Administrative purposes
Adrien took the forms from the government official. It was him who promised to deal with that a few days ago. He looked at the form, it was simple and asked for some basic data. At least he understood what was asked in most lines. The government official gave him one firm nod and left him with Marinette and empty paper forms.
They both went to the small room where Adrien was examined on the first night. Tenzin awaited them with Dorje and Pema. Dolma walked in after the two teens settled on the carpet.
"Sorry, but I promised to do this for you. These are some forms to fill out for the government." Adrien waved the papers. He read the lines and the young monks answered quickly. It was odd. They turned out to be about two centuries old. The young monks looked at the forms with interest, it was written in simplified signs, not what they were used to deal with before.
"This temple and its surroundings were not part China when we disappeared, but we both knew some Chinese." Pema explained.
"Many monks here are from China." Dorje added.
Adrien filled in the data quickly and Marinette helped.
Then it was time for the two older monks. They watched the exchange with interest and hidden amusement.
"We were both more than two centuries old when the temple disappeared." Tenzin smiled and stroked his beard. He watched the two teens with amusement.
Adrien sighed. Was he really to write down such data? He resigned. He was about to write down the truth and then he was about to leave it to the government official to decide what to do with those data. So he wrote down the data and smiled.
"The history teacher in our school would really enjoy if we brought you to school on the day we usually bring our parents." Adrien smiled. But Tenzin stiffened at the words and his hand stopped stroking his beard mid way.
"Don't worry, we are not taking you there. Unless you want?" Adrien continued smiling. But there were few odd looks exchanged between the monks.
"Are we going home at all?" Marinette finally spoke after the long silence.
"That is … not determined yet." Tenzin replied quietly. "We have to do a procedure for … administrative purposes." The old teacher smiled in a peculiar way, Adrien wandered what it meant.
Dolma took her seat and struggled to look important.
"I think we established you are chosen wielders." Tenzin spoke solemnly. "And you have proven to us that you are worthy to keep your miraculous although you revealed your identities." He eyed his elderly counterpart to check if she was satisfied with his wording. Pema translated for Marinette.
"That was not entirely their choice." Tikki floated out and intervened.
"They did not have a clue even after they got to the temple." Plagg argued as he floated next to Adrien.
"Yes, indeed, it was us who revealed them to each other." Pema added and Dorje nodded to confirm that.
"Exactly." Tenzin continued.
"We only let those who trained in the temple to reveal their identities." Dolma said solemnly as she recited the rule.
"That is why we knew Fu's identity and he knew ours." Adrien continued.
"He was a guardian." Plagg cut in.
"That is for us to decide." Dolma said.
"I say you have received your training in the temple, completed the learning and mastered the techniques that are suitable for you age." Tenzin said solemnly as if he was leading some formal event.
Adrien translated with furrowed brows, he was not entirely sure what the old teacher meant. Marinette nodded to Pema.
"Of course, we are just kids." She said with a smile.
"We still have to fight Felix." Adrien argued. He wanted to keep Plagg.
"Of course. You will be able to leave but you will also return for further teachings." Tenzin added with a small smile. He was looking forward to that.
"Now about the miracle box and the new Guardian." Dolma continued sternly.
"We agreed that you have demonstrated great care and the ability to protect and guard the box, its contents and the kwami." Tenzin continued.
"So I get it back as a new guardian and bring it to Paris?" Marinette asked with a glint of happiness in her eyes. And perhaps a few tears welled up too. But then she remembered the responsibility. Well, maybe it was to be easier with Hawk Moth out of the picture.
"No" Dolma and Tenzin replied in unison and waved their heads simultaneously.
Adrien and Marinette looked at each other in confusion.
"You have demonstrated that you yourself do not have the energy required to handle all the problems that might face you while you are handling the kwami." Dolma spoke slowly and waited for Pema to translate. "And you risked yourself too much. It is not wise from a guardian to incapacitate themselves while they are helping the kwami." The old monk scolded.
Marinette sank, of course, she was talking about reviving Nooroo and Duusu.
Adrien perked up with confused expression on his face.
"Then I get the miracle box and I am the new guardian?" the boy asked cautiously, he did not believe that was really an option. He only helped Marinette.
"No" Both elderly monks replied in unison as waved their heads again. But Tenzin had a knowing smile on his lips that soon evolved into teasing and later into an expression of pure mischief.
