A Wuxia Tale: Union

Ceremony

(DAYU)

They are golden rings. Captain Wang took my left hand and placed the rings on my fourth finger. Two simple gold circlet now gleamed in my hand.

"Your vows, Master Qing..." the magistrate gestured for the Captain to talk.

Captain took my hand in a secure hold. "I promise to always be here for you, Dayu ah. I will be strong, I will be trustworthy and I will be fair so I can be a sturdy wall you can lean on. And I will always love you...no matter what."

When Captain Wang finished declaring his vow to me, silence reigned. The Captain and the magistrate both look at me...expectations in their eyes.

I look back at them, back and forth. "What should I do?" I asked them.

I have never been to a wedding before. This is the first wedding I have ever attended. Mei and Jiang are not married. Or if they were, they kept it a secret to me.

So I am not really sure what I should do in this kind of situation.

"Do you have a vow you want to say to General Wang?" The magistrate asked me.

"I am not sure. And I also have no rings to give him." I confessed. I think, I am not fully ready for this ceremony after all.

"Well, what do you want to give to him? It doesn't have to be a ring or a token. Just tell us what you want to say to General Wang as an answer to his vow to you," the magistrate kindly explained it to me.

I stared at my Captain. He gave me rings and a promise to be a sturdy wall I can lean to. He promised to be someone worth trusting. And that he will love me...no matter what.

What can I give to him?

I find myself moving to hug my lover and kiss his lips. Captain Wang was taken aback for a moment before he kissed me back.

When I ended that kiss, I stared into my Captain's eyes. "I have nothing to give to you but myself and my love. I hope they will be enough..."

I gasped when Captain Wang hugged me tight. So tight his arms felt like a vice around my body.

"They are more than enough. You and your love are all I ever dreamt of having, Dayu ah. Thank you..." he said.

I hugged him back. I saw the magistrate nodding, looking satisfied. "And the ceremony is done. You are now binded to each other. My felicitations..." he bowed to us.

Captain Wang and I stared into each other's eyes. And smile together...

It's finally done. We are finally married.

The magistrate shook our hands and he went back to the vacation house with us to partake in the small feast the helpers on the vacation house prepared for us.

The Captain and I shed our marriage robes for simpler ones before eating with everybody in the ground. It's an informal setting. It looks like an ordinary feast but the people who came to give their felicitations sounded sincere in their hope that the Captain and I will stay together for a long time.

When the darkness fell, the feast started to wane and cleaning has commenced. While the Captain is busy discussing things with the magistrate, I opted to go into our room to start getting ready for bed.

I found two women in our room tidying the bed up.

"What is that?" I asked when I saw an unfamiliar beddings being spread out of the bed.

"It's a marriage blanket, Master." The woman I saved yesterday answered with a smile. She still look thin but I can see changes on her already. The weariness and fear are starting to rescind from her eyes.