>>5657504You’re happy, obviously. How could you not be? Marriage is a meaningless thing to you, of course—it doesn’t exist in your culture except as a form of declared ownership to sole mating rights, and the idea of commemorating it with some kind of ‘wedding’ is laughable. But… Well, you love Ekaterine, and that she (whose culture DOES place value in such frivolities) sees you as a suitable partner for lifetime mating and public commitment… It is gratifying.
And yet, you’re worried. There are rumours drifting about regarding the true nature of ‘Long Wang’, even now, when many hail him as the hero who saved Sir Heinrich Yosef, the royal family, and maybe Hawksong itself. The timing of all these events is rather convenient, you must admit—partly because you engineered some of them—and all the major action was convenient out-of-sight. Your Reptilian and demonic networks assure you that few mammals give credence to Deepvein’s earlier allegations that you are secretly a ‘lizardman’, but that you might be a cloying seducer and grifter, running some sort of con for money and status… These rumours persist.
“They are clearly jealous,” Ekaterine huffs, when you describe your concerns.
Then, she griamces,a dn adds: “or it’s the, ah, the race thing.”
You arch an eyebrow, noting that you are in fact both of the same, human, race… Well, as far as she knows, or any of your accusers.
Ekaterien looks at your with tenderness, and places both her hands upon yours, saying sweetly: “Yes, exactly! That is precisely, precisely right, Wang. It’s just… Well, not everyone views that. To some, the ‘Eastmen’ are as different as elves and dwarves, or even moreso, being so…”
“Foreign?” you hazard.
“Um, geographically-distant,” she supplies euphemistically, “and culturally less-familiar than our ‘demihuman’ neighbours here in the north-west of the continent.”
You nod, and suggest sagaciously: “Then a small ceremony is best. Just those who need to attend, with an announcement to the public when it is done.”
Ekaterine’s brow furrows thoughtfully.
