Solar Bright

A Wedding

"Then, what are we going to do?" Fog retorted.
"I just don't want to tell Solar. She just started flowering and has to spend a lot of time with Dài," Glow said.
"But, that puts her at more risk, and you're at risk too, Glow, just by staying" Fog countered.
"Fog, I can't leave my sister, " Glow insisted.
" I already said that you don't have to leave her," Fog replied with a sigh.
"But how would I convince her to leave without explaining? She has this compulsion to visit our dad and Dài won't want to let her go." Glow asked.
"What if-?" Fog began.
Glow interrupted, "Wait I know! We always promised to help each other with their seedlings..." She trailed off, color entering her leaves. "No, no, forget it."
"What?" Fog asked.
"Well, umm.... When I seed.... I mean, Solar would... We promised to stand over our seedlings together." Glow finished in a rush.
"Then, why are you fighting me. We should get it done, and-" Fog insisted.
Glow stopped him. "We have 5 more moon cycles of mourning."
"How many moons did it take for the fungus to kill your father?" Fog asked.
"Twenty." Glow admitted.
"And how many moon cycles have passed since he died, Glow?" Fog questioned her.
"Five, and don't take that tone with me. I know what you're getting at." Glow snapped at him.
"Do you really want to risk your sister spending TEN moon cycles with her?" Fog pushed.
"Of course not, but..". Glow sighed. "Well, you didn't even really ask. I'm not going to do this just because you want to protect us from Dài."
"You can't think that... I mean, you have to know that... Glow, I love you. Why do you think I stuck around?"
"I didn't... I thought that you were just... You love me?"
"Yes, Glow! I love you, and I want you to marry me. You seem determined to come up with every reason you can to deny me, but I intend to have you!" Fog practically shouted, huffing in the greatest show of emotion Glow had ever seen.
Glow was flabbergasted. "How was I to know? You brought it up so casually and in the middle of a conversation about dealing with Dài. I thought you were just offering to protect us from her."
"I want to do that too," Fog said tenderly. When Glow just stared at him, he asked again, "So, will you marry me, Glow?"
She just stood there. Fog started again, "We can go to any forest you want, and Solar can come too. She can look for a part-" he was stopped by a tree colliding with him as Glow wrapped both branches and roots around him.
Fog laughed, "I am going to take that as a yes. Then he sobered. If that isn't what you mean, you better tell me now."
"YES! Of course, yes." Glow laughed as she answered.
"Don't start saying of course now, after all your pulling back. And, really, you don't have to marry me for me to protect you... And Solar. I'd help you both even if you said no."
"You can't get out of it now," Glow said. "You have to marry me."
"I'm just saying that I didn't intend to push my love on you if you didn't want to marry me then you don't have to." Fog faltered.
Glow finally uttered the words Fog had been waiting for, "Stop, Fog, don't say that. I love you too. I can't wait to marry you. I just thought that you were offering out of obligation. I... I didn't want to push my love on you either."
"Push all you want, Glow." Fog smiled broadly.
Chattering happily together and making plans summer glow and fog headed toward the king's Grove to tell solar.
"I'm so happy for you," Solar exclaimed happily, but she didn't show the same happiness when they asked her to join them in leaving the forest. "I can't leave," Solar insisted.
"But, I need you Solar." Glow responded. "We promised to share sap flows, and I hope to have seedlings in the coming seeding season."
"I know Glow, but I have to be here."
"Why?" Fog asked.
"My dad needs someone to remember him," Solar responded.
"I remember him, Solar." Glow said. "Do you think I forgot our dad so quickly?"
Solar's leaves colored, "No, of course not, I just... I mean-" though some part of her did, and she didn't know why.
"You should go Solar," Cieba interjected.
"But, Cieba, I thought you understood," Solar cried.
"I do, Solar. I understand better than you know, but I think you should go with them. Your father wouldn't want you to spend the rest of your life mourning him." Cieba explained.
"I... I will think about it." Solar conceded.
Things didn't go so well with Dài. She wasn't overtly upset but she did suggest that the girls were being disrespectful to their father. Glow should not be engaging in such a happy occasion before the morning period was over, and Solar should not be thinking of leaving.
