“Well…” Grandmother Eleanor said, fluffing her hair. “Youarebeautiful, Haloke, there is no doubt about that, but I do believe that Ava-Marie takes after her mother. Sophia is quite gorgeous.”
That was a round-about way of Grandmother Eleanor congratulating herself on passing down good genes, but nobody called it out— save for Mama, who dared to roll her eyes.
“Should we get started?” the Great Mystic asked, and the ceremony commenced. I wheeled myself to the very edge of the pool and looked down, taking in my reflection in the water.
Ancestors. I hoped no one else could see how scared I looked. My eyes seemed terrified.
“This is a great day for our people,” the Great Mystic said, gesturing to the pool. “You will finally be joined with the prince in the way of our goddesses. Let us prepare you for the ceremony.”
I gave no response, because once the ceremony began, I didn’t feel like I could talk— my voice felt strangled in my throat. I simply slipped my robe off my shoulders and handed it to Ivy.
Underneath the robe, I wore a short Elvish slip in silver that was stitched with intricate designs of Elvish love knots. It was styled after the gown Caralyn donned before the night of her wedding to the goddess Idril, and was something every Elvish bride wore for her pre-wedding ritual. My friends placed me into the water, and the silver slip became soaked as I submerged myself into the pool.
“The night Idril fell in love with Caralyn, she came upon her bathing in a pool,” the Great Mystic began. “From now until the time you are wed, these rituals will be a symbol for the love story Idril and Caralyn experienced, until they joined as one.”
“This ritual also prepares your soul and body for the joining with the Great Spirit,” Mama reminded me. “Today, you become a bride not just for Charlie, but for Him.”
I took a deep breath. There was so much symbolism and sacredness in these ceremonies. They meant a lot to everyone, not just me. I wanted to prepare myself for this wedding the right way, so I could be sure I didn’t let the gods down. This ceremony wasn’t just about me and Charlie. It was about the Elvish people, and the Hawkei, and was a beacon of hope for everyone who lived in Ilamanthe.
As I sat in the water, the Great Mystic poured a vial of liquid gold into it, making the water shimmer. “The union between the Elvish goddesses is the joining of the masculine energy, and the feminine energy. Idril is a goddess, but this gold symbolizes her masculine power, the heat of the sun. Idril is a deity of war, strength, protection, and courage. She leads Caralyn and guides her to become all she can be.”
The Great Mystic picked up another vial, one of liquid silver, and poured it into the other side of the pool, until the gold and silver were mixing together and swirling within the water. “In response, this silver, reflecting the glow of the moon, represents Caralyn’s feminine magic,” the Great Mystic said. “Caralyn gives Idril a safe, empathetic space where her spouse may rest and heal. She provides compassion, nurturing, creativity and love. When these two sides intertwine, they create a divine marriage. Like Idril and Caralyn, you and the prince must combine the masculine and the feminine into a singular being, one soul that can see the world through different perspectives, within one heart.”
I understood. In Hawkei lore, the Sun was always chasing the Moon, as he was in love with her, but she was forever out of his reach. To be with her, the Sun had created gods and goddesses out of himself, and the Moon had responded in kind, so aspects of their souls could be reunited throughout the universe. I knew this wedding was a reenactment of that feminine and masculine energy today.
“Love has the power to induce great and wondrous change,” the Great Mystic continued. “Idril’s deep love for Caralyn changed her from a human to an Elven goddess, so they could live together in eternity. Charlie’s love for you has transformed you into an Elf, and we have accepted you as one of our people. Allow his love to change you into a better person, as your love will change him.”
I nodded, and the liquid metals glistened across my skin. Charlie had changed me— for the better, and for the worse. I was a different person than I had been before I met him; hell, even before Imarriedhim. I knew as time passed our relationship would continue to change and morph me, because I’d never stay the same person. I wouldn’t be able to. I’d always have to keep growing, learning and shifting, and he’d do the same for me.
My mother, Jackie, and both of my grandmothers entered the water. This was the Hawkei part of the ceremony, and therefore, only Hawkei women participated. Each of them wore simple white dresses, and they surrounded me in a circle. I used my Toaqua magic to float my body upward, and laid back upon the surface as Grandma Haloke began to sprinkle oils of lavender and white sage upon my wet hair. She worked her fingers into my locks, washing the tendrils.
“All gods and goddesses are born from the Great Spirit,” Grandma Haloke began. “This ancient Hawkei ceremony prepares you as a bride by washing your hair, the most sacred part of your spirit, cleansing your soul and providing blessingsby the women of the tribe. Ava-Marie, I call upon Whale Spirit to bless you with courage. May she enable you to be brave— not only as a princess— but as a wife. Marriage requires courage, and facing your fears even as you want to run from them. I pray that you will be brave enough to battle whatever comes, and hold your ground as you fight by your husband’s side.”
