Sword and Snow

I was simply too jittery. That’s what I kept telling myself as I tried to stop my body from practically vibrating. Rylie and Demi were in the room with me, trying hard not to laugh, and I glared at them once again like I had regularly done for the last two hours.

“Em, you have to relax.” Rylie said, still holding back her laugh.

I plopped down on a seat in the room that had been set aside for me to use while getting ready. My right leg immediately began jumping up and down nervously. “That’s easy for you to say.” I said, sounding on the verge of anger.

“Yes, I realize it’s your wedding day, but you still need to calm down and enjoy it. You and Avuri have basically been acting like you’ve been married for months now. Is there anything to even be anxious about?” Rylie asked, no doubt trying to get me to relax through logic.

I sighed. “I know. I’m not anxious about the marriage, Rylie.” I looked out the window from Vyne’s estate at the little sliver of the courtyard that I could make out. “I’m worried something will go wrong. Or interrupt the wedding. There’s just too many moving parts for me to relax.”

There was a beat of silence before Demi chuckled. “Are you really about to tell me that my sister Emery is worried about them bringing the wrong flowers?”

Rylie joined her in the soft laughter before I answered, “Yes.” My flat, straightforward answer seemed to finally get their attention, as they both looked at me concerned. I met their stares with a raised eyebrow. “Why are you so surprised? Even if I put aside how I feel about the whole production, Avuri wanted all of this to be perfect.”

I looked out the window again, noting that what I could see seemed to fall within our picks of flowers and decorations. “With Avuri’s upbringing, there’s no way she hasn’t been imagining her perfect wedding since was little. I want this to be everything she ever wanted, given who she is marrying no doubt doesn’t match that image at all.” I let out a small, self-derisive snort. “Well, she did say was always interested in women, so at least that’s something.”

As my eyes wandered over the little slice of courtyard visible to me, I felt both Rylie and Demi hug me from either side. I sat up straight, and looked at the two of them in turn.

“Oh, Em.” Demi said, an almost dreamy quality to her voice. “I never would’ve thought you would fall so far in love with someone. I’m really happy for you.”

“I’m sorry for teasing you.” Rylie said, as they both gave me a squeeze. “Those are very good concerns to have, I think. Not warranted, mind you - everything will go to plan. But if your concern is whether or not you can make Avuri’s dream wedding a reality…well, I think that’s sweet.” She said with a smile.

“You really think things will go to plan?” I asked. “After that disaster of a lunch and dinner the day before yesterday?”

“Oh, you mean the lunch where Avuri froze her blood family solid, followed by the dinner that was so quiet you could have heard a mosquito land?” Demi said with an awkward chuckle.

“Yup, that’s the one.” I responded wryly.

“Well,” Rylie began, settling in next to me on the arm of the chair I was on, “they didn’t cause any trouble at the dinner other than being awkwardly quiet and intense. And yesterday they basically just stayed out of the way and quiet. So…I think there’s a good chance they don’t interfere with anything directly, at least?”

“I think you’ve got a good chance that they remain quiet through the ceremony and then try to make business connections during the reception.” Demi said thoughtfully. “They’re for sure going to try to talk to the Elders, at the very least.”

“Yeah.” I agreed. “I fully expect them to try to use the trip to their advantage wherever possible. I’m mostly worried that they’re going to try to get back at Avuri for what she did.”

“Surely they aren’t that stupid?” Demi chuckled. “If they try anything at the wedding itself, they would not only be outnumbered, but entirely outmatched. Avuri literally took them all out at once at lunch. You really think she would hesitate to do it again if they interrupted her wedding?”

“No. I’m not worried about what they’re capable of here - I’m worried that Avuri will end up acting explosively in anger and regret it later.” I took a deep breath. “I really hope, for everyone’s sake, that they just sit down, shut up, and let her enjoy her wedding.”

“They’re not good people,” Rylie said, “but I don’t think they’re so far gone that they would trample on Avuri’s wedding.” She pursed her lips as she thought about it a bit more, then added, “Probably.”

I snorted. “Yeah. That’s exactly where I’m at.” I took in a long, deep breath and let it out slowly. “Anyway. I should probably get dressed.” I said, looking over at the gorgeous Qipao dress I had picked out months ago. The vibrant red of the dress stood out against the hanging garment bag it had been brought in, with the golden dragon designs running up the sides standing out on the red cloth.

My sisters both looked over at it, and Rylie smiled. “I never thought you’d go for not only a classic red and gold wedding dress, but such a sexy one at that.” She laughed softly, not in a derisive way, but rather in appreciation. “Avuri is going to love it.”

“You think so?”

“Oh, I guarantee it.” She said.

“No doubt.” Demi agreed.

Once I was fully dressed, my sisters - mostly Rylie - had applied some simple make up. I was assured by her that she wouldn’t go overboard, and would pick some fairly simple colors. Demi took the time to brush out my hair, which really didn’t do very much, given it was still just reaching my shoulders and a little shaggy.

