Slipping his arm around Lina's waist, Lon held out his left hand to the air. “Puter, give me a large bouquet of flowers. Match in general the kind the bride's already wearing, but larger blossoms, long stems. A ribbon wrapped around them to match the ones on the columns.” A bundle appeared in his hand and he presented it to her.
Lina held the flower illusion to her nose. It smelled of fresh rain with a dash of honeysuckle. “It's almost too beautiful now.”
“I can tone it down,” Jae offered.
“No!” Lina blurted. “Sometimes you want a little excess. Isn't that right, Lon?”
“Excess is good,” he said gravely. “But I don't think this is too excessive.”
“It's excessively romantic,” Lina sighed. She held her bouquet tightly to herself, not believing yet. This was a dream, or maybe a TV program, and she was an actress playing a part next to the world's most wonderful, most exciting, sexiest man.
But no, this was real, this was now, this was Lon and her forever. A miracle. “Can we get started? My nerves are going to kick in soon.”
Jae studied the growing crowd who milled about on the grassy slope rising beyond them. “Let's wait a few more minutes. You don't want to deprive everybody of Valiant's wedding, do you?”
She'd done it again. Lina hung her head. “I'm sorry. I keep forgetting who he is, Valiant-wise.”
This was historical. And more important even than that—
The bouquet bobbing dangerously, Lina grabbed Lon's lapels. “Photographer!” She was going to say more but Lon gently detached her.
“Done,” he said as he clasped her free hand between his. “We're recording already.”
Behind his back, Jae motioned the computer to begin doing so.
“Good.” Lina breathed a sigh of relief. “I'll need to watch this once it's all over. To see how it went.” Her face softened as she gazed at Lon. “To watch you.”
Lon nodded. “To show our grandchildren.” He gave a modest shrug. “And the world.” Then he grimaced. “And Hal.”
Automatically Lon reached for a pocket he didn't have. “Jae?” he asked instead.
Jae patted himself down, but either found no pockets or whatever was supposed to be in pockets. He gestured to the front row of the crowd. “Wiley. A moment.”
Wilder stepped up and the three men conferred over a pocket device Wiley produced. Then he resumed his position and Londo turned to Lina. “No word from Hal yet. He's going to miss this after all.”
He rubbed his nose harder than Lina had ever seen him do, his mouth grim. “Can't be helped,” he finally decided. “Papa Mike and Mama Ruth. Chim. And—”
Lina squeezed his hand and he nodded. He told her, “We'll throw a huge party later with everyone. My friends, yours, and any family you want to include. We might even invite some of this bunch back.” A sideways nod indicated the meadow's occupants.
There must be well over two hundred here. Lina tried not to think of them, turned away…and something glittered on Jae's stole.
“What is that?” she asked.
Jae looked down and touched it. A triangle and circle with an intersecting line, it was embroidered in metallic gold on the stole's left shoulder.
“How about that?” he said. “That's the symbol of the spiritual order I belong to. Interesting that—Whoever—included it.” He raised the stole's edge and revealed the same symbol underneath, embroidered on his tunic.
A sense of expectation filled her as Lina looked down at her own dress. There it was, the same symbol. “Because,” she said as she lifted her necklace to show him. The symbol was a subtle part of the linkwork on the left. “That's the symbol of the order I belong to. An order that supposedly only exists on Earth. The Order of—”
“Uriel,” they both said together. Jae's mouth opened and closed.
“Londo,” Lina announced, “I am going to faint. Catch me.” She raised her arms to either side to make it easier for him.
Lon smoothed a tendril of her hair though he remained alert for wobbling. “No you won't. You'll be great. This is a day for miracles.”
Jae scratched himself thoughtfully behind his right shoulder. Finally he said, “Yeah. Let's get started.”
He adjusted his stole but Lon gave it a perfecting tweak. As Jae walked toward the dais Londo took formal parade hold of Lina's arm.
“Wait,” he decided, and switched sides so he was on her right. From there he took her other arm and patted it. “A bit of Terran tradition no one will object to.”
