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On the coast they say that to get on in the world you need either a boat or a husband.
Yuuyu chose the boat, and she never regretted it. With a boat, one could feed themselves, and be beholden to none but the gods of the sea, the wind, and the tides.
It was a hard life being a fisherman, but she would have it no other way. She has never wanted a husband. But there are days, when she trudges home after a long day at sea, and comes home to a cold hearth and empty cooking pot, that she wishes she had a wife of her own.
—
There was a woman outside of Yuyuu’s house when she returned from the beach that day. She was bent over, inspecting the flowers growing under one of the windows of the house. Her dress was simple, no different from the ones worn by all the fishermen’s wives here. But it was clean and new. There’s no mud staining the skirt and no patches on the elbows and sides.
A rich woman, or just someone deciding to wear their good dress today?
“Can I help you?”
The woman straightened up and turned towards her. Something catches in Yuuyu’s throat. “I was just passing by and I saw the lilies. They’re my favorite flowers.”
“Oh. That’s okay then.” Her words tumbled around in her mouth and refused to come out. “I… you’re welcome to come back and see them again if you want.”
The woman smiled. Yuuyu’s heart leapt in her chest. “I would like that. But I don’t even have your name.”
“Yuyuu Haya,” she choked out. It felt like the most momentous thing she could ever say.
The woman smiled even brighter. “Call me Nejire-chan.”
—
Love, they say, wears a blindfold and carries a bow and arrows. Not even Love knows where the arrows they fire will strike.
That’s bullshit, Yuyuu thought. Love has this huge oak club, and the overwhelming urge to clobber someone with it. Sometimes you’re just the poor sucker who’s right there when they turn the corner.
She certainly felt like she’d been clobbered when she fell into bed that night. The feeling in her heart when she came back from the sea the next day is just the backswing.
Starstruck they say. The Silver Lady picked a star from the sky and dropped it on her head.
Maybe she is starstruck. She feels like she’s been hit by a star when she trekked up to her house and saw Nejire waiting for her.
—
One of the first things she learned is that Nejire has an almost infinite curiosity, and a short attention span. She gets distracted easily and by anything. People’s mannerisms, seashells, funny-looking rocks, trees, and buildings.
This time it’s kittens.
The baker’s cat has given birth to a litter of kittens and Nejire wanted to see them.
Yuyuu wanted to see them too. She likes cats, kittens even more. They’re cute, like the fluffy black cat that sleeps under her bed. But she needed to be ready for when the tide turned so it can carry her out to sea. She knew it’ll happen sometime around noon, but when she couldn’t say for sure.
Nejire was unbothered by Yuuyu’s worries. “You have plenty of time,” she assured Yuyuu, “The tide won’t turn for two hours yet.”
A part of her wanted to say that there is no way Nejire could know that. But that part of her is silenced by something in her heart that says that Nejire is not wrong.
Besides, she really wanted to see those kittens.
When she arrived at the beach two hours later, she discovers that Nejire was exactly correct. The tide wasjust about to turn.
—
No one knows where Nejire lives. Most people have no idea who she even is. No one knows who her family is, no one knows who her friends are, and no one has any idea where she might possibly come from.
People have seen her wandering around town, and she visits Yuuyu often. But she’s not staying at any of the inns or being hosted at anyone’s house. She doesn’t have a carriage, a boat, or a horse, not even a trail she takes home. Some days she is here some days she is not. No one sees her arrive, no one sees her leave.
It's a mystery. But when Yuuyu returns from a day at sea, and finds Nejire waiting for her on the beach, it's not a mystery she thinks too hard on.
—
It had been Yuuyu’s grandma that had first taught her how to dye her hair. How to mix wood ash, lime, and other ingredients into a paste that could change her hair color from its normal brown to any number of shades.
Even though she had cut her hair short, she still kept up the practice. She likes to experiment, mixing different ingredients into the paste to change her hair into a rainbow of colors. This time she has tried a mix of wild madder and woad and the end result is this bright purple she is actually quite pleased with.
“Your hair is very pretty,” Nejire told her the moment she sees it. She’s balancing on the sea-rocks on the edge of the beach, occasionally bending over to look at tidal pools or into crevices. “I always like seeing what new color you’ll try next.”
“I still can’t figure out how you get your color.” Yuuyu replied back. It irks her. Nejire’s hair twists around her body in a spiral, and she has dyed it the same shade of blue as the daytime sky. Yuyuu has tried to replicate that shade, but she has never been able to manage it quite right. It's either too dark, too pale, or just plain not right.
“I told you, I don’t dye my hair,” Nejire laughed, spinning around is place to look at her.
