NOVEL NEXT Chapter 98: A Long Overdue Wedding
Lilith tugged at the collar of her tuxedo nervously. She hated how constricting formal attire usually felt, but…today was a special day, and she wanted to look her best, so a little stuffiness was worth it.
Her father reached down and gently massaged her shoulders. “How are you feeling?” He asked. “Excited?”
“Yeah.” Lilith said. “Giddy, excited, nervous…I don’t think I even have proper words for it. I know it’s only a formality at this point, but…still.”
“I was the same.” Her father chuckled. “My advice is to just sit back and enjoy it. Today is your day, and I doubt you’re going to have another. Still, I don’t think ever in any of our wildest imaginations we thought it would turn out like this. Our little Lucas, grown into a fine young woman and off to marry the god of the universe.”
“Stop that.” Lilith said, giving her father a playful swat on the arm. She reached down and grabbed a glass of water, taking a drink before nearly spitting it out at her father’s next words.
“Still, I never took you for one to like older women. I mean, older than our little slice of the universe? I don’t think you can really aim for anyone older.”
Lilith whirled around so she was facing her father, a flush rising to her cheeks as she stared down her father, who was clearly trying to keep himself from laughing. “Dad!” She hissed, mortified. “That’s not how it is, and you know it! Besides, the same could be said for you, couldn’t it?”
“No, if anything I’m into younger women, after all I,” He cut off briefly, devolving into snorts and barely restrained laughter as he tried to finish his sentence, “I’m married to a woman who is kind of younger than my daughter.”
Lilith groaned. “That’s wildly misrepresenting the situation.” She said. “You’re lucky no one else is around!”
Mike laughed, clapping Lilith on the back. “I wouldn’t have said it if they were. But, regardless of all that, you’re my kid first and foremost, and what kind of father would I be if I didn’t poke a little fun at you here and there?”
“I guess.” Lilith grumbled. “How much longer are we going to be here?”
“Until Kali is ready.” Mike said. “You can’t rush these things.”
“I know, I just…I don’t know, the anticipation is killing me.”
“It killed me too.” Mike said. “Perhaps a game of cards would take your mind off of things? I’m sure there’s a deck around here somewhere.”
Lilith took a moment and constructed a deck out of some spare mass, then handed it to her father. “There you go.”
“It’s not one of those ones that you’ve bugged, right?” He asked suspiciously. “Eve has tried that too many times.”
“It’s clean.” Lilith replied. “Wouldn’t be great at taking my mind off of things if I was cheating and didn’t have to put any thought into it.”
“Speaking of, how is Eve doing” Mike asked. “Everything going well?”
Lilith focused back in on Eve, who was currently being fussed over by their mother.
“It’s fine, Mama.” Eve huffed, tugging at the sleeves of her dress. “I’ve been ready for ten minutes now, doing anything more is just going to ruin things.”
“Are you sure?” Siph asked worriedly. “The only wedding I’ve been to was Anna and Jameson’s wedding and I wasn’t helping like this.”
“Yes, I’m sure, and I’ve been sure the last two times you asked.” Eve replied, rolling her eyes. She was in her preferred form, despite her hesitance to do so. She didn’t want things to look…weird on their wedding day, but Kali had been adamant; aside from Nuwa and Mae, who had preferred forms that weren’t humanoid or even able to walk by themselves, all the Parallels were to come as they liked to be. It was a private wedding, and they didn’t have to worry about keeping up appearances.
“And the dress isn’t too restricting? I know you hate it when you can’t move well.”
“Mama, the dress is very restricting, and that’s kind of the point.” Eve said. “Maybe it’s some metaphor for sacrificing for the one you love or something, I don’t know, but wedding dresses are supposed to be the most uncomfortable thing on the planet, I think.”
“That seems…really stupid.” Siph said. “Are you sure?”
“I don’t know.” Eve said, throwing her hands up in the air. “It’s a dress you wear on one occasion and then never again, it’s inherently stupid.”
Lilith returned her focus to her father. “Mama is fussing over her, and she’s complaining about it, so I think she’s fine.”
“That’s good to hear.” Mike replied, shuffling the deck absentmindedly. “Blackjack?”
“Sure.” Lilith said. “So…what were things like after the wedding?”
Mike raised an eyebrow. “I assume you don’t mean the night after, but stuff like the reception?”
“Yeah, that.” Lilith replied.
“The wedding itself was relatively short, but the reception was the real long part. You have to sit and talk with each of the guests, and you can’t leave early or anything, since it’s your reception. But…fortunately, the guest list here is pretty short, so you shouldn’t have to deal with the line for too long. I’m guessing Nuwa will probably try to escape after that, so just keep your eye on her.”
I heard that! Nuwa protested. And I won’t try to escape, today is too important to Kali for that.
“Nuwa says she won’t try to escape.” Lilith relayed. “Not today.”
Mike gave Lilith a look that almost certainly wasn’t meant for her. “And why, pray tell, are you listening in on our conversation instead of paying attention to your mom?” He said reproachfully.
