CHAPTER 8: MARIEL
My parents were the perfect examples of coldness the next day and the day following. My mother gave me fleeting smiles, trying to boost my mood about the whole situation. This morning, I awoke early to a kafit bird sounding its shrill call. It reminded me of the sirens who foretold doom in the human mythology. I grazed briefly; I was not particularly hungry.
When I had eaten my meager fill, I made my way to our families scoop. I was surprised to find my father there. I expected my mother; she was always around there in the early morning.
Good morning, may the sun have greeted you warmly, I said almost systematically.
And to you the same, replied my mother with an extra note of cheeriness. My father merely grunted to acknowledge my presence.
What's going on? I asked observing their completely diverse behaviors.
Ajaht's family has deemed it good time for the two of you to meet. They didn't believe that holding to the tradition to not see each other until the ceremony was a bit to obsolete. My mother answered my question with a smile.
In other words, they know about me and were afraid I would embarrass all of you when I shrank back from their son in terror.
Oh quite the opposite, he is something to be admired. Your father was afraid that you would do something drastic, not Ajaht's family.
Humpf. When are we going? Tomorrow? Next week? Next year ?
Today. My father spoke with ringing finality.
I tried for an hour to discourage my parents from what was obviously going to be a mistake. My ranting and raving was, alas, to no avail. My siblings accompanied my parents and me as far as the military base, where we would hop a transport to the next base, some time away. When we arrived at the entrance, we said good-bye to my sibs as they turned to leave with one of my mother's friends who had met us there by arrangement. My sister turned and smiled at me with utter adoration. She was at the age when little girls dream about marring this gorgeous fairy tale man. I had remembered when my friends and I had gotten together and talked about the perfect guy. I did not have the heart to tell her that when it came down to it, there was nothing wonderful about it, or at least I thought so.
We got on the transport vessel that would take us to our destination. My stomach was in knots the entire way there. I don't care what anyone said about Ajaht, he was not what I wanted right now. I didn't want to see him, I didn't want to get to know him, and I least of all didn't want to spend the rest of my life with him!
I couldn't, for the life of me, picture it. You know the whole "mommy thing." I mean, can you imagine marring a stranger and going through excruciating pain to give this guy a child when you never really had time to learn to love him in the beginning? I know that there are more aspects of marriage, but this one was the one that I seemed to dwell on. Maybe I was wrong in all of my assumptions, but if he was like any other man, he would be cold towards me so it wouldn't hurt him when he went off to war with the overcastting feeling that he would never return. It wasn't like they felt women were worthless, it was just that they didn't want to become attached to anyone.
You see why I'm so uneasy and fret so much about the matter?
The transport arrived at the base south of here. It was the closest one to Ajaht and his family's home. The spaceport here wasn't half so crowded as the one back home. When we arrived, Ajaht's sister was there to greet us. She wasn't much younger than I was, about fifteen standard years of age. She was a nice girl, very smart, yet naïve. She didn't understand why I looked so displeased. She did not understand that meeting her brother was the last step that I took personally before the week our marriage was preformed and then celebrated.
Marriage is a weeklong ordeal, the ceremony in the beginning and one celebration after the other the rest of the week.
You must be Estrill, she said after she had finished conversing with my parents, I'm Ajaht's sister, Estrid-Corill-Darath. Our names sound very similar. Do you like to be called Estrill?
No. my answer was short, sweet, and simple. It was all that I could manage in my distressed state of mind.
Her smile seemed to shallow and she swept her stalk eyes around to check my parents. What is your preferred alias?
Ellie. My father stepped lightly on my tail to warn me. Mariel. I prefer Mariel. For good humor, I flashed a smile with both sets of eyes.
On that note, I shall guide you to my home, she said as she turned and began to walk away. I debated on letting her walk and seeing how far the genius would got before she figured out that I wasn't behind her. The idea sounded good to me, but I guessed my father sensed what I was thinking and nudged me onward. To make me know that I was on display, and not any old houseguest, he made me walk in front, right behind Estrid.
