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magicknightrayearthTitle: a thorough truth
Rating: general with some mention of sex?
Characters: Clef, Umi
Pairings: Umi/Clef
Length: 1600
Content Warnings: none
Author's Note: comes after on the line in the sand. Also the title is a play on betrothed. For the line wedding-beverages-luxury on the bingo card.
Summary: the morning after
Umi sat beside Clef on the raised dias, her knee nudging his, and didn't think too hard about why she was so calm right now when she was fairly certain she'd married Clef, minor psychic bond included. She didn't want to waste the rather awesome breakfast banquet that was being laid out before them, their friends, and a good part of the local populace - it was far more appealing than what she and Clef had managed for themselves in their day-and-a-bit of confinement.
The temple at the top of the hill was visible from the banqueting hall, morning light gleaming off the pale stone, and she felt like she could still felt the bell's clang reverberating through her. Just as she could feel the fain echo of Clef's amusement. Which was the second reason she wasn't about to think about it too hard - if she did, Clef would know, and then he might panic.
That or she would give in to the temptation and drag him back up the hill to the ridiculous and nonsensically comfortable bed they'd been sharing in the Temple. Their ship was nice, but it wasn't luxurious. If they wanted to share after leaving here, they would be cramming themselves into a single berth.
Though the long tables down the centre of the hall were covered in dishes of all shapes and sizes, none of them were fetching food for themselves - portions of all the dishes were being added to a tray for each person, the variety of fine dishes reminding Umi of a kaiseki meal. Drinks, however, were being constantly refilled, and the host for the morning ceremonial raised a glass in both hands and waited until the rest of them had done so too, smiling at Umi and Clef as they reached for their own.
"To joy!"
Umi glanced at Clef, unable to stop herself grinning, and drank.
Their friends were all in attendance, and spread in little groups between the locals further down the hall. None of them were within speaking distance, but they were close enough to be sure they were safe and well. Umi was fairly glad of that - she was pretty certain Hikaru was about the setup of the hall and listening to the toasting (they had now raised their glasses to happiness and truth as well as joy) and drawing some conclusions of her own. If Hikaru was close enough to have a conversation, Umi had no doubt she would be blurting out ‘hey I slept with Clef and I think maybe we’re a bit married and isn’t it awesome?’
In the middle of a banquet of strangers who didn’t seem to talk about much of import aloud seemed a bad place to have that conversation, so she tried not to look at Hikaru too much, and instead enjoyed the food and the way Clef’s knee was pressed lightly against the side of her leg. A tiny, platonic touch - but one he wouldn’t have let linger this long only a few days ago.
The feasting went on, and on, well past the point where it had stopped being breakfast and started being lunch - and people about the room who had drunk freely for each toast started being so tipsy they wandered giggling away. That was the point when Zazu’s head suddenly came up from near Ascot’s shoulder to look about the room, and then poke Ascot and start conferring in whispers.
“I wonder what that’s about?” Umi asked Clef, keeping her own voice low and nodding at the boys when he looked up.
He glanced at them, then shrugged. “Well, Zazu has travelled far more widely than the rest of us. Perhaps he recognises this as some form of betrothal celebration.” He didn’t quite meet her eyes when he said that aloud, but he didn’t look away either.
Yep. They were a bit married, then.
Wait. “Cephiro doesn’t do marriage, but you come out with ‘betrothal’?”
Clef blinked. “...We do recognise those who pledge their truth to each other, even if we have no legal formalities about it in the same way as your Tokyo does.” He paused. “Actually, that probably explains the temple. The test was to be honest about our intent, wasn’t it? To be truthful. I guess the truth of our intent towards each other came out, too.”
Lips twitching, Umi picked up her spoon to take a bite of the next perfect, tiny offering on her tray. “I’m not sure my intentions towards you are really the thing to be talking about in polite society,” she murmured, just to see him half-choke on a laugh.
