A/N Y'know it's funny, this next chapter was actually the very first one I wrote, back before I didn't know where I wanted this story to go. You readers will probably be able to tell, as there are some parts that aren't totally consistent with the previous chapters, but I didn't want to get rid of them.
Hopes
"Snorri!" Nicko burst through the doorway of their room, looking very excited indeed. "Snorri, you'll never guess who I just found!"
She looked up hopefully. "Septimus and Jenna are here? With Ullr?"
All at once Nicko's happy demeanor faded, and he sighed. "No, I haven't seen them anywhere." Then he brightened again. "But hey, you wanna know who I did find?"
Snorri's shoulders slumped ever so slightly. She wasn't sure how much longer she could last in this wretched place, even with the support of her fiancé. Nevertheless, she hid her disappointment and, clasping his hands in hers, asked, "Who did you find, min älskade?"
Nicko was pleased to hear her refer to him as her beloved, even more so to hear it in her own language. "You're never going to believe this, but there's actually a parson! Here, in the House of Foryx!"
Snorri looked at him quizzically. "A—parson?" she questioned, tasting the word on her lips. It sounds like "parsley", their word for "persilja", she thought bemusedly. But why would Nicko want me to know about an herbalist?
"Yeah, a parson!" Nicko said excitedly. "You know, he's a judge who does weddings!"
Weddings...Suddenly Snorri understood. "En kyrkoherde," she whispered breathlessly. Sitting up on the bed, she said, "You are serious, then, about a marriage?"
Nicko looked a little hurt. "Of course I am, my love," he said softly, sitting beside her on the bed. "Like I said last night, you and I were meant to be together. Besides," he added with that crooked grin that delighted Snorri, "if we are wed here and now, we won't have to worry about our parents getting in the way."
Snorri laughed. "You are right, Nicko. My mother would never agree. But she does not need to know this way."
"Exactly!" Nicko wrapped his arm around Snorri's waist fondly. "I only wish that I had packed a wedding dress for you to wear."
They looked at each other. Snorri raised an eyebrow, Nicko's mouth twitched, and within a split second they had both collapsed backward onto the bed with laughter. Between guffaws, Snorri managed, "Nicko, that would—he he ha!—not fit in the pa-ha-ha-hacks!"
After a while they recovered enough to sit back up. Wiping away a tear, Nicko said to Snorri, "I'll bet I would've found a way, though."
She snorted. "One half crown says not."
"Sorry, no deal." After another chuckle, Nicko grew serious. "But it wouldn't seem right if all you had to get married in were these clothes." He fingered her threadbare Northern Trader robes absentmindedly.
Snorri gently pried his hand away and squeezed it. "I do not mind, min älskade. The clothes are not important in a marriage." She saw that this seemed to amuse her fiancé, but Snorri dismissed the thought when he didn't comment.
Then Nicko snapped his fingers. Snorri watched as he stood up and strode over to the small bureau in the corner, where the spare bedsheets were kept. Opening the top drawer, he pulled out a white sheet embroidered with flowers on the top edge and shook it out, then cleanly ripped it in half with one smooth motion. Nicko spread the halves out on the floor and, taking the bottom edge of one, he folded it up about a fourth of the way. Next he grabbed the sheet by the crease and held it up so that the folded part was facing him at eye-level, and the embroidered edge hung to the floor. "Snorri, love," he said, his voice muffled from behind the cloth, "would you do me a favor and stand up?"
Snorri did as she was told, and Nicko held it up to her with satisfaction. "See? Problem solved."
"That is wonderful, Nicko, but...this is not a dress," she said in confusion.
"Ah, but it will be," Nicko said, tapping Snorri on the nose playfully. "That's what the other half is for. I'll fold it like this one, pin the two of them back to back, put it on you, tie it with a sash, and—voilà! You'll have a wedding dress."
Giggling, Snorri shook her head. "Oh, Nicko. Fine, I will wear it for you."
Nicko grinned. "Great! Now," he went on, putting down the sheet, "we just need a flower bouquet, and a wedding veil, of course..."
Snorri rolled her eyes. "Nicko, do we really need all of that? Is not the dress enough?"
"No, of course it isn't," Nicko replied, standing up. "Not for you, love." And he kissed Snorri on the lips.
She returned the kiss affectionately. "You have won, then," she said when they parted. "But I shall have to find a cleaner tunic for you to wear, for I will not make it out of a bedsheet. Nej, I will borrow one from another man, and he may not be as thin as you are."
"Oh, you wicked girl!" Nicko declared jokingly. "But what are we waiting for? We have a wedding to organize in a very short amount of time—"
"Time?" Snorri cut in wryly. "How you know the Time we have in this fängelse?"
Instantly she regretted saying it as a shadow crossed sweet Nicko's features. Thankfully the moment passed quickly, and Nicko was back to his normal self once more. "Anyhow, I'll go find flowers and something to use as a veil, you search for a tunic—" he gave her a mock pointed look "—and then we can work on making invitations. We should invite everyone in the House of Foryx! That'll give them all a good change of pace, don't you think?"
Snorri nodded. "Alright, min älskade. I shall start looking now." And giving him a quick peck on the cheek, Snorri slipped out the bedroom door.
As she walked through the corridor, Snorri once again begin to feel queer, just as she had last night when Nicko proposed to her. I did not know that he would want us to be married this soon, she thought nervously. Maybe we really are taking this too fast. But she brushed the feeling aside and set about her task.
