“Praxiteles Mercouri,” Antigone said, “do you willingly leave your clan to abide with this woman’s people?”
“Yes,” Prax said. “I do.”
“Then the Mercouri consent,” Antigone said. She stepped back beside Prax’s parents.
“Praxiteles Mercouri,” Thulan’s tone sounded abrupt as always. “What do you ask of the House of Trahn?”
Prax thought she did very well for someone who had memorized the Elliniká words without knowing what they meant.
“A wife,” he said.
“Rishi Trahn,” Thulan went on, “do you accept this wagon and this man, and agree that he shall serve our clan?”
“Yes,” Rishi said. “I do.”
“Then the House of Trahn consents,” Thulan said. She seemed relieved that her speaking role was ended.
Prax and Rishi stepped closer together and joined hands. Rishi smiled up at him and Prax smiled back. The holy woman came out of the darkness and stood beside them to bless their union. She asked them to promise faithfulness and respect for each other, and they did. She laid her hand on theirs and said a prayer, then nodded at each of them in turn, stepped back, and they were married.
Prax bent down and took Rishi in his arms and kissed her. This was the only time in his life that an Elliniká man would kiss his wife openly, in front of others. It was not a tentative kiss, and after a minute, there were whistles and cheers, and a few shouted comments. Prax ignored them and took his time. When he finally let Rishi go, his brothers came forward to slap him on the back and applaud his stamina.
“If you do as well tonight, she’ll be smiling tomorrow,” Nikos said, grinning.
Prax grinned back at him. He took Rishi by the hand and led her over to where the tables had been set up in a square and the wedding dinner was laid out and ready. They took their places, and the festivities began. There was plenty to eat and drink. The off-worlders took seats nearby so that Rishi and Prax could translate if they wanted to know what was being said. A couple of times, Prax refused to translate Nikos’ comments, so Rishi did it instead.
Halfway through the evening, Prax noticed that Tinibu was wearing something on his collar, and he asked Rishi about it.
“It’s a camera,” she said. “Qualhuan was disappointed to miss the wedding. ThreeCon won’t allow non-Terrans on Celadon, so Tinibu wore a camera to transmit the ceremony to the ship.”
“He won’t have understood most of it,” Prax said.
“We can explain it later,” Rishi said. “Everything’s being recorded. I want to show our children some day.”
Prax thought about some of the comments that had been made in very audible tones. A wedding was one time when the normally reticent Elliniká let loose, which was why younger children weren’t allowed to attend. “We might want to wait until they’re older.”
Rishi grinned. “We might. I’m going to leave your parents a portable com set, so we can send them messages. Unfortunately, there’s no commercial relay for real-time transmissions on Celadon; we’ll have to settle for expresses. And if the children grow up speaking Elliniká as well as Standard, they’ll be able to talk to their grandparents when we visit.”
“That’s a good idea,” Prax said. “Won’t a com set need power charges?”
“We can leave replacements,” Rishi said. “And I can arrange for them to get more when they need them.”
The dancing had started, and everyone watched as the line of men wove their way in and out through the tables, dancing to the music of several bouzoukis. After three or four dances, Nikos and Apollo joined with Penelope’s husband and some cousins to form a line and danced for a few minutes. Then Apollo and Nikos left the line to drag Prax out to join them. Prax didn’t like to dance in public, but he knew he had no choice. There were the usual shouted comments. Someone hoped out loud that he wasn’t as clumsy with his hands as he was with his feet. Someone else observed that he seemed eager to stop dancing, and he must want to do something else that night.
When the music stopped, Prax sat down with relief. He gave Rishi a warning glance to let her know it was her turn next. She didn’t seem worried when Iphigenia and Penelope went over to Thulan and Lidiya and signed for the two women to join them. In a moment, Prax’s sisters took Rishi by the hand and dragged her from her chair. They pulled her into the middle of the square and tied a blindfold over her eyes. Rishi was laughing and made no protest.
Thulan spun her around a few times, and then held her by her shoulders. Iphigenia dragged one of the guests from the crowd and brought him over to Rishi. Rishi ran her hands over his face and torso and shook her head. Iphigenia let the young man go, and Penelope brought her own husband. Rishi did the same thing and shook her head again. They did this seven or eight times more, even bringing Tinibu out for a trial. Rishi barely touched the big Terran’s chest before she shook her head, laughing the whole time. Finally, Lidiya and Iphigenia came and got Prax and made him walk with them to where Rishi waited.
Just as the other men had, Prax stood still and silent when they pushed him forward. Rishi ran her hands over him and paused just a second. She touched his face again, and then quickly slipped one hand under his embroidered tunic to find the bodi horn scar. There was a hail of laughter at this, and wild cheering as Rishi nodded and pulled off the blindfold.
