The Wedding at the End of the World
By Vifetoile
Author's notes: Thank you all so much for the kind reviews of my earlier stories! It really meant a lot. So, here's something else for you. Enjoy!
The first person who knew that Anju was going to get married was her grandmother. They were in the upstairs of Romani Ranch. Anju was sitting on Cremia's bed, and Granny was sitting by the window, where she said she would watch the fireworks.
Anju stood up suddenly. In the light of the lamp, her blue eyes blazed. She went to Granny's side and touched her hand.
"Are you all right, Grandmother?"
Granny turned her long, dulled eyes to Anju's. "Why, yes, I'm fine dear, thank you for asking," she chortled.
"Good," Anju answered softly. She kissed her grandmother on the cheek. "I love you, Granny."
"Why, I love you…" suddenly Granny's voice lost its doting edge. "You're going back, aren't you?"
The sudden sharpness in Granny's voice took Anju by surprise.
"… Yes," she answered.
"I thought so." Granny's face broke into a knowing smile. "I hoped you might."
"You… did?"
"I never would have respected you if you hadn't made that choice," she continued amicably, "But as you have, you have my blessing. Here." She reached into one of her inner pockets, then another. "You have a witness?"
"I… yes, there will be a witness. He's young, but…"
"Has he got the Milk Bar Mask?" Granny was still rummaging through her shawl.
"Yes, I think…"
"Then he's old enough to be your best man. I tell you what." Granny found at last what she'd been looking for. "This is the key to the big chest in my room. You'll find all the fixins' you'll need…"
"Oh, Granny!"
"All your wedding night equipment, if you catch my drift…"
"Oh, Granny…"
"And a present for your best man. You'll find it way at the bottom. It's very tricky, so be careful. But you'd better hurry. A bride should never be late."
"Thank you, Granny." Anju bowed deeply, but quickly. She ran to the door and down the stairs – only to almost collide into her mother at the bottom of the stairs.
For a long minute they just stared at each other. Then Anju's mother asked, "Where are you going?"
"Back to the Inn. To wait for Kafei."
"No, you won't."
Anju almost quailed under the sight of those eyes, but she somehow remembered the green boy with the serious eyes and the ready smile, and she rallied. "Granny's given me her blessing and I don't have much time left. Please let me go."
"Anju! He has –"
"He will be waiting for me. We have a mediator who's been helping us. Now, if you would please step aside."
"You will be killed!"
"He is going to be in Clock Town. He is not going to be alone. Now get out of my way, please."
Anju's Mother, after a pause, loosened her green shawl and put it around her daughter's shoulders. "The winds are strong tonight." She stepped aside. "Go with the gods." Anju looked at her mother and smiled, and then hurried to the door.
"Good-bye, Romania," she said absently to the little girl at the table.
"You're not going back, are you?" Romania asked. But Anju didn't answer.
The earth shook itself as she tried to close the door, so that she clung to the frame for support. She heard the cows mooing and the horses whinny loudly.
"Anju! Close the door!" came Cremia's voice. She was in the stable with the horses. In the twilight, the lantern on the rafters swung about crazily.
Anju closed the door.
"Get inside! The wind's awful!"
"I'm going back!"
"What?" The black horse had whinnied again.
Anju ran to Cremia's side and said again, "I'm going back to Clock Town."
Cremia turned to her, aghast. "No! You never – "
"I know Kafei's waiting for me. I'm saying goodbye."
Cremia's violet eyes were wide. "Anju, it's dangerous…"
"I know. Goodbye, Cremia." Anju hugged Cremia tightly. "You've been my best friend. Thank you for everything."
"I – I –"
Anju didn't have time for that. She turned and started running down the road.
"Now you just wait one minute!" Cremia hollered. Anju turned. Cremia was hastily untying the black and white horse. "Here, get the saddle ready, will you?" she asked.
"Oh…" Anju took the saddle off of the stand and watched as Cremia eased the saddle onto the horse's back and fastened it in place. "All right, he'll take you there faster than th'wind, but be sure to turn him loose when you get to the town borders, he hates stairs." She gave Anju a hand up into the saddle, then said, "And take this."
Anju took the warm bottle disbelievingly. "Chateau Romani? But…"
"It's a wedding present! Just take it!"
Anju squeezed her hand. "Thank you!"