Adrien and Marinette looked at each other confused even more.
Pema rolled her eyes and looked at Dorje. The young monk winked back.
"You do not have sufficient knowledge." The old guardian spoke.
"I can learn, Marinette can teach me." Adrien argued.
"Exactly. You do not have the experience." The old monk continued.
"She will share her experience with me." the boy continued.
"That too. And you do not have the training." Dolma finished.
"I um, I can stay and train?" Adrien finished with a question. The he sighed and looked with more determination. "I offer to stay here and train." He added with more certainty in his voice.
"That would not be necessary." The old teacher replied as he stroked his beard with a crooked smile on his face.
Pema was waving her head signalling 'no' to the two old monks, but they were unaffected.
"You will both share the duties of the guardian and you will take the miracle box with you." The old teacher explained slowly.
Pema facepalmed. Marinette jerked her head towards her as she never expected a monk to do something like that. Dorje just waved his head in disbelief.
"Thank you, we will need it in out future endeavours." Adrien replied solemnly as he was spoken to not exactly taking in the current mood in the room.
Marinette looked at the two teachers in panic. She knew there was a catch. Pema stopped translating. Adrien just replied something, Marinette did not know what were the last few sentences spoken.
"We do it together?" She asked timidly.
Pema looked at the girl and nodded.
"But in order to do that, the two of you have to become one." Dolma announced solemnly.
"They are too young. It is illegal to do that to children these days. We learned that downstairs, on those lectures the students gave us." Pema complained.
"I can confirm that." Dorje added as he raised his head.
"What do you mean? What do they want us to do?" Adrien asked with a slight of panic in his voice.
Pema turned around to the two kids.
"In order to share the duties of a guardian, the two of you should become one." She spoke slowly as she was explaining the situation to Marinette and Adrien. The girl blushed severely. Those words had a meaning she did not want to take in. It was all her dreams come true. And it was too early in her life. Adrien slowly turned to Marinette and understood the meaning only after he saw her blush.
"That means that you ..." Pema continued in a calming tone as the blush on the girl's face told her the young teenager already imagined all sorts of things.
"They already share everything. We thought they arrived her as a couple." Dolma reminded everyone present. Pema translated the words and then continued to explain.
"You see, the only way to share the duties related to the miracle box is if you are married." Pema continued her explanation until an abrupt and shocking stop.
"Fu said Marianne knew about the miracle box." Marinette whispered as thousands of thoughts passed through her mind. Then she noticed Adrien looked at her with questions in his eyes.
"Marianne? Who was Marianne?" he asked quietly.
"There was a woman who master Fu loved, she knew about the miraculous box and what was inside." The girl explained slowly. "When master Fu released his memories, I took him to her." She finished in a weak whisper. "But he never mentioned her as his wife. They were not together. They were separated for years. She got akumatized over that." Marinette explained louder.
"It is not a real marriage. It is like a partnership, we just call it marriage for … administrative purposes." Pema reassured the girl.
"It is, as far as we are concerned." Dolma crossed her arms before her chest.
Pema sighed.
"We are both too young to be legally married." Adrien whispered. But he looked at Marinette adoringly, it was not as if he had anything against that. And he was about to get a new home out from this? The boy was already dreaming moving in into her pink room, living above the bakery with Tom and Sabine (he was getting parents on the side), getting all kinds of treats, sharing a life with her …
Marinette, on the other hand, was in her own dream land until the reality hit her. How was she to explain to her parents that she went for something that was supposed to be a school trip and got back married at the age of fourteen?
"Childhood marriage is something not looked at with approval any more. You can't marry them, you can't call that a marriage." Pema continued to advocate for the two teens.
"That is how we call it. Are you speaking for them or for yourself?" Dolma inquired.
"My parents married me when I was younger than you." Pema explained. "I escaped before I was taken to my husband's house and joined a temple to serve there, but then I travelled to this temple as I followed one monk. And here they let me stay … only to marry me again, at the age of fifteen, to him." Dolma waved her head towards Dorje who smiled sheepishly. "Because we were both trained to be the temple guardians." She lowered her head. "We share the duties so we share everything."
Adrien looked at the two monks in awe.
"You agreed to that." Dolma reminded her.
