Sadly this story is coming to its end. I guess that's okay because I'm hooked on writing these and I'll be writing many more. Yah, for you and me. Happy St. Patrick's Day! I am going to put up a chapter of the sneak preview of my next story just for a St. Patrick's Day present along with 2 new chapters. I might to another one if I have time but it's all up to time. I need reviews from this story and the next one to keep me spirited to right. I hope you guys are planning on watching the 'Month of Miyasaki' on Miguzi this month. I love his animes' they made me cry. I have them all on DVR.
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Chapter 10: Rule Number One- don't be nice
"Ray can't we got tomorrow. We'll be on time still. I just can't go back and see Zackary, Wendi and all the other's faces to see my return. It's only been two years since I last met up with them. I mean Wendi, Mille, Guan, and London are going to be there along with lots of other people from there tribe and I'm going to make a fool of myself." Mariah said trembling as Ray grabbed her waist and kissed her forehead.
"Everything will be fine. You'll pass you're inspection; and get married to me. You'll live happily as the leader's wife and be happy. You'll make changes that will help make more inner tribe love relationships and bring true love together. You'll be great. There's no fear of anything Mariah. I'll be there for you." Mariah was sad inside but she tried a fake grin to try to fool Ray but there was no fooling Ray. Ray held up her chin and they kissed.
Ray and Mariah got everything in Max and Miriam's car as Max as they drove them to the airport. "Don't worry so much Mariah. Ray is going to marry you. You're at top physical condition and you've been working with Galax and Drigger for months so you'll past the test easy. Don't be nervous, show you're true colors and get it over with and be happy." Max said driving the first 20 minutes of the trip.
"You only get married once. As much as you're nervous, frightened and scared shows it's a true wedding. Even normal Americans do that and they pick their wives. It's normal at any wedding. Good Luck you two. We'll stop bye it a few months and see how you're doing." Miriam said crying as the duo climbed aboard their plane. Max held her tight and waved to the departing duo.
Mariah was too scared to cry but she waved bye nervously. Max and Miriam understood completely. They themselves had already been married and gone through the same marriage rituals a few times. Ray and Max did there whole departing hand gesture and waved good-bye to their best friends.
Ray grabbed his wife's shoulder and went with her through custom's check and onto the plane. They calmly took their seats. Mariah sat next to the window. She wanted to look out it to calm her nerves. Kevin and London were picking them up at the airport in a few hours.
Ray realized that something new was pestering Mariah. She wasn't thinking without looking at anything and zoomed out like she was. She kept looking at Ray and after awhile she quickly turn away. "Mariah, something is bothering you. Will you tell me what it is?"
Mariah sighed and nodded then looked out the window. "I don't know if it is a significant and very proper question to ask? I wish I knew if it was good to ask you. Last time I asked it upset me more than not knowing. I wish I hadn't thought of it in the first place."
"Is the question for me Mariah? If it is I'm sure more good will come of it then not asking me. If something bothering you, you know it might not be happy but you will rest in ease by knowing its answer." Ray said looking at Mariah's tear filled eyes.
"I just don't know if I want to know the answer or is it just one busy body's thoughts. Maybe something inside of me just wants to upset me even at the hardest times. I don't know if it's truly important to ask you. It's something I do want to know but I don't want the answer now." Mariah cried looking at her husband and crying.
"It seems you know you want to know you're just afraid of what the answer might be. I know from experience that even the most obvious things than you know the answer sometimes you second guess. My advice, don't ask yourself if it changed and what if you're wrong. Just find own and ask the person. Ask me." Ray said holding Mariah hands. She leaned on his shoulder he eyes filled with tears drowning her eyes.
"I truly want to know. What do you expect of me, as you're wife? I lived my life with little expectations of me until Zackary and he had large expectations. Then I thought, maybe I just have adjusted to having little expectations. Maybe he was doing what was best for me." Ray put his hand over Mariah's mouth and calmed her down.
"What Zackary did to you is never acceptable, not to you or anyone I know. You had your own burdens to do. They were fair and normal chores to do. You're weren't being pampered like a princess. You lived like you should. Zackary was a prince leader and expected too much of you. That's final, okay." Mariah nodded understanding that she was normal and Zackary was just over everyone's expectations. She wondered if he'd go on a list things he expected her to do like Zack had. Mariah hopped not, she didn't like lists. It made the jobs seem much more then they were and more numerous.
"But what do you want from me? What am I to do for you? I don't know what you expect of me so you have to tell me." Mariah wanted to know. How was Ray planning on running his household? Did he plan to do everything on his own? Or was she supposes to do everything?
