A Distant Tomorrow by Bertrice Small

Author:Bertrice Small [Small, Bertrice]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Fantasy, cookie429, Extratorrents, Kat
ISBN: 9780739467510
Goodreads: 738440
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: 2005-12-31T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter

11

SIRVAT AND CORRADO’S wedding day dawned with a glorious sunrise. The few guests invited to the quiet affair joined the couple to watch it. As she stood with Magnus, his arm about her waist, Lara thought that there had never been so beautiful a morning. The cloudless blue sky was slowly stained with vibrant colors; at first delicate pinks and mauves and palest greens that gave way to the more flamboyant golds, oranges and reds as the scarlet sphere finally crept above the green horizon, its brilliant rays spreading across the firmament.

When the sun was well up the guests escorted the bride and groom into the baths, where Sirvat and Corrado were stripped of their clothing, their bodies displayed to show both were healthy and fit to wed one another. Then before the eyes of their guests the couple were thoroughly bathed before being dressed in their wedding garments. They had chosen to wear traditional Terahn wedding clothing.

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Sirvat wore a long simple sleeveless gown of cream-colored silk. The neckline was draped, resting on her collarbone. The straight skirt was a mass of narrow little pleats, and about her waist Sirvat wore a delicate gold chain. Her hair was dressed in thin braids entwined with slender bejeweled golden ribbons.

She wore golden sandals on her feet. Her bridegroom wore a similar tunic that fell to his knees. The skirt was not pleated but rather fell in graceful folds. About his waist was a gold chain, and he carried no weapons.

The bride and her groom were led into the garden overlooking the fjord, where the lady Persis placed wreaths of multicolored flowers on their heads.

Then Arik, High Priest of the Great Creator, asked the simple question. “Do you, Sirvat, daughter of the Dominus Ejnar, deceased, and his living widow, Persis, and you, Corrado, son of Dima and his wife, Amala, deceased, pledge yourselves to each other as husband and wife?”

“Yes!” Corrado said.

“Yes!” Sirvat echoed.

“Then let it be so in the eyes of the Great Creator of us all,” Arik replied. “You are now wed, Sirvat and Corrado. The Great Creator bless your union, and give you many children and much happiness in the years to come. It is done.”

“That is all?” Lara whispered to Magnus.

“It is enough, isn’t it?” he replied with a small smile. “Do they do things differently in Hetar?”

“It depends,” Lara said. “The daughter of a wealthy man is wed in a great show of splendor, even if it means her father will go into debt. In Hetar how one appears to others is very important. My father, however, wed my stepmother in the Midlands where both had been born and raised. Each month a marrying day is held, and the Squire of the Midlands performs a small ceremony. But even there the bride’s family holds the best feast it can. No one wants it said that they did not fully honor the couple, or the Celestial Actuary,” she explained.

“In Terah, it is the same for my sister as it is for a farmer’s daughter.

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