Ivithia rubbed her sleeping child’s back then looked up towards the ceiling and let the sounds of the hustling and bustling of the servants around her fade to the background. Above her, near the very top of the sloped ceilings of the temple, there drifted wooden carvings of stars, ebbing in the air as if they were floating on a stream of water. Occasionally the runes carved on one of the stars would briefly light up, before eventually dimming again. The shape of the wooden carvings would change depending on which temple a person was visiting, but each temple had floating wooden carvings. Each carving also had specific runes etched into it that would react if the particular deity that the runes symbolized was visiting the deity that was worshiped there. Whether the visiting deities were in their spiritual form, their mortal form, or even if they were taking an entirely different form to visit; the runes would react to their presence in the temple. It was believed that, when in their spiritual form, the deities would use their carvings as resting spots as they chatted among the other deities present.
They would also use the carvings to present their blessings on their favored mortals if said mortal was a patron of another’s temple. Usually the deities waited until a child turned at least six before claiming the child as one of their chosen, but that wasn’t always the case. Once a child was claimed by at least one deity, their deity would bestow their blessings in the form of the magic that the child would specialize in.
Ivithia knew she wouldn’t actually be able to tell it apart from so far away, but she searched for her own guardian deity’s star to calm herself down. She had been blessed by Gunnr; a daughter to the god of war, Guntram, and a lesser goddess of battle. While the blessings Ivithia gained helped her to command and direct the servants, it also had the drawback of elevating her emotions when she wasn’t paying attention to them or focusing on keeping herself calm. It also was prone to happen during the very rare moments where she just didn’t have the energy to care who was watching.
Knowing she was in the presence of her guardian goddess usually helped her to refresh herself and also to quell her emotions. She needed to calm herself down before the anxiety about everything potentially going wrong consumed her, so she continued to seek out Gunnr’s floating star. She let out a small prayer in hopes that Gunnr would answer and watch over her and her child during the engagement ceremony, especially when it came to the ritual part of the ceremony. Finally Ivithia’s eyes settled on a small carved star, the light coming from its runes was a ruby red color. Almost instantly Ivithia felt calm; her guardian deity had come to attend her child’s engagement. Gunnr was a lesser goddess so she wouldn’t be able to sway how the sibling deities in charge of the engagement would react, but having her there to observe how it went was enough for Ivithia.
Almost as if on cue, Alf came into the temple carrying a small chest that contained the gifts the Frotleikr family had prepared for their future son-in-law. Ivithia followed her husband up as he carried the chest to the front of the room, wanting to make sure nothing had been left out. After Ivithia very carefully handed her sleeping toddler over to their father, so as to not wake them, she turned to the chest that her husband had placed on the floor in front of her. Alf had placed the chest right next to the stack of packages that contained the gifts that the envoy had brought for Freyja, but Ivithia was too nervous about double checking their own stash of betrothal gifts to be curious what types of gifts the other family were contributing. She had barely opened the lid before her husband checked in with her.
“I didn’t forget anything right?” Alf asked, looking for the approval of his wife; even though he technically had the highest amount of authority of anyone in the room.
“At least give me a chance to look through it, Pet.” Ivithia smiled slightly to herself at her husband’s royal blue puppy eyes that she could see staring at her through the corner of her own eyes.
Ivithia finished opening the lid and leaned over the simple looking chest to peer into it. Right on top was a small bow meant for children and a matching quiver full of arrows. The bow and the arrows had been crafted by an acclaimed married couple; the husband was a bowyer blessed by a lesser god of tillering, and the wife was a fletcher who had been directly blessed by Gunnr’s mother, the main goddess of archery. They were well-known kingdom wide for their mastery of carving runes into their works to properly pass on the temporary blessings of the goddess of archery to the wielders. On top of the runes, Ivithia had also requested the sigil of the Silvius family to be placed somewhere along the grip. Then the quiver was to be fashioned with various symbols of the Silvius family to go along with the child’s bow. Next to that was an ever glowing lantern with a dragon motif revealing the pale blue light it gave off. Tucked along the front were the scabbards for a set of twin swords that they would gift Aleksei during the wedding ceremony. The scabbards were black with crimson flames traveling the length of them, since rumor was that Aleksei had already received a blessing from the god of flames even though he hadn't reached his third birthday yet. The last item in the chest was a large blanket cushioning the bottom of the chest. It would be used as bedding for their marriage bed when the time came and was embroidered with the Frotleikr’s symbol of a world serpent wound around a sycamore tree that represented the Silvius family’s druidic ancestors.
