The War God’s Favorite novel Chapter 71

The Rain Ceremony
Cassandra laughed nervously. Though it was meaningful to her, their tribe’s union ceremony would have absolutely no legal recognition in the Dragon Empire, it would only be something symbolic. Now he was interested in that too?
“That’s… ahem… We did say that getting married is…”
“Actually,” said Shareen, “you shouldn’t get married yet under our Country’s law, but… I guess a foreign ceremony should be alright. Mother?”
Kareen seemed to think about it, to Cassandra surprise. Were they seriously considering that? The Imperial Concubine took a couple of minutes for her reflection before nodding and grabbing a biscuit.
“Mh, Shareen is right. If my son is so stubborn about it, I suppose a little ceremony would be fine, as long as it’s kept a secret. We have yet to hear what this whole ceremony is about, though. It depends on what it involves.”
Cassandra was speechless. Really? It would be like some secret wedding, but it still had a deep meaning to her… She turned to her Prince, a bit confused.
“Do you want to do that? It would have no legal meaning, here…”
“It would have meaning to you, right?”
“Of course. It was one of my tribe’s most sacred rituals…”
“Then we can do that.”
Was it really enough for them? A secret ceremony, while they couldn’t get married in the Dragon Empire until her son was born, or they were more secure about the future? Indeed, for now, too many things were involved in the balance. First, the heir to the Emperor was yet to be named. While he had limited interest in the golden throne of his father, Kairen would be obviously the best fit among his brother. If not him, Sephir or Varhen would most likely get the throne, and things could go worse from there… The Third brother would definitely take back the newly acquired slaves’ rights, for example.
They couldn’t marry legally, Cassandra was against it. It was a bit selfish of her, but she would rather stay the War God’s Favorite than his wife, for now. She didn’t want him to have another concubine, but she couldn’t predict what was going to happen to her or their child either…. 2
“Cassandra, dear, don’t think too much,” said Kareen. “My children are too stubborn. If this is enough for my son to hold on to your wedding and if you’re fine with it, let’s just go for that.”
“Mother, you’re just happy to organize this in Father’s back, aren’t you?” Sighed Shareen. 2
“What are you talking about. I don’t need that man’s permission! Anyway, we are organizing this secret ceremony, aren’t we? Cassandra, dearie, what is it like exactly?”
“Hinue!” Protested Missandra. “Are you sure?”
Cassandra sighed and stood up.
“Can I have a minute with my sister?” She asked.
Kareen nodded.
“Of course, dear.”
Cassandra took her sister’s hand, guiding Missandra into the Garden. The area was wide enough for them to walk where they’d be far enough for the others to not overhear them, even with the Prince’s enhanced hearing.
Once she felt they were in a good place, Cassandra gently let go of Missandra’s hand, facing her.
“Missandra, I understand your doubts, but…”
“No, you don’t understand. Hinue… We just found each other a couple of days ago. We missed almost ten years together, but now you’re… you’re almost like one of them.”
“How so?”
“You act like them, you speak like them… I don’t know, I just thought everything would be different when we got reunited again. I dreamed about it so many times! But now, you’re carrying a baby, and you’re talking about getting married to some Prince… To a… a War God… I feel like I’m going to lose my sister again. I don’t like these people taking you into their schemes and everything.”
Cassandra sighed.
She often acted more mature than her age, but Missandra was only sixteen. Girls her age in the Dragon Empire were all about meeting boys and having fun. However, no matter how she had grown up, Missandra was different. She had experienced hardships in the Dragon Empire since she was seven. Being sold to one brothel after another… She didn’t have a nice childhood or grew up with her family. She probably made a few friends if any,
The only thing she probably held on to was their past, the memories she had from her childhood with the Rain Tribe. It was probably the best way she had found to deal with all the craziness going on around her. Holding on to the idea that, maybe, she would have some way to go back there again. That idea had probably been implanted deep inside her, along with that memory of her older sister. Cassandra could tell how much Missandra still missed the Rain Tribe, after all those years, by the way she used a language she had learned when she was young and had no one to talk it with since then…
Cassandra sighed, and, gently, took her younger sister’s hands.
“Missandra, I am not going to leave you alone again.”
Her sister seemed surprised by her words, looking at her with wide eyes. After a few seconds of silence, something in her expression changed and, slowly, tears appeared in her eyes. The little emerald got awfully red and teary, and Missandra broke into a sudden burst of crying.
Cassandra pulled her into her arms, letting her younger sister cry out against her shoulder, without stopping. She must have been holding it in for a long time… She gently caressed her hair, soothing her and whispering to her.
“I promise we won’t go separate ways again. Because I will become a mother or someone’s partner doesn’t mean I won’t love you… I’ll be by your side, anytime you need me, I promise, Missandra. We’ll be together.”
Her sister kept sobbing, like a child, showing her weakness for the first time in years, and the flow of tears didn’t show any sign of stopping. Cassandra hugged her for as long as Missandra needed, but after a while, she gently pushed her shoulders, making her younger sister look at her.
