The high priestess nodded, clearly un-surprised with Rei's decision and leaned back in her chair. She picked up a folded letter from her desk and tapped it absently against her cheek.
"On one hand, it's clear that neither of you..." Lilac paused to look at Rei, who was alternating between nervously looking at the floor and glaring at the young man sitting beside her, and at the intruder, who was just looking nervous. "... that neither of you wanted this to happen. Such a marriage would be unlikely to be a pleasant one. Moreover, marriage and children would delay the studies of a very promising young priestess --" Here she shot a sharp look at Rei. "Don't get a swelled head, girl. Promising, yes, but it's clear you have quite a ways to go. Trying to invoke the judgement of the Goddess on your own is no doubt what led to your predicament."
"But I digress. On the other hand, the Goddess has seen fit to bring you two together in union regardless. If She wanted to express her displeasure, She could have done any number of things -- to both of you. Yet She married you two instead."
Here the old woman waited until the couple looked up at her before continuing. "And I think it would be quite possible that, if you were to get an annulment, She might decide on something more traditional for punishment. It would be... quite unpleasant, I would think."
She stopped tapping her cheek with the letter and opened it, glancing down momentarily before holding it up so that the seal caught the light. Rei's breath hitched momentarily.
"There is also another... complication. Your father, Rei, sent this letter, which arrived yesterday. As you know, until you have taken your vows, you are still under his authority, and he asked that you be sent to him."
Rei bolted out of her chair in agitation. "W-why would he... I mean, he's never cared before. And I'm a priestess now, so it's too late for whatever he wants now."
"Sit back down, girl!"
Rei reluctantly obeyed and Ranma, not wanting to draw attention to himself, sat quietly.
"Unfortunately, as the ceremony of investiture was... interrupted, you are not technically a priestess yet. We cannot hold another until the next full moon and such a delay would be... unfortunately obvious."
"It says here that he wants you to return; he has found, he says, an advantageous match for you."
Rei's face paled.
"He wrote in quite complimentary terms of young Lord Kuno, in fact. Handsome, brave, rich and the boy's always admired you. Yes, quite the match."
Rei's face drained of all blood, and her arms trembled as they gripped the arms of the chair. She looked, Ranma thought, like someone had killed her pet dog in front of her, and ventured a question.
"Um... you know this guy?"
Rei went almost crimson with rage, practically spitting her answer out.
"Yes!"
"Don't like him?"
"No! He's an absolute pig! He's wanted to get his grimy paws on me since I was only thirteen! He's why I came here, to get away from him!"
The high priestess raised an eyebrow and cleared her throat. "I seem to remember you saying -- vowing, in fact -- that you had a genuine call to the priesthood."
Rei flushed in embarrassment. "I-I do! I meant HERE here. There were temples closer, but I was afraid that if I went to one of them, he'd never leave me alone!"
Lilac sighed, her expression troubled. "I had wanted you to be a priestess before I gave you this letter. In fact, that's why your investiture was to be tonight, rather than in two months. A day or two either way could be excused -- we could have said that you had been going through the preparations for the ceremony, and that to interrupt would be the highest of blasphemies -- which it is, mind you. But now, with the ceremony interrupted, your father still has his rights."
Rei slumped in her chair listlessly, and the priestess looked sternly at Ranma. He gulped. "And as for you... we accept that, while you had not actually stolen anything, it was only because you lacked the opportunity. In addition, your actions have unwittingly --"
Ranma didn't want to interrupt, but he was feeling pretty badly about the girl -- Rei. It was pretty obvious she loathed the guy she was going to have to marry, and it WAS all his fault.
"Umm... high priestess, ma'am? Umm... do you have to annul the marriage? Right now, I mean?"
Lilac looked startled, and a flash of... something... passed over her face. Rei didn't pay any attention, still staring at the floor and rocking from side to side in her seat.
"I mean, can you delay the annulment or something for a month? If Rei's already married then she can't be married again, right?"
Rei's head jerked up, and she was looking at him with a mixture of hope and confusion. It bolstered his courage a little, and he straightened up and looked directly at the imposing (and diminutive) high priestess.
"And then, once she's a priestess after the next full moon, she's safe, right?"
Lilac was quiet for a long moment as she stared at him, and he grew more and more nervous. He'd screwed up somewhere, right?
"That," she said slowly, "could be done, yes. I'm glad to see that you're perhaps not a complete waste. I suppose I can draw out the process, yes. You realize, of course, that the both of you will continue to be forced in close proximity the entire time. It'll be cut close -- by the end of the month you'll be able to stay no more than an arm's length away from each other -- but it would, perhaps, give us the time we need. That is, if both parties are willing?"
She looked questioningly at Rei, who simply nodded mutely, unwilling to trust her voice after the series of shocks she'd had.
"Very well. I'll assign you both to some quarters, and we'll talk some more in the morning."
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(Posted Sat, 05 Aug 2006 07:07)
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