The Outlands

It had been a whirlwind week for Tess. Introducing the rest of her friends to the wider world had gone…more or less as expected, though Tess had to admit she took a guilty sort of pleasure in watching Sarah’s shock when Life, speaking as the Appointed of Life and Death, had announced that the aforementioned Appointed had a girlfriend.

After that, all her focus had turned to the wedding. While Ellie and Maven handled prepping the venue and taking care of any last-minute arrangements with catering and the like, Tess handled invitations. She took a day or two to get the designs just right, then worked on getting them out. And, admittedly, she was finished a day or two before Ellie and Maven, so the rest of that time had mostly been spent running around and doing whatever tasks still needed doing.

Tess took a deep breath, focusing and looking herself over one more time in the mirror. Her hair, though it was usually fine without any attention, had been carefully straightened and styled, and she had her armor in its suit form. Fortunately, Target of Affection made makeup unnecessary, so this was all it had taken to get ready. And, vain as it sounded, she had to admit that she looked good, which was the point; she wasn’t going to embarrass Ellie and Maven by looking scruffy on their wedding day.

Tess finished her look over, then stood up, heart beating fast in her chest. She couldn’t believe she was actually…here, having a wedding, getting married to two wonderful women. It was something that she hadn’t really considered even just six months prior; she hadn’t even graduated from high school, and so much was on her mind that things like marriage or buying a house were all “the distant future” for her.

She opened the door to the dressing room and stepped out into the hallway, where her mother was waiting for her. “You look great, sweetie.” Fortune said, moving in for a hug and then seemingly thinking better of it and pulling back.

Tess gave her a hug anyway. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Careful, you don’t want to mess up your hair.” Fortune said, chuckling. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m excited, of course, but I’m also nervous and almost in disbelief. It just doesn’t feel real, getting married was always something that only adults did, but…I don’t really feel grown up at all, you know? Just…the same as I have always been.”

Tess paused, looking down and then back up at her mother. “Well, aside from, you know…” she said, motioning at her chest, “the whole girl thing. But, well, that’s not a huge deal, so it barely counts.”

“I think you’d be surprised how much you’ve changed.” Fortune said affectionately. “I’ve been watching you for a long time, and you’ve really come into your own in these past few months. You’re more…confident and driven, and if the you from before all of this could meet the you now, I think he’d be really happy with how you are. Well, if he could get over the whole ‘becoming the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen’ thing.”

“I wouldn’t say that…” Tess said, blushing. “I’m definitely not the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”

Fortune raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. “I designed that Skill so it would make you your ideal of beauty. How could you not be?”

“I like ‘cute’ more than beautiful.” Tess said. “I mean, I appreciate beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but…I dunno, I just prefer the girl next door to a supermodel, if you know what I mean.”

“Let me amend that statement, then. He’d have to get over becoming the most attractive girl he’s ever seen.” Fortune replied.

Tess, blushing furiously, shook her head. “No, no, it’s really not like that, personality factors into it to, beauty is only skin deep and all. I don’t think I’d be attracted to me, I’m not attracted to me, or, I mean I can appreciate the body but it’s not like I’m –”

“Well, I think that your beauty goes all the way to your core, and that’s a godly guarantee.” Fortune replied, giving Tess a kiss on the forehead. “Now, get out there, you’re just going to psych yourself out by staying here, and you don’t want to keep them waiting. I’ll be right behind you, okay?”

Tess nodded, then set off down the hall towards the grand hall where the ceremony proper was to be held. Gramps, Maven, and Fortune had insisted that they book one of the City’s grand cathedrals, specifically the one dedicated to Hearth, for the event, and though Ellie and Tess had initially wanted a more lowkey wedding, Maven deserved a say in it, and some good points had been made in favor of it.

Even if the three of them didn’t have to give the gods any extra respect and knew that none of them would take issue with a smaller venue, there were people in attendance who both knew there would be gods attending and didn’t know the true nature of god-Appointed relationships. So, they had to at least appear as if they were pulling out all the stops to accommodate the gods.

Tess pushed open the large double doors to the main room, her breath catching in her throat as she took in the view. It was a large, ostentatious room, split down the middle by a carpeted aisle. They hadn’t assigned seating, but the guests had sort of split themselves anyway, those closest to the trio, people like The Rumors, Gramps’s party, Tess and Ellie’s friends, Amara, Maven’s mother, and her brother, were on the left, while the rest, mostly gods and other Appointed, were on the right.

