BORN OF HEROES

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 8
 

The simulator runs with the fresh crew went rather well as far as Elias was concerned, with everyone performing well. Cerise had surprised her mate by catching what seemed to be an anomaly during the second simulator run with her at the sensor station directly behind and to the left of the navigation console. Though it seemed to be an anomaly it had, in actuality, been a program subroutine added by the SPF technical team that had been working on the training programs that Elias’ crew had been put through. What the rest of the crew had thought to be a hiccup in the program had been a simulation of a pirate vessel running dark and cold, showing up as a bit of space debris. Cerise had, from her experience and time as a spaceport traffic technician, properly identified as a small shuttle that relied solely on batteries and chemical rockets for power. It could have been a problem if Cerise hadn’t spotted it, and as such everyone was prepared when the ‘debris’ had attacked once they had passed by it.

  Needless to say, the others that missed it would not be likely to do so again. It was a point of pride for Elias that it had been his wife that had first detected the ‘threat’.

  The weekend came, and with it something of a big day for Elias. He woke to find that the sun had not yet risen and Cerise had already gotten up. He was surprised that her getting out of bed hadn’t disturbed him. Then as if thinking about his wife had summoned her, she came through the door into the bedroom they shared with a tray that had two steaming mugs and some breakfast pastries. The smell of the coffee coming from her burden was rich and enticing.

  “Good morning, sleepy head,” she said with a radiant smile. Her hair was down and she wore a short, creamy colored silk nightgown that clung to her body and its curves provocatively.

  “Good morning, Love. And what have I done to warrant getting breakfast in bed before the sun’s even up?”

  She set the tray down and slid back under the covers to sit next to him before retrieving one of the cups and handing it to the other fox. “I can do things just because I love you. It’s written in the rules somewhere.”

  “Oh. Well, if it’s written in the rules, who am I to argue?” He sat up and accepted the cup and took a sip. It was good rich coffee with cream and a hint of sugar, his preferred way of drinking it and he smiled at her in thanks followed by a kiss. “You are too good to me. You know that, don’t you?”

  She took the cup from him and set it back on the tray, then turned back around and wrapped her arms around him. “No more so than you are to me. Are you ready for today?”

  Elias chuckled. “I’ve actually been looking forward to it.” He held her tightly to him, then relaxed and pulled back to look Cerise in the eyes, the smile fading.  “We should have waited so that I could have married you properly and not have to do this make-up ceremony,” the he said seriously.

  Cerise shook her head. “No. The first time was for us and that’s all that mattered. This is for Momma. She wanted me to have things in my life that she didn’t get to have, and that included a fancy wedding. So all we have to do is get up there and look pretty for a little while. But we still get to have all of the fun that goes with it beforehand, though.”

  Elias pulled a surprised expression. “We do? But I thought that was against the rules to do that before we get married!” he exclaimed in shocked sarcasm.

  Cerise leaned forward so that Elias was forced to lay back before kissing him with passion. “That is not in the rules!” she said and kissed him again.

  “How do you know?”

  “Who do you think gets to write the rules?” she asked as she nuzzled his neck.

***

  The day was clear and the sun cast dappled shadows through the mimosa trees as Elias waited on a little dais that sat under a vine and flower bedecked arch for Cerise to join him. He had opted to not wear his SPF dress uniform, choosing instead formal attire that would complement the vixen’s gown. His outfit consisted of a white silk tunic with a lace-up ‘V’ neck and abbreviated collar, a vest that was left open in the front and hung to just below his knees of a deep royal blue, black silk trousers and black, knee high soft boots. Around his waist was a deep, rich green sash that held an elegant, but functional base lard style sword. A heavy necklace of silver hung around his neck finished the ensemble.

  Next to him in the traditional position of his second, was Sander Brees, dressed similarly, but in golds and browns. He, too, wore a sword in accordance with the particular ceremony that had been chosen. In ancient days, he would have acted as the bodyguard for the couple getting married, but the position had become less inclined to violence, and was considered a great honor.