When they finally showed me my face in the mirror, I was satisfied. Demi had, indeed, managed to tame my hair somewhat, making it fall straight instead of a little messy. Rylie’s work, however, had impressed me much more. She had chosen a somewhat understated look like I had asked, mostly just applying some simple eye makeup to accentuate them against my lightened skin.

She hadn’t hidden my freckles, which I appreciated because Avuri had mentioned that she thought they were cute. My face was contoured nicely though, and the color was nice. She had also chosen a red lip color that matched the dress I wore, but had kept the color from being too loud.

“Wow.” I said, turning my head this way and that. “Thank you both. I never would’ve looked this good without you.”

They chuckled. “I’m sure if we weren’t here someone else would’ve taken over for you.” Rylie said. “But, you’re welcome all the same. I’m glad you approve.”

Demi stepped back to admire their handiwork with her hands on her hips and nodded, looking entirely too satisfied. “Damn. My sister looks hot!” She said with a big grin. I smirked up at her from my seat and laughed.

“Oh yeah? We’ll have to have Avuri weigh in on that one.” I said, sure that she would also approve.

“If she doesn’t agree, we may have to stop the whole wedding, because this might be my best work yet.” Rylie said, agreeing with Demi. “Now go out there and knock ‘em dead.”

They both gave me one more hug before turning toward the stairs. “We’re going to go get seated. I think Dad is going to come get you when it’s time. Which should be pretty soon.”

I nodded happily as they headed out of the room and down the stairs.

I sat back down to try to relax before Vale came to retrieve me, but had all of five minutes before he appeared. He stopped in the doorway when he saw me and smiled one of the most fatherly smiles I think I had ever seen from him.

“You’re beautiful, Emery.” He said, and then opened his mouth to say more but closed it again and shook his head. “Avuri is a lucky girl.”

I smiled in return. “So am I, Dad. If you told me five years ago I’d be getting married, I would’ve thought you were crazy. I honestly thought I would probably grow old pretty much alone.”

Vale chuckled. “Special people sneak up on you that way.” He said, moving into the room to give me a careful hug. “I learned that through experience, too. I never would’ve expected to adopt six human kids, but here we are.”

I grinned wide. “And you’re about to walk one down the aisle.”

“I know, right?” He said, sounding childish and giddy. Then he leaned in and whispered. “It’s even better than that! I get to walk you both down the aisle.”

“What?” I said, suddenly alarmed. “Dain didn’t do something, did he? Wasn’t he supposed to - “

“No.” Vale said, immediately dropping the giddiness in favor of trying to calm me. “Avuri asked me. She apparently hasn’t spoken to her father since dinner the other night, and he hasn’t made any moves to indicate he was planning to walk with her.”

I growled angrily as he continued, “It’ll be fine. Avuri seemed happy to ask me instead. So the three of us will gather at the bottom of the stairs and walk to the dais together. Besides, we’ve already skipped so many of the traditional parts of a wedding, given you were already living together and what-not, what’s one more change?”

I took a deep breath and calmed down, pushing the anger away. “I suppose.”

“If it helps, I believe Avuri’s exact words were, ‘At this point, you’re more my father than Dain is anyway, Vale.’”

I smiled at his horrible impression. “Fair enough. Shall we get moving?” I asked, and offered Vale my hand. He offered his arm so I could rest my hand in the crook of his elbow, and we made our way toward the stairs. Avuri’s prep room was across the way, up an identical set of stairs. I wasn’t sure who had been taking care of her, but I could hear the commotion and voices of her teenage cousins, being directed by Mica.

Vale patted my hand and let go to retrieve Avuri. I heard Mica squeal shortly before the door opened and Vale came out with Avuri alongside him in the same manner he had walked with me.

Before anything else, our eyes met and we both smiled. The moment was short lived, however, as we each immediately moved to drink in the other’s dress.

Avuri’s dress was more or less exactly as I had expected. It was a multi-layered flowing robe that looked absolutely regal. I had imagined she would go for a princess look, given that was the word she kept using, but it would have been more apt to use empress or queen. I was stunned.

Her hair had been done up in an elaborate weave, but still let a portion fall down her back in a braid reminiscent of her usual style. Her silver hair matched beautifully with the crisp white and light blues of her dress, and the colors seemed to be almost pearlescent, constantly morphing from white to blue and back again. The whole effect reminded me of ice reflecting the sun’s rays in the morning after a cold snap.

Her make accentuated the contours of her face, and I imagined I had Mica to thank for it. She looked like a loving, motherly queen; soft and hard in the respective right places. Her lips were painted a lovely bright red, while her eyes were given a purple shadow which brought out the same color in her irises.

After a moment of pause, she and Vale began walking down the stairs again. After a step or two, we met eyes again and didn’t break that connection until she was standing just a step away, with Vale between us.

He chuckled. “Okay, you two. Focus. We need to walk to the altar, and you don’t want to trip.”

“Right.” I said, while Avuri nodded. We both turned to face the door that led to the courtyard and took a step.