“Farmers,” Zinnia explained. “And timber men. And livestock traders. It all falls to earth. Everyone wants their taxes lowered and their fields blessed. I imagine Cian will give you a full introduction to it all.” She turned to me. “He is a good man, Edie.”
“The priest or the captain?” I asked not looking back at her but at the hundred or so people in the room, some of them looking at me in my white dress and bridal crown.
“Both, to be truthful,” said Zinnia. “But I had meant the archpriest. Your training will not be easy, but your guide is not a taskmaster. He is so humble and gracious, especially as he is cousin to the king and his brother and third in line for the throne. He took the archpriesthood at a young age too. He is much blessed by the goddess. I have no magic myself, but my family does worship in Mother Earth’s temple. Tintar is always in need of earth magic.”
“It is?”
“Oh yes. Air is for prophets and mystics and some of the soldiers are blessed with Brother Air’s speed and grace. Father Fire and his temple is for forges and warmth in winter. Sister Sea blesses us with fish and travel. But Mother Earth gives us so much and we are a coastal people, our land is not always easy to grow from. We need all that goddess’s blessings we can have. I rejoice at your magic and am eager for you to learn your penchant.”
“Penchant?”
“Your propensity. Perhaps wheat fields respond to your touch. Or you have a handy way with tonics. Or a knack with cattle. Earth is the most complex.”
“I see,” I said, absolutely not seeing.
We had reached large doors made of some kind of oak, carved with the same patterns of leaves and roots I had noticed on Cian’s robes last night.
“This is the inner temple.” Zinnia said. “Inside, will be Cian and the captain. Perhaps the rest of the Procurers. Maybe even General Jeremanthy, as he was once the captain’s mentor. And, another friend of the captain, is the prince. He may be there.”
“So the groom is allowed his attendants?” I observed.
“I am sorry, lady. Do you wish me to stay?”
“Can you?” I begged, ashamed, at the age of thirty-eight to be so helpless.
“I would be honored,” she replied.
I looked at her then, estimating her to be past her fiftieth winter. She had a stricter manner but had offered us amenities, information, time to rest, and consideration. She may be Tintarian, but I had a thought that I could trust her. “Thank you, Zinnia,” I gushed. “Thank you.”
She inclined her head to a young man in the mossy earth colors. He bowed to both of us and opened the double doors. “Cian’s acolytes are always helpful,” she said.
31. Wedding
Inside, a room twice as big as the antechamber, was the temple of Mother Earth. Stone pews lined either side, leaving a single aisle up the center to a stone dais and altar under a large wooden carving of an old woman’s face. Half of it was lined and kindly and human and the other half was made of leaves, roots, fungi, flowers and little animals. It was an intricate carving, near the size of the wall of a house and done in a pale blush-colored wood. In front of the altar, Cian stood, murmuring to Alric, fully clad in the Tintarian black armor. In the pews closest to the front, as Zinnia had guessed, sat all of the eighteen other Procurers, General Jeremanthy, Prince Peregrine and several other armor-clad men I did not recognize. The only one, not clad in armor was a man in his forties with red hair and a familiar air about him. He smiled at me as we walked down the aisle.
I looked back up at the wooden woman over Cian’s head. I decided I would use her patchwork face as a beacon during this. I would not look at my betrothed.
“Lady Edie,” said Cian as we drew closer. He reached out to take my hand, nodding towards my left. I lifted it and he took it and pulled me the last few steps towards the altar and drew me to face Alric, my eyes no longer able to find Mother Earth’s carving.
I saw Zinnia take a seat in the front row, Thatcher moving to make room for her.
The light from the narrow window to which Alric had his back hit the top of the captain’s shield slung behind him, in that half-moon shape. I could not make out his backlit features and I had to lower my gaze to the shark tooth insignia on his breastplate to avoid the sunlight directly on my face.
“You make a lovely bride, madam,” said Cian.
I opened my mouth to thank him. Nothing came out.
There was a thwacking as the double doors blasted open, Hinnom striding up the aisle, flanked by three guards on either side. “Good afternoon, all!” the Shark King sang.
Through the closing doors, we could see the stillness his arrival had ushered in, all of the farmers and earth clerics standing at attention and some mid bow, none speaking.
Everyone stood, as they had not for me, as if Hinnom were the bride. I would have laughed if I had not been quaking with fear.
“Your Highness,” Cian said, bowing.
I realized everyone else was giving that half bow, but I was frozen. I sensed Alric’s glare on me but I could not move.
His six guards shadowed him, as he approached Cian, Alric and myself. He clapped his hands, eyes on me. “Your wife is radiant, Alric! Such a sight she is! And in, I would guess, her third decade. Imagine her as a maiden! You must have been twice as ravishing, lady!”
