Rixie wasn’t nervous.

Excited? Yes. Happy? Extremely. She was perhaps even a little relieved that it would finally be done. But she wasn’t nervous. Being a nervous bride was for a young woman who wasn’t sure whether the choice she was making would work out. Rixie and Alex had already spent decades together. They’d already raised a child. They knew the two of them would work out.

So Rixie was completely calm as she sat back in her chair and tried to ignore the ticklish sensations moving across her body as the princesses Vallero and Rhionne painted traditional Jotunn runes and symbols on her body with a semi-permanent dye.

They were at Folkvangr Station, and she was currently in a dressing room off one of the main auditoriums. While Tayas Mons had served as a venue for Darren and Lysis’ wedding, as well as Pryvani and Zhan’s, and for other human/Titan mixed affairs; everyone had agreed that since the holographic amphitheaters on the station were available, they should make use of them.

So, that meant that technically she and Alex wouldn’t be in the same room when they married, but they were more than used to that.

Rixie hadn’t seen Alex since the day before. According to him, it was a traditional in his culture for a bride and groom to avoid seeing each other until the wedding ceremony, because to do otherwise would be to invite bad luck. Admittedly, Rixie found the idea confusing; she and Alex had seen each other plenty, after all. But, considering as he was enthusiastically participating in her traditions, the least she could do would be to honor a few of his.

“You look very pretty, mommy.”

Speaking of Earth traditions… Rixie carefully turned her head and looked over at her daughter who was being led into the room by Pryvani. Asteria was wearing a light blue dress and a wide brimmed hat. In the crook of her arm she carried a basket full of flower petals. Jotunn had nothing like a “flower girl” in their customs, but Rixie had agreed wholeheartedly with the idea when Alex had explained it to her.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” Rixie smiled and reached out to squeeze her daughter’s hand. “I love the dress you have on.”

“Don’t move so much.” Rhionne admonished lightly.

“Sorry, your highness.” Rixie replied. “I’d hate for you to smudge something.”

“We’re almost done.” Vallero told her. “Just a few minutes more.”

“Right.” Rixie sighed. She turned to look at Pryvani. “How are the preparations going?”

“Fantastically.” Pryvani said cheerfully. “Alex is currently being marked up, the same as you; Myona and Shaar tell me that the holographic matrices are up and running and the two rooms are linked up properly.”

“Which room is which again?”

“Room ashay is human sized, room beth is for Titans.”

“Right, thanks for reminding me.” Rixie sighed. “So many things to remember today.”

“Not at all dear,” Pryvani smiled before turning to Asteria. “Well little one, shall we go see if we can find Caesar and the twins?”

“Okay!” Asteria hopped up and took Pryvani’s hand again, and began to march from the room while practically pulling Pryvani behind her.

“Bye Mommy! Have a good wedding!”

*.*.*.*

“Geez! Will you hold still?” Pierce muttered irritably as he grabbed Alex’s shoulders and forced him back into position. “I’m still trying to finish these markings.”

“Well that stuff is damn cold!” Alex groused. “Did you pack it in an icebox first?”

“Actually, yes.” Antero chuckled. “It’ll rot otherwise.”

Alex was about to retort, but at that moment the door opened and Thyllia entered with Ryan on her shoulder.

“It’s all set.” Ryan reported. “Watermelon is in place for your grand entrance and he has plenty of food to keep him occupied until you’re ready for him. Odin and Manto agreed to keep an eye on him for you until the ceremony is ready to start.”

“I bet that’s not all they’re doing.” Alex laughed, before flinching away from Pierce’s ice-cold brush stroke with a gasp.

“Okay I’m all finished.” Pierce rolled his eyes. “I thought you were a Wisconsinite!”

Alex’s response was a sub-audial grumble, but Ryan was fairly certain he heard the phrase “hockey loving maple syrup sucker” come from his dad’s mouth. He was also sure that Pierce had heard it too, because the Canadian-turned-Prince snorted in amusement.

Alex rolled his eyes and looked at his reflection in the building-sized mirror in front of him. Despite his earlier misgivings, the leather kilt he wore was not as uncomfortable as he’d imagined. In appearance it was also closer to “Roman Gladiator” than “Scottish Bagpipes.” His body was adorned with several symbols drawn in a brown henna-like substance that Pierce assured him was not permanent. Once they dried he’d put on a tunic made from a material that was similar to silk. The shirt was a forest green (well, on Archavia, anyway) embroidered with geometric patterns. And his cape made from vashana wool which had been dyed black. Or it was black naturally. Alex wasn’t sure.

“How long is this stuff going to take to dry?” Alex asked as Pierce finished putting away his brushes and the dye.

“About twenty minutes.” Pierce replied. “Just long enough for the wedding guests to get situated.”

