The Younger Gods

"And does this union have the approval of their parents, mighty Chief?" One-Who-Heals formally replied.

"I am the parent in question, Wise Shaman," Old-Bear replied, "and I do fully approve."

"And is this your true wish, brave Longbow?" One-Who-Heals asked.

"With all my heart, Wise Shaman," Longbow replied in a voice much richer than Balacenia had ever heard coming from him before.

"And is this also your true wish, fair Misty-Water?"

"I have no other wish, One-Who-Heals," the beautiful young woman replied in a voice that was almost musical. "And know this, Wise Shaman. Should you refuse to join us, I will surely die before tomorrow's dawn. Longbow will ever be my heart and my soul, and without him, my life will have no meaning."

"I wouldn't crowd that one," Balacenia murmured to her relatives. "If One-Who-Heals is foolish enough to refuse her, he'll probably be dead before the sun goes down."

"I didn't fully understand Longbow before," Veltan admitted. "But everything just fell into place. I'm quite sure that when this ceremony is over, we'll be looking at the two happiest people in the world."

"And perhaps the saddest as well," Balacenia added, pointing at Eleria, whose eyes were filled with tears.

"Does any member of the tribe object to this union?" One-Who-Heals asked.

"That wouldn't really be a very good idea, would it?" Balacenia said quietly to the other gods. "If Longbow didn't kill the objector, Misty-Water probably would."

Then One-Who-Heals straightened and raised his hand. "Since none objects, it falls to me to declare that Longbow and Misty-Water are now joined, and never will they be parted."

The members of the tribe all cheered—at least most of them did. There were a few young men, and several young women, who chose not to cheer. They were wise enough not to denounce the joining, though.

And then the celebration began. Quite nearly every member of the tribe spoke briefly with Longbow and Misty-Water, congratulating them on their joining. Balacenia was almost positive that One-Who-Heals was really redundant. The joining of Longbow and Misty-Water had long since taken place in their hearts and minds, and nothing would ever separate them.

The congratulations of the members of the tribe continued until almost evening, and then, to Balacenia's astonishment, Zelana approached the happy couple. "Know ye both," she said quite formally, "that your joining was decreed by the gods of the Land of Dhrall—both elder and younger—eons ago—for in your joining lies perfection. Love has now found a home, and she will stay with you forever."

Then Zelana seemed to almost slump as if she were about to collapse.

"Get her home!" Dahlaine rasped. "She should have gone to sleep months ago."

"Take her other hand, Little-Me," Balacenia told Eleria. "Let's get her back to the pink grotto and put her to bed before the sun goes down."

"I'll come with you," Ara said. "Zelana is our most precious child, so let's see to her well-being."

"What were you thinking of, Zelana?" Ara demanded when they reached the pink grotto and bedded the Beloved down in her own bed.

"There was an emergency, Mother," Zelana replied. "I doubt if I could have slept at all if I hadn't seen it all the way through to the end. Balacenia is good, mind you, but I knew what was in the wind and how to veer it away. Of course as it turned out, she's at least as clever as I am. Toward the end of my cycle, though, I was very worried about what would happen if Eleria had to take charge. Until just recently, I didn't even know Balacenia."

"We're encouraged to keep it that way, Beloved," Balacenia replied.

"Beloved?" Zelana asked with a faint smile.

"That's Eleria's term, of course, but it seems to have rubbed off on me, for some reason. Sleep well, dear Zelana. 'Little-Me' and I will keep things going as they should."

Zelana sighed. "It's time for me to sleep, I think." Then she smiled at Eleria. "Tell me 'night-night,' little one, and I'm sure that I'll slip right off."

"Have some nice dreams, Beloved," Eleria said, tucking Zelana's blanket up under her chin.

Balacenia had slowly backed away. "It just occurred to me, Mother, that we're going to lose all of our outlander friends, since they won't be coming here now."

Eleria quietly moved away from Zelana's bed. "You didn't sound very happy, Big-Me," she said. "What is it now?"

"My clever notion has just robbed us of a good number of very close friends. Rabbit, Keselo, Gunda, Ox, and all of our other friends won't be coming here because we won't need them now. The Vlagh is gone now—or at least totally alone—so she won't be stirring things up."

"I'm going to miss Bunny," Eleria said, "and Keselo as well." Then she blinked. "Oh, dear," she said.

"Yes, Little-Me?" Balacenia replied. "Was there something?"

"We went to a lot of trouble to attach Trenicia to Narasan, and that just went out the window. Trenicia has no reason at all to even recognize Narasan."

Balacenia frowned. "You might be right there, Little-Me," she admitted.

"Why don't you girls let me take care of that?" Mother Ara said. "Narasan eventually will have to take charge of the Trogite Empire, and I'll arrange things so that Trenicia will pay him a call—sometime in the past, I think. Trenicia's almost as good as anybody else with her weapons, and Narasan will be in a lot of danger if he tampers with the Empire. Trenicia will be able to protect him. Then, in time, we'll probably see something very much like what we saw this morning. Trenicia and Narasan will be joined. I'll see to that personally."

"Isn't it handy to have Mother around like this, Little-Me?" Balacenia said. "I'm sure that we'll want to stay here until Zelana goes deeper into her sleep cycle. Then you and I had better go talk with Enalla. I'm fairly sure that she'll knock that silly temple all to pieces before long, but you're going to need someplace to sleep. It's going to be a long, long time before you wake up and take over in your Dominion."

"Wouldn't it be all right if I just stayed here with the Beloved, Big-Me? I know that when I wake up, I'll have to go over to the East and take charge, but until then I'd really rather sleep here with the Beloved."

"What do you think, Mother?" Balacenia asked Ara.

"I don't see any problems with her staying here with Zelana, Big-Me," Mother replied. "There are many things she'll need to know, and if she's here in the pink grotto, I'll know where to find her."