“You're sure about this?”
“Absolutely legal, chérie. Ah, here we go.”
The crowd quieted. “Good morning,” Jae told them. “Very, very early morning.” His voice carried throughout the area. His attitude was easy as if he'd rehearsed this.
“I'm so glad you could join us on this special occasion. Legionnaires, families and friends—most of us have seen some odd things in our time, strange and wonderful things. We've had some pretty odd things happening here for the past couple days and some very strange things took place just a little while ago. And now we have a wonderful thing. Our good friend, Valiant—Londo Rand—is getting married.”
People applauded as Londo led Lina to center stage. Despite knowing that Lina was so nervous, Lon would never have guessed it. She walked calmly and gracefully, with a peaceful presence that calmed even him. She had made a jump of faith for him, and now she strode steadfastly on her new path.
Jae's next statement was lost on him because he was admiring the way she looked: like a bride. His bride. And the trusting way she gazed at him made him want to take her into his arms. She felt so good in his arms.
**Pay attention, Londo, you handsome devil.**
With a smile he did so.
Jae spoke of the universal consciousness creating new groups of souls that would be linked through eternity, and of the just-discovered fact that here indeed were two of those, together at last in incarnated form. He called upon the entire cosmos, created and uncreated, to witness the marriage and strengthen it through time.
As if an invisible curtain were drawing back, a long, draped table appeared in front of them with three plates of foods and a rough pottery jug. Pouring from the jug into a low, almost flat bowl with handles, Jae offered it first to Lon and then to Lina. He told them that this was the sweet wine of desire and good fortune.
Lina sniffed and made a face over it. “Ew, it's real.”
“She doesn't like alcohol,” Lon whispered to Jae.
“This much won't kill her.”
Then they went on to the other things: pressing a fingertip dusted with salt on each other's tongues, chewing on bitter herbs, eating a sour wafer. Then once more the wine, which Lina stoically drank without comment.
“The cycles of life include all of life's experiences,” Jae told them and the crowd. Every now and then his eyes would flicker to the left. Lina was sure that one of those invisible computer screens hung in the air so only he could see. It probably held the traditional script for the wedding.
“All things come around again. Now you are required to face everything, that which you deem good and that which you deem bad, together.”
He picked up a pink spool of ribbon and gave one end of it to Lon. Lina received the end of a white spool. Then Jae walked around the couple, intertwining the spools and passing the thick ribbons through each other in lavish falls of color that sparked in multicolored speckles whenever they touched and as they gathered on the ground.
“Is this strict tradition?” Londo asked out of the side of his mouth as Jae circled behind.
“Absolutely.” Unbeknownst to them at first, Jae spread his arms to the crowd for attention and began to juggle the ribbons high into the air, which evoked a fireworks of sparks and audience applause. Jae stuck a silly one-legged pose to his left and juggled. Then a pose to his right and juggled some more. To the crowd's delight, he kicked a ribbon into the air with his left heel.
Lon looked at Lina, who he
ld one hand over her mouth so she wouldn't laugh, and then decided to give Jae a doubtful look. “Traditional?” he asked.
“Traditionally informal. Life is not a serious affair.”
With that the two balls of ribbon popped back into Jae's waiting hands and he returned to the business of knotting. He finally came to a stop in front of the two and handed the ends to them, keeping a length in his own hands.
“Marriage,” he announced, “unites you both. It is a mystery of life, the two who become one.” He yanked at both ribbons and with a magical sparkle spray all knots fell away, leaving one long straight ribbon in Lon and Lina's hands—a ribbon that was just one now, pink with white stripes.
For a moment Lina wondered if she should applaud like the rest of the spectators. Londo certainly had a twinkle in his eye at which Jae wrinkled his nose in triumph.
“But never forget,” Jae continued in solemn tones as the audience quieted, “that you are individuals, and acting as individuals, you need to work at mastering this unity every day.”
His gaze targeted Lina's face. “Now you sing to Londo.”
