NOVEL NEXT 88: Proposal Rematch
RYST
"We have a deal to cash in on, Methela. You owe me a proposal rematch," Nayth said, handing me my discarded clothing and pulling me up off the sofa.
"Oh, good. I have a surprise. What are we doing?"
"You're getting dressed in something nice. I'll dress too. Then we're going on a short walk. It's traditional, Sturm style, okay?"
"Sounds good," I nodded.
I was actually running out of nice outfits. I'd only asked my tailor Mauren for six before I'd traveled to Sturm, and my favorite had been the green kurta- style dress. Today, I opted for the cream slacks again but with a dark emerald green bandeau in silk.
I pulled half my hair into a twist with silver, black, and red beads woven into it and left the remaining waves falling down my back. Pocketing my handmade grey bead bag with Nayth's engagement gift in it, I met him in the hallway outside my apartment.
"Hey handsome— wait, what are you laughing at?" I asked a grinning Nayth.
"Mom and Freya got here this morning, and my sister has been trying to get into my house all day. Dad agreed to help me thwart her a few days ago, so he's totally clammed up and won't say anything about you to her. I told her if she doesn't get away from the door—if I even see her face before dinner— then she'll be the last one to know the truth about what's going on. I've been avoiding her ever since Juanna's on the Terrace. So, she's probably about ready to line up every staff member and start beating the information out of them! It's delicious. Ready?"
Twining his fingers through mine, Nayth led me through the garden and out to a path that went into the woods behind the house. "Oh, a spooky wooded proposal? Are there witches and cauldrons in here?"
"And werewolves, too," Nayth agreed. "Okay, here we go. Notice the little creek has flowing water. See? Remember that for later," Nayth instructed.
"Okay," I nodded.
Nayth stood behind me, put a necklace around my neck and clasped it while saying something I didn't understand. "Alright. that translates to 'The heart that is in me and outside me, I choose you.' Okay?"
I nodded.
"Now, did you have a gift too? It's okay if you don't," Nayth continued.
"I do have one," I said, pulling out the little grey bead bag and grasping the necklace within it. "The bag is handmade and part of your present too. Do I have something to say as well? Is there a script?"
"The traditional is 'For love and life, I choose you.' But you can say anything you want.'"
I said in Shurwinn, "Ahtah, my only one, for love and life, I choose you." Then I translated it for him into Universal and put his necklace around his neck. Finally.
He turned around, grinned, and kissed me. "Now, I think we better call Ren and Peydran because I may have intentionally let them believe that we got secretly married already."
Boom! I bent over, holding my head. "Wooooah, Nayth. Something just triggered the tangle. The whole big thing. I can't block it this time. It's a baby crowning, and we can't ignore it."
"Methela," I could feel Nayth. He was a solid presence in my heart, but he was too far away. This other thing, it was so strong, too much.
"Your right leg, Ryst. Wrap it around my hip. You can do it, baby. You're really good at straddling me," he chuckled. Nayth was chuckling. Didn't he see how big this thing was? My head was going to explode, and he was laughing.
"Yeah, I know, sweetie. We're giving Freya a show right now. Running out of the woods with you on my back like a monkey. This is priceless. Ren is going to love the footage from the security cameras. We're almost there, Ryst. We're gonna do this, okay? We're going to see whatever we need to see. Come on. Here you go. Sofa, right? Do you want a drink of water? Here, I'm getting out of this jacket. Take a drink, Ryst." I shook my head.
"Ryst, is this about Peydran thinking we got secretly married?"
"Ah—" I shook my head. My eyes were clenched tight, and I waved my hands in a "come here" gesture. It felt like my head was going to explode.
"What is it, Methela?"
"Can you see the stars?" I whispered.
"No, can you show them to me?"
"Monkey again."
He chuckled, and pulled me into his lap so I straddled him. "Okay, Monkey, good?"
I pushed my forehead against his and willed him to see. "Hold on, Ryst, a little slower, okay, honey?"
His breath caught, and his whole body went tense beneath mine. "What is it, Ryst? A supernova?" he whispered.
I shook my head, then realized my forehead was pressed into his. "Two stars colliding. Mitosis. The nucleus dividing." I gasped out and sagged against him, my forehead on his shoulder. He rubbed my back, and I took several deep breaths.
"How's the baby doing, Ryst? Still coming out the birth canal?"
I nodded. Yes. It was a giant, overgrown baby.
