Gratuitous Epilogue [Touchstone: Extras]

6 - May

May 10

Autumn Bride

The wedding was so much fun. I embarrassed myself by crying during the ceremony, but it was an amazing day.

The week leading up to it was remarkably hectic, starting with Kaoren returning from Tare with his family. Meeting Kaoren’s family went mostly well – Sen set the tone by shrieking "Seemee!" and hurling herself on Siame, and then going all shy (or pretending to) and hiding behind Siame’s leg to peek at Kaoren’s parents and brother. Siame ended up performing introductions, and then was dragged off by Sen who wanted to show her her bedroom. Siame didn’t stand a chance against a full-on Sentarestel charm offensive.

Overall, I didn’t dislike Kaoren’s parents, or his brother, but I’m still glad that they’ve gone back to Tare. Kaoren’s mother, Teor, is very grand and witty, and didn’t act at all hostile or nasty to me, Kaoren or any of the kids. His father, Paran, is quiet and abstract, and obviously adores his wife but is absorbed by his own work. But they’re both very definite people, with very strong views, and the force of Teor’s personality particularly is so strong. The first day she was there, Teor told me she knew I’d be able to influence Kaoren to not be so foolishly self-sacrificial and to stop feeling obliged to be a Setari. She just doesn’t believe Kaoren could possibly like being a Setari, especially not more than drawing, which he’d been devoted to before being drafted for the Setari program. And she so firmly believed this, and was so convincing, I almost found myself composing arguments to get Kaoren to retire. Since she’s a Sight Sight talent, it does tell me just how much Kaoren’s decision to devote himself to the Setari program cost him, because Sight Sight talents are not certain about things without reason. But obviously not always right, either.

They were very positive and admiring about all the kids, particularly Rye, who has such a passion for what he’s doing. Loving what you’re doing and doing it well are the things they consider perhaps the most important. But they also have firm opinions on how you should go about it. Kaoren’s mother’s an arranger. I didn’t mind too much that she organised years of practical botany courses for Rye, since he already wanted to do that and we can always rearrange it, but Ys and Lira are both still discovering things they might possibly want to do. Ys, I think, wants to study literally everything and refuses to accept that she will never have enough time, while Lira is simply enjoying being alive.

Lira came to me very incensed on the day before the wedding and treated me to a barrage about how we were all stupid and blind, and once I unravelled all this I found that Teor had decided that Lira needed to learn music, had chosen which instruments would best suit her, and added music lessons to Tsana Dura’s program schedule. With Ys she’d asked her about her reading habits, and given her a reading list, and worked out the ideal maths/science program. It’s not that Ys doesn’t like maths and science – any more than Lira actually dislikes possibly learning a musical instrument – but Ys also currently wants to devour every book in this rather old Taren schoolgirl series (something like The Baby-Sitters Club) but is pretending that she doesn’t have any interest in that sort of thing at all, so got extremely grumpy at the idea of admitting that she didn’t care if they were frivolous. And they both loathe choices being made for them.

I can see where Kaoren inherited his love of being in charge.

Arden was less forceful, but more disconcerting. He’s very like Kaoren, but with longer hair, and a tendency to mock and to ask uncomfortably insightful questions. Not quite Kaoren’s evil alternate universe twin, but definitely Kaoren if he hadn’t decided outright arrogance wasn’t useful. But he’s as protective of Siame as Kaoren is, and wants her to choose to do whatever she prefers to do, rather than leave the Setari simply because their mother wants it, or stay in the Setari because Kaoren wants it. His strategy for this was to encourage her to paint while she was staying here – she immediately produced this hugely embarrassing portrait of me with my face all bruised, and my boot camp hair cut, talking to Nils lying smexily in the grass – conveniently leaving out everyone else who was sitting around that day. She’s incredibly good, but not at all satisfied with her work, and Arden (and Muina) filled her head with possible painting subjects, until she was so deeply involved in trying to paint our waterfall pool that she wasn’t finished when they were due to leave, so Siame’s ended up staying with us to explore her art rather than be a Kalrani. I don’t think Kaoren’s mother’s fooled by Arden’s machinations in the slightest, but so long as Siame’s painting she’s happy.