“I’ll be brave,” I promised. This world could do its best to take Charlie from me, and I’d never let them do it. I’d fight until the very end for him, and even long after.
She moved aside. Jackie took her place, massaging the oils into my hair. “Ava-Marie, I call upon Eagle Spirit to provide you with virtue. Sometimes in relationships, temptation comes to play dirty. It makes you desire to hurt the one you love, if only because they’ve hurt you first. But forgiveness will bridge a way to healing, and being virtuous will help you to remember that despite pain, love endures… if you’re willing to give it a second chance.”
The lump in my throat got even bigger, and I wasn’t able to respond. I knew marriage sometimes required you to forgive, even when forgiveness could be the most painful thing in the world to grant. But Charlie was worth it, and if I forgave him for whatever mistakes came down the line, he’d forgive me, too. We’d work together to create a better future for the both of us, not just ourselves. I would be tempted to strike out at Charlie if he hurt me, and he’d feel the same. But even if we slipped up, we’d find our way back to each other eventually, because we always did. Nothing we could do to each other would ever make us depart from this marriage. No matter what, we’d forgive each other, and move forward.
No one noticed me choke up, and Grandmother Eleanor came to wash my hair beside Jackie.
“I call upon Coyote Spirit to help you be clever,” she began. “In marriage, you must not only pick your battles, but be smartenough to outwit whatever may come to challenge your love. Cleverness will enable you to make the best choices for your family. It will help you gain good standing in your community, destroy your enemies, and will keep your husband on the right path.”
“Mother,” Mama hissed under her breath, and I giggled. Everyone knew that Grandmother Eleanor had no problem keeping my grandfather in line.
“Charlie will be an Emperor, and you are his bride. It will be up to you to steer his decisions, which will ultimately affect thousands of lives,” Grandmother Eleanor said, ignoring what my mother had whispered. “Cleverness will help you decide what outcome will be the best one. Not just for others, but for you. Be cunning. It may be what saves your marriage one day, when calamity comes to call and strength is not enough.”
“I’ll be cunning, Grandmother,” I told her. “You know I always have been, and will continue to be.”
As she moved back, my mother came close. She began washing my hair lovingly, and it reminded me of how she used to braid my hair when I was a little girl. Her soft, gentle motions made tears come to my eyes with the memory of how life used to be. That was all gone now. I wasn’t a child anymore, and nothing could ever bring those times back. But though I was grown, I couldn’t be more grateful, because my mother was by my side.
“Ava-Marie, you came from my womb. I birthed you into this world, and now, I place you into the arms of another,” Mama said. “I call upon Phoenix Spirit, the goddess of Anichi, to bless you with the gift of renewal and reincarnation. Throughout your marriage, you will find that you and your husband will be born anew. There will come a time when he will no longer be the man you married, nor you the woman he wed. But no matter what circumstances you find yourself in, love can always start again. Rebirth is essential to a marriage, because both of you willreincarnate into new forms again and again, especially in times of pain and loss. Rise from the ashes, and each time you do, rise closer together.”
I let out a sob, and tears trickled out of my eyes and into the water. I’d managed to hold it together this long, but I couldn’t manage when my mother spoke. The tears demanded to come, because she was right. Charlie and I had changed so many times over the past two years, and though those transformations had been painful, they’d brought us closer together. I knew I wouldn’t be the same woman fifty, twenty, or even five years from now, and Charlie wouldn’t be the same man. But that wouldn’t matter, because I’d continue to fall in love with him all over again, and he’d fall in love with me, too, no matter who or what I became. With this wedding, we were promising to grow together, and that’s exactly what we would do.
When my mother was done washing my hair, she and the other women left the pool. I floated back upward into a sitting position, and my friends approached, kneeling at the pool’s edge. Kallie, Ivy, Opal and Abigail sat in a circle around me, each of them holding a flower in their hands as they began the Elvish part of the ceremony.
“Before her wedding, Caralyn’s friends came to sprinkle her with flower petals, and create magic that would strengthen her bond with Idril,” Kallie began. She cast white rose petals into the water. “The fae goddess of time blesses you, Ava. My mother Neva looks upon this day favorably, and gives you the gift of long days. May you and Charlie grow old together, and as the years pass, may you never separate. The most valuable lesson I’ve learned as a woman is that the bonds we make aren’t so easily broken. In the fae tradition, you are becoming a woman today, so let your bond with Charlie last no matter what time may bring.”