"Is it about our marriage, honey?"
I nodded into his shoulder.
"Ryst, do you want to secretly marry me?"
"What?"
"Marry me secretly, Ryst."
"Okay."
He chuckled. "This is easier than I thought it would be. Ryst, will you have a giant wedding with me?"
"I thought we got secretly married?" My voice sounded like I'd been drinking something very bubbly, floaty, and like I was lost in the clouds.
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"Yeah, let's get secretly married and then have a big, giant wedding. Would you like that?"
"I think I would, Nayth. I don't really care about weddings, really. I just want you to be mine."
"Agreed. Let's have a small wedding for us. Then a big wedding for Minister Carmidee and Dr. Nova. What do you think?"
"Woah- woah- woah. NAYTH. Oh my stars," I panted and gasped for breath. "Our wedding. Our wedding. Our wedding."
"Ryst, is our wedding on Sturm?"
I shook my head.
"Floria?" I shook my head.
"Starlend?"
I shook my head violently. "NO! I want to get married at home! I want to get married on Shurwinn!"
BOOM! Again!
"Hells bells, Nayth. Holy fuck balls. It's Shurwinn! Oh stars and sands and seas and skies! We're having a giant, giant Galactic wedding on Shurwinn next year, and oh, my sands, I think my 9 Galaxy Collab friends are going to fucking come. Holy hells. Oh my fuck stars, Nayth. Oh. Oh. Sands. I'm gonna pass out. Help me, Nayth."
"Ryst Nova, will you secretly marry me in the next six weeks here on Sturm? Please, Methela. Don't say no."
I opened my eyes and grinned at him, "Yes! Yes! Let's get married here. Just for us. Thank you, Nayth. Thank you!" He grabbed me up in a hug, grinning. Then he set me down, peering into my face.
"Are we good? All clear? Your eyes are back. You focused here and now? Should we video Ren and Peydran? Tell them the truth first, then record everything with Freya for Ren later?"
"I'm back!" I nodded. "Let's tell them. Oh, wait, I want to see my necklace."
"Peydran and Ren first," he shook his head. "I feel really bad for leaving them hanging."
Play Massenet Meditation from Thais
"Peydran?" My best friend was alone and looked haggard. Decidedly un-Peydran. His eyes flickered back and forth between me and Nayth from the video screen.
"You married, Ryst?"
"No, Peydran. What's wrong? I don't need superpowers to see that you are not okay."
He took a deep breath and shrugged his shoulders and then shook his head. "No, it's okay. Ren's composing, that's all."
"Oh?" I asked, excited.
Peydran rolled his eyes at me. "Yeah. He read a book he really liked." He said this staring at me, like it was all my fault.
"And then we managed a mystical telepathy thing like he wanted, which was great. But then he warned me that he had to 'Write a really big one. Maybe days. Maybe more than a week. He was sorry. He would try to do it as fast as possible.' So, he's a mad man next door writing music. I just take him food, and I'll make sure he showers once a day. Eventually he'll come back home."
Peydran closed his eyes and nodded. "He was able to tell me, though. He got the warning out to me, so that's good. I'm designing a studio for him— remodeling the upstairs while he's lost in music."
I didn't know what to say. This must be what it is like to love someone like me. "Kiss his cheek for me. Once a day, okay, Peydran? Call us as much as you want. . . . We didn't get married. BUUUUUTTTT— we're GOING TO!"
Peydran grinned, "Whoop! Whoop!! Congratulations! Ren will be so happy! Hold on, let's go see if he can hear us right now." He darted out the door, and the video trailed him. There was a cacophony.
"Woah," Nayth said. Ren was crouched on the floor with three pads hovering around him, sheet music all over the floor, and dozens of instruments strewn about. His eyes were closed, and he was playing a wood flute. The sound coming out of it was haunting.
His eyes opened. He looked at me and said, "I heard you on the breeze. When's the wedding?" His face was dreamy, like he wasn't even there. He was somewhere else.
I knew a bit about that, didn't I? "I love you, Ren Crieve," was all I knew to say.
"I know." He picked up a violin and a storm of music poured out of it. I felt like my whole being would shatter into fragments. Peydran stepped back into the hall.
"Peydran," Nayth said firmly. "He is going to finish that song, and he will be right back with you. I promise you, he will be right back. I need you to do something for me in the meantime, okay?"
Peydran's eyes looked hopeful.
