Tavros: Marriage and Other Matters

"Married?" asked Tavros, and Leira nodded, smiling happily. 

Sacha cleared his throat. "I had intended to ask for your blessing first, Majesty. I did not expect the great god Helios to arrange for us to be married as part of the Trials of the Avatar."

"Leave off with the 'Majesty' bit, may it please the gods," said Tavros firmly. "Vigo has his ideas, but this estate is as much privacy as we're going to have, and it's only the three of us here -- and you're my son-in-law, it seems. And it's not as if I didn't know this would be coming."

Sacha flushed. "It-- I--"

"It was amazing," Leira said. "Even with nobody to see it, and my dress kind of dirty from going through those doors and being old. Sacha did so well! He did the whole wedding ceremony, all the way through the end."

Tavros shifted his attention to Leira to spare Sacha any further embarrassment, and simply said, "I'm so glad everything has worked out." Then another thought occurred to him, and he slid the ring from his finger. 

"Here," he said, turning back to Sacha and proffering the ring. "We found these earlier, and I'd intended for the two of you to use them as wedding rings. Better late than never, and they'll help you protect each other."

"My ki-- Um, thank you. Profoundly." Tavros watched as Sacha slipped the ring onto his own finger. 

"So when are you going to get married, Daddy?" asked Leira. "I mean, you really should. It's amazing. You make all these promises and then you finally get to have sex while you're still young and beautiful."

Tavros coughed. "I'm sure my time will come," he said, and then wondered if that sounded as ominous spoken aloud as it did in his head. It wasn't that he was opposed to the idea, exactly, it was just that between his much-needed attempt to claim the throne and the inescapable guidance of Vigo and Dante, he had no idea whom he might end up with. Whoever it is, I shall have to be kind... but not too kind. He still wasn't too taken with Helios, but he supposed the god did have a point about dispensing justice. He looked at Sacha, and said: "In case it's not clear, you do have my blessing -- and would have earlier, had we managed to work this all out in advance."

"You have no idea what a relief that is," Sacha said. "I would not do anything to make Leira unhappy."

Leira put her arm through Sacha's and said, "You make me very happy. Let's go... be happy together."

Tavros managed not to change his expression, and fortunately his silver scales didn't color the way a full human's skin would have. "Go on," he said gently. "Take your time together. You've certainly earned it."