
She didn't have to wait long. Nyx came striding across the room in a lacy black dress that made Arcs heart flutter. She put a hand to her chest and took deep breaths to calm herself.
She kept her eyes on Nyx, beaming with glee until the shark-cat came to a stop on the opposite side of the room. She seemed to be leaning heavily to one side for some reason. She'd ask Nyx later.
They were to wait until the local Brightened of the church stepped up to the altar and motioned for them to step forward to start the wedding. Said Brightened was at the back of the room behind all the guests. When the religious leader saw that Arc and Nyx were ready, she stood, a long single piece robe flowing behind her as she glided toward the altar with careful steps.
When the Brightened was halfway up the aisle, Arc went to stroke Nyx's earring for reassurance, only to find she wasn't holding it.
Arc immediately felt dizzy as the blood rushed from her head.
Without hesitation, she turned and ran back to her room, holding the bottom part of her dress up so she wouldn't trip on it. Her eyes scanned the hallway for the red gleam of Nyx's earring just in case she spotted it, but she had a good idea of where it ended up.
She had placed it down on a table as she straightened out some wrinkles in her top and made sure her makeup wasn't smudged anywhere in her fur. After that she had eagerly left the room to wait in place, but hadn't picked the earring back up.
At least, she didn't think she did.
Throwing the door to her dressing room open, her eyes locked into the table her makeup was kept at, scanning the contents to see if she could spot it as she ran up and frantically started moving cases and tubes around.
It wasn't here, not at first glance. While she searched, Arc started to pack the items away in her bag to clear things up and hopefully spot the earring better.
In her panic, she grabbed the powdered dye she had used earlier a bit aggressively, and almost missed the small ring of a metal object hitting the floor.
Looking to the floor, she saw Nyx's earring rolling to a stop next to the table leg. She had accidentally knocked it off in her search, and without the noise it made, she wouldn't have found it anytime soon.
Quickly picking it up, she took a second to close her eyes and compose herself with deep breaths before hurrying out of the dressing room.
Before she rounded the corner, she could hear the Brightened calling her name.
"Miss Redwood?"
Slowing to a brisk walk, flustered and a bit out of breath, Arc smiled sheepishly once she emerged into the main room.
"Sorry," She said, hurrying to the altar.
Nyx had almost left her spot to go hunt for Arc to see what was wrong, but before her instincts made her ignore her sprained ankle and break into a sprint, Arc rounded the corner, looking mildly embarrassed and flustered.
Nyx gave her a worried look when Arc made it to the altar, forgetting the pain in her ankle.
"I apologize for vait." Arc said. "Please proceed."
The Brightened gave one last quizzical look before starting the ceremony.
First, everyone tilted their heads to the glass roof as the Brightened opened a book and read a passage from the Book of Light.
All Way of Light churches had window roofs to allow the sun to shine inside all day long. Nyx suspected it caused for some very sweltering Summer days, and she was thankful their wedding was taking place mid Fall.
As her eyes tracked the sky above, Nyx subconsciously tuned out the words the Brightened was saying.
Like she had told Trithy earlier, the only reason she was here was for Arc, and Nyx had no doubt that many of the guests felt the same.
Over half of those that were invited were fellow bounty hunters. The others were friends from the kingdom.
No family for either of them. Nyx had sworn off talking to her family again, and Arc had lost her parents too young to really learn of any blood relatives.
So it was a small gathering, and Nyx preferred it this way.
"Commence the bonding ceremony." The Brightened said after closing the book and having everyone look back down.
Nyx turned that phrase over in her head, trying to remember what that meant she had to do. Was that the earring exchange? She couldn't remember if there was anything else before that that Arc had informed her about.
Nyx figured it out when Arc reached her left hand up and cupped her face in one hand.
"Oh, right." Nyx said, reaching up and cupping Arcs face with her right hand.
Simultaneously, they both reached up with their other hands and pierced the others ear with the earrings.
Nyx remembered this part. Fresh piercings so the blood could strengthen the bond they would share.
Neither winced as the earrings were put in.
After putting the earrings in, the couple placed the other hand to cup their partners face in both hands instead of just one.
Nyx found herself looking deeply into Arcs vibrant red eyes and smiling as the Brightened said a few more words for the ceremony.
Nyx stroked Arc's cheek with her thumb, wiping away a tear that had escaped the fox's eye.
The Brightened pointed to Lestit directly overhead. "With the great Iridescence as our witness, do you, Arc Redwood, and you, Nyxilan Veldser Redwood, agree to take the other as their bonded partner for as long as the Light shines on this life and the next?"
Arc matched Nyx's smile.
In unison, they nodded. "I do."
Thank you for reading! May your inner fire burn strong