They haven’t decided if they’ll actually move to Muina themselves, and I don’t know how I feel about the idea. It’ll be months and months before I can even tell my own Mum that it might be possible for her to come here[6].

The fortnight the Ruuels were here was so filled with things happening that we avoided anything more than the occasional frowning match. Lohn and Mara’s relatives arrived the same day as the Ruuels, and we’d offered our two spare guest rooms (Kaoren’s family were using the "future kids" rooms) to handle some of their overflow. We ended up with Lohn’s sister Elha and her husband and three kids, just until the temporary wedding guests went home. Two twin girls Sen’s age and a boy a year older, which was a most wonderful development in Sen’s view. And Mara’s brother had two sons around Rye’s age, and Ketzaren had a much younger brother of around fifteen, and Jeh’s sister had three girls ranging from nine to fourteen. And then there was Zee’s brother’s kids, and Maze’s extended family (including Helese’s relatives), and Alay’s younger brother, and Kisikar, who had retired from First, and Grif’s nephews and it was just so amazingly many people, all eagerly setting up house and then wanting to be taken on tour and have meet and greets and pre-wedding events.

Everybody (including me and Kaoren) had taken leave so we could play tour guide, and we mostly travelled with Kaoren and Maze’s families, and Kisikar, and every day a different place – Pandora highlights and Kalasa and Mesiath, and then the two newly seeded towns – Zurenath (the place with all the whiteberry bushes in the southern hemisphere, which they think will be very good for farming) and Liriath in the northern hemisphere, which I think would match Spain in terms of proximity to the equator. The trees there are low and dark, and there were black hills looming at the edges of the huge flat valley centred around the platform town.

Lohn and Mara’s wedding was super-traditional, apparently. Kaoren had brought back formal clothes for all of us (girls dress pretty much like the boys when they’re ultra-traditional, in layered robes of neutral shades). There are rituals for the two days beforehand – little formal exchanges of gifts and items. Mara made this huge flat cake and her father delivered it to Lohn’s family’s (brand-spanking new) house where they practically pickled it in alcohol in readiness for the wedding. Then the next day Lohn delivered Mara’s wedding robes to Mara’s family’s house (after spending weeks trying to get some kind of symbolic piece of stitching on the back just right). Then on the wedding day all the bride and groom’s close friends showed up at their respective houses and stole them off to do a preparation ceremony. I’m not sure if the guys did exactly the same to Lohn, but we pretty much gave Mara a bath – dressing her in this thin shift and pouring warm scented water over her and drying her and then painting all these purplish decorations all over her face and throat and arms – curling tendrils. Everyone there does a tiny piece of the decoration, and you’re supposed to luck-wish the marriage while you’re doing it. Then (after blotting her dry) we dressed her in the robes Lohn had brought and took turns combing her hair and putting pieces of jewellery on her and then we blindfolded her and delivered her up to the little whitestone pavilion in their park for the ceremony.

Lohn was there, also covered in decorations and dressed in robes and reeking of the scented water, standing in a row with Maze and Grif and Nils and her brother and a cousin, and Mara had to pick the right one just by squeezing all their hands in turn. Nils told me Mara would have to get married to whoever she picked, but I don’t believe him, and she knew which one was Lohn anyway – the citrusy scent of the ritual water gives the groom away.

We all sat about on cushions and rugs (or rocks and benches for grandparents) and watched Mara offer Lohn her name, and Lohn accept it, and their parents made little speeches and accepted their new son or daughter, and so Lohn is now Lohn Senez. Then we all ate a piece of the very alcoholic cake, and had a huge picnic which lasted till the afternoon got too cold for us to be outside any longer[7].

Lohn and Mara had included their kids and ours in their getting-dressed ceremony, and Sen naturally adored that, and Lira and Ys didn’t nearly manage to pretend they weren’t touched and awed by the whole thing. Rye was all pink and blushing. Fein and Shar have been wholly overwhelmed by Mara and Lohn’s families, who have embraced them in no uncertain terms, and there were plenty of games for the kids as part of the post-wedding picnic. I think having a lot of Taren kids (and even some Kolaren ones thanks to a few of Squad One’s families being invited) introduced into the mix is benefiting Ys and Rye immensely. The idea of being just a servant is wholly against Taren philosophies, simply not on the radar. Ys and Rye are Caszandra and Kaoren’s wards, brave and exotic and not for a moment to be dismissed because of the length of their names.