“Speaking of which,” Antero said. “I believe I will go find my wife and get our seats right away. You coming with, Pierce?”

“Yeah.” Pierce nodded, and climbed into Antero’s hand. “I’m sure Rhi’s finished with Rixie by now. Good luck Alex.”

“Lady Thyllia, Archon Carey.” Antero inclined his head towards the two of them. “We shall see you after the ceremony, I’m sure.”

“Count on it.” Ryan said before the Prince swept from the room.

Alex watched Antero leave and shook his head. “Well kids, this is it.”

“Last chance to back out, Dad.” Ryan grinned.

“Nah.” Alex draped his veska and tunic over his arm and climbed into the hand that Thyllia lowered to the table. “I had ample opportunity to back out before we found you. I didn’t want to then and I don’t want to now.”

“Good answer.” Ryan laughed.

A moment of silence passed in the room as Alex finished gathering his things. His attention was drawn when his son pointedly cleared his throat.

“Here Dad.” Ryan held a bundle of cloth out to his father. Alex’s brow furrowed in confusion before he gingerly took it from his son.

“What is this?”

“Unwrap it.”

Alex pulled the cloth covering away from the object and found that he held a dagger in an ornately decorated sheath. “What is this for?” He asked his son.

“It’s tradition to be armed during the ceremony.” Ryan explained. “Mom will have one too. It’s supposed to symbolize the fact that you both will watch out for each other, and your home.”

Alex nodded and strapped the dagger to the belt around his waist. “Well, that much is true. Now, if there’s nothing else, we should get going.”

*.*.*.*.*

“These theaters really are impressive.” Emperor Tiernan said to Vallero who was sitting in the seat on his right. They were in a seating box, near the center of the wall and towards the front. Close enough for a good view, but far enough that they didn’t need to turn their heads to see.

Pryvani smiled and leaned forward to address the monarch sitting in front of her. “I’ll tell Thyllia you approve, Your Majesty. She helped to design them.”

She looked down at the floor below where the wedding guests were being led to the box seating arrayed along the walls. Currently, the floor was empty, even of seating.

“Is it not a waste of space to leave the floor bare like that?” Princess Rhionne asked from her seat on the other side of her father.

“There are actually extra seats built underneath the flooring that can be pulled up and used during a performance.” Pryvani explained. “However, we found that we really didn’t need them for the wedding because there was more than enough seating for everybody in the boxes.”

Daz had also turned to look over her shoulder at the older woman. Something about the mischievous sparkle in Pryvani’s eye piqued her curiosity something terrible.

Before Daz could ask about it, however, there was a noise from behind them as Odin, Thyllia and Zhan entered the box.

“Is everything ready with Alex?” Pryvani asked as her husband lowered himself into the seat next to her.

“Yes.” Odin answered with a grin.

“Dear, you did tell Manto she was welcome to sit with us, didn’t you?” Pryvani asked her son.

“Of course I did, but she felt it was best to sit with her family.” Odin replied with a shrug. “I’ll see her at the reception.”

“All right. I-” Pryvani’s sentence was cut off as a loud gong reverberated through the room.

“Oh, it’s starting…”

*.*.*.*

Alex looked down from the rafters of the theater where he sat in the harness strapped to Watermelon’s back. Down below and near the front of the room, was a raised dais where Ryan waited for him. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves. Alex and Watermelon had practiced this dive dozens of times since that first attempt at flying on the tuppskemah’s back. He also hadn’t fallen since.

Of course, he hadn’t had dozens of people watching either.

There was a loud gong and Alex knew that was his cue. Putting all thoughts out of his mind, he urged his mount towards the edge of the rafter and- taking a deep breath- the two of them plummeted into the open air.

*.*.*.*

Emily Torgerson watched, wide eyed, as the giant bat-squirrel creature dove from the ceiling and seemed to freefall for several feet. Unconsciously, she reached out to grip her wife’s hand tightly as her mind grappled with a primal fear of the large creature.

“It’s okay Emily.” Eyrn Bass whispered from behind her. “Alex has quite a lot of experience riding a tuppskemah now.

It took a moment for the Titan woman’s words to penetrate. “He’s riding that thing?!”

“Shh!” Darren admonished from his seat in front of her. “Keep it down. Yes, he’s riding it. That’s the tradition… well, in a way.”

Emily turned back to the scene in front of her. The creature had pulled out of its dive and was making a lazy circle of the whole theater. She peered at the giant animal’s back and, sure enough, there was her brother sitting astride the beast’s back.

“It’s actually pretty impressive at this scale.” Eyrn’s husband added. “At Titan size Tuppskemahs are… well, they’re really rather cute.”

“Is he wearing a kilt?” Emily’s Son-in-law Peter muttered incredulously.