“Uh. Say what?”
Jae nodded encouragement. “A song that reveals your heart.”
“Jae,” Lon warned. “This has to be traditional.”
“Absolutely. One hundred percent.”
“A cappella?” Lina whispered.
Jae listened to the translation for the phrase, which seemed to go on for some time.
“If this is so informal,” Londo told her in low tones, “you don't have to do it.”
“A cappella,” Jae finally decided, pronouncing the words in English, or rather Italian. He stood expectantly.
Lina blinked at him.
“A little warning would have been nice,” Londo growled his friend.
Jae shrugged. “If you want to skip this most important—”
“When you're weary,” Lina murmured.
“—step, you…” Jae's words trailed off.
Lina turned to look Londo fully in the face. “Feeling small,” she sang in a tiny voice.
As her gaze moved over his features, finally settling on his eyes, her voice became stronger, more sure. With her song she pledged that she would stand behind and beside him always, a bridge over the troubled waters of life.
When her last note subsided, Lon stood staring at her. With a slight jerk he woke from his trance. “I do,” he said. “I do, I do!”
Lina squeezed his hand. “I do too, honey, but I think that's a Terran tradition.”
Lon grinned at her. “Didn't I say she was something, Jae? That was beautiful, chérie. I can't—”
“Your turn, Londo.”
“I uh I…” It was Lon's turn to blink at Jae. “Oh. Right. Crisse de calisse de tabarnak, Jae—”
“Londo!” Lina squeaked. “I don't know exactly what you just said, but I don't think it was something you should say at a wedding. Particularly your own.”
Lon winced. “Sorry. But d—” He cut the curse short and grimaced mightily. “You could have told us, Jae.”
“Didn't think you'd play along.”
“We should have had a rehearsal,” Lina admonished the both of them.
Lon nodded. “With a rehearsal dinner afterward. Anyone else hungry?”
“Song, Londo. Now.”
A rare look of panic washed across Lon's face and Jae let him stand there silently for a long minute. Finally Lon nodded, turned to Lina and took her left hand between his.
There must have been excellent amplification in this meadow, for the wedding party could clearly hear even the back rows of the audience as they laughed in expectation at Mega-Legionnaire Valiant singing like a barbarian. But his voice came strong and baritone.
“I'll be the hero you've been dreaming of,” he pledged to her and sang that he'd always love her, never leave her.
A tiny part of the very back of Lina's brain hoped that her smile wasn't too big, too dopey, before it gave in to the rest of her and melted at Valiant publicly singing a love song for her. He would always be her hero! “I do,” she told him after he'd finished.
“See that you do.” He breathed a sigh of relief and stopped himself from looking around to measure how the audience had taken it.
“Repeat after me,” Jae instructed. He was plainly reading from some invisible cheat-sheet. In turn they took their vows:
“I promise to love and cherish you in heart, mind and body through the cycles of time and fortune's wheel. I promise to help you face the challenges of life, to aid you in leaving the universe a better place for having been here, and to better enable you to see the spark of God that lies within you.”
As the last syllable faded across the meadow, Jae whirled around, one arm outstretched with pointing finger. A golden glow followed it, hanging in the air and enlarging until it encapsulated the three of them like a cocoon.
Jae lifted a fist. “Let the universe hear,” he commanded. Somewhere a gong sounded. “Let the universe recognize this couple, forever united. What do you give each other to signify this—”
“Forever?!” a voice bellowed from the audience.
Lina's shoulders constricted in dismay.
Stoan strode on stage. “What's this about forever?” he demanded of the two of them, then of Jae.
Jae stood calmly as the golden glow dissipated. “Feithi marriages are eternal,” he said.
“Not 'until death do us part'?” Londo asked.
Jae gave him a stern look. “Beyond death.”
“Eternity?” Lon considered and then broke into a smile for Lina. “I believe that's what we agreed to an hour or so ago.”
He was wonderful. Lina almost glowed as she gazed at him. “Yes, we did. Eternity will do just fine. Or at least until the stars pass away.”
