676-01-10 - A Silent Promise
| A Silent Promise | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summary: The wedding ceremony of Sallah and Sherzad does not go as smoothly as planned. | |||||||
|
A number of long torches light the area about the pond and the pavilion beside it, the flames flickering in a mild evening breeze at the Palace of Selafuh. Today the marriage of Sallah Al Abukar and Sherzad Al'Hakim would be announced here, in the gardens of the palace, and the place had been carefully prepared, under the keen eyes of the female cousins to Nawaab Arif Sefu. Comfortable cushions in the finest coloured silks and low tables holding small platters of dates and figs, as well as other small appetizers had been arranged to leave an open space in the middle, for some entertainment to be enjoyed later during the evening.
For now, the begums Qamara and Inaya Sefu stand somewhere to the side with their sister, Begum Cantarea, all clad in colourful silks with eloborate embroideries in gold, the usually so harsh miens of them decidedly more cheerful as they are engaged in conversation while the guests start to arrive. Now and then their glances will shift to the bride who is already there, very much in time as if she were afraid to miss her own wedding.
The young woman beams even more that the golden bands she wears about her wrists. Having prepared all day for this important event she seems eager now get over with it - in a good way. She stands beside her father, Nawaab Amir of Ghaznawa, and her mother Begum Rajira, the two women currently inspecting the dress the bride wears, eyes wide with excitement and admiration. Orange and red are the colours that dominate here, the outer dress reaching to her knees, a dark red showing off some ornamental floral patterns that reach from where it is ovally cut out, baring little more than the collarbone, to where they wind down to the lower golden seam. Below a skirt of orange silk covers the lower legs, with more flower embroideries in a red thread. Flowers have been worked into Sherzad's hair she wears in a braid, although most of it is obscured by the exquisite scarf at the moment, fine quality silk that has been dyed red and gold which gives it a gleaming shimmer, as it reflects the flickering light of the torches.
With so many high born nobles about it might be hard to recognize Sherzad to be the bride, were it not for the henna paintings on her hands and lower arms, the traditional motives for a woman who is about to be wed have been applied to her during a lengthy session in the afternoon, a time she has spent at her rooms in the company of noble ladies, friends who wanted to while away the last hours of her unmarried life with her.
Kalil Shallal Imamu was invited, more like his brother was invited but alas he has been gone for a long time. Worry on his face often but over all he has to represent the Imamu. So he had arrived, wearing the usual white but outlined with the reds that of the Imamu. He smiles pelasantly and nods to tohers at his arrival. He is a quiet man and normaly he be out and abouts hunting or going out on raids. Now a wedding and he shows a smile that could be plesant to others or not so pleasant. Now waiting for the ceremony to begin, he takes his time, though thoughts are for many otehr things.
Sallah is also present greeting guests as they arrive. Today he is more formaly dressed in a crimson and gold accented silk shirt, with gold braids at the cuffs. The puffy shirt is designed for comfort as its loose fitted to breath in the desert heat. the pants are nearly blood red with gold trimming along the legs. A golden rope belt wraps around his waist to secure everything together. Upon his feet are a pair of sandals showing off his well manacured toes. Sallah's face and hair are well groomed as he smiles brightly to all those in attendance.
His own parents and siblings are seated as well, Though from time to time his mother moves around fussing and making sure everything is just perfect, much to the exasperations of Sallah's father Who has to gently guide her back to her seat.
Samuela is already there, sitting on some cushions at a small table near the open area. She is into her fourth month of pregnancy by now, the maternity clothes she wears leave little doubt about it. She finishes chatting with a guest, who, unlike Samuela, finally stands up, and the two part ways with a large smile. Samuela turns to her handmaiden, who is standing behind her, ready to bustle around to follow any order or fetch anything her lady might need. "...so, Camilla, what was that guest's name, again? Did I miss it?" "...no, Milady. She failed to introduce herself." Samuela looks down and shakes her head. "It's the fourth one today. I didn't want to explicitly ask them for their name, because it felt rude... but now, I don't know how to refer to them!" "What about we call them Guest1, Guest2, Guest3, and so on... until they go and make their identity more explicit and we can then have a proper interaction with them?" Samuela cocks her head and looks up at her handmaiden oddly for a few seconds, missing the arrival of the bride and the groom in the process. She finally says, "...you know, you have a point there. We might actually start a trend which could catch on..."