"Mariah, I know what you can do and I know how much you can't. I'll never push you over than boundary or anywhere close to it. Marriage is a uniting of a man and a women; it's a eternal bond in unity. It's a sharing burden. I'll do my part and you do yours and everything will be great. I don't know what I want now. I don't need anything or anyone besides you right now. I don't need anything from you that you don't want to give. You don't need done; we'll work one day at a time and soon it will be as setup and normal as every marriage. No one said this was going to be simple it's just going to be easy." Mariah was so happy. He didn't have any outrageous demands. He just said that there were things to be done and she could do some and he could do some.
"Ray, I'm so lucky to have someone like you. I don't know if I could go on if you left again. I couldn't go back to the things I had to do in the past. I'm just glad we're on the same step together." She felt Ray's grip tighten around her and they met in a kiss.
"We've always been on the same step. Just sometimes we don't know what step comes next; that's why we have each other to make the decision together. I don't know what answer you want because it seems that even you don't know or don't want to know. I'm glad I don't have the answer now. I don't thing we know exactly what's ahead of us." The flight was long and they fell asleep.
"Excuse me passengers; we're arriving our destination of Lintec, China. Please buckle your seat belt because we're coming in for a landing. Please bring you're seat to a right up position." An assistant on the plain said waking up Ray and Mariah from their wonderful sleep.
"Great, we're there. I mean here. I don't want to go. Can't we stay in a hotel for a night before we go in and talk to them, please?" Mariah begged as Ray grabbed their over head bags and stood up. Ray helped Mariah stand up and carried her bag as they went through customs and arrived in the airport.
"Come on Mariah. We're not going to see any today except Wendi and Lee. They can talk about everything and you can just be happy. You still look very plane dragged from the trip. You can excuse yourself to sleep for awhile if you need to." Ray said looking around.
"No, I'll be fine. I really do want to talk to them. I mean it's not proper to sleep without first talking to you're host. I do have to be on my best behavior, sadly. These rules are so horrible. I wish I could just be me. I'm not going to be able to do that for awhile." Mariah sighed. Ray patted her on her back. "I wish I could go back and live with Max and Miriam after this but. I know I have duties to do and things I owe my tribe. I'm glad to be back and all."
"Once we get married and move into our own home you can be yourself again. You and I will be just like before except we'll have our own home. It'll be different will all our duties and not running freely everywhere but not everywhere is perfect and free. I'm going to miss it too." Ray said as he picked up his bags and pointed out Lee and Wendi waving to them. Mariah smiled and Ray waved back.
Wendi was very pretty and actually very nice since she had been brought out of the Lintec crazy rules. She had long black hair braided into a pony tail. She was the same height as Lee and she kept smiling. "Hey Mariah, hey Ray; this is Wendi. I'm glad you can finally meet her." Lee didn't look like he was annoyed by her. He looked as he enjoyed her company.
"Hi Ray, hi Mariah; it's great that I get to meet the last members of the council. You look nice today Mariah, I love you're dress. Did you make it?" Mariah nodded and was confused at the way she acted. Mariah had never met Wendi. Lee had described her to act just like Zackary had acted toward her. She'd never met any of the girls that her friends were going to marry but judging them upon how the guys described them; she was sure she'd had the girls.
"It's nice to meet you too Wendi. I made this on my own with some materials and things I had at my friend's house. She helped me make it so I can't take all the credit. So how are you?" Ray had a smile on his face that the two girls would be getting along. Lee wasn't surprised at all.
"I'm fine; it wasn't along drive from my old village. I miss your village already; it's really sweet and nice. Everyone was very helpful for my move in and during the wedding I got to meet a lot of nice people. It's great finally being in a city that I can be nice to people." She turned to Ray and bowed. Ray was surprised. "I'm sorry how I acted during you're trial Ray. We aren't aloud to be nice or considerate to anyone in our village. It's the rules, sorry."
"It's okay, I know how it is when you have to follow your villages rules. They never seem to help you win a case though; it just makes things worse. It's kind of hard to win a case against you're people." Ray said until he was rudely interrupted by laughing. It was Lee.
"I'm sorry but you actually following one of our biggest rules would be amazing to see for once. I see why you did but you did break a few main rules in two villages. I don't see you being one to follow all the main ones." This statement brought Wendi to smile and Mariah to giggle.