But further down the table, Ascot was talking to one of the people in a priest’s robes who were attending the room, slowly shaking his head as their conversation grew a little more animated, and Umi didn’t think it boded well.
When one of the priestesses approached them not ten minutes later, asking them to accompany her to a private room with such an air of guilt about her that all the people about them were flinching or turning to stare, Umi was pretty certain things were about to go wrong somehow. She got the last swallow of the sticky-tangy cake from her last plate into her mouth before standing, waving to Hikaru with a grin she wasn’t sure she felt before following Clef across to the next building, which had complete walls, unlike the banqueting hall which had walls of stone carved with so many holes it was like lace made huge and fossilized.
This next building was dark wood, and Umi paused just inside the door to let her eyes adjust, one hand wrapped about Clef’s wrist to keep him from wandering off until she was sure they weren’t about to walk in on a group of assassins, or something else just as unlikely.
Instead, the priestess was alone, and folded into a deep bow in front of them. “I have been speaking to one of your party, and I think - I hear - that you were not aware of the potential for a bonding to occur when you entered our Temple?”
“Not particularly, no,” Clef said, slowly. “It’s something that happens more in story books than in reality, in Cephiro. But I believe we both realised what was happening, before-” he stopped, flushing, and glanced at Umi.
She tried not to blush herself, and wasn’t sure she was successful. That shared image of her storming across the room, grabbing him, kissing him…
It had been far too graphic and far to vivid, and Clef had responded with shock at the same time as she had. So, yes, she’d known something was up before she actually did walk across and kiss him, though she wouldn’t ever have guessed ‘I’m going to walk out of here married with a connection to Clef sparking through my magic’.
"I must apologise. We must apologise," said the priestess, dropping her head. "It has always been our experience that where such things are possible, they are expected - understood. And where they are not possible… it does not matter that there is no expectation. Never before have we found a place where such a bond is possible, but - uncommon. And, like our names, such intimacies are never spoken aloud, only from mind-to-mind where they can be coloured with emotion. To speak of such things aloud is to flatten them, as though they are - dead, without nuance-"
Clef held up a hand, gently cutting off the soft, upset voice. "There is no harm done," he said, calmly enough. "I would suggest that you give a little more information to guests who are asked to stay - but we understand doing such a thing can be difficult."
"When I first visited Cephiro, I had no idea magic could be real," Umi offred, with a grin. "It was a far bigger shock. Besides, Clef’s not the first person I’ve ended tangled up; with he’s a lot quieter than having a dragon in my head.”
Clef blinked at that, then grinned at her. “I don’t know if Selece or I should be insulted by that,” he murmured. “Is he still…”
“We’re still connected, but it’s more… long-distance than it used to be. So you probably won’t be waking up with a headache from his shouting anytime soon.” She looked at the priestess, thoughtfully. “I had thought that your people did not have names, but you do, don’t you. They’re just - private?”
Nodding, the priestess opened her hands to the both of them. “They are not words, in the same way as these we are speaking. They are emotion-pictures, and only shared with our closest family and friends.” The priestess shook her head. “But I should not be distracted. We have done you a wrong, to let you walk into such a thing unprepared.”
“A wrong, perhaps,” Clef said, speaking slowly - as though he were feeling his way through the conversation. “But you have not done us any harm, and the wrong was not intended. You do not owe us; you only need to find a way to convey all the possible consequences to your next visitors, now you know there are those of us who might not recognise what we’re getting into until a little later than we might wish.”
“But-”
“No,” Umi said, firmly as she could, before they could be apologised to again. “This isn’t a mistake, it’s a- a joy, and a truth.”
She was stared at by both Clef and the woman for a moment, but while her staring was hopeful, his was warm with so much affection that she could actually feel it.
“Indeed it is,” he murmured, and they headed back to the feasting hand-in-hand, ready to enjoy whatever came next.
oOo
Rating: general with some mention of sex?