Sherzad's attention jumps from one arrival to the next, she will smile whenever she is greeted, a rosy colour creeping onto her cheeks. Especially as her hazel-brown eyes tend to shift ever so often to Sallah, and his family. A light twitch to the corner of her lips gives away she is excited but a bit nervous as well. It is when her mother nudges her gently and points her towards the priest that has just arrived, that Sherzad will straighten, her gaze following him as he moves over towards the center of the pavillion. Another nudge from her mother will persuade her to walk over to the holy man who is clad in a white robe. A shy glance persuading Sallah perhaps to follow her example.
Sallah is in the middle of greeting another guest, not having seen the priest or Sherzads look, when the large meaty hand of his father Zaballah Abukar rests on his shoulder and he whispers gently into Sallah's ear.
Sallah then looks and nods Exusing himself as he walks back to where his parents are seated. His father sits down, While Sallah gives his mother a gentle kiss on the cheek and he gives his younger sister a wink. Though as Sallah moves to where the holy man and Sherzad are, his sister looks towards Sherzad and lets out a light gasp of jealousy at how lovely the bride looks. For those nearby they can barely hear the whisper of "I hope I look that good when Im wed. " as she's promptly shush'd by Sallah's mother.
Qamara and Inaya Sefu notice the arrival as well, that smile they offer the priest in greeting soon fading, when they glance about the pavillion with a frown, and notice the absence of a certain very important member of their family. The Sefu heir. Who happens to be the husband of Begum Samuela. As if to make up for the poor manners of her cousin, Inaya will stroll over to Samuela and offer some murmured words of confidence. "He will soon be here," she says, that stern look in her eyes shifting the meaning of her words to 'he better be!'.
Samuela finally takes notice of the bride and the groom, and her glance alternates between them, until Inaya addresses her. She turns her palms up and raises her shoulders just a tiny bit in quiet resignation. "Peace among nations is worth a little suffering. Many people of our nations have suffered cold, they have suffered rain, they have suffered hunger. They have suffered incarceration, torture, and war. They have suffered famine, plague, and even death, to build the mutual state of peace our kingdoms enjoy. I am only doing my part, my very, very small part for it. What I do cannot even be compared to what our people did." Camilla mutters to herself, too quietly to be heard, "Suffering marriage to Arif... I'd probably put it somewhere in the zone between torture and war. With a bit of death: you can never tell when it's gonna arrive."
There is a light rustle of her skirts, the clinking of the golden bands she wears about her wrists, when Sherzad arrives before the priest, her hand holding that scarf in place, as her other brushes by accident the one of Sallah who is already standing there. Daring to look at him for the first time from such proximity now, the young Al'Hakim lady barely notices that her father, the Nawaab of Ghaznawa has accompanied her and greeted the priest with the required bow of respect.
The ceremony itself will be different from what Samuela may know from the Isles, and even from her own wedding to Nawaab Arif Sefu. Rather than referencing the Gods of the Desert, the holy man acts in complete silence, a holy silence that is soon adopted by all of those in attendance. It may be the custom in the Lands of Sefu, still, any questions of 'will you take this man' seem to be obsolete when the purpose of the gathering is clear for everyone. The priest will raise his hands with an unmoving face, extending them towards bride and bridegroom. Taking their hands next and then joining him, before he will wrap a red scarf about them, binding them together. He will lead the way towards the pond where a small wooden boat, not much bigger than a toya will wait, push it gently until it floats out onto the pond and set fire to it with one of the torches. A gesture comes towards the couple, encouraging them to take a turn about the pond, and the fire. There will be three turns they need to complete, to finish the ceremony and make them husband and wife.