"We need a wedding planner. Would you like to plan a wedding on Shurwinn for a Galactic Minister and his wife?"
Peydran laughed and laughed and laughed.
"Necklace, please Nayth, I want to see it."
"Mine too," he replied.
We took turns unclasping each other's necklaces, and I got to see my little pendant which was two metal hands, fingers intertwined holding a small opalescent sphere. "Is this—"
"Moonstone, Methela. Mine?"
"I found the dark olive sea glass rope when I was a little girl on the beach in Starlend. That type of glass— the ropes intertwined— is really common on my home world, but I always loved that piece because of how it looks like it's coming unwound on the top, where the bail is."
"I like the copper chalamin chain. Very artistic."
"I didn't know what chalamin was until I met the jeweler who fashioned the glass into a pendant for me on Shurwinn! I wouldn't have thought copper would make a good chain either—"
"It wouldn't," Nayth shook his head. "But that's the advantage of the chalamin. Did you know my grandfather developed this method of smelting which allowed for jewelry like this and the thread like I use in my suit jackets?"
I grinned, shaking my head. "Not until Peydran sent me the recon on Carmidee Manufacturing when I was coming to meet you!"
"Amazing, Ryst. Amazing. I love it. Put it back on for me?"
"Tell me about my pendant, Nayth. It's so pretty."
"I bought the moonstone on Juel a few months before I started dreaming of a woman that I loved more than life. Here, this is the explanation that came with the stone." Nayth went over to the bookshelf and pulled out a little card that read:
Shrouded in a veil of mystery,
moonstone holds the power to unlock the self.
On the journey to retrieve what is missing,
parts of the soul that have been forgotten,
with moonstone, all is brought to light.
"It was one of those things that I bought not knowing why I was buying it, but I knew I needed to. Then, a few months later I started dreaming of the woman."
He hugged me to him, his chin fitting just over the top of my head and continued in a whisper: "I was running through the dark, and she was running in front of me. I had to get to her, but there was a light, and when she ran into the light, I woke up."
As he spoke, I could see the dreams in Nayth's mind. His memories showed me what he had dreamt.
"It was the same for a while. Me always chasing a woman who was running into light. Then one night, I reached out and my right arm went around her waist and pulled her to me. I loved her. I loved her so much, and she wasn't afraid of me. She hadn't been running away from me. She just relaxed against me, and I woke up. That kept happening until it changed to me naked behind her and her on her knees, my right arm around her waist and her begging me to fuck her. You know that part already."
"Once I realized that the ravaging dream wasn't going to go away, I decided to use it as a way to find her. I started trying to find her with intimacy. Sometimes I'd wake up spent, and I'd know she'd been with me. Sometimes I remembered details, but a lot of the time I didn't. I just knew— I could taste her. I could hear her pleasure. I felt what she felt when I touched her. I wasn't always asleep. I'd just know she was with me, wanting me to touch her. We made love a lot. There were whispers. . . ."
"There were dreams, but nothing that I could use to find her. I knew she wasn't on Sturm or Floria. Eventually, I found out I'd written songs I didn't know I had written in my files. I just did stuff knowing that I needed to do it, but not always remembering it. A couple of years ago, I knew I needed to make a necklace. I drew the pendant and took the moonstone to one of the artists at Carmidee Manufacturing, and you're wearing the result."
"The hands and chain are chalamin, like the necklace you made me, but it's the original silvery color of chalamin. That was when I found that description of moonstone in my cabinet. I had forgotten it came with the stone: 'a journey to retrieve what is missing, parts of the soul that have been forgotten'— like a song or a dream."
My voice soft, I questioned, "Your dreams, Nayth— my first dream. The first time I dreamt of you— you hugged me, and it was the most wonderful thing I had ever felt. I wasn't doing well, and it was comfort and peace. Home and belonging. Do you remember? Were you there?"
He held me to him, and I could feel his mind searching, wondering if it would be in song lyrics in his files. "I don't know, Ryst. But it's like after Juanna's in my porter. When you said 'I had a dream,' and I knew what would come next. It's hard to tell what is memory and what is dream. I hear you describing your dream of me hugging you, and I don't remember it exactly, but I know that it happened. I held you so many times. I was always holding you in my sleep."
"Maybe it's right now, Nayth. Maybe I dreamt this memory; you hugging me right now. I love you."
"I love you, Ryst. Always have, always will."