Characters: Clef, Umi
Pairings: Umi/Clef
Length: 1600
Content Warnings: none
Author's Note: comes after on the line in the sand. Also the title is a play on betrothed. For the line wedding-beverages-luxury on the bingo card.
Summary: the morning after
Umi sat beside Clef on the raised dias, her knee nudging his, and didn't think too hard about why she was so calm right now when she was fairly certain she'd married Clef, minor psychic bond included. She didn't want to waste the rather awesome breakfast banquet that was being laid out before them, their friends, and a good part of the local populace - it was far more appealing than what she and Clef had managed for themselves in their day-and-a-bit of confinement.
The temple at the top of the hill was visible from the banqueting hall, morning light gleaming off the pale stone, and she felt like she could still felt the bell's clang reverberating through her. Just as she could feel the fain echo of Clef's amusement. Which was the second reason she wasn't about to think about it too hard - if she did, Clef would know, and then he might panic.
That or she would give in to the temptation and drag him back up the hill to the ridiculous and nonsensically comfortable bed they'd been sharing in the Temple. Their ship was nice, but it wasn't luxurious. If they wanted to share after leaving here, they would be cramming themselves into a single berth.
Though the long tables down the centre of the hall were covered in dishes of all shapes and sizes, none of them were fetching food for themselves - portions of all the dishes were being added to a tray for each person, the variety of fine dishes reminding Umi of a kaiseki meal. Drinks, however, were being constantly refilled, and the host for the morning ceremonial raised a glass in both hands and waited until the rest of them had done so too, smiling at Umi and Clef as they reached for their own.
"To joy!"
Umi glanced at Clef, unable to stop herself grinning, and drank.
Their friends were all in attendance, and spread in little groups between the locals further down the hall. None of them were within speaking distance, but they were close enough to be sure they were safe and well. Umi was fairly glad of that - she was pretty certain Hikaru was about the setup of the hall and listening to the toasting (they had now raised their glasses to happiness and truth as well as joy) and drawing some conclusions of her own. If Hikaru was close enough to have a conversation, Umi had no doubt she would be blurting out ‘hey I slept with Clef and I think maybe we’re a bit married and isn’t it awesome?’
In the middle of a banquet of strangers who didn’t seem to talk about much of import aloud seemed a bad place to have that conversation, so she tried not to look at Hikaru too much, and instead enjoyed the food and the way Clef’s knee was pressed lightly against the side of her leg. A tiny, platonic touch - but one he wouldn’t have let linger this long only a few days ago.
The feasting went on, and on, well past the point where it had stopped being breakfast and started being lunch - and people about the room who had drunk freely for each toast started being so tipsy they wandered giggling away. That was the point when Zazu’s head suddenly came up from near Ascot’s shoulder to look about the room, and then poke Ascot and start conferring in whispers.
“I wonder what that’s about?” Umi asked Clef, keeping her own voice low and nodding at the boys when he looked up.
He glanced at them, then shrugged. “Well, Zazu has travelled far more widely than the rest of us. Perhaps he recognises this as some form of betrothal celebration.” He didn’t quite meet her eyes when he said that aloud, but he didn’t look away either.
Yep. They were a bit married, then.
Wait. “Cephiro doesn’t do marriage, but you come out with ‘betrothal’?”
Clef blinked. “...We do recognise those who pledge their truth to each other, even if we have no legal formalities about it in the same way as your Tokyo does.” He paused. “Actually, that probably explains the temple. The test was to be honest about our intent, wasn’t it? To be truthful. I guess the truth of our intent towards each other came out, too.”
Lips twitching, Umi picked up her spoon to take a bite of the next perfect, tiny offering on her tray. “I’m not sure my intentions towards you are really the thing to be talking about in polite society,” she murmured, just to see him half-choke on a laugh.