Suddenly a loud laugh interrupts all that quiet, silent, special wedding process. If people will look at the source of the sound, they will notice Nawaab Arif Sefu patting his friend's Azzam's shoulder, "You showed her who is the MAN! Good boy!" Then the heir of Sefu suddenly freezes and stares at everyone, who might be staring at him. He whispers, thinking that his whisper is a whisper, but actually it can be heard by anyone, "That's whe-re we were go-ing. Wedding." He tries to lean closer to Azzam, but sways dangerously. So, the man firmly grabs Azzam's shoulder adding "I be-lieve I for-got the gift..."
His drunk gaze wanders around the people and Arif notices Samuela. Like a child, seeing his mother in the crowd, the man shouts, "Wif-ie!" And he releases Azzam staggering towards her, dragging Azzam together, "Don't mind us. Just continue, ho-ho-ly father... Just con-ti-nue..."
Sallah follows his bride, soon to be wife around (being led already like a pup *waggles eyebrows* ) only to glance up at the boisterous comments of the heir. With a roll of his eyes Sallah continues with the ceremony.. until is complete.
Azzam is indeed with Arif, he too is drunk and he can barely keep himself up in a straight postion, considering he is trying to keep himself and Arif on two feet. As they sway forwards he chuckles. " Sheee...you men..tion..party.*hic* thought...yeah I did." he chuckles and looks around. He blinks, shakes his head and uses his fingers to clean his eyes, trying to decern who is getting married. As they come closer. " Oh...Arif...thi'sss...important..wedding..or some..thing?" as he coems closer, his eyes on Samuela...nope, not been married. Then he spots her and about to be wed. He starts to laugh and tries to cover his mouth with hsi arm, so nto to be to loud. He leans into Arif. " That is her...ain't..she beautifull." though not so innocent no more...and chuckles again.
Nature, such a wonderful thing! Take the fetus, for instance. the fetal stage starts at the ninth week of pregnancy, and in this stage, despite being just 30 millimeters (or 1.2 inches) at the beginning, and weighing only 8 grams, already has tiny hands, feet, brain, and heart, along with other organs. Granted, they are not /fully/ functional yet, but they are there. And by the 20th or 21st week, the woman will start feeling movements inside her womb. Why did we say all that? Well, because when Samuela hides her face into her hand in a fashion that would make Captain Picard proud, she can clearly feel the baby do likewise. Ok, maybe it didn't, it's hard to pinpoint movements with accuracy. But to her, the baby totally did it. Camilla has already started gesturing towards what counts as 'security' in this context. Very delicate situation. Whom do you call in order to restrain someone who outranks most people? (And, no, not the Ghostbusters. Shame on you.) "Plague. Definitely updated to plague." Camilla murmurs to herself, and glancing quickly at Azzam, "It's contagious."
Sherzad's gaze shifts from Sallah's face to the red scarf that has been wound about her right hand and his left, and she smiles. It is a very happy smile, obviously, alas, it will not last long when the appearance of the Sefu heir disturbs the holy silence, when they complete their first turn. It dims at first, slipping into a slightly bewildered expression. When her gaze drifts to Azzam, that comely rosy colour will leave her cheeks, the smile clearly gone by now, when her eyes widen, and her hand shifts to squeeze Sallah's fingers inside of that red wrapping. "Just don't stop...", she murmurs to him, her gaze pleading. "And don't listen... Please..." Her feet moving ahead without her telling them to, the second turn almost complete by now.
Arif staggers and almost falls on the cushion beside his wife. The man tries to wrap his arms around her and leans to give a looong tired kiss on her cheek, "I love you and that little someone there..." Despite being drunk he pats her belly if allowed very gently. It's totally not common for Arif to speak like that. Loves? Does he use that word? But... wine and ale can untie the tongue.
He looks at Azzam now and whispers, "She has sisters I heard, or one. They might be as beautiful as she... You should get one for yourself. These damn islanders..." he shakes his head and tries to lean on Samuela's shoulder, "... they have pretty women."
Sallah smiles as he walks with Sher, and they complete the first pass and at her words he looks over to Azzam and right now wish's to grab the blade that isn't on his hip. Though to not dishonor his bride and soon to be wife he continues to walk as the ritual demands so that they complete the three circles. Then leans over to whisper something into Sher's ear in hopes to once more brighten her disposition.
