The next morning Jade woke, and when she opened her eyes, delight rushed through her body, Today is the first of my three weddings. Jade quickly jumped out of bed anticipating the excitement of her impending marriage. She truly loved Ko. Not that she didn’t have strong feelings for Ota, but those emotions were different. There was something natural about the way she and Ko interacted that made her heart hum.
Jade jumped into the shower and then put on the traditional green slave dress that had been brought to her the day before. She wore no undergarments, and her long brown hair was left down as she had been instructed.
Jade looked at herself in the 3D mirror, “Capture image and send it to Babette.”
“Sent,” replied the computer.
“Add the message, ‘I’m ready. Pray for me, friend.’”
“Message added.”
Jade checked the time. She needed to kiss the girls goodbye and pass by the shrine one more time before Ko arrived so that she wouldn't be fined. Apparently, marriage ceremonies did not count as a prayer to the gods.
Jade quickly entered her house’s small shrine with some candles. She prayed before the goddess of home and then turned to Jane’s statue. She hadn't intended on being so long-winded but when she looked at Jane, she couldn't help it, “I don’t know if you can hear me or where you are? If an afterlife really exists, but I wonder why you didn’t bring up this law about three husbands before? It could have saved all of us so much trouble if all the 1,000 women could have married three men instead of one. Why did you hide this? Was it to please Admiral Jei? Is that why he killed you?” Jade continued to look at Jane’s statue. She imagined that it almost moved, but she knew that was just the flicker of the candlelight and her breathing. After a few minutes, Jade placed her candle on the floor in front of Jane’s statue and said, “Please continue to shine your light on me, goddess of humanity.”
When she left the shrine, she heard Mara entering through the main entrance of her home with Kara of all people.
Kara saw Jade’s surprised look and explained, “I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make it back in time, so I didn’t want to disappoint you.”
Jade thought, I wouldn't have been disappointed. She bowed respectfully, “I understand. I feel honored you are here." Kara was the last person she wanted as a witness to her marriage ceremony, “Admiral Tir didn’t mind?”
“Well, it’s a bit of a toss-up. He wants me to be here to find fault with the ceremony so that I can deem it illegal.”
Jade’s face must have reflected her feelings at those sentiments.
“As far as I’m concerned, you can shave your heads and bounce up and down on all the beds in the house, and I’ll still say, ‘You’re married, and it was legal.’ Now, I’ve brought the champagne and the ancient photographer, don't forget Jane would have wanted that.”
“But this is the slave wedding to Ko of House Rog.”
“I’m well aware, Nik is in House Zu,” said Kara, casually pointing to some slaves from the main house of House Human bringing in goods from her aunt and uncle’s store. “But I’m not watching this without champagne. And I brought whiskey too because I heard you prefer that. Would you like some now?” Kara asked, already motioning one of the slaves to bring a bottle over. "You're so pale you look like you need some, or do you always look this way?"
“I shouldn’t,” Jade said.
“Seriously?” Kara poured her a glass and handed it to her. “You’re going to need this for a slave wedding. And when you find out what the word ‘slave’ really means, you are going to have to tell us all as we all know now, 'slave' absolutely does not mean 'slave'.”
Jade took the glass and smiled, “Thanks. Just one drink and only because you are the founder of the feast as they say." Jade took a sip and then said thoughtfully, "I don’t think we will ever truly understand this alien world.”
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