Our boat drifted downstream while we slept under a blanket. When awaken but the chirp of cricks, I would poke my head up, look around, and adjust the oars to keep us in the center of the current.
Meva slept on my chest, mumbling in her dreams. Her eyes darted back and forth under her eyelids. The only word I could understand was, "I am giant." And then she would sigh and be silent again.
A quadracrane cocked his head back, poised to spear a passing filfrog or filfish. The water stirred a few feet in front of him, and the stirring swirled away from him, then closer, meandering this way then that before the hunter’s beak blurred into the water, and ended the dance. It caught neither a filfrog, nor a filfish. Instead, it gulped down a younger quadracrane.
The sun came up and a shadow came over us cast from a bridge. We were near a small town, probably Grint.
Grint was an agricultural town. Farmers brought their wares there to sell. It would be a good place for us to find food and satisfy our grumbling bellies.
Once past the bridge, I pulled our boat up onto shore, and hid it in a clump of trees. We made sure the boat was hidden, just in case those who pursued us looked along the river.
We climbed up the banks then over boulders. A bustling farmer’s market unfurled before us. We tried to blend in though seemingly unnecessary, for no one paid any attention to us. Meva found an acrofruit vendor, and gave him a few coins for two portions of fruit.
The people of Grint could be heard whistling a tune that was their anthem. I tried to whistle it too, but not to deceive them into thinking I was one of them. No outsider could ever whistle a town's theme in quite the same way as the locals, but trying to whistle the tune meant that you were friendly, that you deferred to the local cultures and traditions out of respect. Attempting to whistle a local tune might gain a shopkeeper’s favor and find his prices may suddenly come down for you or the local law enforcement may choose not to stop you or harass you.
I gripped Meva’s hand and pulled it close to my chest. I loved the way she tucked her head against my shoulder. Her feet now walked in a rhythm that matched my own, so she could remain close to me. My cloak nearly covered her to people who might look at us from the side.
Meva kept looking back over my shoulder. So finally, I asked her what she was looking at.
Her eyes darted to me, then back up over my shoulder, "Is that a temple up there?"
I turned and saw a rectangular building that twisted up into the air. It had little windows cut into its sides, and a ring of gold spikes adorning its top like a crown. She continued, "They perform marriages up there."
I did not know much about these temples, "Are you saying that you want to…I mean, now?"
She smiled. My heart skipped a beat.
We hiked up to the temple and came before the priest. I had a distrust of priests, simply because priests were picked in a secret ceremony behind doors, and nobody knew the criteria for which they were selected. This always bothered me though it has been done for thousands of years.
He addressed me first, "Tzurk, I do not know you, so forgive me if I ask you questions I ought to know if we were members of the same congregation."
"I am not a member of any congregation." I said, hoping to tweak him just a little.
He ignored my comment and put a hand on my shoulder, "You are known as Tzurk?"
"I am."
He gestured to Meva, "You are known as Meva?"
"I am."
He turned back to me and asked, "Tzurk, will you forsake all others?"
"I will."
"Will you keep Meva the focus of your desire?"
"I will."
"Will you be a loving father to your children?"
"I will."
"Finally, will you die for her?"
"Without hesitation." I said.
He took his hand off of my shoulder, and put our hands together. This was a gesture that my role was to be performed regardless of her oath.
"Meva, will you forsake all others?"
"I will."
"Will you remind Tzurk of the complexities of life?"
"I will."
"Will you only bear the children of Tzurk and no other?"
"I will."
"Finally, will you submit to him? Will you defer to him in conflict?"
"With hesitation." she said.
He declared us married. The color began to drain out of me and into her through her right hand. Her color did the same, moving into my right hand then up my arm as my own color receded. When the colors had been exchanged, we kissed.
The priest escorted us to a narrow door at the back of the temple, used only by newly weds such as ourselves. The path beyond was rocky and twisting. It was often so difficult that we had to help each other to continue. Finally, it ended in a small garden with a spring of cool running water.