“Right,” Yuuyu laughed back. “Of course you don’t.”
—
Yuuyuu is on the beach, scrubbing barnacles and mussels off the bottom of her boat when she first saw it. At first she thought it was a lost net or a mass of seaweed bobbing in the waves. Then she realized it was hair. Her first conclusion, naturally, was that someone had drowned and their body is now floating to shore.
She sent a prayer to the gods that hopefully this one won’t be too putrid and hopefully they will be able to identify this poor soul and inform their family as to their fate. She was just about to get up and drag it to shore, when she saw the rest of the head.
It was a body, but it was far from drowned. It was man with dark hair and a cloak, walking out of the waves like he was merely taking a stroll down a path. His clothes are drenched and sea water pours off him as he strides up onto the beach.
He turned to Yuuyu, and for a moment he looked just like someone whose been asked to pull a venomous snake out of a boot. “Do you know where Nejire is?” He asked, hunching down like he expects to be struck. She’s about to ask him why he need to know when Nejire beats her to it.
“Over here Amajiki!” She called out from on top the cliff, leaning over to wave at them.
“Ah, good.” Amajiki flipped his hood up. Seawater poured out of it along with an eel that wriggled about on the sand before he bent down to pick it up.
“Sorry, that’s mine.”
His boots slosh as he made his way up the beach and up the path that wound up the cliffs. Yuuyu kept one eye out as he made his way up, but Nejire greeted him cheerily and they began talking, Nejire gesturing animatedly.
She was nearly finished cleaning her boat, when Amajiki walked past her. He gave her a reluctant nod of farewell, and then plunged back into the sea.
Yuuyu watched him calmly stride back into the water until the waves finally wash over his head and he disappears under the water without even a trail of bubbles to mark his path.
—
Nejire was dancing in the spring moonlight.
Yuuyu stood there in the doorway of her shack, transfixed by the sight.
Nejire was so graceful. She spun in circles, her hair twisting around her in long looping arcs and her simple dress shone like it had been spun out of pure starlight.
It was beautiful, so painfully beautiful. Yuuyu felt her throat close up as she watched Nejire twist and turn. It was so graceful and beautiful that she felt like she was going to cry.
“A goddess…” she breathed.
Nejire laughed. “How did you guess?”
—
Yuuyu was in her shack, shucking clams for a stew. The waves had been too big to set out to sea this week, so she had gotten her clam shovel instead and filled a bucket for dinner. She was just halfway through the bucket, when a young man stuck his head through the door.
“Excuse me, is Nejire around?”
She screamed. Her hands darted for her large fish-knife, which she kept on a hook by the table, and swung it around to point at the stranger.
“Sorry!” The young man said, holding up his hands to show he was unarmed. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I was just looking for Nejire.”
“She’s not here right now,” Yuuyu said. The knife trembled in her hand.
“Oh, sorry for bothering you then. If Nejire stops by, tell her Mirio is looking for her.”
Her heart pounded in her ears as she watched him leave the doorway. Once her breathing was back to normal she put the knife down on the table, and had to all but physically stop herself from running to the temple and asking the priest what kind of being could walk through a doorway without first opening the door.
—
“Yuuyu-chan, can I ask you a question?”
Yuuyu looked up from the fish she was gutting. Nejire had been uncharacteristically deep in thought for the past few days. It was unusual for her. She was usually cheery and upbeat no matter what the weather or circumstances were. “What is it?”
“A hypothetical scenario. Say you had a husband…”
A stone fell into her heart. “You have a husband?” She should have known it. A woman like her would surely have suitors practically throwing themselves at her.
“A hypothetical husband!” Nejire corrected indignantly. “Or not really a husband anyway. That’s not important. But say you have this husband, and he’s been a good husband to you. He’s done his duties well and you’ve had no problem with him. But, he’s doing other things too.
“Other things like what?” The feeling of relief, was almost immediately drowned out by a flood of worry. There was a lot of other things a hypothetical husband could get up to that would make his hypothetical wife worried.
“Like he may be blackmailing people for money. He’s also extorting some of the local businesses. He’s also been accepting bribes from a few people.”
“That sounds like gang stuff,” Yuuyu swallowed a lump in her throat. Gangs, that was bad. Many of the gangsters claimed to have honor, but wouldn’t hesitate to go after a rival’s wife and children if they saw an opportunity in it.There had been a girl from the village that had fallen in with a gangster from Ceraveras and had later been killed by her sweetheart’s enemies. Her story had served as a cautionary tale for the children of the village ever since. “My advice, dump him. These things have a way of spilling over to everyone’s grief. Even if he hasn’t done anything bad to you, it's only a matter of time before you’re dragged into it.” Gods, she hoped something like that didn’t happen to Nejire. She prayed fervently it wouldn’t.