More gods had turned out than Tess had expected, and even Amy was in attendance, but Tess’s focus wasn’t on them. Instead, her eyes were glued to Ellie and Maven, who were, as they had insisted, standing at the altar with Gramps behind them, waiting for Tess. Ellie was in a classic white wedding dress, and was practically glowing with excitement as she looked between Tess and Maven.

Maven, on the other hand, was in an ornate black dress of a style Tess had never seen before. It was, apparently, Paumen’s own traditional wedding dress, and Maven had chosen to keep the look secret from her fiancées until this day. It made an impression unlike anything Tess had ever seen before; the dress itself was simple in structure, hugging Maven’s body snugly but not exposing much skin, and instead the surface was covered in intricate patterns.

A wedding march began to play, prompting Tess to stop staring. She took a nervous step forward, then another, steadily approaching the altar until, finally, she was standing next to Ellie and Maven. The song played for a few moments more, then stopped, a palpable silence falling over the room.

After a moment, Gramps spoke up. “Today, we are here to celebrate the union of these three souls.” He said, a rare sense of gravitas to his usually lighthearted tone. “They have chosen to bind themselves together under the eyes of the gods, and to proclaim their love for all mortals to see.”

He turned to Ellie, a fond smile on his face. “Ellie Los, do you take Tess and Maven as your wives, to love through good times and bad, to care for and protect for as long as you are able?”

“I do.” Ellie said, tearing up slightly.

Gramps turned to Maven, still smiling that same smile. “Maven Sarlienne, do you take Tess and Ellie as your wives, to love through good times and bad, to care for and protect for as long as you are able?”

Maven smiled hugely. “I do.”

And, finally, Gramps turned to Tess, his own eyes slightly misty. “And do you, Tess Los, take Ellie and Maven as your wives, to love through good times and bad, to care for and protect for as long as you are able?”

Tess, trying to keep her voice steady, nodded. “I do.”

“Then, as a servant of the gods, I pronounce you married. May the gods bless your union.” Gramps said.

Tess, Ellie, and Maven shared a hug, giving each other a quick kiss on the cheek as they did, then separated. There was a short pause, then Gramps spoke again. “We will now move to the reception.” He said. “Please exit through the middle door on your left side, and follow the hall to its end, where you will find the multipurpose room where we will be holding the reception. Leave any gifts on the table immediately to your left as you enter the room, and feel free to grab food once you’re inside. In ten minutes, we’ll be hearing a few words from the brides, so please be make sure you are there, thank you!”

“I never would have thought that my wedding would be attended by a god, let alone so many.” Maven said quietly. “And…I never thought I would care about my wedding, I assumed I would be marrying someone like my father. I…thank you.”

Ellie squeezed her close. “No need to thank us, it’s what you deserve.” She said.

“Yeah.” Tess agreed, joining in on the hug. Once they had finished, they quickly headed down the hall towards the reception room, where Tess was surprised to see that a large pile of presents had already formed. “That’s…more than one per person, right? Who brought multiple?” She asked, looking the pile up and down.

“A few of us got excited, sorry.” A man’s voice said from behind the pile. “We very rarely get to go to events like this, so we tend to make a bigger deal out of them than other people. I’m helping manage things here, so don’t worry about it too much.”

Tess peeked around the pile to find a short elf man, likely one of the gods, and she began searching her memory for who it could be.

“Ah, don’t worry about it, this is our first time actually talking, I mostly hear about you through Rachel or see you via terminal when there’s an Appointed meeting or you’re doing something really important.” The man chuckled, sticking out a hand. “I’m Hearth, pleasure to formally meet you.”

“Oh, sorry for not recognizing you sooner.” Tess said, blushing in embarrassment and shaking his hand. “Thanks for coming.”

“Really, it’s fine.” Hearth laughed. “We can hardly expect you to have all our appearances memorized when you didn’t even know we existed a year back. Heck, most people wouldn’t know unless they worshipped me or gods who publicly interact with me often. Seriously, don’t sweat it.”