Mariah yawned and everyone noticed. "Let's go home so we can talk there. I'm glad to see how everything was where you guys were staying. It must have been very nice because you guys look very happy from coming from there." Wendi had made some simple but true guesses.
Lee grabbed some of Mariah's many bags and carried them to his car. He drove anyone back to his home. Wendi pointed out things about her old city as the drove through it. It turned out living in the center of the city for a few years gave you knowledge about every nuke and cranny.
They finally arrived at a small housing area where they had visiting houses for any special occasions where they had many guests coming. Since Lee and Wendi were married, they could use their own visiting house. During the festival the engaged couples would get their own. Mariah and Ray had not yet been officially engaged.
"It's very nice for a visiting home. It feels a lot like the tribal house back home. I miss it there. I guess being away from home and returning to a tribe like this one just brings back memories." Mariah said looking around in every room and down the hall. The house had 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a small living room. It was very nice for a first home.
"I don't miss Lintec much. It's very similar to all the other tribe's the house style, the rules, the people are way different but other than that it's no different. I'm glad I'm finally getting to talk to people and go places. I as the so-called princess of the tribe was not aloud to leave. I had to put up with no good dirty people like Zackary and Akron. They ruled this place like their home. I just had to sit and pretend I didn't exist. It wasn't fun." Wendi said as she walked through the kitchen and sat in the living room next to Lee.
After about 2 hours of talking Mariah almost fell asleep and Ray's stomach growled. Ray shook Mariah awoke who screamed and startled Lee and Wendi. "Mariah, maybe you should excuse yourself and go to bed. I'm just going to have something to eat and then go to bed okay?" She nodded, bowed out of the room and left.
"Ray, I'll go make something you to eat since Lee and Mariah are going to go head to their bedrooms." He agreed and sat down at the small table in the middle of the room. "Can I ask you something, Ray?"
"Sure. What is it?" Ray said looking at Wendi.
"Why are you so respectful of Mariah? I mean she falls asleep and is first to leave the room, she doesn't ask to make you anything to eat. Why did you get upset with her? If I did that growing up or at a dinner with anyone I'd probably get whipped or not get dinner or something. Why do you protect her, I mean most women are treated like dirt, why not her?" Ray thought for a second. He couldn't say because I love Mariah. He needed a longer more explanatory response than that.
"For one thing, Mariah's a person just like everyone else; she gets tired and needs to sleep like anyone else. It doesn't matter what she needs to do if her body isn't up to it no one can force her to. I didn't get upset with her because she's not a magical or anything; she has limitations and that's one that she has like everyone else. We were always taught to respect people, males and especially females. I didn't protect her from anything. Lee sees things the same as I do. We treat women are people and they are. I don't see why anyone should think any different." Ray said trying not to say anything that favored Mariah. Everything he said was general and completely true.
"Wow, I never realized how lucky I am to marry into you're tribe. So you plan on asking Mariah to be you're wife during the festival right? I saw the ring. It's kind of obvious with the way you act around her." Wendi said being very respectful and nosey at the same time.
"Ya, I guess it's just my thing to know. I think you guys will do great together. I'm glad that there are some true love marriages in your tribe. It's pretty rare in ours. We marry people of our level of money, beyblade skill, different tribe and we have to be able to fall in love in 15 years easy. I don't think many people can do that but the fact that you did is wonderful for you two. If only all marriages were like yours. All things aren't fair in love and war as they say. Here's you food, I have to go to bed, good-night." Ray was amazed by the things Wendi said.
Ray ate his food and returned to 'his' bedroom to sleep. Then he remembered that he was sharing it with Mariah. He couldn't change in there. He took his clothes and changed in the bathroom. He came back in the bedroom and lay in the bed. He felt very strange sharing a bed and bedroom with Mariah. It was like he was going to do something to her. He felt he was invading her privacy. He'd never thought about this until know.
He decided to go into the living room and sleep on the couch. He felt that would calm his nerves enough to sleep. He went out on the couch and fell asleep. He cleared his conscience by not sleeping in the same bed as Mariah. She was so pure and innocent. He planned to not make anything seem to happen that might go against them in court. They had enough against them. They promised to be careful of what they did so they wouldn't get in trouble but Mariah had gone to sleep by herself so it didn't cross her mind.