I think it’s helping Shar, too, to be Shar instead of Sharlotsofsyllables – just some thirteen year-old boy. He’s going to grow up to be a serious and leaderly person, and Place Sight really is something which it can be a struggle to live with, but Lohn and Mara are giving him some quality just-a-kid time as well as helping him with the strange politics which comes with his name[8].

Sen tore about madly, got wholly overexcited, and then came and smothered me in very sticky kisses – I think that was thanks for how happy Rye was, chatting with a half-dozen boys his own age about Muinan animals and the park design and canoeing, and making arrangements to teach them to swim[9]. Ys and Lira didn’t embrace popularity so completely, but they weren’t hostile or rude either, and I was very pleased to see that Ys had decided to be protective of Enna and make sure she wasn’t overwhelmed – that’s Ys all over.

The Setari-relatives' children will be attending the talent school as well – most of them have near-Setari level talents or were even washed out of the Setari program early on. I’m really glad of that, of the changes it should bring to the school, and the opportunities it will give Ys and Rye to be around some peers they haven’t erected huge walls against. Mara’s brother’s sons, Del and Serry, have joined Fein as Rye’s closest compadres, and they fill what few moments he had left spare. Sen, of course, considers everyone around her age as belonging to her. Ys and Lira are polite, but for the moment enjoying their own friendship most.

I eventually got a bit exhausted from all the socialising, and Kaoren and I have been having a quiet week this week. We also wanted Sen to have a break from so many people. She thoroughly enjoyed the wedding, was brimming over with joy, but this is also an effect of her Sights – being surrounded by radiantly happy people is a bit like swilling champagne. Psychic children are complicated.

Mara came over today for a bit of peace and quiet as well. First and Second Squad are really enjoying living with their families near them, but their places can get pretty raucous. We sat out on the balcony (Maze and Alay were my guards) and talked about the transformation Siriath – and all of Muina – has undergone in such a short time. I still feel guilty about it sometimes, particularly when I found out that my otters seem to have moved away from their stream – or died – and that KOTIS Command is talking about settling Border Collie-ville next.

Maze is looking very alive and non-tired these days, and full of plans to turn his bit of Siriath into a test ground for his landscaping ideas. He’s been doing courses in his spare time, and takes very seriously the time he spends with Rye, who had a lot of practical experience on Nuri (at least until the bastard head of his house realised how much he loved gardening and wouldn’t let him tend the vegetables any more). Rye and Maze are actually doing a couple of the same courses, and while Rye struggles a little with reading (he does okay, but it’s not quick and natural for him yet and he has to use the text-to-speech facility a lot), he’s picking up the scientific concepts quite well for a kid of twelve[10].

The kids came home while Mara was still here (we’ve more than a couple of boats between us now – simple covered sleds that are slow but easy to drive about – and we rotate kid-collection). I could tell from the way Sen behaved that Alay was, as I’d suspected, not feeling nearly as happy with the world as everyone else. She’s always been the quiet one of First Squad – she isn’t shy, is actually pretty decisive and definite about things, but she’s the least chatty. Since Nils told me about how she’d loved one of the Setari killed by the massive – Suzlein – I’ve wondered whether part of the reason Alay’s quiet is the same as the reason Maze is (or was) sad.

The way Nils talked about him, I don’t think Alay was very in love with her technician, which is probably a good thing because so far I haven’t seen any sign that he’s coming to Muina to be with her. Perhaps she cared about him more than Nils suggested, and that’s why she’s down, or maybe it’s just because she’s surrounded by romantic things, and the person she loved is dead.

She really likes Sen, though (everyone does!) and let herself get drawn into a silly game with Sen and the kittens and it was nice to see both of them laughing. Sen’s had such a rough time of it the past couple of months, and still her first instinct is to cheer up anyone who isn’t happy.

My kids are the best.

The Muinan new year is at the end of this month. The one-Muinan year anniversary of me telling the platform that Kaoren was Muinan. We’ll be going into Muina Year 2, and there’s plans for all sorts of ceremonies and I have turned down numerous invitations. Still going to celebrate, will maybe start a tradition of a New Year’s Cake or something.