DISCLAIMER: Big O and all related characters are property of Sunrise, Inc. This original story is property of me.

The Handmaiden

By The Lady Razorsharp

Part 2: Chime of the Hours

Sharing horizons that are new to us
Watching the signs along the way
Talking it over just the two of us
Working together day to day, together
--The Carpenters


Kitty opened her eyes, squinting against the light that pierced the comfortable twilight of her room through the slatted window shade. She reached over to turn off her alarm clock, and a beam of light struck tiny rainbows from the diamond on her left hand.

Awareness flooded her mind even as she screwed up her eyes against the brilliance. Today was the day she would marry Gordon Rosewater. By tonight, she would be his bride. Never again would she wake up in the room where she had only dreamt of this day. Now it was here, and suddenly Kitty found herself wondering--did she really want the dream to become real?

Of course you do, said a sensible voice in her head. All brides are nervous on their wedding day.

That was it, she decided, as she rose to pull on her robe and open the shade. It was simply nerves. She had never been married before, so it was only logical to assume that this new experience would warrant a few jitters. In fact, she mused, seating herself before her dressing table, I should be more concerned if I wasn't nervous.

She studied her reflection in the oval mirror. The young woman who looked back at her was a little pale, with spots of high color in her cheeks, but Kitty attributed that to the nervousness. Her eyes were windows of inky glass that sparkled in the wan light--or was it anticipation that made them sparkle so? Kitty smiled to herself and took up her brush to smooth the raven wings of hair back from her face. Two stubborn commas of hair fell over her forehead, and Kitty sighed. It would do no good to cut them (she had tried before, with disastrous results), and they were too short to brush into the rest of her hair, so she let them fall where they would. He's going to see me this way every morning, so there's no use trying to change what can't be helped.

A knock at her door made her look up, and she laid down her brush. "Come in."

Her mother entered, the sun painting ruby highlights in her chestnut hair. "My girl, all grown up," she sighed, her blue eyes already filling with tears. "It seems just like yesterday we brought you home from the hospital, and now you're getting married."

Kitty rose from her seat to embrace her mother. "Oh, Mama, please don't start crying now." She pulled away to wipe the tears from her mother's face with a corner of her dressing gown. "You won't be able to stop if you start now."

"I know, I know," her mother nodded. She pulled a handkerchief out of her apron pocket and blew her nose. "I'm just so happy for you, Kitty. Gordon is such a fine man; he's everything I've ever hoped for you."

Her smile felt brittle, but Kitty pasted it on anyway for her mother's sake. "I know, Mama."

Her mother stopped in the middle of folding her handkerchief. "What's wrong, darling?" She paled slightly and gripped Kitty by the shoulders. "You haven't changed your mind, have you? You still want to marry Gordon, don't you?"

Kitty knew it was foolish to try and keep anything from her mother. "I'm just nervous, that's all. Gordon's an important man in Paradigm. I only hope I can be the sort of wife he needs."

Tears welled in her mother's eyes again. "Oh, Katherine. You've grown into such a fine woman, one that your father and I are so proud of." She laughed ruefully. "Of course, a three-month courtship is a bit shorter than we would have hoped, but--" she squeezed Kitty's shoulders. "You are as much a product of Paradigm as Gordon is."

Frowning, Kitty broke away from her mother's grip and sat down on her vanity stool. "How do you mean, Mama?"

"When we lost everything…so many years ago," her mother began, "it was chaos." She shook her head. "People wandered the streets, calling out names but not knowing why, or who they were calling." Her mother's eyes became hollow pools of indigo with the horrific memory. "Fire swept through the city. The clouds of smoke turned noon to midnight. Ash fell like flakes of snow from the sky. And the Megadeuces--" Her mother snatched her hands up to her mouth, and Kitty bolted up from her seat.

"Mother, stop!" Kitty shook her mother a little, and the blue eyes snapped open.

"I'm--I'm sorry, darling. I shouldn't be telling you such things on your wedding day." She blew her nose again. "Anyway, my point is that your father and I, when we found each other--it was as if the sun had come back again."

Kitty was breathless; her mother had never told her this story. "You mean, you and Father remembered each other, even after the Event?"

"I don't know if we remembered each other or not," her mother shrugged, "but when I saw him…" she smiled. "It just felt as if we belonged together. With him by my side, I felt that I might make it one more day." She turned to Kitty. "He gave me a reason to keep living. And then when we had you, I knew that God wasn't going to punish us forever. We were finally worth of His mercy again."

The words echoed the legends that Kitty's generation had been taught from birth: God became angry at the sin of the world and set out to destroy humankind. To accomplish this, God gave His permission to have the Devil released from Hell. The angels waged war against the Devil and his minions using their holy Chariots, the Megadeuces. As the battle raged, the world was nearly destroyed, but at the last moment, God heard His children crying out, and He stopped the battle. Sending the Devil back into Hell, God let His tears fall on the earth, reviving His children. However, His children lost all their memories of the sinful creatures they had been before. They were left to start anew, purified and holy.