  On the other side of Elias stood a priestess of the Unified Light. They followed no specific tenants, but borrowed from a myriad of religious beliefs across the Planetary Alignment, feeling that there was credibility and lessons for all to learn in the teachings they collected. The Unified Light borrowed heavily from both mono- and polytheistic beliefs with a healthy dose of naturalistic shamanism. The priestess also happened to be Sander’s wife, and Cerise and her family had been thrilled when she accepted the invitation to officiate the ceremony. Meri wore a simple long pearl gray robe that was unadorned, but the stole she wore made up for that with writing and symbols that Elias had never seen, stitched into the slate colored fabric in silver and gold thread.

  Beyond the trees in the great yard that opened behind the house were the guests. Apart from one or two individuals, Elias really didn’t know anyone, and was a little nervous at having over three hundred sets of eyes looking at him. He tried to stand as serenely as possible, and smile in a friendly manner, but inside he was all in knots. He hadn’t known that Sharan planned for this many people, but it attested to this being something of an ‘Event’ in the local social circles as the assembled guests had come on such short notice.

  “Elias, if you don’t relax you are going to pass out. Don’t lock your knees,” Brees said in a low voice that didn’t carry past the dais.

  “That’s easy for you to say, Sandy,” the fox replied, finally getting used to calling the lion in a familiar manner by his name. “You aren’t the one that has to worry about goofing this up.”

  The lion smiled and looked at his wife. “Tell him he’ll be fine, Dear.”

  Meri smiled and put a reassuring hand on the fox’s arm. “It really will be fine, Elias. Honestly, how can you do what you do, facing pirates, putting your life on the line, and be so terrified now?”

  “Ma’am, if you were me would you want to ruin something as important as this is to Sharan and Rovi?”

  Both lion and lioness chuckled. “Still intimidated by Rovi?” Meri asked smiling.

  “No, Ma’am,” Elias replied. “Sharan.”

  “He’s wiser than I thought,” Brees said chuckling anew.

  Before anymore could be said, music flooded the yard from a hidden sound system. It was with a pleasant jolt that Elias recognized it as the sweeping melody that he’d first heard with Cerise while at her family’s cabin, and found that as the notes swept around and through him that he began to calm and the knots in his stomach loosened considerably. Then at the far end of the assembled crowd, Cerise appeared with her father and mother at her sides, her youngest sisters preceding her and spreading petals of fragrant flowers before their older sibling. Behind her was Keena with a tall male fox with unwholesome looking citrine yellow eyes that Elias didn’t know and took an irrational and instant dislike to.

  He didn’t really pay attention to anyone else other than his mate, though. She looked radiant in a silk gown of sapphire blue that left her shoulders bare. It fell in pleated folds all the way to her feet and moved delicately with each step. Around her slender waist and tied in a complex looking knot was a sash of emerald green that matched the shade of her eyes perfectly. Her hair was caught in an intricate braid with green and blue ribbons woven into the dark mass, and around her head was a circlet of beaten silver that formed a point that rested above her brow and held a sheer silk veil that trailed along behind her head in the breeze of her passing. In her hands she carried a small bouquet of white and lavender wild flowers and an elegant silver chalice.

  Elias couldn’t help but beam at Cerise as she drew closer while she gave him a warm smile and smoldering look through her thick lashes.

  The procession stopped at the dais with Cerise’s younger sisters, Celia and Gey moving off to the left and right with their duty discharged. Meri took a single step forward.

  “Who approaches the Temple?” she asked in a clear voice that rang with as much authority as her husband’s did while lowering a silver topped black staff to bar the way onto the dais.

  “I, Rovi Augustus Tambor, approach,” the black fox said in a voice that was just as clear. He spared a quick glance at Elias and gave him a brief smile.

  “And why do you approach the Temple, Rovi Tambor?” the lioness asked.

  “I would give my daughter, Cerise Tambor, to the one named Elias Tivnan to be his mate and wife. To let them join each other in wedded union from this day on. I attest that she is of marriageable age and good standing and does also consent to this pairing.”