Ivithia nodded, all the gifts were indeed in the chest. She felt the nerves start to kick back in; since the servants had also wrapped up gathering the other required items it meant that they would be starting the ceremony soon. There would soon be no turning back as she engaged one of her only two children to a son-in-law who didn’t even live in the same kingdom as them. They needed this alliance though. She glanced back towards her guardian deity’s floating star and took a deep breath then nodded towards the high priestess before turning around.
“We should be ready now to start the engagement ceremony.”
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Teenage Freyr slipped on the white dress that would be the base of his traveling outfit. It had been made from the same fabric that his toddler engagement dress was crafted from; it was tradition to use either the same exact dress or to use the same fabric to craft the wedding dress when getting married. Since Freyr’s parents wouldn’t be able to join him for his actual wedding, his mother had at least wanted to see him wear it as he left, and he really didn’t want to disappoint her. He already felt bad for her because he had been secretly told about how anxious she had been on the day of his accidental engagement. For how strong she appeared to others Freyr knew, from insider information, that she was often anxious and worried about how the public perceived their family. Freyr’s father’s laid back attitude towards the public opinion didn’t help her concerns either.
Freyr carefully arranged the white, off-the-shoulder, dress so that the hem with the embroidered blue runes wouldn’t risk dragging along the ground at all during his travels. He then reached for the high collared light blue vest that was draped over the changing partition in his bedroom. The vest was lined with dark blue on the edges and had a subtle dragon motif pattern on it. The style of vest had at some point become almost like a source of security for him whenever he had to end up crossdressing. Even though it had a keyhole front to appear more feminine, it secretly made him feel more masculine instead since he didn’t have anything to show off. Once he was finished fastening the jacket, Freyr came out from behind the partition and went over to a table in the middle of his bedroom that held a wooden container on top of it.
Freyr felt a pang shoot through his heart as he opened the medium sized wooden accessory box that had been carved with his family crest. It hadn’t been opened a single time in all the years that they had possessed it. They had received it well after the engagement ritual was already complete, and the irreversible blunder had been made. Looking inside the box revealed that the accessories inside were very evident in the fact that they were intended for a different bride; his sister Freyja. Even though she had never worn a single piece, Freyr felt odd selecting what to wear with the outfit he was leaving in.
He finally decided on the simplest looking piece; a very carefully folded wedding veil tucked to the side of the box. It was evident that it was for the wedding, not the engagement, so it didn’t feel as improper to wear. He was indeed the “bride” who would be married to the heir of the Silvius family after all; it would be better than wearing an accessory that was commissioned for an engagement that was actually meant for his sister.
Freyr carefully slipped the loops on either side of the veil around his curved horns. Once he was done he looked at himself in the mirror again. This time his long hair had been styled into twin braids with small beads running through them. He had been practicing crossdressing, so he had started getting used to how he looked in a dress, yet wearing his actual wedding dress sent shivers up his back that he couldn’t exactly define the source of.
Then he heard the voice that he had grown the most frustrated with growing up.
The strings of fate do not make mistakes. Just look how well the gradient of the blue to white of that veil compliments you. The voice seemed to be in a joyous mood for once as she complimented Freyr.
“You say that, but I still think it was just on a whim that I was the one who was accidentally brought.” Freyr muttered to the empty room.
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