750 T.D.o.N.B: The Ceremony
Since the return of The Great One could happen very soon we were on a tight schedule with organizing everything, especially considering the fact that a few of our guests had to travel from overseas, and they were in no position to just get the plane tickets with a snap of their fingers.
This issue became so bad, that I actually had to intervene by booking the flight by myself and paying good money. Normally I wouldn’t do that for people whom I considered as ‘random’ despite them being close friends of Celestine, but I considered it as a favor for her, not them, so no price was big enough for me to refuse. Obviously, for her family members, the case was entirely different.
I personally brought my mother, but we came to the conclusion, that she won’t really tell who she is to anybody, so the intel wouldn’t spread to unwanted individuals. There was also an issue of the language barrier, which worked in our favor.
Because she wasn’t traveling by normal means, it was very hard to connect the dots for any outsiders like the government agents, if they didn’t have a name to look up, because she was simply using a fake one.
This decision was something we both agreed upon, as she still wanted to live in our home country, where I just couldn’t protect her.
The ceremony was fast, and after that we obviously celebrated. All my friends were invited. They brought gifts, even though I specifically said them to not get us anything.
Among those gifts was a new pudao for me, made by the one and only best craftsman in the city – Rishi.
It’s been a while since I heard about the boy. My observation of him and Tihana being awkward around one another, led me to the conclusion that something had to happen between them.
Overall Carmelita and Tihana enjoyed the party a lot, while Leonel seemed to be alienated. I spent some time watching him. New people, a new environment, and the lack of somebody who would be there for him made me decide to step up and focus some of my time on him when we would begin building our own city.
I didn’t want him to have a shitty life. He already got enough of that.
For the girl, it was a bit easier, because not only was she older than him, but also had somebody with a similar past and around her age in form of Tihana.
Not everything went well, because at some point Tam did a little scene, as he demanded attention. He jumped on one of the tables, making a lot of fuss, so I kicked him out.
The very day after the wedding, when I returned home after delivering my mother safely to her house, I found out that Celestine was away, already working on the preparations for the departure to build the new city.
She really wanted to offer people in need another chance, but the whole project reacquired also other things. For example, since we were taking kids with us out there, we had to take care of their education, so we needed to ensure people who would be able to contribute in that field would be present.
In the meantime, Tihana, who already resigned from going to the local school, took care of Carmelita and Leonel. I spotted them playing in the garden with Tam.
That little bastard still had it coming, after what he did on the previous day but I wasn’t so simpleminded to let my revenge be visible from miles away. I would rather wait patiently for the right time.
I made some snacks, then went to join my newly formed family with freshly made cookies with nuts, raisins, and dried pieces of different types of fruits. Something tasty while still being relatively healthy if you could consider sweets healthy at all.
– I have snacks! – I announced myself, as I approached them with a whole plate filled with goodies.
Carmelita and Tihana didn’t hesitate to approach me, but Leonel was a little bit shy. I didn’t really describe him so far, so I’m gonna do it right now.
He had relatively short, curly hair. As black as night. His skin was very dark. It looked like he enjoyed his time outside. He had brown eyes. His face was still boyish, but I didn’t doubt that if taken care of properly, he would turn into a handsome young man.
– Yey, snacks! – Tihana shouted, and then immediately picked a few sweets.
Carmelita was more reserved, but the mere view of the cookies made her smile. She tried to fight with that, though, and kept biting her lips. When Leonel approached, I just gave him the whole plate.
– You are in charge of the cookies now. Just don’t give any to that little rat – I pointed at Tam. – He doesn’t deserve it for what he did.
– Baaawk! – he protested.
– Shut up! – I growled at him, then focused again on the kids. – It’s hot outside, so you should hydrate. I’ll bring you drinks.
My short fight with the chicken brought smiles to their faces.
I popped back home, poured three glasses of orange juice, then returned. Cookies were already done. Despite my warning, Tam was pecking at one of them in the grass. Carmelita tried to prevent me from noticing it, by standing in front of him, but my eyes were too good. I ignored it, though. After all, he was playing with them a lot, so they had more patience and love for that damn bird.
After they drank, I took everything back home, cleaned up, then joined them for a while to make sure we would get closer, and they would open up to me at least a bit more before we would again change the environment.
The consecutive changes weren’t good for them, but the situation was what it was, so I really wanted to get them prepared. Give them at least one thing they could rely on, their new parents.