Lilith let her attention flick over to Mae and Nuwa, who were being handled together. Jessica was currently making sure all of their accessories and other bits of their appearance were perfect, and though Mae was accepting it all without complaining or fidgeting, Nuwa, on the other hand, was squirming about, constantly readjusting part of her tuxedo or her hair or something, and Jessica would have to go back and fix whatever she ruined.
“Mom’s fixing her tuxedo and she’s being all twitchy.” Lilith said. “So, about what you’d expect.”
“Nuwa, I know it’s uncomfortable, but just bear with it for a couple of hours. You can readjust it after the wedding proper, it won’t matter quite as much then.” Mike instructed.
Fiiiine. Nuwa whined.
“She says fine.” Lilith said. “Now…how about that game of Blackjack?”
Lilith and the Parallels stood at the altar in various states of nervousness. All of them tried to hide it, but only Mae was seeing any success; Eve kept moving her hand to her side, as if fidget with the pommel of a sword, then would realize she didn’t have a sword to fidget with and would take her hand away, only to repeat the process a while later. Nuwa was drumming her fingers on the side of her leg, and Lilith was having a hard time keeping her legs still, desperately trying not to sway in place or move her feet a bit to the side or do anything that would change her position, and she had succeeded, but she was pretty sure she looked like she was standing there woodenly.
“Nervous?” Amy asked quietly. As the one performing the actual ceremony, she was standing near the altar with Lilith and the Parallels. She had been the only real choice to officiate; it would be a little weird to have a priest officiate what was, in essence, God’s wedding, and Amy was a perfect choice, being Kali's old Administrator and leader of their faction, the one person who was truly above Kali.
“Yeah.” Lilith and all of the Parallels, save Mae, said in a hushed tone.
“Do you do that often?” Amy giggled.
There was a bit of the pause as they all looked at each other, trying to determine who should answer, and eventually Lilith spoke. “No. We have the same memories and, in many cases, the same habits, but we have different personalities, so we often react differently. This one thing, though, we’re all very much in sync on.”
“Well, give it a few more minutes, and it’ll be over.” Amy said. “I’ll keep it brief.”
As their conversation died down, Lilith caught sight of Alex and Raphi in the audience, and Alex gave her a reassuring smile, mouthing the words “You’ll do great”. Though they had dated for a while, in the end they had mutually decided that it just wasn’t working the way they had wanted it to work, so they had parted amicably, and Alex was currently happily seeing someone else.
As if on cue, the doors at the far end of the hall opened and the organist began to play a traditional wedding march. Jameson, serving as best man, walked in, making his way down the aisle until he was next to Lilith. He was followed by the maid of honor, a woman named Maven who was one of Kali’s distant nieces, and she was followed by Carmen, carefully carrying a pillow with the wedding bands on it. And then, finally, Kali entered, and Lilith caught sight of her for the first time that day.
It was breathtaking. Kali rarely wore formal clothes, and she had pulled out all the stops this time. Though Lilith couldn’t make out her face well through the veil, everything about her hair, dress, and accessories indicated that she had taken an extreme amount of time and effort to get everything down to the minutest detail perfect.
It wasn’t easy to coordinate a fancy dress with wings and a tail, but Kali pulled it off. She moved slowly and deliberately, taking care not to ruin any of her setup. It was an impressive maneuver, but it was also painfully slow, and the anticipation of it was killing Lilith.
But, after what seemed like ages, Kali eventually made it to Lilith. Lilith almost hadn’t noticed Amara, another of Kali’s distant nieces, beside her until she lifted Kali’s veil, and once again Lilith’s attention was stolen by Kali. Kali looked as nervous as Lilith felt, but there was still a wide, giddy smile on her face as she stared up into Lilith’s eyes. After a moment, Kali looked away from Lilith, and looked into each of the Parallel’s eyes in turn.
As she did, Amy began to speak. “Friends and family, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Kali, Lilith, Mae, Nuwa, and Eve. It is not often that an Administrator chooses to marry, and each of their circumstances and traditions are different. As such, I believe I would be doing a disservice if I attempted to mimic the traditions here on Kali’s planes, and will instead move straight to the vows.
“Do you, Kali, promise to take Lilith, Mae, Nuwa, and Eve as your wives, to watch over them in good times and bad, in sickness and in health?”
Once Kali repeated the vow, Amy continued. “Do you promise to respect them as an equal partner, to listen to their council and provide council of your own when needed?”
Once again, Kali repeated and Amy continued. “And do you promise to uphold these vows as long as you both live?”
“I do.”
Amy turned to Lilith and they repeated the process, though only Kali was mentioned as her wife. Once Lilith had finished, she did the same for each of the Parallels, and then Carmen stepped forward, proffering the pillow. Kali carefully took a band off of the pillow, slid it onto Lilith’s finger, then repeated the process for the Parallels. After she had finished, Lilith took the last ring off of its pillow, and slid it onto Kali’s finger.
“I now pronounce you married. You may kiss the brides.” Amy said.
Kali pulled Lilith into a kiss, then separated and shared one with each of the Parallels in turn, before finally turning and throwing her bouquet into the crowd, some of the younger girls scrambling to catch it while everyone cheered.
Lilith smiled, pulling Kali closer to her and leaning down to whisper in her ear. “I love you.”
Kali looked up into Lilith’s eyes, smiling in return. “I love you too.”