But further down the table, Ascot was talking to one of the people in a priest’s robes who were attending the room, slowly shaking his head as their conversation grew a little more animated, and Umi didn’t think it boded well.
When one of the priestesses approached them not ten minutes later, asking them to accompany her to a private room with such an air of guilt about her that all the people about them were flinching or turning to stare, Umi was pretty certain things were about to go wrong somehow. She got the last swallow of the sticky-tangy cake from her last plate into her mouth before standing, waving to Hikaru with a grin she wasn’t sure she felt before following Clef across to the next building, which had complete walls, unlike the banqueting hall which had walls of stone carved with so many holes it was like lace made huge and fossilized.
This next building was dark wood, and Umi paused just inside the door to let her eyes adjust, one hand wrapped about Clef’s wrist to keep him from wandering off until she was sure they weren’t about to walk in on a group of assassins, or something else just as unlikely.
Instead, the priestess was alone, and folded into a deep bow in front of them. “I have been speaking to one of your party, and I think - I hear - that you were not aware of the potential for a bonding to occur when you entered our Temple?”
“Not particularly, no,” Clef said, slowly. “It’s something that happens more in story books than in reality, in Cephiro. But I believe we both realised what was happening, before-” he stopped, flushing, and glanced at Umi.
She tried not to blush herself, and wasn’t sure she was successful. That shared image of her storming across the room, grabbing him, kissing him…
It had been far too graphic and far to vivid, and Clef had responded with shock at the same time as she had. So, yes, she’d known something was up before she actually did walk across and kiss him, though she wouldn’t ever have guessed ‘I’m going to walk out of here married with a connection to Clef sparking through my magic’.
"I must apologise. We must apologise," said the priestess, dropping her head. "It has always been our experience that where such things are possible, they are expected - understood. And where they are not possible… it does not matter that there is no expectation. Never before have we found a place where such a bond is possible, but - uncommon. And, like our names, such intimacies are never spoken aloud, only from mind-to-mind where they can be coloured with emotion. To speak of such things aloud is to flatten them, as though they are - dead, without nuance-"
Clef held up a hand, gently cutting off the soft, upset voice. "There is no harm done," he said, calmly enough. "I would suggest that you give a little more information to guests who are asked to stay - but we understand doing such a thing can be difficult."
"When I first visited Cephiro, I had no idea magic could be real," Umi offred, with a grin. "It was a far bigger shock. Besides, Clef’s not the first person I’ve ended tangled up; with he’s a lot quieter than having a dragon in my head.”
Clef blinked at that, then grinned at her. “I don’t know if Selece or I should be insulted by that,” he murmured. “Is he still…”
“We’re still connected, but it’s more… long-distance than it used to be. So you probably won’t be waking up with a headache from his shouting anytime soon.” She looked at the priestess, thoughtfully. “I had thought that your people did not have names, but you do, don’t you. They’re just - private?”
Nodding, the priestess opened her hands to the both of them. “They are not words, in the same way as these we are speaking. They are emotion-pictures, and only shared with our closest family and friends.” The priestess shook her head. “But I should not be distracted. We have done you a wrong, to let you walk into such a thing unprepared.”
“A wrong, perhaps,” Clef said, speaking slowly - as though he were feeling his way through the conversation. “But you have not done us any harm, and the wrong was not intended. You do not owe us; you only need to find a way to convey all the possible consequences to your next visitors, now you know there are those of us who might not recognise what we’re getting into until a little later than we might wish.”
“But-”
“No,” Umi said, firmly as she could, before they could be apologised to again. “This isn’t a mistake, it’s a- a joy, and a truth.”
She was stared at by both Clef and the woman for a moment, but while her staring was hopeful, his was warm with so much affection that she could actually feel it.
“Indeed it is,” he murmured, and they headed back to the feasting hand-in-hand, ready to enjoy whatever came next.
oOo
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Date: 2019-03-15 03:23 am (UTC)*snork* that line, she's such a dork.