“Also tradition.” Darren chuckled.

Having completed a circuit of the theater, Alex’s flying mount spread its membranes tighter and floated down towards the raised platform where Ryan was waiting for them.

It was only when Alex had landed safely that Emily decided she could breathe again.

*.*.*.*

Rixie stood in front of the closed doors that lead into theater beth. There were (As humans put it) a few butterflies in her stomach, but it was still more from excitement than nervousness.

From inside the room she heard the loud tone that was Alex’s signal to fly down. Part of her regretted not being able to see him ride Watermelon through the venue, but she consoled herself with the knowledge that the whole ceremony was being recorded, and from multiple angles, so she would be able to watch it later.

The doors in front of her began to slowly open. Rixie took a moment to smile down at her daughter before gently nudging her through the opening. Asteria began to march into the darkened room towards the small ring of light where Alex and Ryan would be waiting. As she walked she scattered the petals from her basket on the ground.

Rixie let Asteria pull ahead a few paces. She took a deep breath and smoothed out her dark blue dress. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to face Rajenlif. The Empress smiled in a motherly way and clasped a long cape made of grey fur around her shoulders. The garment was long enough to drag on the ground, so Rajenlif stepped behind and lifted it.

“After you, my dear.” She said, nodding towards the entrance.

Rixie nodded and took another deep breath before taking her first step into the theater.

Immediately, she could tell something was not how she’d expected it to be.

For one thing, the room felt unusually cramped. She had expected to feel dozens of eyes upon her as she marched down the long green carpet underneath her feet… she just hadn’t expected so many of them to be at her own eye level.

It took a force of will not to roll her eyes. Pryvani had deceived her. No, she corrected herself. Alex had deceived her. He must have. They had planned on having the ceremony at same-scale. Or so she had assumed. Apparently, Alex had had other ideas.

So Rixie, The Empress and Asteria were three Titans in a theater full of human spectators… at least, that’s how it appeared.

Well, Rixie reflected wryly. Nothing to be done about it now…

It didn’t take her long to reach the end of the aisle. She stopped next to the platform where Alex was standing with their son, who was clad in his Guard dress uniform. The platform was shoulder height and as she drew close, she lowered her hand down to it. Alex climbed into her palm and she raised him to her shoulder, where he stood and braced himself against her neck.

Her other hand reached out and squeezed her daughter’s shoulder, before gently shooing the little girl towards a seat that was waiting for her off to the side.

Rajenlif gently set the end of Rixie’s cape on the ground behind her, and then moved around to stand in front of the couple. Behind her was a small table with the paraphernalia that she would need to complete the ceremony.

“Friends.” Her voice carried effortlessly to every corner of the room. “We are brought here today to witness the union of these two before me. Before this man and this woman can be joined, the path before them must be clear. Is there any present who has cause against them?”

The Empress waited for a moment, but no one spoke up. Rajenlif nodded in satisfaction. She spread her hands and continued the benediction.

“On this day we come to join Rixie Tam and Alexander Edward Carey in the bond of marriage.”

Rajenlif looked them both in the eye and smiled kindly. “Do you both enter into this union of your own free will?”

“Yes. We do.” They both said in unison.

Rajenlif smiled and grabbed a chalice from the table behind her. She held it aloft and her face was lit by the soft glow of the royalberry wine inside.

“Partake of this drink.” She said and handed this cup to Rixie who raised it to her lips and took a short sip. “Share in this bounty as you shall share all the bounty of your lives from this day forward.” Rixie held the cup up to where Alex was standing so he could reach in and scoop some of it into his mouth.

After Alex had drunk from the wine, Rixie handed the glass back to the Empress who turned and placed it back on the table.

Next Rajenlif took a gold circlet from the table and held it out to Rixie. When Rixie had taken it from her, the Empress lowered an outstretched finger to Alex. Balanced on the tip of her finger was an identical circlet, only Alex sized.

“A crown for your head,” Rajenlif said, and the couple placed their circlets onto their hair. “For every man is a King and every woman a Queen in their own home.”

The last thing on the Empress’s table was a leather bag. She picked it up and reached inside to pull out a handful of black salt. She dropped this on the ground as she walked a circle around Rixie and Alex, forming a ring around them.

“What is joined in this circle, may none unbind.” Rajenlif murmured as she completed the circumference. She once again stood before Alex and Rixie and beamed happily at them.

“Friends and family; it is my honor to be the first to present: Alex and Rixie Carey!”

Though it wasn’t Jotunn tradition, Rixie turned her head towards Alex and kissed him as fully as she ever had before, and he returned the kiss just as passionately.

After all, considering as he had enthusiastically participated in her traditions, the least she could do would be to honor a few of his.

(thanks to DX for the picture)