Jei looked at Val in surprise but took off his first dagger around his waist and gave it to him, “With the Empire’s best wishes,” he said but then whispered, “If you hurt her I will do the same to you.”
Valentin smiled and whispered back, “If I hurt her, I will want you to do worse than that, Admiral.” Valentin took aim with the lighter blade and threw it. It landed exactly where it ought to have. Then he turned to Jei again expectantly.
Jei removed another blade from his back. It had been hidden in his formal jacket. This blade was longer and serrated.
Valentin couldn’t help but ask, “What were you expecting to find here, Admiral?”
Jei shrugged, “You never know on Reima Two.”
Valentin ran his fingers over the hilt, it was engraved with the House Rega insignia. He took his stance and tried to throw taking into account the longer dagger and how the blade’s edges would affect the throw. He threw the final dagger.
Ellie closed her eyes and tried not to move, but that long dagger was coming right towards her face. “Don’t move, don’t move, don’t move,” she said over and over again.
The crowd gasped.
Ellie opened her eyes and felt some pain. She saw Valentin running towards her. Then he stopped and kissed her, he wiped some blood from her as he untied her.
“I’m so sorry. The daggers were rigged. I had to use the Admiral’s.”
“Where am I hurt?” she put a hand up to her ear and then saw the blood. “Am I missing an ear?” Then she felt for her ear again and it was there.
Medics surrounded them and healed the nicks on her ear and pinky finger. Ellie supposed they also used influence to calm her because she didn’t feel nearly as angry or frightened as she had before when she wanted to kill Valentin for not telling her about this specific part of the ceremony.
“Do I get to throw some daggers at you now?” she asked annoyed with Valentin in a whisper. “Why didn’t you tell me? I asked you if there was anything barbaric in the Reima Two marriage ceremony.”
Valentin hugged her close to him and whispered in her ear, “This is all. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think this was barbaric. It’s just our custom.”
“What’s next? Killing some animals?”
“No, Elloisa. You know what’s next,” he said. They had gone over the entire program all except for the dagger throwing.
“Did Jei know?”
“No. I’m not stupid. He wouldn’t have allowed it.”
“No more omissions?”
“No, now we say our vows, confirmed by our witnesses and then we will be welcomed into the community as a partnership,” Valentin said honestly. When Ellie didn’t respond he added, “You can tie me down and punish me later for this.”
Ellie smiled at that, “I would but you would like it too much for it to really be considered a punishment. One of your ex. girlfriends from the Capital Planet got in touch to tell me what kind of sex you liked.” Ellie hadn’t minded because she knew that in Imperial culture this woman was just being friendly. The woman had even offered to show Ellie a holographic memory she had saved, but Ellie had declined. She knew she was too jealous of a person to watch Valentin with someone else even if it had been from ten years before.
Valentin paled, “That was a phase, and this isn’t the time to discuss it.”
“No, but we will discuss it later,” Ellie promised.
Valentin took her hand and led her back to their parents and Admiral Jei. Once there, he took both of her small human hands in his, looked her in the eyes and he said, “Elloisa, now I have proven that I will not physically allow any harm to come to you. Allow me to tell you how I will protect you emotionally as well. I will be your constant friend. I will listen to your concerns. I will never let your heart sink alone. Nor will it rise without me either. Your sadness will be mine as well as your joy. Neither your soul nor body will ever walk alone from this day forth.”
Ellie thought that would be the end but then Valentin pulled out a ring with a blue stone imbedded in its center and it shimmered beautifully as it caught the light.
“Now in the human fashion, Elloisa will you accept this ring as a token of my appreciation for you?”
“Yes,” Ellie said, and Valentin put the ring on her left hand, fourth finger.
Valentin then pulled out a similar ring for himself and handed it to Ellie.
She took the ring, it was stunning. It had small identical blue stones but all the way around it unlike hers that had one large blue stone in the center. She looked into Valentin’s blue eyes and realized he must have chosen the stones because of their matching blue eyes. Then she began to say her vows which she was making up on the spot because she never prepared any speeches and always spoke from her heart and in the moment, “Valentin from the moment I saw you, I wanted to know you better. After I met you, I wanted to be with you always. You are not at all how I imagined my partner in life would be when I was a girl on Earth. However, as I’ve grown out of Earth and into the galaxy, I know that you are the perfect man for me. My true other half, my lover,” everyone gasped that she used that strong word and Ellie smiled a little bit and then continued, “my friend and my partner and I will always be honored to walk at your side as your equal. To share when I have more and to take when I have less. We will be intertwined, inseparable from this day forward and I am happy for it.” She took the ring and put it over the same finger he had put her ring on, whispering as she counted his fingers over, and then saying loudly, “Valentin, will you accept this ring as a symbol of our commitment to one another?”
“I will,” he replied.
Then Valentin took out an Imperial marriage bracelet and said, “Elloisa Johnson, Ward of House Rega, originally from Earth, I pledge my life, devotion, and honor to you in wedlock.” After he secured her bracelet then he handed her his.
Ellie took it and wondered at her own feelings that this meant more to her than the human part of the ceremony which hadn’t been familiar at all. “Valentin, One of Reima Two and Commander of the Nage Horde, I accept your pledge and will bestow on you my life, devotion, and honor in wedlock.”
After the bracelets had been exchanged the final exchange would be of the crowns. Valentin took Ellie’s silver crown with seven sharp points and blue stones around the rim and held it over her head as he said, “Elloisa, you are now my wife. You are my partner in One. Your responsibilities will reside there and wherever we may rise or fall. Do you accept this offer now and until your death?”
“I accept,” Ellie said and felt the cool crown touch her head. She wanted to reach up and make sure it stayed, but Valentin had warned her against doing this as the crown was made of small daggers so to touch it without seeing it would end bloodily. He had quickly explained the dagger crowns were symbolic of Reima Two’s past.
Ellie then took the crown for Valentin which was almost exactly like hers but larger. Valentin knelt before her on the stone floor. She steadied her head so her own crown would not fall as she positioned Valentin’s over his head. “Valentin, you are now my husband. I join you in One. Your responsibilities will continue to reside there and wherever we may rise or fall. Do you accept this offer now and until your death?”