“Missandra, I am sorry, but our tribe is gone. What you remember from our childhood… It is fine to hold on to those memories, but you also have to let all your anger go. What happened to us was a tragedy, but you can’t just blame everyone for it… You have to grieve, and let it go, slowly. Our mother, Paba, all our friends… They are gone, Missandra. I am really sorry, but Linue, you need to accept it now…”
Missandra cried some more, but despite her runny nose and puffy eyes, she nodded, trying to calm down her sobbing
“I know… I know it won’t… won’t be like before, but…” she stuttered. “I just… hoped… I don’t know… I was afraid… You had left it all… And forgotten… and didn’t care…”
“I haven’t forgotten anything, Linue. I carry them all with me, in my heart, and I treasure each good memory. I have sung many times, in my head, our people’s old priers. I feel happy when I feel the water on my body, I still eat as we ate in our childhood. I won’t forget all that. But I won’t be able to enjoy the present if I still hold on too much to the past, Missandra.” 10
Her sister nodded again, trying to wipe her tears clumsily. It was a bit embarrassing for a teenage girl to cry so much, but it was high time she let it out. Cassandra gently helped her get rid of her tears and brushed her hair past her ear.
“We need to look forward to the future… You’re no longer a prostitute, and I’m no longer a slave… We can look forward to it. It’s not all bad. You just take a look at the past and think about where you want to go from now on. I know I want to have my baby, a healthy baby, and stay with this man.”
Missandra pouted a bit.
“He’d better treat you well…”
“Do you think he doesn’t?”
Both sisters glanced quickly at the breakfast area. Shareen and Kareen were chatting, but Kairen had his eyes on them, watching them from afar like a hawk. Missandra sighed.
“I’ll admit he’s doing fine so far…”
Cassandra chuckled. Her younger sister was as stubborn as ever. She grabbed her hand.
“You can keep watching him from now on, okay? But please, try to go a bit easy on him, and his sister and mother, too. They… He saved my life, Missandra. For real. And since I met him, I’m happier than I’ve been in a very, very long time. I want to keep it that way, and I would be happier if you could be happy with me, too.”
Her younger sister nodded, again, grabbing Cassandra’s hands with a bit of a sorry expression.
“Hinue, I’m sorry… I should have congratulated you on your baby… But I just was too upset. I really am happy you are pregnant, though. I want you to become a mom…”
“You’ll be an auntie, too.”
Missandra smiled, blushing a bit, nodding.
“I’ll make sure to protect them! Him. It’s a boy, you say? How do they even know that?”
Cassandra chuckled and explained the whole situation about Krai’s egg as they were taking their walk back to the breakfast area. Just as they were midway there, the sky was suddenly covered with a big shadow.
A loud growl later, Krai softly landed right next to them, making Missandra scream and hiding behind Cassandra, terrified.
“Missandra… He won’t do anything…”
“You can’t be sure!! He eats humans…”
“He eats pigs!” Yelled Shareen from the table, as they were now close enough.
“I saw him eat a man just yesterday!” Missandra retorted back.
“Isn’t that exactly what I said!” Said Shareen, laughing.
Cassandra’s young sister frowned, upset. However, to their surprise, Krai kept sniffing and wiggling closer, actually interested in Missandra. She kept hiding behind Cassandra, however, making a comedic scene of the Dragon and her circling around the young concubine for a while.
“Why does he want to sniff me!” She cried.
“He’s just curious,” Cassandra guessed. “Here, scratch him there, he loves it.”
“I am not scratching him! He could chop off my arm for his breakfas
“I promise he won’t,” said Cassandra, suddenly pushing her younger sister in front of her.
Missandra was trying hard not to scream, but Krai’s body was circling her, as the Dragon seemed indeed all
curious about her. He kept sniffing and gently pushing her arm with his snout until Missandra had no choice but to give him a shy scratch in the spot her older sister had shown. Immediately, the Dragon was, even more, acting up, growling softly and moving his head so she’d scratch some more.
After a minute, Missandra’s frowning and terrified expression weakened a little.
“O…Alright… I guess you… might not be so… dangerous after all…” she said.
Cassandra chuckled and left her and Krai to get to know each other, walking back to the breakfast table. Shareen and Kareen were chuckling at Missandra’s awkward introduction with the Dragon, but surely they hadn’t forgotten the previous matter.
“So?” Asked Kareen with a smile.
“Alright, we can do a Rain ceremony,” said Cassandra. “But we need to prepare a few things, we will have to do a simpler version… And we need a rainy day, too.”
“Oh great! The next rainy season is due in months here!” Growled Shareen..
“Stop fussing,” her mother scolded her. “We’ll do this at the Diamond Palace, my City has much more rain days. What else, darling?”
“We will need some Borean ink, purified water, a silk thread, …
“The water flowers, too!” Shouted Missandra from where she was.
“Yes, and we should find green outfits…”
“Green? Like servants?”
“It’s a color of happiness for our tribe. We usually make traditional wedding clothes with green fabric, and embroidering prayers and symbols with a white thread, but I guess we can skip for that…”
“What are you talking about!” Protested Kareen. “Even if it’s a secret ceremony, a ceremony is a ceremony! We will go by the book, so tell me anything you need for your Rain Ceremony, and I promise this old woman will get you everything you need exactly in time for the next rainy day in the Diamond Palace! You’ll see!”