Nejire seemed to think carefully on her words, then nodded decisively. “I know what to do now. Thank you.”
—
Not even two nights later, Yuuyu had been woken up by the scratching and yipping of a pack of stray dogs trying to get into her smokehouse. She had immediately grabbed her boathook and charged out into the night swearing and shouting.
The dogs had scattered immediately. Running off into the night with only a few regretful looks back at the lost opportunity. She had just finished making sure the latch on the smokehouse was shut, and that all her fish were still inside, when she looked up to see a star streak across the sky.
Then the earth jumped under her feet.
—
A week later, one of the traders passing through from the city of Ceraveras brought news. As Yuuyu browsed the various trinkets he had on display, he then proceeded to accuse the High Priest of the Grand Temple of the Silver Lady of practically ever crime under the sun, from impiety, to racketeering, to outright murder.
“I know it sounds crazy,” the merchant had added in response to Yuuyu’s skeptical look. “The man’s supposed to be the spiritual husband to the Silver Lady herself right? But… why else would the Lady have struck him down with a star from the heavens?”
—
When Nejire showed up again. She looked happier, like a great weight has been taken off her mind.
It was a profound relief to Yuuyu as she watched her friend skip and jump along the edge of the incoming waves, and felt her heart jump at every smile sent her way.
—
It was early spring. Yuuyu was mending one of her nets, while Nejire was spread out on the grass, her hair curling and coiling around her.
“Let’s get married.”
Yuuyu looked up from her net. “Oh? And where would we hold the ceremony?” The small temple to the Hearthkeeper was traditional around here. Though she could just imagine the look on the priests face if both her and Nejire were to just show up and try to book a wedding ceremony.
“Why, the Grand Temple at Ceraveras of course,” Nejire answered, as it if it was the most obvious choice in the world.
“The grand temple of the Silver Lady huh?” Yuuyu let out a small laugh. Nejire never went the straight path if she could help it, that was for sure. “Alright, would you like a bouquet of star lilies then?”
“That would be lovely,” Nejire answered. “What about for yourself? Silver would look nice on you. A silver dress to wear and maybe some silver loops for your ears?”
“Alright,” Yuuyu nodded, fingering the slate studs that lined her outer ear. “That sounds very lovely. Regretfully, I could never provide any of that. Except the bouquet of star lilies. The wedding would have to wait till late summer, when they bloom.”
“Late summer is a good time to have a wedding. And you don’t have to worry about affording it all Yuuyu-chan. I’ll arrange everything.”
Yuuyu let out a laugh and smiled fondly. “Of course you will.”
Nejire just smiled warmly up at her.
—
It was early dawn when Yuuyu was woken up by a frantic knocking on her shack door.
“Yuuyu, wake up!” It was her neighbour from down the shore. “There’s a huge procession from the grand temple at Ceraveras here!”
Yuuyu frowned as she fumbled for a shirt. “What would a temple procession from Ceraverass be doing here?”
“I don’t know,” her neighbour answered. “But some of the priests said they were looking for you specifically!”
“What!” She practically tripped as she tried to get her pants on. She nearly nailed her neighbour as she flung open her door, but her apologies died on her lips at what she saw.
A huge procession may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much. At least a dozen priests were making their way towards her shack, bearing with them a large decorated litter, and several carts filled with crates and chests.
“Beg your pardon,” the priest at the head of the processor said as they approached. “I am speaking to Yuuyu Haya?”
“I… yes, that’s me,” she answered as her wits caught up with her. “Can I ask what the purpose of your visit is?”
The priest bowed low. “We are here to request that you come with us to Ceraveras to take up the mantle of High Priestess at the grand temple.”
“What!? I… Why me?” Her eyes narrowed. What on earth was going on? This had to be some kind of trick.
“We received instructions from the Silver Lady to seek you out,” the priest explained.
“You received a vision?” Great, someone had a strange dream and now they were thinking she had some kind of divine favor.
“Not a vision,” the priest straightened up, cast a nervous look at the sky, then swallowed. “The Silver Lady herself has appeared at the grand temple and directly instructed us that you were to be the next high priestess. She was very specific. Yuuyu Haya, who has dyed hair, piercings all along her ears and who can be found in the village of Rinlet in the shack along the shore with the red door and the patch of star lilies out front. That, is you right? The Lady was very insistent that it had to be you and no other.” They cast another look up at the sky. It was almost as if… almost as if they feared a star might fall out of the sky and strike them down where they stood.