The silence that follows the drunken ramblings of Sefu heir and his common albeit rich companion is certainly less holy than the one preceeding them. A moment of awkwardness when the not very subtle innuendo of an already lost purity lingers in the garden of the palace. Time for the Sefu cousins to spring into action. Qamara heads for the latter, firm hands reaching for Azzam to drag him off a in manner that is neither gentle nor subtle. With surprising strength, given she is just a woman. Inaya meanwhile, appears before Arif, frowning deeply at him. "Nawaab, it is kind of you to honour us with your presence.... but /will you please be quiet/? We are in the middle of a wedding?" The words are hissed at the drunk Sefu heir, in the hope they will only reach him.
Azzam was trying his best to be quiet, meaning he is failing and bad too. Though the only recompence for all this is that Arif is been louder than himself and more in the spot lite than himself. Azzam chuckles at Arif's words and looks at Samuela and smiles, even giving her a bow of his head in respect to Arif's wife. Though Azzam does look back at the happy couple or at least he thinks they are happy. Though now his eyes linger on the woman, there is a long look of seriouness towards her. He knows she has seen him, she knows what he was to her, she wil not forget him ever. There is a gleam of something on his eyes when all of teh sudden he is been hauled off by power hands and dragged along, though it is much easier to do when he is half dead drunk. "Nawaab! Like always....fun...I will...stay...if...you so... desire." who ever it is taking him away is been a bit to rough.
Samuela makes a face which makes it pretty clear what Arif's breath smells like. With micrometric precision. In fact, experts of courtly gossip can deduce from the nuances of the wrinkling and grimacing exactly what kind of wine or what kind of tavern Arif has been in. "Honey...", begins Samuela, speaking, but quietly, her tone neutral, about as loud as her husband's whisper. Camilla doesn't lose the opportunity to mutter a quiet "...badger.", to herself, again, too quiet to be heard. She doesn't have time to do or say much though, the intervention of Qamara and Inaya saying it much more boldly, clearly, and explicitly than Samuela ever could. Her eyes flash with as much gratitude as she can muster in the current circumstances, and then, since words have become useless, she just pats the cushions next to her, where Guest4 used to sit earlier. Ready to do her part to bring peace to the kingdoms.
As far as Azzam is concerned, Samuela does her best to ignore him. She isn't, after all, obligated by social customs to acknowledge /him/...
"By the gods... Who sent evil into this holy place!" Arif rolls his eyes, when these two cousins show up. He tries to stand up, but fails. He opens his lips to tell something at both women, but when Azzam gets his attention for no reason, he turns to the man, then looks at Samuela, then... He just goes down. His head ends up on Samuela's lap and the man starts snoring. He wraps his hands around wife and nuzzles at her a bit.
Sherzad relaxes somewhat when Sallah plays along and finishes the ritual, in spite of the indignation he so obviously feels. When they complete the third turn the fire in the small boat is almost burned down, and they arrive before the priest in the moment the small wooden thing sinks, and the last flames are dowsed by the water of the pond. Sherzad blushes at the whisper her husband murmurs into her ear, and her smile returns. The priest unwraps their hands that have been bound together, and the wife exchanges a warm glance with her husband, knowing they are proclaimed husband and wife without a priest needing to announce it. Her eyes shift away from them, as she glances to her father and mother, but then her gaze is drawn to Azzam just at the moment he looks at her. Catching that seriousness, and perhaps the meaning, she will not be able to hold it for long but break the gaze with a shudder, looking down towards her hands when Azzam is dragged off. A shadow passing over her mien briefly before she regains her composure and looks up into Sallah's face with a loving smile. "Sherzad Al Abukar," she murmurs. "I am yours now."
Samuela wrinkles her nose as she picks up Arif's hand. Slowly, slooooooooooowly, she does an arc with her extended arm, and drops it onto a nearby cushion.The way someone would pick up and displace a... very unpleasant substance. Camilla just raises her eyebrows and narrows her eyes, but says nothing.