But then again, being here was cruel to me, seeing as how I would have rather been in a hole that was under a rock that was in the deepest part of the ocean a thousand miles away from here.
Sigh.
I followed Estrid as she led me towards the place where my future husband resided. I felt like a lost soul forced to follow the reaper to a personal hell that was waiting all the while for me. Ajaht's parents were waiting at the border of their property for us when we arrived. What a coincidence.
They were the ideally sophisticated members of well borne society. They introduced themselves formally, as did we, in turn. Ajaht was not present when they escorted us further onto their property. Ajaht's mother apologized profusely for what she insisted was a temporary absence. Personally, I would have not cared if he never came back from where he was.
Finally, his mother said, Here he is! I'm so sorry he kept you waiting, Ajaht's mother said as she stepped out of her way to let her son hold the prime spot of conversation. My father did likewise, but instead of me voluntarily stepping forward, he had to step back. I watched as his mother brushed imaginary dust from his shoulder.
My mother was right. Ajaht was of average height with a muscular build. I won't admit that he looked half as good as Karrass does, but then again, Karrass' social standings do not matter to me.
He smiled with the utmost public grace, extended a foreleg in an elegant bow and introduced himself.
Hello. I am Ajaht-Listom-Esth. May I seek your name?
Estrill-Mariel-Gahar, I said with a courteous smile.
Come along, said Ajaht's father, let's go discuss the arrangements for the coming weeks that we went over briefly the other day and let these two get aquatinted.
My parents agreed and the four of them set off across the yard together arguing mildly and suggesting their ideas for my life. I watched until I felt that they were too far away to save me anyway, then I reluctantly turned back to Ajaht who seemed to have been studying my ass while I was preoccupied with my futile wishes of freedom.
I had my doubts about you when I first heard of all the interesting aspects of your personality, Ajaht said as he circled me, but now that I can get a good look at you… he trailed off as he came back around to face me.
If you think for one minute that you'll get anything from me, you have a few more things coming. I said resolutely.
Wait and see if you think so independently when I own you.
Is that a threat? I asked with every bit of the malice that I felt.
No, you look like too good a deal to threaten. Consider it a promise.
For the sake of my father's pride I won't walk away, but if you ever say anything like that to me again, people will have a good reason to question if you're a male or not. Do you understand what that entails? And no, that is not a promise, it is a threat. He was pushing me over the limit.
Those are harsh words for a pretty face. You'll take a little more work to break than I had hoped for, but if you are half as good as you look, the extra challenge could be fun…for me anyway.
All I could manage in reply was a stiff growl. I was thanking whatever gods there were when I saw my parents and Ajaht's parents heading this way.
Growl all you want now. Soon, you won't mutter a sound without my commissioning it. He smiled like a wolf does when it has cornered its prey after a long and trying chase.
The adults approached us.
You two seem to be getting on well. Ajaht's mother said touching his shoulder with one hand and mine with the other. I could tell that she had paid close attention to our brief conversation.
Yes, we are, Ajaht replied "matter-of-factly," I think she will be perfect.
That son of a bitch! His mother then turned to me. I forced myself to smile. My parents, thankfully, eased us out of conversation. We said our good-byes and my parents and I started off towards the base there. Ajaht, himself, escorted us to the transport.
On the way home, all I could think about was how much I hated Ajaht. I dozed on the jaunt back to the spaceport closest to our scoop.
After my brief nap, I began to think more and more about how I had handled myself around Ajaht. I felt more strongly as we went that maybe my attitude about Ajaht was what made him so unbearable. He probably would not have been so hostile if I had acted like a normal girl and had been happy about meeting him. He was a little out of line with most of the things he had said to me, but I could ignore them. I had nothing better to do than put up with him.
That is, until I devise a suitable plan.