“Yes, that’s who I am… I… There has to be some kind of mistake. I’m a fisherman. I’ve been one all my life.”
The priest swallowed. “We know. The Lady told us.”
“I..I.. I can’t just leave! I have a boat I need to clean off… I have nets to fix… I have a cat!”
“We’ve brought a cart for your boat, a basket for you cat, and chests and crates to bring anything you might wish to take with you,” the priest replied. “We are here to oblige you in any way we can.” They cast another nervous glance at the sky. “The Lady was very insistent on that point too.”
—
It was vaguely embarrassing to be carried along in a personal litter. While the thick curtains and wooden screens prevented the people outside from seeing her, she still felt like she was being made a spectacle of.
And in a way, she was. A huge crowd was lining the streets of Ceraveras as the procession passed through. Even though they couldn’t see her, she could practically feel their stares through the curtains. Not that she could blame them, processions like this didn’t happen everyday and no doubt people were very curious as to whom the new high priest would be.
Gods, what was going on? The high priest was the highest official of a divine cult, spiritual spouse to the god they served and their voice on this world. Why on earth would the Silver Lady herself appear in person, and appoint her, a fisherman from tiny insignificant Rinlet, to be her next high priest? It made no sense!
Well… actually, when she thought about it, if there was any actual truth to the wild slanders about the former high priest, then maybe it did make sense. The gods took a dim view of sinners for sure, but they took a distinctly wrathful stance to those of their priesthood who sinned in their name. Maybe the Lady was here to personally see that her temple in Ceraverass was put back in proper order. But that didn’t explain why Yuuyu had apparently been personally picked.
As they passed by a stone townhouse, she noticed that the front flower beds were filled with star lilies. It made sense, the Silver Lady was especially revered here, and it was said that star lilies were sacred to her. And of course, it being late summer, all the flowers were in full bloom.
Then suddenly it all slid into place like a perfectly tied knot, and she knew.
—
The entire grand temple was in a frenzy when the procession finally arrived. Acolytes and priests alike were running around in a way that reminded Yuuyu of a coop of chickens that had just seen the farmer approaching with the axe.
Garlands of flowers and silk banners had been looped all around the temple, traditional decorations that signalled a wedding was about to take place. Even the humblest of shrines followed this tradition. It made a sort of sense, the high priest was supposed to be the goddess’s spiritual spouse.
But she had a distinct feeling the ordination of the last high priest had gone nothing like this.
Nejire is not there when they finally make it up the steps of the temple and the priests help her out of the litter. When she asks, they share an uneasy look and say something about it being bad luck to see the bride before the wedding ceremony.
She is not sure if they are referring to her or Nejire or whether it even matters.
First they take her to a private room with a large copper tub for bathing. There’s bottles of expensive perfumes placed on a small table nearby and flower petals float in the steaming water.
Yuyuu cannot remember ever having a bath like this. She bathed every Washday of course, she wasn’t a barbarian. But that had been with cold water from the rain barrel, maybe heated up with a kettle of water from her hearth. Not this giant tub filled to the brim with warm water and floral scents. As she scrubbed at the dirt, salt, and dried fish guts out from under her fingernails, she gets the first chance to really think since this whole crazy day began.
She had been joking when she had played along with Nejire’s suggestion that they get married. It hadn’t seemed like a serious question asked in earnest. More like a wishful fantasy. A warm possibility of what could possibly be in a world where she wasn’t a fisherman with only a boat and a shack to her name.
But what was fantasy to a goddess? What were silver dresses and grand weddings to a woman who could spin silver out of moonlight and open the doors of the grand temple as easily as the doors of her own home? If she had known what Nejire was she would have…
...What?
What would she have done if she had known Nejire could commanded all of this with just a word? Asked for more? A palace amongst the stars? A great galleon to serve as her fishing boat? A silver crown to wear as a queen? Would she have fallen on her knees in awe and built Nejire another grand temple for herself out of stone and driftwood? Would she have said no?
No. She would not have said no. Not even if Nejire was just a merchant’s daughter with only a bag of coppers to offer as a dowry. Not even if Nejirie was a demon of the night sky that would carry her away into the void, never to be seen again. She loves Nejire no matter what she happens to be.
When a priestess arrived to escort her up a flight of stairs to another private room, she found a silver dress already waiting for her.
—
There is silver jewelry too, as Nejire promised. Earloops of silver and studs adorned with diamonds and opals. Yuyuu tried each of them on in turn. She had never before had silver earrings to wear. All her piercings before have been made of polished slate studs and carved bone.
Half of it is to calm her nerves. Every bride gets jittery before their wedding, or so her mother and grandmother had said. But not every bride was about to marry a goddess.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t hear the first knock on the door. It took the second one to startle her out of her thoughts.