"It was not like I had much choice." Pema looked down to her hands.
"Today there is divorce. You could even annul the marriage." Marinette whispered and fetched the papers that Adrien was holding. "Here, we can ..."
Pema waved her head. "I do not want to." She smiled towards Dorje. "I just wished I married him when I wanted to, and how I wanted and because I wanted to." The woman continued. "Not because I had to." She smiled at Dorje and the large man smiled back.
"We do not have the first wedding night, nothing like that." Dorje whispered to Adrien and the boy blushed severely. "This is more like … administrative procedure to mark your alliance to work together."
"You can even marry someone else in your civilian lives." Tikki chirped.
"But they should never know about you being a wielder of a miraculous." Plagg added.
That made sense. They were just supposed to have some kind of partnership ceremony. Adrien winked at Marinette and she blushed back but produced a small shy smile.
"So it is not a real marriage." Marinette whispered.
"No" Pema waved her head.
"Of course it is real, how real can it get?" Dolma said as if she threatened them. "If you decide to drop your duty you both drop it and you both renounce your memory."
Suddenly it all sounded far more serious than a simple marriage that can easily end up in annulment or a divorce.
The two teens looked at each other with serious faces.
"On the other hand, if you decide not to go ahead … " Tenzin intentionally made a dramatic pause that allowed Adrien and Pema to whisper the translation, but Marinette understood the meaning even before she heard that. "You are about to loose your memories too." Tenzin looked at Marinette.
"Because I distributed the miraculous? But Hawk Moth revealed the identities of all the wielders I have chosen." Marinette looked down.
"All of them?" Tenzin questioned with a knowing look in his eyes.
"Not all." She whispered. "Not him as Aspik … she motioned as Adrien, not me as Multimouse." She continued as she motioned towards herself.
"And?" The old teacher looked at her expectantly.
"And Bunnix, I also know her identity, although I have not chosen her yet." Marinette whispered to herself. "And yet I know her identity already."
Adrien nodded. "Me too." He smiled at Marinette.
"Then it is valid for both of you." Pema sighed.
"We don't really have a choice." Marinette whispered. Adrien nodded.
"It is just something that will allow us to share the duty." Adrien spoke quietly. Pema decided not to translate what the kids were saying. It was their decision.
"We are too young." Marinette replied.
"We were chosen young. You got the miracle box this young." Adrien replied as he was trying to persuade her to agree.
"Yeah, we got all those responsibilities. You really want this?" Marinette looked at the boy with her eyes wide. It was as if she was thrown into some magical fairy tale where she got her prince charming for her happily ever after. Except their happily ever after included fighting evil monsters at all hours and hiding their secret identities.
Adrien took both her hands in his.
"We are too young to call this a marriage. Let's just say that the monks in the temple approved of our partnership, My Lady?" But the grin on his face was unstoppable. And the kindness and warmth in his eyes made her heart skip a beat, or two. She finally nodded in return.
"Good." Dolma said as she clapped her hands.
"There is only one thing to do for … administrative purposes." Tenzin got up and tied a shawl around their hands. They quickly released their hands and Adrien took the cloth in his hands while Marinette examined it by touching the stitches in the end.
"Now you can take the miracle box and take your kwami for a walk or whatever you want to do with them." Dolma smiled and slowly walked out from the room.
"You know, we were as young as you are when we got married." Tenzin whispered with a tone of conspiracy in his voice. Adrien smiled at the old teacher. "But remember my boy, that does not mean her body belongs to you, oh no, and neither does your body belong to her. That is not part of your duties." The old teacher warned and Adrien blushed severely.
Marinette was confused and Pema whispered the explanation to her. The girl stared at the carpet as her ears turned red.
Then she decided to distract herself and quietly opened the miracle box and took the pendant necklace, the comb and the choker and put them on. She pushed the box towards Adrien and let him choose which miraculous to take.
"Don't take more than three and do not transform." She told him calmly, but she still avoided his eyes.
Soon they were busy with eager and active kwami and Adrien felt all sorts of joy wash over him, he felt his healing had just started.
Note: by no means would I ever support child marriage, but I could not invent any other name for the bond that the two should have, and the same name should be applicable like two centuries ago (and more). I imagine they also applied the same bond between two males or two females although I have not provided such examples in this fic.