Glow felt no remorse because she knew that she was trying to save her sister, but solar was bathed in guilt and would have backed out but for Cieba's quick thinking. He suggested that they have the ceremony in the King's grove. That put Solar at ease enough to go forward once Fog and Glow agreed.
The ceremony was small with only a few of the king's most loyal hedges, solar, and Cieba in attendance. No trees would risk the fungus, and no bushes or other vines were allowed by the queen's order.
Nonetheless, the ceremony was beautiful. Glow was decked out in fresh oakmoss with goldfinch and swallows in her canopy. Fog cleaned the spanish moss from his branches and surprised everyone, except Glow, with how majestic he looked. They performed the root merging with solemnity.
During the ceremony, some of the queen's cardinals flew into Solar's canopy. It just a few, but the only one who noticed was Glow. It wasn't the only damper on her special time; she could t help but notice how Ceiba clung to Solar. Anyone looking on would have assumed it was just their usual companionship, but Ceiba had informed her, after the meeting with the queen, that he'd held Solar back from embracing the king a few times already, including right before Glow and Fog announced their good news.
Glow couldn't help but worry. And, as their roots merged and their sap flowed together, Fog sensed her worry and tried to reassure her. They could not stop the urges, but they could take Solar far away.
After the ceremony ended, the newlyweds tried to leave immediately, but Solar took more convincing. Dài would not leave the grove, so they could not tell Solar all.
"Please, Solar, we have make it all the way to the Tropical Forest. It will take a whole moon cycle, and I don't want to go to seed before we get there," Glow begged.
"A whole moon? Glow, how can I think of going so far from him?" Solar asked.
Cieba promised, "I'll take care of him, Solar. I know this is what he would want."
"How can you be sure, Cieba?" Solar whimpered.
"He talked about you two all the time. He wanted you to live well and find someone that he loved as much as..." Cieba faltered, then whispered, "as much as he loved your mother."
"But she left him!" Solar screamed.
"Solar?!" Both Glow and Cieba cried in shock.
"She did. She left him, and she left us. Glow, you know how that felt. I can't do that to him." Solar was nearly pleading now.
Tears flowed as Glow responded, "Solar, she died. She didn't leave him. She stood right in this grove for many moons afterward. Then she crumbled." Glow was nearly sobbing now. "The same will happen to Dad, and then what will you do."
Solar cracked then. "Then, I can come to you, Glow."
"But you promised!" Glow cried..
Solar didn't respond, and Fog moved to take Glow out of the grove. "Come on, Glow." Clearly, Solar wouldn't leave this place.
Ceiba sighed as the newlyweds turned to leave and began to unwind himself from Solar.
"Come now Solar," Dài called out. "We have lessons."
"OK," Solar whispered and everyone stopped. "I'll go," Solar spoke a bit louder. "If you'll watch over him Cieba."
Ceiba nodded. Solar sighed, turning to the rotting tree that used to be her father and said goodbye. Then she turned towards Glow and started walking.
The queen left the grove in a huff, and Cieba sagged in relief. The newlyweds moved quickly to get out of the grove and forest. They have to stop often at first because Solar is so reluctant, but as they get further away and the sisters talk of the future, Solar seems more like her calm happy self.
It takes slightly more than a moon to get to the Tropical Forest, and all three are carrying acorns in their branches by the end of the trip. It is near the end of seeding, and they don't want to risk any of Glow's seedlings sprouting where it shouldn't.
Finally, the trio reach their destination, and the acorns are allowed to grow. The girls are as close as ever when they bury their roots together to give the seedlings sap.
"These seedlings will be stronger than any others, with oak and cypress and sequoia wood and twice the sap, they have to be." Solar soothed a nervous Glow.
"I do hope so, Solar. I'm just so glad you're here. I don't think I could do this without you."
Solar smiles at Glow, but as Glow smiled back, she noticed that even more of the queen's cardinals are in Solar's branches.

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