  Meri didn’t waver her heavy looking staff an inch as she followed the ritual that had been chosen. “And does the mother of Cerise also agree to this union?”

  Sharan nodded. “I, Sharan Kyla Tambor, agree to this union with my blessing,” Cerise’s mother said, trying very hard to hold back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.

  Meri then looked out over the crowd. “And who will speak for Elias Tivnan?”

  “I will speak for Elias,” the Colonel said. “I attest to his honor, faithfulness and valor and support his right to be bonded to this vixen.”

  Meri then turned to the white fox and spoke to him. “Do you, Elias, agree to this pairing and accept Cerise to be your mate and wife?”

  Elias swallowed and spoke, softly at first but with growing confidence. “I do accept Cerise as my mate and wife, lovingly, willingly and joyfully,” he proclaimed with a broad smile.

  The lioness then turned to the vixen. “Do you, Cerise, agree to this pairing and accept Elias to be your mate and husband?”

  Cerise nodded. “I do accept Elias as my mate and husband, lovingly, willfully and joyfully,” she said in a voice that was filled with emotion and pleasure.

  Meri nodded and lowered her staff. “Then come forward, Cerise.” All watched as the vixen stepped daintily up onto the dais. “Please face each other and speak your vows to one another before these assembled witnesses.”

  Cerise and Elias faced one another. Elias went first, carefully drawing the sword that he wore at his side. Holding the hilt in his right hand and taking the sharpened blade carefully in his left, the fox knelt and laid the blade at the foot of Cerise’s dress symbolizing that he would always be her protector. Then he took her hand in his and looked up into her eyes. This was the only part that they hadn’t really rehearsed as the words were supposed to come from the heart.

  “Cerise, I am not the best of individuals, nor am I the wealthiest. I am simply the one that loves you and would give his life for you. I can’t guarantee that life will always be joyful, or that we will always have the means for comfort and luxury. What I can guarantee is that I will love you until the end of my days and beyond. There is no joy without you, no warmth, and life would be empty were it not for you. I will never raise my hand to you, and will ever place myself between you and danger. There is no one else for me but you and I ask that you accept my humble words and heart as forever yours.”

  With the fur of her eyes growing moist, the vixen smiled. His words might not have been the most poetic, but she could see in his eyes that he meant what he said, just as he had during their civil union at the Grandstorm courthouse.

  She pulled on his hand so that he stood. Looking deep into his blue eyes she spoke in words that had only the slightest quaver to them.

  “Elias, it was a sad event that brought you into my life, but one I thank the Maker for. Never in my life have I felt in my heart what I feel for you. Each beat, every breath is for you and you alone. I am your mate with all that the word implies. I will ever be by your side to care and support you, to be friend, confidant and lover. I want to be the mother of your children. I want to see out the rest of my life with you and strive to give you in return the joy that you have brought to me. I feel that fate has brought us together. I have loved you since the first day that I saw you. My heart and life are now, and ever, yours.” She then raised the chalice to Elias’ mouth and let him sip to symbolize that she would always care for and support him.

  Both had spoken their vows in quiet, intimate tones, but they had been heartfelt and as they looked into each other’s eyes, they missed the first part of what Meri had quietly spoken to them.

  “…blessed union. The words that you have spoken to each other have been come from the heart and are true. May the Devine smile upon you both as you re-enter the world as two that have joined, for two are stronger than one. Let neither dominate the other, but always treat each other as equals, for on the day that you cease being equals shall the joining be torn asunder.” The lioness then raised her voice so that it would carry. “As a wedded and mated pair, I entreat you to signify your bonding.”

  Cerise handed the chalice to her father who still stood beside the dais. They took each other in their arms, and with the sound of applause, kissed warmly and lingeringly in the sunlight that had moved from behind the trees to fall on them in full glory.

  “If you would please face the audience,” Meri instructed once they concluded the kiss. Cerise and Elias did, though they still held each other. “Honored guests, family and friends! I have the joy of introducing to you Elias and Cerise Tivnan. Health and long life!”

  “Health and long life!” the crowd shouted back.