Rishi smiled up at Prax, showing her dimple. Heedless of the crowd watching, Prax gave her a swift kiss on the lips. There was more wild applause and then the clapping changed to a steady rhythm. Nikos and Apollo lit torches from the fire and held them up on either side of Rishi and Prax.
“Are you ready?” Prax asked Rishi.
She laughed. “I’ve been ready since I landed on Celadon.”
The crowd gathered into a loose line, three or four people deep. Prax saw Tinibu and Hari and the others join the line, clapping in unison with the group.
There were enthusiastic calls for them to start. Prax took Rishi’s hand and began to walk away from the encampment, toward the new wagon he and his father had spent five days building. It was parked a good distance away from the others. It was no longer a Mercouri wagon; it was now the only wagon in the non-existent clan of the House of Trahn.
Prax walked steadily, holding Rishi’s hand. The crowd kept up easily. There were cheers and whistles, and the clapping kept its steady rhythm. When they got close to the wagon, the line spread out a little, to make a loose semicircle, and the people began to chant a good luck chant.
Prax and Rishi stopped at the tailgate. As usual, someone had hidden the steps. Prax ignored the crowd and turned to Rishi. He smiled and then bent down and scooped her up in his arms. He lifted her over the tailgate and into the wagon, setting her down on the floor. Rishi stood on the end of the wagon and scattered her wildflower bouquet over the crowd. Everyone cheered, and all the young married women tried to catch a flower for luck in getting pregnant.
Prax put both hands on the tailgate and hoisted himself into the wagon. Then he and Rishi stepped back and let down the back flap of the cover. It was dark in the wagon. Through the cracks on either side of the flap, they could see the torchlights of the procession still outside. They could still hear the chanting and the clapping, but in a few minutes, it started to recede as the procession moved away.
Prax was standing so close to Rishi that he could feel her breathing. He reached up and adjusted the wagon cover so that there was a crack of moonlight coming through, and then he looked down at her face. She was looking up at him.
Prax took her face in his hands and kissed her gently.
“I love you, lady.”
Rishi chuckled softly. “I think it’s time for you to start calling me Rishi. Although,” she added, “when we’re in bed, you can call me whatever you like.”
Prax picked her up, stepped back two steps, and dropped her onto the bed. He joined her there and Rishi pulled him on top
of her.
Rishi touched his face gently. “We’re starting clean, aren’t we? No debts between us, no gratitude?”
He nodded wordlessly in the dark.
She stared up at him for a moment, and then sighed. “I can’t quite believe this has come true.”
“Believe it,” Prax said. “What’s between us is as real as this wagon. You and I made it together.”
Rishi put her hands on either side of his face and pulled his head down to kiss him firmly on the mouth. After a few seconds, Prax made the kiss more insistent, and his hands strayed down her body. Rishi reached up to find the buttons on his tunic. She frowned at the unfamiliar fastenings. “I may have to rip these off.”
“Go ahead,” Prax said, sliding one hand under her skirt for encouragement. “I have to return this tunic to Apollo tomorrow. Let’s give him a story to tell.”
Rishi pulled hard and buttons flew everywhere. She had the tunic off in seconds. Prax was more familiar with the fastenings on her dress and didn’t have to resort to destructive methods to remove it. When they pulled the covers back from the bed, Prax was startled to find a bottle tucked between the pillows.
He held it up to the light and began to laugh.
“What is it?” Rishi asked.
“It’s from Hari,” Prax said. “I don’t know how he got it here. It’s a bottle of Elliniká wine—the kind you had that first night. See what Hari wrote.”
Prax passed her the note. It was written on self-illuminating thermaplast. When Rishi’s hand warmed it, the note began to glow enough so that she could read the letters.
Put this to good use, Hari had written. It worked before.
Rishi took the bottle and set it on the floor. “We’ll open it later. I don’t need wine to ask for what I want anymore.”
Prax pulled her down on the bed with him. “What do you need?”
“Just you,” Rishi said. “Never leave me again.”
“I won’t,” Prax said. “And that’s a promise.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my editor, Kyra Lennon and my proofreader Beulah Chin for their efforts on this book. And also, my thanks to beta readers Karen Irby (for giving Prax his nickname) and Mary C. Trejo (for making him more aware of his own feelings).
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Contents
Chapter One1
Chapter Two15
Chapter Three29
Chapter Four39
Chapter Five53
Chapter Six61
Chapter Seven83
Chapter Eight97
Chapter Nine109
Chapter Ten129
Chapter Eleven139
Chapter Twelve153
Chapter Thirteen173
Chapter Fourteen197
Chapter Fifteen217
Chapter Sixteen227
Chapter Seventeen239
Chapter Eighteen251
Chapter Nineteen265
Chapter Twenty281
Chapter Twenty-One295
Chapter Twenty-Two319
Chapter Twenty-Three325
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS331
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Worlds Apart (ThreeCon) Page 46