It doesn't feel any different

Sabrina and I have been living as a married couple for a while now, though it wasn't official until the other day. And now that it is official? It doesn't actually feel any different. I think my mindset changed the day Sabrina and I exchanged jewelry. Symbols to show on the outside what we felt inside. Not that either of us were wearing jewelry that showed. Still, we both knew it was there even if we didn't need any symbols to know, where it mattered, how we felt.

The flight from Hale's Moon to Ariel was direct and fast. We didn't worry about fuel since our first stop would be the orbital facility to drop Belize off while Sabrina and I went surface side to make preparations. I really hoped Bel enjoyed her time in the medical center while she was here. While they were all formally trained, most of the staff understood well that Rim Worlders managed to get a lot of knowledge without a lot of formal training. I'd vouched for her abilities as a Healer. They'd figure out where to add the formal knowledge.

I expected to have a real ordeal sneaking past Uncle Elsoph. I loved my crazy uncle, but he was easily distracted and he just adored Sabrina. To my surprise though, he was the one making a point to tell us not to dawdle on the platform because we had far far too much to get done and nowhere close to the time needed to do it all. In fact, since none of Sabrina's biological family was able to come coreward on such short notice, he surprised us both by offering to stand in as Father of the (other) Bride for her.

We left Wave Equation on the platform so Elsoph's techs could give her a once over. Sabrina had been keeping her maintained between jobs, so there really wasn't much that needed to be done except restock the galley, top off the fuel tanks and atmo supplies, and maybe wash some of Hale's dust out of the gear wells. Personally, I think Elsoph wanted to see if his team could find the little tweaks 'Brina had been doing to our flying home. She'd been breathed upon before ever leaving the platform, but that hadn't stopped Sabrina from eeking out even more performance.

Belieze would get most of two days to take advantage of the medical center at the yard while Sabrina and I went down to deal with our parts in the wedding planning. Mother, and her staff, had taken care of most of the planning already. They'd arranged the venue, the invitations to mostly family, friends, and a few members of the family's social circles who'd be expected at such an event.

The bright spot was Lady Sonja.

When I was little, Mother had been heavily involved in the company's operations in the outer worlds. While she'd never been gone long, and had always had time for me when she was home, there were quite a number of occasions when reisetsu required Father to appear with an appropriate escort. When Mother was off on business, Lady Sonja had filled that need.

A registered Companion, now retired, she was still radiantly beautiful even in her fifties. I didn't know, or care, whether she'd ever served in anything but a purely social capacity for Father, but I remembered her as the beautiful woman who'd always been willing to steal a few minutes from her duties to console the feisty little girl who missed her mother. I'd had good nannies, but none of them were Lady Sonja. She was as much a companion to me during those times as she had been to my father. Now she'd come to attend the wedding. But, more important, she was going to help Sabrina and I pick out dresses, prepare for the ceremony, and keep either of us from being overwhelmed.

We'd all attended various weddings over the years, including the more common traditional Chinese and Western ones people saw on the Cortex. Not to mention a host of frontier traditions from the Rim worlds. For us, now, it was something different. While I was still part of a mostly traditional Japanese family, this wouldn't quite be a traditional Japanese wedding. Where traditions had changed over the years, incorporating more Western themes into the ancient Shinto ceremony, we had the added fact that Sabrina and I were from different cultures and were both women.

That put a twist on tradition.

The rehearsal, the night before the wedding, went . . . comically. It was probably a good thing that between us we didn't really have a wedding party, otherwise it would have been far worse. Most of our friends were mutual, making 'which side are you on?' questions moot, and some of them would have drawn in the Feds if it was known they were here. Mistakes during practice were inevitable, but I was sure uncle Elsoph wouldn't snicker if we made any during the actual ceremony. He was smart about that. He didn't want Mother to kick his ass.

While it wasn't really part of Japanese tradition, it was part of enough Western traditions that Sabrina and I spent the night before the wedding apart. Belize stopped by to see each of us after she got down to the surface, and we didn't find out until after the ceremony that she wasn't the only one who'd made the trip to Ariel to be part of the event. Her presence helped, though I think the night apart was harder on Sabrina than it was on me.

I was getting ready for one of the happiest days of my life, but the techniques I used to prepare myself for a combat drop were just as effective at calming my nerves. I wished I could have shared them with 'Brina, but I knew she'd be able to deal with it in her own way. Even if that meant taking apart a set of lift motors in the middle of the night.

Dawn brought the start of the final preparations, mostly involving the elaborate wedding gowns and precisely applied makeup. Both things Sabrina and I would never have done on our own, though I would be the first to admit she does know how to make herself look good. The ceremony itself took less time than putting on the makeup did, but that wasn't really the point. We were playing to traditions that traced back to Earth That Was before the exodus. While they were adapted to fit an evolved culture, and even more so to adapt to the lack of an actual "groom," the traditions served to link us with our past. Our ancestors. Our history.

Walking to the small shrine on Father's arm, nestled in a lovely wooded glade, I looked over the crowd. Most of the faces were at least passingly familiar, but some were truly welcome. Sobi and Miss Jade off to one side, both in formal attire. Probably Jade's doing, that. Belize, in a stunning new dress, in the row directly behind Mother. Cousins I hadn't seen for years. Grandfather, looking quietly proud. General, who'd somehow managed to make it to the ceremony on his own, dressed in a formal Great Kilt, but somehow trying not to stand out. Over a hundred people, here to see Sabrina and I formalize something that we'd been living for months. The only regret that others of our surrogate Rim family couldn't be here with us.

Sabrina, radiant as Uncle Elsoph walked her up to join me at the shrine.

As I'd hoped, the ceremony went without a single hitch. The old Shinto priest spoke through the ceremony in both Japanese and English, the languages mixing as much as the traditions that brought us here.

But I didn't really care about the ceremony. I was happy. Truly happy. I saw the other folks in the crowd, but my eyes were really only for the woman I loved.

Destiny comes clear
Fortunate circumstances
You have made me whole

The reception, once the ceremony ended, was something of a blur. I remember our first dance as a married couple, then a dance with Father while Elsoph danced with Sabrina. Grandfather taking us both aside to tell us, in his quiet stoic way, that we had made him proud. The obligatory socializing. The food. The music. The people. All a happy blur. Then the chauffeured ride to the family's beach villa for our first night as a couple. A truly blissful night as a couple.

Ultimately, though, it was all over much too soon. We only had a few days at the villa before we had to claw sky to get back to Hale's Moon, Wave Equation's cargo hold loaded with light supplies. Belize would be coming on a followup transport a few days behind us, while the rest of our friends from Hale's would catch their own rides home.

But for all of the whirlwind preperations and the honestly spectacular ceremony, I didn't feel any different. It didn't change how I felt about Sabrina. I didn't love her more just because we'd shared a wedding ritual. I loved her a little more every day. My anchor in the chaos that is life on the Rim.

But now, at least, it's all legal...