  Linking hands, Elias and Cerise joined her family where Elias received a blessing from Rovi and Sharan as he was accepted into the family, then the couple made their way down the aisle between the two sections of guests to the large pavilion that held settings for the wedding party and assembled guests so that they could partake of a grand banquet.

  Elias and Cerise sat where everyone could see them and tried to eat between bouts of the guests clinking their wine glasses for the couple to kiss again, not that either half of the pair was complaining, but it would have been nice to get more than a few bites down of the sumptuous dinner before it got cold.

  Once the desserts had been delivered, much to the joy of some of the younger attendees, the dance floor was opened and after the obligatory first dance, Elias and Cerise sat back down to receive the personal greetings of well-wishers.

  An insistent tug on his sleeve drew Elias’s attention to his right and he turned to find Celia and Gey looking at him, their little faces very serious. Elias smiled and leaned forward to put himself more at eye level with the two six year olds.

  “What can I do for you, Gey?” the fox asked looking at the closest girl.

  The girl studied the older fox for a long moment before speaking. “Daddy says that you are taking our sister with you when you leave. Is that true?”

  Elias knew that Rovi was too sly to have let slip what his oldest daughter would be doing and decided that he would try to answer the girls’ questions as best and as honestly as he could. He was their older brother now, after all. “Yes I am. Does this upset you?”

  The girls gave him a very sour look. “Yes. Cerise has always been nice to us. She plays with us and takes us to places and now you’re taking her away. We thought you were nice, ‘Lias!” Celia said with a scowl and pout.

  Elias smiled at the girls. He held out his arms and despite their pique, both let him scoop them up onto his lap. “I’ll tell you what,” he said taking a moment to look at both of the girls, “Cerise and I will always visit when we can, I promise you that. My job takes me to a lot of different places, but this will always be home, and we love both of you too much to stay away for too long. But you know what the best part of going to other worlds is?” He waited for both of them to shake their heads, curiosity replacing the irritation of the nearly identical girls. “It means more places to buy really neat presents that no one else you know has!”

  This had both of the girls’ attention now, and their eyes were wide with the thought of loot from other planets. “True?” Celia asked earnestly.

  Elias nodded. “Absolutely.”

  “How come you can tell us apart?” Gey asked. “No one else can.”

  Elias nodded at the two girls. The kits were very similar with coppery colored coats, black forelimbs, ears and white tail tips. The telling point, for anyone that cared to look, was fairly obvious for the white fox. Gey had a shorter patch of white muzzle fur under her chin, and Celia’s black ear coloration spread so that it came out a little above her brows. “That’s easy,” Elias said. “You are two different individuals. It’s plain to see. At least for me. Now then, are you still mad at me?”

  The girls leaned forward, each still sitting on the leg that he had put them on and whispered to each other, Elias pretending not to hear what they said. Then they nodded and Gey spoke. “Not no more. You just have to promise to visit a lot.”

  “Yeah. And not forget our presents,” Celia amended with a serious expression.

  Elias struck a very serious pose and looked at each of them. “I promise we will visit every chance we get. And I promise not to forget presents. Okay?”

  The girls smiled. “Okay,” Celia said. Then she looked at the fox with wide eyes. “Is it true you are our brother now? We’ve never had a brother before.”

  “That’s right. Because I married your sister, I’m part of the family and your brother, of sorts.”

  This was all the girls needed to hear. They threw their arms around his neck and gave him hugs, one on either side, then giggling they scampered down and ran off into the crowd somewhere. Elias smiled after them and sat back.

  “You handled that rather well, my Love,” Cerise said with a grin as she leaned against his arm.

  Elias nodded. “Had to. They outnumber me.” He then looked at his wife and smiled. “You know, I think I might like being a Daddy one day.”

  Cerise smiled warmly. “I think you’d make a wonderful father.”

  “So do I,” Rovi said approaching the couple, wine glass in hand and a smile on his face. “If you can handle those two without losing your wits, then you are certainly going to raise a fine family. Those scamps interrogated me for almost two hours when they found out Cerise was leaving. Which is something I need to talk about.” Rovi turned to his daughter, “Do you mind if I steal a few moments of your husband’s time?”

