Otter Creek — mithril —

it was less than a day's walk to the place tavina had prepared: a snowy bower beside the little creek, the ground where she had first met nala.

she had brought pelts of white to cover the earth, to warm them. and she had asked senmut to keep nala distracted with one priestly task or another, but to listen for her summons.

she went ahead with @Gucci, helping him slog through the drifts where it was deepest. offering him a robe of deep pale rabbit-fur once they had arrived, she glanced around the glowing little bower. "well? do you think she'll think it lovely, vizier?"

excitement had fueled his body, spiting the winter with how little he cared. a wedding! a wedding! oh, was it right that it excited him more than his own did?

gucci looked around, the pretty sight of snow-powdered branches hiding a path. 

"ah'm... enchanted..." he spoke out loud, still entranced. his gaze travelled down the way a white twig bent, to the sable coat of tavina.

"she'll be delighted, sesh." he grinned.

for thisss i was thinking of having senmut stand off to the side, like each officiant has a round w gucci first
soo
this round is arrival, ill post w senmut after nala
then gucci can do the honors
then nala and tavina respond
gucci to close
then senmut steps back in and says his bit
nala and tavina respond
senmut closes
then gucci can officially close the whole thing? <3

tavina needed to hear it. she smiled briskly at the small noble of which she had become so proud.

"i'll tell senmut to bring her then," and she tilted back her head with a full-throated call.

having asked the priest to ensure that @Nala adorned herself in the new ways of her goddess and her own tastes, she waited, almost vibrating with a nervous, adoring energy next to the robed vizier.

it had been so good to spend time with senmut!

she felt refreshed by having a companionship outside of gucci and tavina. with senmut she learned much. about her duties, about akashingo, about the history behind everything.

it gave her a sense of deeper belonging outside of her bubble with tavina.

but there was something...exciting! she was being donned with the things senmut suggested and a sprinkle of her own desires. she felt bashful with being so well dressed. her love was calling them away from the mesa! her heart could hardly be contained.

cleaned with feathery fur now present, although hidden beneath a pelt not of her own, she felt radiant. even moreso as it clicked in her brain where they were at.

as if senmut was guilty of keeping a secret (one that nala had known was to come one day soon) she looked at him wide eyed. senmut! her voice a raised whisper, straining with good nature against her vocal chords.

she wished to crash into tavina at once, but kept herself some level of composed. if only for their gold hearted friends present.

a gracious day. a wondrous day.

cloaked and robed, with the talismans and decorations of her new status hung about her shoulders and brow, the holy wolves came to the marital bower.

"the Goddess Hathor has decreed you should be happy, hemet," senmut said with a sudden rush of affection. he hung a garland of dark green leaves around her neck and stepped back, bowing respectfully to the diminutive vizier who stood at hand.

and to tavina herself, a clear look of approval in his bright green eyes.

he was ready.

no he was not.

he was.

but he wasn't!

jest git it done with, idjit!

gucci took in a deep breath, and exhaled with a grin.

"mah dear compatriots," the chihuahua began, as if speaking to a crowd not present, what deserved to be present to see this. this! "we 'ave gathered 'ere t'day tah see these two souls, th' best o' our kingd'm, brought t'gether in most holiest union."

"tavina, first face seen in pain or need, 'fter wound or worry, what boasts touch gentle as gossamer, wi' which many a bone's been properly set."

"nala, kind'st amongst us, wha' has found true callin' in service tah god benevolent 'nough tah match 'er peach-sweet heart!"

gucci sniffed.

( he felt as if senmut might be attempting to hurry him on at this point, but the man plowed on. )

"mah dearest frands! ah hafta ask each a-ya, e'en thought ah know th' answer, even thought e'ery star in this sky n flake on this ground does already-"

and sharply, he turned to nala first. a small mercy for tavina's nerves.

"nala! priestess o' hathor, do y' love this woman afore you?"

"will you accept her as wife, as partner in life, sickness or health, hell or high water?"

the man then turned to the woman who had been his friend, from first day to this.