Mariah woke up at about 6:00 after getting about 8 hours of sleep and found herself wondering around the house looking for Ray. She remembered that there were 2 bedrooms; hers and Lee's and Wendi's. She found Ray on the couch and decided to quietly make everyone breakfast as a thank you. She wondered why Ray hadn't just come in the room and slept in there. She then understood that if anyone heard about it they would have been in trouble for it wasn't legal to sleep with someone who you weren't engaged to or married to. In their minds they were engaged but not the tribes had seen. Mariah finished making preparations and sat down on a chair in the living room. She looked at Ray and then smiled at him. She then looked at her ring. She pretended to hug herself because she was so happy to marry Ray; she was so lucky.
He awoke to the smell of food and saw a very familiar face a few feet in front of him. She noticed him stirring and walked over kissed him on the cheek and went into the kitchen. "Good morning to you too, Mariah. How did you sleep last night?" Ray said as he started to sit up and stretch.
"It was different being in a different house again. I found myself wondering around trying to find you. If you'd tell me where you'd be that might help. It scared me to think I didn't know where you were. I slept very thank you, though." Mariah said setting the table for four people. "I don't know when they're going to wake up. I'll just put theirs' in the refrigerator. How did you sleep though? You didn't look very comfortable on the couch. I for one can sleep anywhere I'm at peace."
"I slept pretty well for my first night somewhere. I need a day or so to adjust to being at a place. I'm glad you slept comfortably last night. You look very happy, that's good. I thought that you'd still be nervous, but it's good that you're not. There's no reason to be." Ray tried to comfort Mariah before their big day; it was like another trial. Lee and Wendi walked in the room side-by-side.
"I would be so sure Ray. You haven't been to this festival. It's not as easy as Mariah described that. Girls just sit patiently in a tent to wait for the news. Boys have a lot of work to do. You seem not to be the most knowledgeable about it. I'd ask Lee." Wendi said as Mariah took out their meals and served them. Mariah sat down and ate her own.
"She's right. It's a long day to put it short. Girls first get judged on 30 qualities. They are things like personality, health, wealth, status, maturity and things like that. It takes a long time. They then rule out those who don't make it down to those who are acceptable for the best and then you get to chose. You fill out paperwork for the top women and then the council does the rest from there. It's not an easy or fast process. I wish it was but It's not." Lee said starting to eat his breakfast.
"At least your day gets more exciting then sitting in a tent and being judged on every dimension of your body, mind and every other thing you think about. It's an all around test of like compatibility. It's like those online tests you take to see who you're perfect match is; except it tests you on each other's personality toward any other person on earth. It's not easy to go through. You'll need energy so eat up Mariah. I get to listen to older council members complain, exciting." Wendi said sarcastically.
"I don't think today is going to be a very happy day until the end of it apparently. I'll be waiting I have to meet up with the other girls, bye everyone." Mariah said, sighing as she left the house.
"I guess I better go and go meet up with the other guys. It seems that my day is not going to be much more exciting than anyone else's day. Hope you guys can entertain yourselves all day. Bye Lee, bye Wendi." Ray grabbed his bag, running in his bag remembering to grab Mariah's and ran ahead and gave it to her.
"Thanks so much Ray. I don't think I could have done anything without this bag. I hope you aren't as annoyed with your tests as I am with mine. Bye." Mariah smiled and walked off to her boring day of being tested on every single fiber of her being.
"I hope you don't hurt anyone for being bored to death with all the tests. Do everyone a favor and don't beyblade anywhere near their tent. Ripping up all their paperwork won't help the day go by any faster. Bye, Mariah." They said bye and parted like being ripped apart for no apparent reason. There were thousands of tents and they weren't going to the farthest ones on the outreaches of town.
(A/N: If you've ever seen Mulan it's their version of the matchmaking ceremony.) There were 30 tents lined up in a circle. You started at the first tent and went one by one to the next until you have been at all 30. It would take you 10 minutes at every tent. 30 tents x 15 minutes with exchange time equals 7 and half hours. Then you have to separate the top scores and then the guys have to finish off, they make the matches and that's another 5 and a half hours. So let's say 14 hours total. We start at 10 o'clock and Mariah will find out about 12 o'clock midnight tonight. That's great for her right.
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When we return from my annoying version of a cliff hanger we will see the boring tests she has to go through and see what kind of things Lintec boys look for in girls. It's odd that the women are mostly from White Tiger village and are getting matched up to Lintec men that have none of the same things. I don't think that's odd really. I think that's very ironic. Ironic means like it turns out to be something total different from what you thought and it turns out to be silly and mean.
Review Please. I'll have another chapter up tonight maybe. Or early tommarow and like 12:32 am. It just depends on what time I finish.
Marina
Next Chapter is "Saving Mariah and Ray". It's a very now ironic story.