Asia wiped at the tears on her face, "You really know how to hammer down the responsibility Reverend."
"I'm sorry." Eli said.
Asia reached out and squeezed his arm smiling briefly, "Don't be. You're right; it's just hard to accept."
They walked on for a ways. Eli glanced over at her speculatively, "You know he came by this morning to ask a favor of me."
Asia looked surprised at that, "What did he want?"
"He asked, if I would marry you both before you start out in the morning. He said he thought you'd like things better, if there was something more official between the two of you so you didn't feel like you were sinning or something as he put it."
Asia pushed a strand of hair behind an ear, "What did you tell him?"
"I told him I'd do it provided that you were in agreement with it."
Asia looked out at the forest and nodded her head, "Yes, I'm in agreement."
Asia was being very quiet. I glanced back to see her staring at the ring on her finger. The ring had been unplanned, but had worked out well I thought. An old widow had stepped forward at the ceremony and pushed the ring into the palm of Asia's hand. The old woman had said, "I used to have small fingers like you darling. Here take this and I pray you have as much happiness wearing it as I did."
We were official now and it felt odd. Asia had kept her assumed name in place of her Japanese one, which I was quite fine with, Asia Kilroy. I could only imagine how my brother and Chantry would crow over me when they found out.
Why was she so quiet? If I had to say a word to describe her attitude it would be apprehensive. It dawned on me suddenly. She'd thought I'd used our marriage, as a way of short-circuiting our deal! That hadn't been the reason and I would prove it to her. That evening I made two beds away from each other, even though it killed me to do it.
She watched me closely, but said nothing. After dinner I retired to my bed never saying a word to her. If she wanted to play the silent game than so be it, but I missed our easy-going almost friendship relationship of the past two weeks. In some ways I felt like I'd ruined it somehow by marrying her. All I'd been trying to do was please her.
I startled awake to find Asia kneeling beside me. I rubbed at my eyes; it had to be one or two in the morning! Quickly I scanned her hands for any glint of a knife. What was she up to? I couldn't see her face clearly in the dark.