“Longer than that,” Lon assured her. He gathered Lina close to him and turned to Jae expectantly.
Stoan put a hand on Lon's shoulder and the other hand on Jae's, trying to separate them. Only Jae could be moved. Lon of course was Valiant.
“Stop the wedding,” Stoan commanded.
“Vows have been made,” Jae said.
Stoan growled, “Vows can be un-made.”
“If you lack civilized ethics.” And then he quite pointedly called Stoan, “Barbarian.”
The audience collectively inhaled.
Suddenly Jae struck Lina as being so very alien, so…different. On a much higher vibration than anyone else here. Despite his youth he was ancient in some way, and wise beyond reckoning. In some invisible fashion he towered above them all.
She blinked. Jae? But the image held.
**Feithi,** Lon told her but there was awe in his thoughts as well.
The Last Feithi faced down the Affiliated Systems neanderthal.
The Legion commander had to speak from between gritted teeth. “We do not do permanent marriages. Give us a contract marriage, Jae.”
Jae opened his mouth to reply, but Londo turned to his leader. “On Earth marriages are lifetime contracts. Jae's is merely a bit longer than that.”
“It's—” Stoan sputtered.
“Even the Legion doesn't have jurisdiction over us after we die,” Lon said lightly. “Lifetime or beyond, we are willing.”
“No. We must have time to investigate.”
Jae sighed. “There is—”
Everyone turned to look at him. He gave Lon and Lina an apologetic look. “You two are young for a Feithi marriage. There was an out if people were under age…” His eyes looked up and to the right in memory. “Fifty or so. Early marriages were not encouraged.”
Lina started to say something but Jae waved her down.
“They were allowed. But there was a provision, an annulment period. I think there was something like six months time that the couple had to back out of the marriage honorably. Youthful indiscretion could be a valid excuse.”
“Mem-Bazer!” Stoan barked.
“Checking now,” Wiley said from the audience. Lina tu
rned around at his snort to see what he was up to. Studying those invisible monitors of his, it seemed.
“Jae?” Wiley looked up. “Release.”
With a sigh, Jae made a few motions to the air to signal the computer system. “Only duo marriage legalities,” he told it, and Wiley turned with renewed interest to his screens.
“Jae has censored specific information about Feith on the Nets,” Londo quietly explained to Lina. Before she could ask, Lon added, “Since he's the last survivor, technically he owns all things Feithi, including information.”
Lina's mouth formed an “O” just as Wiley said, “Got it. Yes, yes… Yes, Commander. Marriage partners under age 60…which would be about 57 in Sarastoran years, and ah, 62 or 63 in Terran years… Half a year trial period to test the marriage. Annulment accomplished by simple verbal and written decree of a priest. Oh, interesting.” Wiley looked up at them. “By 'written,' it says that the decree can be hand-written and affixed to a wall in a public forum if need be. Web posting is optional.”
“Half a year,” Stoan mused as he rubbed his chin between thumb and forefinger. With a grimace he nodded at Londo. “We'll give it five days for our secrecy period. You have five months more to get out of it altogether.”
And he had the nerve to sneer sourly at Lina. She felt herself flush in rage that he would interrupt such a holy service, that he'd dare to come between Londo and her!
Jae waved Stoan away with the tips of his fingers. Stoan stayed for a beat, just to show them who was boss, and then retreated into the audience where he stood glowering.
Jae closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He let it out in a whoosh and then regained his normal posture. “Where was I?” he asked the two of them.
Lina blinked. Wedding again. Wedding again! She broke out in a smile. “There was a gold swash,” she said, imitating Jae setting it, “and sound effects.”
Jae bobbed his head from side to side as he looked to his left and silently mouthed bits and pieces of what he read in the air. “Ah,” he finally announced. “Here we are.”
Again he set the golden glow. Again the gong sounded. It was funny, Lina thought, how that gong seemed to cement the occasion by vibrating through them all.
Touch of Danger (Three Worlds) Page 55