  “Not at all, Daddy.” She stood and gave her father a fierce embrace. “And thank you for today. It was wonderful.”

  Elias saw Rovi’s eyes fill with love for his daughter as he returned the hug. “It was an honor and a pleasure, Dearest.”

  When they separated, the older fox motioned for Elias to follow and led the way into the house. “You took us all by surprise, Elias. Here Sharan and I get back from a working vacation and find our daughter is married. There was potential for great disaster there, but fortunately you agreed to a public ceremony as well. That did wonders to mollify Cerise’s mother. Don’t get me wrong. I love the woman dearly, and the things that she dealt with before I retired from the SPF…she’s far stronger than she appears. But she was so looking forward to having a big ceremony for Cerise. Especially when you consider Keena’s… proclivities. I despair of her ever settling down.”

  They entered a room that Elias hadn’t been in yet adjacent to the elder fox’s den, and by the décor, the younger male knew that this room was off limits to most individuals. Along the walls were pictures of a younger Rovi and various friends, including several of him with Sander Brees. In many of those shots Sander hadn’t quite developed the full mane that he had now. It was interesting to see such an imposing figure as a gangling youth. Some of the pictures had little black ribbons attached to them denoting friends that had died in service.

  “I’m sorry, Elias. I’m rambling, but we old folk are wont to do that sometime,” Rovi said with a grin, which the younger fox returned. “The whole reason that I asked you here was two-fold. The first is to say that I don’t think Cerise could have chosen a better mate. You are all that I could hope for, though I’m sure that Sharan would have preferred it if you were in a different line of work, but then from the stories I told, Cerise has always respected the SPF and those individuals that serve.

  “The second is something of a personal nature. Would you draw that sword please?” the black fox asked pointing at the blade on his son-in-law’s hip. Elias did as instructed as Rovi watched, a strange look on his face. “That sword has been handed down from father to son for the past four generations. You know us Dennierans and our love of edged weapons. Anyway, my father gave it to me on the day that I wed Sharan, just as his father gave it to him on the day he married my mother, and so on.

  “I didn’t have a son until today, and in keeping with tradition, I now pass it on to you. As you will pass it on to your son. At least I hope so.”

  Elias stared at the base lard, then at Rovi. “I don’t know what to say.” He looked down at the blade, the tapering double edge, the polished bronze hilt fittings, the hourglass shaped handle of some exotic wood that was as glossy black as glass and matched the wooden scabbard. “It would be my honor and pleasure to carry the family sword, Sire,” Elias said with a formal bow.

  Rovi again had a soft expression in his eyes. “No, Elias. Believe me when I say the honor is mine.”

  The colder fox poured two glasses from a bottle on a sideboard and handed one to the younger male after he returned the sword to its scabbard. “The only other thing that I ask, Son, is that you keep my daughter safe.” His eyes were moist and he looked at Elias imploringly.

  “On my life, Sire.”

***

  The celebration went on for some hours and it was quite late when Elias and Cerise decided to retire for the evening to the hoots, whistles and good natured ribbing from many of the guests that were still there.

  Once safely in their room, Elias looked at his wife and smiled. “You were beautiful today,” he told her, pulling her into his arms. He couldn’t help but continue looking at her and how radiant she appeared.

  Cerise threw her head back and laughed throatily. “And you were most handsome, my husband.” She “Today was better than anything I ever dreamed of as a girl!” She stepped back, dancing out of his reach and twirled twice, flaring the hem of her gown. “But there is one more gift I want to give you.”

  Elias tilted his head to the side slightly, wondering what it was that she could have for him. “You don’t need to give me any gifts, Cerise. I have all that I want right here and now.”

  The vixen sat down on the edge of the bed and scooted back slightly, reclining against the pile of pillows at the head board, stretching her arms across the top. “Mmm. You’ll like this present. Maybe as much as you’ll like unwrapping it,” she said with a challenging grin.

— NEXT CHAPTER —

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