He turned to Ellie, and Maven, giving them a smile. “Of course, pleasure formally meeting you two as well. Congratulations on the wedding, you three are great for each other!” He shook their hands as well, then smiled at the group again. “Now, you run along, I’ll make sure everything’s properly sorted and that we don’t run out of room here, and that all the food stays stocked, you three just have a good time, okay?”

“Thank you, Hearth.” Maven said. “Um…does your church know you’re here?”

“No, but I think my Archpriest will be able to tell after we leave.” Hearth replied, eyes sparkling mischievously. “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve left some of my power at a high-profile wedding as a ‘mark of approval’, so he shouldn’t think too much of it. Of course, I’ve never catered one like Rachel and I are doing for this one, but he doesn’t need to know it was us.”

“Come to think of it, where are the priests?” Tess asked. “I saw a couple in the halls, but I thought they’d want to make sure we weren’t accidentally destroying things or something.”

“As per my orders, they oblige any reasonable requests people who are having weddings here have.” Hearth explained. “Normally they would have some oversight, but we obviously need some degree of privacy from people who might catch on to the presence of the gods, so Evan helped arrange this for us. They couldn’t ignore his request outright, so they asked me, and when I gave the okay, they were plenty cooperative, so don’t worry about it, they’ll stay out of our hair.”

“Right. Well, um, thanks again!” Tess replied. “And, um, you don’t have to be doing this if you don’t want to, I’m sure we can find someone else to take your place.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I want to be doing this, then!” Hearth replied jovially. “This wouldn’t be a problem if we didn’t get so excited, so it’s only natural one of us takes care of it. Now, really, you should get going, there are other people who want to talk to you and I can’t be hogging all of your time.”

Tess and her wives moved on, spending the rest of the time until they were slated to say some words mingling with people. They mostly gave short greetings and introduced themselves to the other gods who were there but they had not yet met, and then, all too soon, Gramps was passing them a microphone and telling them to say some words.

Ellie took the microphone first. “Well, I…probably should have scripted this out, but I wanted it to be genuine so this is what you’re getting, I guess. Um, well, really, these past months have felt like a dream come true to me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s had its ups and downs, but overall, I’ve been deliriously happy, and today just feels like a culmination of that. I can’t picture my life without these two anymore, and I’m so, so excited to face the future with them. Um…yeah. Tess, you go now.”

Ellie hurriedly thrust the mic into Tess’s hands, and Tess gave her an amused look before beginning to speak. “Now I feel like anything I say would just be copying Ellie.” She joked. “I mean, things were a struggle at the beginning, but Ellie, and later Maven, really helped me come into my own, and for that I’ll forever be grateful. I mean…what can I say?” Tess stopped for a moment, then continued, her voice catching slightly. “I’m just happy they’re as happy to be with me as I am to be with them.”

She passed the mic to Maven, who gave Tess a small smile as she accepted it. “I owe more to these two than I could ever articulate.” She said, voice wavering almost imperceptibly. “Since the moment I met Tess for the first time and, admittedly, gave an absolutely terrible first impression, my life has been on a trajectory I could never have predicted. I have met so many people, done so many things, and my life is looking better than it ever has.”

She paused, clearly fighting to control her emotions. “It has all felt like one extended dream, and more than once I have had to remind myself that it is all real, and I will never have to wake up, because there is nothing to wake up from. And, try as I might to repay the favor, these two wonderful women keep finding ways to put me further in their debt.

“I know many of you here do not know me as well as you know the two of them, but it still means much to me that you were willing to be here, despite all the turbulence we have thrust into your lives. Thank you.” She reached up and wiped her eyes, then passed the mic back to Gramps, who began to say something, but Tess’s couldn’t pay attention.

“I…need a moment.” Maven whispered. “Sorry, I did not want to get emotional, but…”

Ellie slung an arm around her shoulder. “It’s nothing to be sorry for, I was crying too, earlier.”

“I’m on the verge, too.” Tess added, cracking a shaky smile. “I…love you two, I love you a lot.”

Ellie nodded in agreement. “Me too. I’m so…so happy right now. I love you two to pieces.”

Maven gave them a watery smile. “And me as well. Thank you, I love you two so much.”

Gramps was still speaking, but the three were lost in their own little world. They had each other, and in that moment, that was all that mattered.