“Yes?”
She only barely recognized Mirio as he stepped through the door. The face was the same but he was radiant, resplendent in armor of polished bronze, brass and gold. He practically shone, his mere presence driving away all shadows in the room and Yuuyu almost had to raise her arm to shield her eyes from the sight.
“Good to see you again.” His smile shone like the light of the sun. “Nejire said you didn’t have any relatives to act as your honor guard for the wedding. If you wish, I would be happy to volunteer my services in that regard.”
There is only one thing you say when the God of the Sun offers you an honor like that.
“I would be delighted.”
Mirio smile became even brighter, and this time Yuuyu really did have to shield her eyes. “Then we can start the wedding immediately.” He passed through the door, opening it behind him and bowing her through.
—
The temple's main hall is packed. It seemed like every citizen of Ceraveras was there. It might have been an exaggeration, it might not been. This was probably the most exciting thing to happen in anyone's memory, but surely even the Grand Temple could not fit the entire city’s population into its main hall. Yet, more and more people seemed to be filtering in through the doors. No matter how many people wandered inside there was somehow still space to fit one more.
The musicians started playing as she approached her side of the hall. Mirio stood behind her in place as her traditional honor guard. She felt dull and dark next to that bright light, but then she spotted Nejire across the hall and she forgot all about Mirio.
A veil of stars hung in front of her face. A literal veil of glittering silver stars. Her dress was like a piece of the night sky glittering with pin-pricks of light and swirling halos. She held a bouquet of star lilies in her hands, and she is just as heart-breakingly beautiful as she had been the first time Yuuyu had seen her.
She recognizes Amajiki following behind Nejire as her own honor guard. His hood was pulled up and he wore a mask over his face, but she recognized that hunched over posture. Unlike Mirio he did not wear armor of radiant bronze and gold. Instead he wore what she recognizes well as crab and sea shells, larger than life and shaped into plate armor.
She is so transfixed on Nejire that she barely remembers walking up to the main alter. Suddenly she was there, with Nejire standing across from her, giving her a smile that made her heart pound.
The priest reminde her of a goose that has been caught in a wave and battered against the rocks. Dazed, confused and no doubt feeling completely out of their depth, Yuuyu felt a flash of sympathy for them. Doubtless the last ordination had gone nothing like this. But to their credit they managed to get their wits in time and begin reading the oaths.
It's an odd mix of traditional marriage oaths mixed with the usual vows sworn by a high priest.
Do you of you own breath and will pledge yourself?
Yes.
Do you pledge to guard and guide the faithful?
Yes.
Be true towards the Silver Lady and her will on this world?
Yes.
Hold close the bond between the two of you?
Yes.
Honor?
Yes.
Love?
Since the very first day.
The priest closed their book. “Then before these witnesses I pronounce you married. You may now kiss.”
Nejire’s veil of stars parted, and stars danced in front of Yuuyu’s eyes as their lips met for the first time. Her lips were soft and it's just as wonderful as they imagined it would be.
—
The wedding feast was truly a godly one. It was not the food itself, which was delectable, but the fact that no matter how many people were served, the dishes never emptied. Nor do the wine casks run dry, no matter how many cups were passed out to the celebrating city.
Nevermind the fact that the gods themselves attended the wedding. Nejire of course stayed glued to her side throughout the whole feast. But she recognized the fire-wreathed man as the fire god Endevor, the man with the red wings as the god of birds, and the large, fat man in the hood and tunic as the god of harvest and hospitality. Some she didn’t recognize, like the skeleton-thin man and his protege with the green hair, or the old woman with the wide frog-like eyes and large hands.
Mirio stood in the middle of a crowd of awed townspeople, talking and laughing, his radiant light shining from across the hall. Amajiki in contrast was huddled in a shadowed alcove, his hood pulled down over his face. In the shadows of his cloak Yuuyu saw glimpses of writhing tentacles, crawling deep-crabs, and slithering hagfish.
The Deep One had many forms, but it appeared not all of them were monstrous.
In any case, Nejire knew all the gods by name and introduced Yuuyu to all of them. Some were clearly only there to be polite, others seemed genuinely happen for them. Yuuyu finds she barely cared either way. She felt like she was floating and Nejire’s hand in her own was the only thing letting her keep feet anchored to the ground.
Then the dancing started, and she found she couldn’t even do that.
—
The next morning Yuuyu woke up in the High Priest’s quarters, deep in the inner sanctum of the temple, feeling different.
Nejire was gone.
But she was also more there than Yuuyu has ever felt in her life.