Balder's hand shuffled up and down the spine of the book he held.
The words on the page were getting more difficult to read. He found himself pausing frequently, slowly coming to terms with the different rush of thoughts and emotions.
This is unlike anything I have felt before. This is merely another ritual that two people submit to when they express enough affection for one another… A vow. An eternal promise. No different from the oath we take as a Lumen Sage. Yet…
Is this is what it feels like to be happy?
"Balder."
The sweet allure of her voice resonated in his ears.
Rosa knew how nervous Balder was. He knew how much the Umbran Clocktower meant to her and despite the risk of being seen together on Umbran grounds, he was the one to suggest they have their wedding here.
She gently placed her hands on his. They were warm. Together their hands closed around the book.
"Forgive me, Rosa… I know not what has come over me."
"Hush, Balder… Be at ease. It is just the two of us here."
He could work out the widening of her lips into a smile despite the mask which covered her face.
As gently as she had placed her hands, she removed them just as delicately. She nestled them in the crook of his left arm and leaned delicately against his side, as she would when he would read to her on those summer nights in Vigrid.
The comfort and warmth she provided gave him the confidence to continue.
"Do you, Rosa, take me… as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, until death… and Inferno… do us part?"
"I do, Balder."
"…And I, Balder, take you, Rosa… as my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, until death do us part." He closed the book and looked at her. His wife.
"I do not feel any different. Do you?" He said playfully.
"Come now, Balder. It was a pleasant service you delivered. You should be proud of yourself given it was your first time."
"Pray that it be the only time I deliver a sermon," he said with a smile and a sigh of relief.
Both of them chuckled and filled the room with the sounds of their stifled laughter. In a flurry of white feathers, the book he held vanished. As if given a cue, they shifted around in one another's arms until they were in a comfortable lover's embrace. Balder looked into Rosa's eyes as she looked into his. She leaned into him and Balder pressed his forehead against hers.
"I love you, Rosa."
"I love you too, Balder." Balder could feel her warm breath on his lips; an invitation from Rosa to initiate a kiss.
He grinned and raised his hands up to his beloved's face. Tenderly, he pulled Rosa closer so both of their faces remained only centimeters apart, and he looked into her eyes once more. With this gesture of consent, Rosa graced Balder's lips with hers.