At exactly 8:00, Roshaun and Dairine stood facing Nita in the backyard. They were standing next to Luised, the moon's light casting an ethereal glow on scene.
Nita placed a sparkling black crystal in the center of a circle of copper wire on the ground. They had asked Luised's permission to move some of her leaves for the ceremony.
"Ok," Nita said, "The crystal and copper's all set. You guys need to hold each other's arms at the elbows." She gestured to Dairine and Roshaun.
"How do you know that?" Dairine asked, "You don't even have your manual out!"
Nita rolled her eyes.
"Dair, I've got Bobo. He's feeding me the instructions."
"Oh."
"Here." Nita walked over to them and positioned their arms so that they were each gripping each other's elbows. Roshaun had changed into a formal golden tunic for the ceremony, and Dairine into a clean Star Wars t-shirt. Spot was standing beside Dairine, eyes bent over the circle, observing the preparations.
"Ok. So, I'm going to say the bonding-"
"What's a bonding?" Dairine interrupted.
"It's the type of wizardry that we're doing. Like a joining. So anyways, I'm going to say it, then you each say your part, then, um, something should happen." Nita shrugged. "That should be it. It shouldn't take that long."
"You don't know what'll happen?"
"I've never done this before, in case you didn't know, Dairine."
"Can we please just get on with the ceremony?" Roshaun interrupted.
"Fine. First, though, where's the sunstone?" Nita asked. Dairine pulled the stone from her pocket.
"I need to place it three and three fourths inches to the south of the black crystal." Nita put the glowing stone in place.
"An eighth of an inch to the left," Spot corrected.
"Perfectionist," Nita muttered, but moved the stone to the correct distance.
"Alright, now what?" Dairine said impatiently, "My arms are starting to hurt."
"I'm so sorry," Nita said sarcastically, "Fine. Cross your fingers for no catastrophic results, and here we go."
Nita started to recite the wizardry.
"This is a soul bonding," she started in the speech, "Condition: Friaith. Activation…"
The bonding wizardry had a different quality about it than the defense and transit ones Dairine was used to. The entire thing somehow radiated an aura of unity and fulfillment.
Dairine vaguely caught a few words from Nita, like "unite" and "combine" and "complete", wasn't paying much attention. The wizardry forced her eyes up to lock with Roshaun's, and his eyes down to hers. His eyes were glowing a fierce gold.
And then Nita's part was done, somehow it sped by as she stared into Roahsun's soul, and Roshaun was chanting now, because it was more of a chant then a statement. More of an acceptance than a promise. She could hear him saying her name, her full name in the speech, that included every thing about her, down to the miniscule detail, which was odd because she had never given him that version of her name. She heard something about having secrets no longer, and then it was her turn.
She saw out of the corner of her eye the sunstone vibrating and glowing a purple light, and she said his name, his entire name that meant King and then said his real name in the speech as well, even though he had never given it to her. And she said something about souls and minds and openness, and she didn't even know where the words were coming from, only that she meant them with every fiber of her being.
And then she stopped, because her part was done, and she felt herself lifting up, and saw Roshaun lifting up. They strained, taut in the air and leant towards each other, their heads thrown back, and Dairine felt like something swooped and burst inside her head, and they fell to the ground.
And then Dairine opened her eyes. She saw Roshaun open his at the same time. And she felt herself standing up, but she was still on the ground and it was Roshaun who was standing up. Dairine felt him wonder if it was done.
