Both sisters came to stand before me, and we exchanged smiles before they handed their flowers to Dragon. The man took them with a stoic nod, and then he stepped away so that I could stand between the two sisters and face the skald.
“Freyja!” the man called out, and then he paused for a few seconds as he looked over all those gathered. “She would appreciate a ceremony such as this. For too long, the Vaish have cared about the results instead of the process. But if not for the process, would the results even have mattered? The joining together of a man and woman through submission is no small task. It is not reversible. It is not escapable, and it will not end. Even if both should end up in Valhalla.”
The skald smiled and then turned his eyes to Paula, Kasta, and me. “But for those who choose this bond out of love, there is a special place for you at Odin’s table or in Freyja’s field. The bonding makes two souls share with each other unconditionally, and both of those souls become stronger. But before we proceed with the magic that Odin has blessed our people with, I will ask each about to be joined to exchange a vow of trust and honor. King Adam Vaish, will you speak with your fiancées first?”
“I will,” I said as I led each of the twins around so that they both faced me.
“Paula,” I began, but my voice choked halfway through her name, and I had to clear my throat before continuing. “Inside of you is the soul and mind of someone as brilliant and wonderful as the sun. You have brought life to those around you figuratively and literally, yet you remain humble to your own incredible abilities. Your life set out on a dark path, but that wasn’t the real you, and once you were presented an opportunity to help others, you eagerly took it. I have never sung your praises enough, but now I am able to correct that. You have supported me in my quest and asked for nothing in return but my respect and love. I never want to be parted from you, and I swear that I will do everything in my power to make sure that you have as much love as you will ever desire.”
Paula’s blue eyes were opened wide as I spoke, and I felt my heart slam in my chest when a single tear ran down each of her cheeks. Her lower lip trembled when I finished speaking, and it took everything in my power to keep from hugging her to me. We stared at each other for a few moments, and then she bowed her head and whispered my name.
“Kasta,” I said as I turned to the android. “If your sister is the sun, you are the playful moon which pulls on the tide and brings joy to the night. I have never met someone more alive than you. You find humor and happiness in every moment, and then you make sure that others around you feel the same emotion. That is what I love most about you, Kasta, you care for everyone else beyond yourself. You say that it is because you aren’t alive, but your habit of thinking of others before yourself makes you entirely human. I want you to be by my side every day, and I will do everything in my power to ensure your happiness. I believe that both Odin and Freyja will bless our union, and the process will work.”
The beautiful woman’s smile grew larger with every word I spoke, but when I finished, her smile faded, and she gave a worried nod.
“Paula?” the skald asked, and she cleared her throat as I turned my attention back to her.
“Yes,” she choked as another set of tears rolled down her cheeks. “When I first saw you, I knew there was something special about you. I couldn’t define it, but you seemed out of place in the room. There was just too much of you. You filled every corner with your presence. Until that point in my life, I believed that people were just different shades of monsters. I had even done my best to reinforce that truth by seeking the dark underbelly of society. When I met you, it changed my life because I found that people could be good. I found that men could be good.”
Paula took a deep breath and squeezed my hand. “I built Kasta and Byron because I wanted revenge, and I never wanted to be alone. Once the revenge was gone, the loneliness could not be kept at bay. I think that we are all lonely, but our purpose gives us a sense of belonging. I have that with you, Adam. My love for you has only grown stronger as you have committed more to your mission. I used to think that my new home was Persephone, but when we were exploring the bunkers on Uraniel, I realized that my home was with you.”
Paula smiled at me, and a new set of tears came down her cheeks as she choked out the last of her vows. “I am shy, so these words are hard for me to say, but I am so thankful that you came into my life. I’m so thankful that you knew the words I wanted to say to you and accepted them. I’m so glad to be here today in front of our family. I promise to give you all of my soul and be by your side until the last star burns out.”
Silence blanketed Persephone’s hold as everyone took in the brilliant engineer’s words. I was doing my best to blink back my own tears, but I caught my mother and sister sobbing in each other’s arms in the front row of seats, and then I couldn’t stop my own tears. The galaxy was unforgiving, and there were too many places where the strong preyed upon the weak. Paula had been one such victim, but she turned her life around after her family was taken from her and had almost stepped over the line to taking from others. It wasn’t just her engineering skills which made her amazing, it was that she never lost herself in her own hate.
“Thank you,” I whispered to her, and her face split into an amazing smile.
“Kasta?” the skald said, and we all turned to the android as I took her hands.
“Yeeeeaaaaahhhh,” the blonde woman said after she sucked in her teeth. “I wanted to go first, but it might have been a bit of a mistake since I just had a bunch of jokes about how I loved your big penis, your hard muscles, your handsome face, and the fact that you can turn into a tigerman. So, I’m gonna talk instead about what you said in our apartment that day. You said you would have saved our sister had you been there when she was abducted, and I knew the words you spoke were true.”
Kasta was smiling as she spoke, but then she froze as a tear came out of her left eye and trailed down her cheek. The android lifted up a finger to touch it when it came to her chin, and then she looked at her finger with a bit of surprise.
“That doesn’t normally happen,” she whispered, but then she cleared her throat and spoke loud enough so everyone could hear her. “I was built to serve and provide companionship to the most wonderful person in existence.” Kasta looked over at Paula, and the two sisters smiled at each other. “But I have my own will, I have my own feelings, I’m… I’m not human, and I never really cared either way if I was or wasn’t, but as soon as I met you, Adam, I wished that I was human so I could have a closer connection to you. Now I’ve realized that it didn’t matter. You’ve accepted me and forgiven me for my transgressions. I don’t think this submission will work, but I’m still happy that I’m yours now.”
We squeezed each other’s fingers, and I felt my heart soar around Persephone’s hold like an eagle. Part of me didn’t know if I deserved their affections and their commitments, but then I realized that we were all just trying to find our way in an endless expanse of emptiness known as the galaxy. It was cold, dark, and hostile, so when you found a spot of warmth that loved you, you held onto it with everything that you had.
I was blessed to have so much love.
The skald turned back to Paula, and the engineer cleared her throat and said the words that I had heard many times since joining the Nordar.
“Who will witness?”
“I will witness,” everyone in the room said with one voice.
Paula kneeled at my feet, arranged her dress slightly so that it wasn’t bunched, smiled at her sister, and then looked into my eyes. There was no mistaking the love I saw in them, and I felt my heartbeat in my ears as the magic began to fill the room as I handed her my knife.
“I am Paula Leda. Twin offspring of Jacob Leda. Third offspring of Iulian Leda.”