The following day was a busy one for Crow and his companions. After enjoying a breakfast of rabbit and dark bread together, Rikki ushered Hazel off to prepare her for the ceremony. During their time in the inner kingdom, the thief had stolen a number of cosmetic supplies and pieces of jewelry from noblewomen that she had thought were pretty. She wore the adornments often, but only used her other beauty items sparingly, since she didn’t have much of them left. The fact that she was sharing them with the herbalist was surprising to Crow, since she held onto them like a precious stone.

While the two women were gone, Crow, Alistair, and Simon were left to spend the rest of the morning in each other’s company. They lounged by the edge of the river, attempting to skip rocks over the surface of the moving water. None of them were very successful since the rapids were traveling so quickly, but they didn’t really care, since the activity was just to pass the time until the afternoon.

For a while, none of them spoke, but Alistair eventually broke the silence. “So,” he said with a sidelong glance at Simon. “Are you getting nervous yet?”

At the question, Crow eyed the blonde thief as well, curious as to what his answer would be. Having never made any close friends who had been married before and having never gotten married, himself, he didn’t know much about the process. However, he would have expected Simon to be at least a little more emotional than he was acting now. If he didn’t know better, he never would have guessed his friend was about to have a handfasting ceremony at all.

“Not really,” Simon answered with a vague shrug as he tossed another stone into the river. “Why should I be nervous?”

“Maybe because you’re about to commit your life to another person forever?” Alistair rolled his eyes.

“I am,” Simon nodded. “But it’s only because it seemed like the most natural next step to take.”

“My gods, Simon. Do you even have feelings?” Alistair snorted. “Are you at least [i]happy[/i] you’re marrying Hazel?”

“Of course I am,” Simon shot him a glare and then averted his gaze, his expression softening slightly. “She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m elated that she wants to marry me.”

“I think that’s the most emotion I’ve ever seen out of him,” Crow whistled and turned to Alistair in mock amazement.

“I know,” Alistair shook his head. “You’d better not be this stoic when you have your ceremony, or it’s going to drive me insane.”

“What?” Crow blinked, caught off guard by the other thief’s comment.

“Come on,” Alistair smirked at him. “You and Rikki have been practically courting for a year. It’s about time you be a man and ask her to marry you.”

“It’s not like that,” Crow fought the urge to wrinkle his nose at the idea. “We’re just having fun. I have no intention of pursuing anything more than that.”

“Why not?” Alistair frowned. “You two are a perfect match in my opinion. Even if you don’t love her now, I’m sure you could learn to later.”

“I doubt that,” Crow muttered as he thought again about how she had broken his trust. Even if he wasn’t already committed to Penelope, he could never love someone who would betray him like that.

“Maybe you could just try courting her for a while and see how it goes?”

“No,” Crow said a bit more sharply than he intended. He wavered for a moment before going on in a softer tone, “I’m not going to court her. Now, can we please just drop it?”

“Alright, alright,” Alistair raised his hands in defeat and then laid back in the grass, folding his arms over his chest as he stared up at the sky. “Gods, neither one of you has any sense of romance.”

Crow rolled his eyes and picked up another stone to toss in the river, hoping the rest of the morning would go by quickly so his companion wouldn’t have time to bring up the uncomfortable subject again.

--

Fortunately for Crow, he got his wish. Almost promptly at midday, Hazel and Rikki returned for the handfasting ceremony. As the thief turned to watch them approach, he had to admit, the herbalist cleaned up nicely. Rikki had given her one of her more elaborate dresses and pinned her normally wild red hair up in a neat braid. Her face was also painted with noble cosmetics that the female thief had let her borrow. It was needless to say, her appearance left Simon speechless.

Alistair nudged his companion teasingly, “Ready?”

Simon nodded wordlessly and rose to his feet, his eyes transfixed on his bride.

Hazel blushed at his reaction and then turned to Crow, shifting her weight slightly, “I forgot to mention this yesterday, but… we’d like it if you would oversee the ceremony.”

“Me?” Crow’s eyes widened in surprise. “But I’ve never even been to a handfasting.”

“It’s easy,” Hazel assured him. “All you do is tie this to our wrists in the beginning,” she held up a thin red ribbon that he guessed had also been lent by Rikki. “And pray a blessing over the marriage at the end.”

“Okay,” Crow said tentatively, getting up from where he was sitting on the riverbank. “But I don’t get it. Why do you want me to do it?”

“Because you’re the reason why we met,” Hazel stared at him as if it was obvious. “If you hadn’t brought me out here to live with all of you, Simon and I wouldn’t be getting married in the first place.”

“I only brought you out here because I was sick.”

“Oh, just shut up and accept the sentiment,” Hazel snorted. “Will you oversee our ceremony or not?”

“I’ll do it,” Crow nodded quickly, eager to end the discussion before the hot-tempered herbalist got mad at him. He was still a bit nervous to accept the offer, since it sounded like an important role and he didn’t know what he was doing, but if they really thought he was capable of handling it, then he had no reason to refuse.

“Alright,” Alistair grinned, moving to sit a little farther away from the river with Rikki. “Let’s get this handfasting started.”

Simon and Hazel stepped over to stand in front of Crow by the water’s edge. The herbalist offered him the ribbon and then they both held out one hand each for him to bind with the thin fabric. Still feeling a bit overwhelmed at being called up to do the job at the last minute, the thief fumbled a bit with the cloth before he managed to tie their wrists together. Once he was done, he took a step back, so they could commence with the next part of the ceremony.

As he listened to them exchange vows, Crow’s mind wandered to Penelope. He smiled faintly as he thought about how they would be able to marry after the war. While he doubted they would be able to do anything as elaborate as a handfasting, he was excited by the idea of doing something to symbolize their commitment to each other. Perhaps they could come up with their own ceremony, one which just the two of them could enjoy.

He was drawn from his fantasizing when he heard Hazel clear her voice, and he realized she was waiting for him to end the ceremony. His heart beat nervously in his chest. While he believed in the gods, he wasn’t very religious, so he wasn’t sure what to pray in regard to a marriage. He swallowed the lump in his throat, [i]Just keep it simple.[/i]

“May the gods always look upon your lives in favor and shower blessings over your marriage,” he said at last. There was a brief pause, and for a moment, he wondered if he’d said it wrong, but then Alistair and Rikki cheered, and Simon and Hazel kissed, and he relaxed.

“Thank you,” Simon nodded to him gratefully after he parted from his new wife.

“Of course,” Crow shrugged.

The two offered their bound hands to him once more, and he removed the ribbon so they could move freely again. With the handfasting ceremony over, Simon and Hazel walked off to have some time alone, leaving the other three thieves to spend the rest of their afternoon together at the riverside.