"tavina! healer, do y'love this woman afore you?"

"will you take 'er as spouse, as wife, partner in life, sickness to health, skyfall or drought?"

tavina wouldn't have minded a larger wedding. little toula might have loved to join, perhaps even nazli. 

but as she gazed into nala's eyes, as she saw the already radiant loveliness only jeweled by her decorations, as her love stood beneath the curving snow-laden trees, she knew that this was perfection.

gucci began to speak, and the stoic facade of the sesh slowly smoothed to a cowl of happy tears. the neb had been a perfect choice, his honeyed drawl carrying over her little sounds and sighs.

she listened when nala spoke, and when it came her turn, tavina said at once: "i do," and then, "if there was ever a day like this again, i would only ever want to share it with you, nala."

she was going to weep. between the words of senmut and the welcoming warmth in this beautiful, snow-dusted place...

her eyes glazed with her tears. it was hard to not sob when faced with the one she loved. the one she was being wedded to, the one she would give children to and raise them with.

gucci's voice added another layer of love! joyed that she had this moment, away from akashingo in a special place, with those she loved in other ways. the little noble for his charm, smarts and familiarity. senmut for his welcomingness and warmth.

i do, i do. her voice quivered and she could not hide the way her feathery tail wiggled behind her. forever and always. in every lifetime and afterlife there is. it is always you.

"if there was ever a day like this again, i would only ever want to share it with you, nala."

she knew she had picked well. that her heart had found home in a woman she had once charmed with stories of a ducks.

how badly she wished to kiss her wife already!

the nobleman had kept his stance, his back straight, his tail firm-

and still fat tears rolled into his plush cheeks.

oh, how he had love for these women! how in this small, cold haven, warmth of friends and devotion kept the heart warm as a fireplace! he might've just openly sobbed - joy! joy! - had he not known what they both waited for.

loudly, again, as if for all the flatlands to hear:

"then ah, wi' power 'n' honor bestowed upon me this day, pronounce ya - "

his arms spread wide for dramatics and flair. gucci beamed.

"wife, n wife!"

and the chihuahua loudly sniffled. 

in a pitched voice, his composure gone, he weepingly continued:

"ya may- y-y'may now kiss, th', th' bride." 

sniff.

"brides, ah-ah s'pou-ou-ouse..."

and he reached to wipe his nose on the nearest object, likely senmut himself.

 

<3

maybe in the interest of wrapping we do tavina, sen, nala? <3

she had not meant to weep and yet the tears came as gucci found himself overcome.

tavina faced into the eyes of her wife — her wife! 

and when the vizier made his grandest of pronouncements, tavina pulled nala to her and pressed a lingering kiss where it truly belonged, heart soaring grandly.

forever and always

ur a god of ART

gucci spoke and senmut watched the faces of the wives reverberate with delight.

delight abounded.

the priest moved to stand beside gucci, not moving to chastise the little man as the vizier wiped his wet nose upon red fur.

"tavina. nala." senmut spoke with a gentle directness.

"under the ways of akashingo you have been married since the beginning."

before each of them he set a carefully preserved flower.

"exchange these things. know that with this, you become one household. one wife." he smiled at this, eyes warm upon them. "Blessed of Hathor. Blessed of Isis, She Who Makes a Honeyed Heart Sing."

"the gods look favorably upon this union."

fade? <3

oh her heart! if she wept loudly it was only with cries of joy!

prepared to kiss her wife. her wife! a woman she could have kissed forever — would kiss forever. oh, they had ever golden morning to exchange kisses just as before, did they not? only now they were one.

a union.

yet still she felt a sharp sting of something to think that they were not left to their own devices just yet! however she knew, she understood. she spared senmut the gaze of a woman wishing only to honeymoon now!

the gods may look down, may smile.

just as nala did when she looked upon tavina now. flowers another symbol for their union.

my wife,

she exhaled and found herself unable to stop another kiss! another! preserved in the honey of their love.