We left before the sun had broken the horizon the next morning. As soon as we were out of town, Layne gave the duty of pushing the wheelchair to Miles and pulled me aside.
“I’ve got a question for you, Lux,” he asked in a hushed tone, flashing a small smile.
I raised an eyebrow at him and scanned back over my shoulder at the rest of the group walking with us only a few feet away. “Uhm, sure. What’s on your mind, Layne?”
“Sorry for the sort of personal question, but I’ve been wondering this since we first met…” he trailed off, lowering his voice further as he checked to make sure we were out of earshot of the rest of the group. “When are you going to make your Union offering to Lia? You’re going to do it in Ellawynn, aren’t you?”
My eyes widened as I processed the question, and I immediately withdrew my extended mana and shut Lia out from my thoughts. “Why do you think that?” I whispered back.
“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? You two are clearly together, but Lyn says you aren’t married, according to her conversation with Lia yesterday,” he answered. “We thought that you might be taking the trip to the capital to do it there.” He paused as he watched my reaction, and his brow furrowed. “Unless, of course, that’s not your, uhm...you do follow Unity, right?”
“Yeah. Yes. Unity, yes,” I stammered. Caught off guard by the sudden inquiries, I thought back to my conversation with Hana and Marten on our initial ride into the country. Marriage proposals in the Unity religion, Hana had explained, were traditionally done through a Union offering. As opposed to the traditional engagement ring I was familiar with, a Union offering could be anything: jewelry, money, poetry, or even the completion of a special task. There were only a few defining features of an official Unity offering: demonstrate you truly know the person, how far you’d be willing to go for them, and your willingness to be joined for life. Unity, I had learned, had little tolerance for divorce.
“Oh, thank the Primes. That would have been an awkward mistake,” he said with a sigh of relief. “So, are you going to do it in Ellawynn? What’s your plan?”
“No, I haven’t, uhm, prepared anything, yet,” I answered. “I’ve thought about it, of course, but I don’t know exactly when—”
“You’ve got to go for it, man!” he cut me off, shaking my shoulder. “Trust me, you’re going to regret every single day until you do it.” His eyes briefly looked over my shoulder to where Lia and Lyn were walking, and his smile widened. “I knew that I was going to marry Lyn when we were just kids. I was starting to make plans for my offering, but I left for my apprenticeship before I figured things out. I kicked myself every day for six years while I was gone, and when I finally came home, I worked day and night until the offering was ready.”
“What did you do for your offering?” I asked, desperate to remove the focus from myself.
“Her brooch,” he said, nodding in her direction. I subtly turned my head until I could see Lyn out of the corner of my eye. For the first time since we had met, I noticed the shimmering gold pin that fastened her cloak: a gem-encrusted butterfly with wings made of handspun gold. “I wanted to prove that my blacksmithing skills would be enough to provide for us. That, and she loves butterflies.” He chuckled to himself. “It worked like a charm.”
“Wow,” I murmured, studying the finer details of the brooch through Detection. “That’s fantastic work, Layne.”
“Right?” he asked, puffing out his chest. “No more delays now, Lux. Tell me, honestly; are you going to make Lia a Union offering?”
I felt my cheeks flush, but I steadied my breathing and gave him a firm nod. “Yes, I am.”
“What do you need to do to make it happen?”
“I need…” I trailed off, rubbing my chin. “I guess all I really need is...a forge. And a few hours.”
Layne clapped his hands excitedly. “Come visit us when you’re in Ellawynn, then! You can use my forge, along with any materials you need. My gift to the two of you.”
“Really? You’re sure?” I asked, bewildered. “I guess I could come by.”
“No, promise you’ll come by,” he insisted, grabbing my hand and giving it a firm shake before I could respond.
“Alright,” I laughed, confirming the handshake. “I promise.”
“Good. Good!” He clapped my hand between both of his. “You’ll look back on this moment as the start of the best decision you ever made. I guarantee it.” He dropped my hand and nodded his head towards Lia and Lyn, who seemed to be holding an equally secretive conversation on the opposite side of our small party. “Looks like Lyn had the same idea I did.”
I reached out to Lia with a thin tendril of mana and found her consciousness blocked off. “Seems that way,” I agreed.
Layne took his place behind the wheelchair once again as we shifted back to the middle of the group. Lia’s eyes met mine as we walked closer, and she quickly turned her gaze elsewhere, blushing. Lyn laughed and led her a few steps further towards the side of the road, and they continued their conversation in private. Layne had started a loud, jovial conversation with Josephine, which provided them plenty of cover to speak in their hushed tones.
After another few minutes of walking, Lyn crossed in front of me with a satisfied smile on her face, joining Layne at the center of our group. Lia sidled up to me a moment later, keeping her eyes straight ahead. Talk about anything interesting? I asked her the moment her mental guard had fallen.
No. Nothing, uhm, specifically interesting. Just...lady things. You wouldn’t understand.
I couldn’t help but grin. Of course.
Her hand rushed out and grabbed mine, squeezing it far tighter