Cremia nodded, then smacked the horse on the rump. "Now git, you!"
With a whinny, the horse took off down the road. Anju was not as skilled a rider as Cremia, but the horse knew the route well, and carried her down it. She clutched the key, the shawl, and the milk bottle closely to her as the twilight deepened and darkened, and she moved closer and closer to the all-devouring moon.
Anju had never known a time before when the Inn was empty – never known a time when its lanterns did not blaze with warm, golden light, never known a time when there was nothing but silence in the halls and the streets outside.
It chilled her to the bone, but she said nothing. She simply sat on her bed and waited.
So far she hadn't touched the chest that Granny had left to her. It was improper to open your wedding present before the wedding itself. That was also why she left the Chateau Romani unopened on the desk beside her. The ground would shake and she could feel the Inn – her home and the home of her family for generations – swaying and groaning on its foundations. It would have to stop. This couldn't go on.
Well, she reminded herself, it would stop.
Please, Gods, don't let it stop before he gets here.
The light was too dim to read and the lamps had broken in one of the quakes. So, she stared at the only interesting thing in the room: the tall mannequin of her wedding gown and the Moon Mask. A part of her thought of changing into the dress to pass the time – but what if Kafei and Link opened the door to find her half undressed, trying to fit into the silk and tulle? Besides, she needed someone else's help to fit into the dress, and neither Cremia nor her mother was here.
Everything was going to be all right.
The earth shook again.
Anju caught herself whimpering and stopped herself.
In the silences between the quakes, the ticking of the clock downstairs carried even into her room. Every second passed her boy with an admission of its passing – saying, "I will never return."
It was very late. Midnight couldn't be far off. Anju was not used to staying up this late. But she could not – would not fall asleep.
A lamp outside flickered out. In the half-light that was left, the Moon Mask leered at Anju like a rictus. The flaring shoulders of the gown around it seemed to shift in the firelight like the tremblings of a ghost. Another tremor set the mannequin rocking on its base. The sleeves swayed forward…
Anju clenched her eyes, angry at herself for behaving like a child – her heart was pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears, rapid, getting louder–
That wasn't her heart, she realized. That was footfalls coming up the stairs – rapid, coming closer –
The door opened.
Link, hanging onto the handle as though for dear life, nearly swung into the room. He was panting with exhaustion. "We made it!" he gasped. He turned to the figure still in shadow behind him. "Come on in!"
Anju leaned forward. The figure was no taller than Link…
Link's little fairy flew out of his hat and brought light to all the room.
Anju gasped.
Kafei was standing there – Kafei as Anju had first met him. His red eyes were wide, and his pale skin was flushed. He was breathing hard, and his expression was painful. He took a step backwards. "Ah… no… I shouldn't have…" His voice was so high and faint, not the confident baritone that she was used to.
But still, the vulnerability in his voice was what she knew, the part of Kafei that only she knew.
"Kafei." Anju stood up, then knelt, to be on his eye level. "Kafei." It was not a question; it was a welcome. She opened her hands and arms, letting the green shawl fall to the floor. And they were together. And it was good .His face was buried in her neck and she was hugging him so tightly she was almost afraid she would hurt him.
"I knew you would come back," she said softly, just for him to hear.
She heard the fairy say to the boy in green, "How sweet… they look like a mother and child…"
Kafei straightened back. With his hands on Anju's shoulders, he said, "But! I brought it! I brought it all this way…" He looked to the boy in green. Link nodded and reached into his pack, pulling out the Sun Mask. It was a little battered, and a little dusty, but it was beautiful and it belonged to Kafei. He took it solemnly. Anju got up as well and took down the Moon Mask from the mannequin. She knelt in front of him again. He was smiling now, smiling more joyfully than any mask could ever show.
"Anju," he said, "I offer you this Mask of the Sun as a sign of my love to you. With it I pledge to honor and cherish you all the days of our lives, whatever blessings the sunrise may bring, or whatever sorrows the sunset may leave us with. Please accept my mask and my life."
"I do accept," she said. She held out her mask. "Kafei, I offer you this Mask of the Moon as a sign of my love to you. With it I pledge to honor and cherish you all the days of our lives, with the patience and gentleness of the moon… the true moon," she added quickly. "Please accept my mask and my life."