Kitty sighed inwardly; her mother's generation still clung to the legend as truth, while more and more bits of the past were uncovered every day. The evidence showed that there had indeed been a cataclysm, but Kitty doubted that it had been the result of a war between angels and demons.

"--point is, Katherine," her mother was saying, "Everything you have, everything you are, is a result of the goodness that came out of such evil. From what he's told us, Gordon is the same way; he helped rebuild Paradigm when he was barely old enough to swing a hammer. There's no reason to worry, Kitty." Her mother hugged her tightly. "You'll make Gordon a fine wife. I'm sure of it."

Kitty hugged her mother back, a lone tear running down her cheek. "Yes, Mama."


A few hours later, Katherine tucked her sheer-gloved hand into the fold of her father's arm. She blew out a breath and tried to stand still, so as not to kick gravel and dust from the garden path onto her white satin slippers. Her father smiled and patted her hand.

"Nervous, Kitty-Kat?" he asked, using her childhood nickname. At her shy nod, he kissed her cheek through the filmy white veil. "Don't be. Did I tell you how beautiful you are today?"

"Not in the last two minutes, Papa." Katherine smiled back at him. "I'm not that nervous, really. I just hope Gordon likes my dress."

"He damn well should," her father snorted. "It cost him a fortune to hire that seamstress."

Katherine giggled and clutched her bouquet of hothouse lilies and irises. "That's Gordon's way. He only wants the best."

Tears shimmered in her father's eyes as a rich chord of piano notes signaled the beginning to the Wedding March. "And that's what Gordon's getting today—the very best." He pulled Katherine into his arms and hugged her. "I love you, Kitty-Kat."

"I love you too, Papa," Katherine whispered, trying to keep her own tears at bay.

At length, they stepped apart and reset their pose to begin the walk toward the white-painted summerhouse. "Well," her father sighed. "He's waiting for us. Let's go."

The ceremony was a simple one, yet elegant. Attended only by her parents and Amie, her maid of honor, Katherine placed her hands in Gordon's and made her vows.

"I, Katherine Jane Smith, take thee, Gordon Alexander Rosewater, to be my lawfully wedded husband…"

When she had done, Gordon looked into her eyes and said with sincerity, "I, Gordon Alexander Rosewater, take thee, Katherine Jane Smith, to be my lawfully wedded wife…"

Opting not to wear a ring himself, Gordon gave Katherine a plain gold band, inscribed on the inside with their initials and the date. The gold was so shiny that Katherine had trouble focusing on the rest of the ceremony, so drawn were her eyes to the gleaming metal.

With the prayers said and the blessings pronounced, Gordon and Katherine turned to face one another. The priest, dressed in a long black cassock and white collar, raised his hands over the couple. "By the authority vested in me by the City and State of Paradigm, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," he nodded to Gordon.

Breathlessly, Katherine waited for what seemed an eternity while Gordon raised the veil. He flashed her a brief smile, then leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss amidst polite applause.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the priest smiled, "May I present Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Rosewater!"

After the ceremony, a thin man with salt and pepper hair stepped up to Katherine as she sniffed the roses along the path. The party was slowly making its way to a canopied table, and the man touched Katherine's shoulder lightly to get her attention. A little startled, Katherine turned to see who it was. Mr. Wayneright, she remembered, from a brief introduction at a social gathering a month before. He's an engineer of some sort, can't remember what it was just right now…

"Mr. Wayneright, thank you for coming to our wedding," Katherine began politely. "It was very gracious of you to stand with Gordon. I know he appreciated it."

"It's Timothy," Wayneright said, the sunlight gleaming from his dark glasses, "And it's me who should thank you." He sighed. "I never got to see my own daughter's wedding. She was only eighteen when I lost her in the Event."

Katherine squeezed his hand. "I'm so sorry," she nodded. "What was her name, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Dorothy." Never in her life had Katherine heard such sorrow reduced to three little syllables.

Her mother peeked around a large bush dotted with tiny red blooms. "We're ready for the toast. You two need to get moving, or you'll miss it."

"Coming," Katherine's voice called after her mother. She tucked her hand into Wayneright's elbow. "Well, for just a minute, pretend I'm Dorothy, and that you've just seen me married," she whispered.

Wayneright's smile quivered the tiniest inch. "Thank you, Katherine," he whispered back.

When they reached the canopy, Gordon waited until his bride and her clouds of sheer white skirt were settled, then picked up a crystal flute of a bubbling golden liquid. "This, my friends, is champagne—an alcoholic beverage made from a specially fermented wine. My excavators uncovered a large cache of this stuff while clearing a block for a new store." Here he gave Katherine a broad wink. "Legend has it that when a bride is toasted with champagne, it's a sign of good luck and happiness." He turned to Katherine as the rest of the party picked up their glasses. "Katherine, my beauty, here's to our future—and the future of our city. May God see fit to bless both."

"Here, here," Wayneright called out, and the toast was drunk.