"Ready for what?"

"The ceremony."

"Wait a minute," Mericlou said hurriedly. She backed a quarter-step away. "Wait just a minute! You mean here? Now?"

"Yes," Aldrec said. "Why not?"

"B …but it takes time!" Mericlou sputtered, making grandiose and near inexplicable gestures with her hands. "We'll need-"

"If you're talking about invitations and preparations," Aldrec said, interrupting, "Then you won't have much in the way of that, aside from your family. But then again, Tulyr, who would perform the ceremony? Some more liberal priestesses in Gheed might, but they'd do it at the risk of their own credibility in the religious circles. And some human priests may, but at the risk of their own lives."

"Then … if it's that dangerous, then how would we even have a ceremony?" Mericlou asked, crestfallen. "I do want to marry you, love; I honestly do."

"I know," Aldrec said, his eyes twinkling. "And that is why we will have a ceremony in the style of my people."

"But elves marry in just about the same way humans do," Mericlou said hesitantly. "The same ceremony, the same public signing of the marriage license …"

"Common elves do," Aldrec said, holding up a finger, "but High elves are different. Our ceremony is private, between the husband and wife to be, with a simple exchange of vows."

"But how do you know that the couple is actually married?" Mericlou asked.

"Why would they lie about it?" Aldrec replied, genuinely confused over the question.

And then she realized it. She was thinking like a human. They would be so deceitful as to fake a marriage for the purpose of monetary benefits and the like, but to elves, the very idea was anathema, incomprehensible. She had to laugh in spite of herself.

"Oh, never mind, love," she said, momentarily abashed over her brief lapse in common sense. "But is that really all there is to it? Just an exchange of vows?"

"Yes, but it is nothing to be taken lightly," Aldrec replied earnestly. "This is something that is most important to us. Don't think that the simplicity of the ceremony equals its significance. My people took marriage very seriously. The only difference is that we simply considered it a private matter between those in love. And therefore, only the Divine presides over it."

Mericlou went over to one of the bookshelves, and leaned against it, eyes closed in deep thought.




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