"I do accept," he said. They joined their masks, each one fitting into the other, until they made a beautiful, two-sided whole. If there had been an assemblage, they would have held it up to admire it – but instead Kafei kissed Anju quickly on her cheek.
Link cleared his throat. "Um… okay, I don't mean to seem like a third wheel or anything, so I'm just going to go, um, save the world or something right now, leave you two to your…"
"Oh, no!" Kafei insisted, and Anju said, "Link, please just stay a minute. As our best man – our witness for the marriage – we have to give you a present, a reward."
"What reward?"
"That mask?" Squeaked his fairy, darting forward to hover over the united Sun and Moon Masks.
"Not this mask, this mask we keep," Anju said, gently waving the fairy away. "But a mask is the traditional gift…"
"A mask is always the traditional gift…" the fairy sighed.
"Wait! Kafei, hold this." Anju stood up and went to the chest in the corner, "Granny said there would be a present in here…"
"Your Granny said that? But she's not exactly…"
Kafei shushed the fairy as Anju opened the chest. She quickly tossed out the upper layers of cotton and muslin, tablecloths and handkerchiefs. Her cheeks reddened as she tried to push the scant lacy nightgown out of sight. Another tremor shook the room and she gave an angry grunt as she heaved a huge mound of linen out of the hope chest. However, as she reached down to lift up the last dropped petticoat, her fingers touched something hard and flat at the bottom. It felt like a plate, perhaps – but even the touch of it caused a shudder to run through her. She took the petticoat away and the fairy flit to over her shoulder.
"What mask is that?" the fairy asked in disbelief. Anju carefully lifted it. She heard Kafei gasp.
Even in the dim light, the white and black lines on the mask's face shone out starkly. The eyes were white as the eyes of a prophet, and the mouth wore a "sneer of cold command."
"The Mask of the Fierce Deity?" Kafei asked behind her.
Automatically he reached for it. Anju let him touch it. His white fingers just pressed the rim and then drew back. "Ye gods, the power in there… even I can feel it." He swallowed. "It has to be… it's the Mask of the Fierce Diety. But the original's been lost for…"
"It's related to us," said the fairy irritably. "Of course it'll be the original."
"Where did you get it?"
"My Granny just had it in her trousseau… But the point is," she extended the mask to Link. "This is for you. For being our witness."
When he hesitated, she coaxed, "You were meant to have this. I know it."
He took it carefully. "… What was the Fierce Deity?"
"The Fierce Deity was a god," Kafei explained rapidly. "One of the old gods, a god of war and the underworld…"
"But he was a bringer of justice," Anju was quick to stress. "He never fought an unarmed opponent. When he came from the underworld, it was only to save the world from its greatest foes."
"Really."
"Yes, really," Anju assured the little boy. He took the mask. "Thank you." His fairy zoomed closer by his head. "Now I really gotta go."
"Where are you going?" Kafei demanded.
"To the Clock Tower. I'm going to settle this with Skull Kid – and that mask – once and for all."
"I'm going with you!" Kafei said.
"No you aren't!" Anju stood up, towering over both of them. She looked at Link and said, "I'm not leaving Kafei's side again. If he goes with you, I go with you."
"No – you can't! It's too dangerous. Just stay here. You've given me the mask. That's enough." A smile bloomed on Link's tired face. "Believe me, it's enough."
He took the mask and bowed quickly to both of them. He ran out the door. As his footsteps sounded down the stairs, Anju and Kafei looked at each other.
"You remember when we used to run across the rooftops to sit opposite the Clock Tower?"
"Yes."
"You feeling…"
"I've got Chateau Romani," she held up the bottle. "Let's make a picnic of it."
It was a strange celebration, the little boy and the young woman sitting on top of the tower opposite the Clock Tower, wrapped up in a green shawl, passing a bottle of milk between them. They looked around at the fireworks and up at the moon. They watched the battle take place. They heard the taunting, the ominous words of the little fairy, and then the strange, solemn notes of the ocarina.
Then the earth rumbled, but with footsteps, not the moon's tremors. From all four corners of the compass, a low keening sound arose, matching the ocarina's tune. Then came the giants.
Anju looked south, towards Romani Ranch. Then she looked at Kafei.
"Well, we've got front-row seats," she pointed out.
"And we're together," he added. "Thank heaven for that."
"Oh, I do, Kafei. Believe me, I do."