The next morning Akorsa woke to the sounds of the birds chirping outside her window. The sun�s rays poured through and onto her, waking her with their gentle warmth. Stretching lazily and looking about with a yawn, she could not yet help but smile; for she was home once more. She tossed aside the woolen blanket she had been using to warm herself during the long hours of the chilly night, and rose from her cot, heading into the kitchen where she could smell some food cooking.
Upon stumbling into the house�s small kitchen, Akorsa did discover her mother to be quite busy. She was cooking over the warm fire, with no one else round and about save for little Keihl. He was sitting contentedly at the table playing with a carved wooden sheep, one of the many that Doyle had made him the past winter.
�Mother, what is going on? Where is everyone at such an early hour of the morning?� asked Akorsa sleepily, running her fingers through her tousled hair with another yawn.
�Why, they are out preparing for your wedding, my darling daughter!� said her mother merrily. Akorsa stared at her mother, who yet had turned away from the pot over the fire, in disbelief. She remembered the accord that she and Fionn had come to the other day, but they had made no preparations as of yet. They had only agreed that the ceremony needed to take place soon. Akorsa and Verican would have to return to the Walled Cities before more trouble started brewing, and it had been decided that Fionn would accompany her as her new husband.
�Preparing for my wedding, did you say? I was not aware that I was getting married this day!� she cried, her heart beating faster; Akorsa felt herself begin to panic.
�Oh aye, we do know that is a bit of a surprise, but we know how hastily you need to have your wedding before you get into more trouble from those politicians you associate with. Your father and I had a chat with Myron last night after you retired to bed, and we decided to get everyone together on this lovely day and make it all work out for you,� explained her mother.
�Mother, I love you, truly I do, but I am in such a mess at this very moment that I want nothing more than to strangle you! You should have woken me earlier so that I might have started getting ready��
�Are you and Fionn going to kiss each other?� interrupted Keihl from the table.
�Not until their married, dearest,� replied Aroha with a slight smile.
�Lenna and Doyle kiss a lot; it is quite gross,� stated the boy, wrinkling his nose at the thought of his older brother and his wife. Aroha turned to her daughter with a suspicious look in her eye.
�You have not kissed yet, have you?� she asked.
�Once, and only once,� she said and her mother gave her a withering look of disapproval. �You know Fionn; it was not much of anything, but it was honest and chaste as could be, I promise you mother. You know us both better than to think we would do anything more than that!�
�You are right, you are right. You two are not that sort at all,� said her mother as she busied herself about the fire. �Just a mother�s concern, is all. Though, I do not advise you tell your father that, or he shall have Fionn�s head on a plate before the ceremony even begins.�
�Oh, I do know that, mother. I am surprised that father did not lop of Fionn�s head when he found out what we had done!� said Akorsa, taking a seat in one of the chairs about the room.
�Your father likes Fionn and he trusts him; trusts that he will take care of you. After all, you allow the boy to take the flock, your flock, out to pasture in your absence. Everyone knows that you would let no one do that if you did not trust them, and any who tried would die at your hands,� her mother reminded her. �But do come child, we need to get you dressed for the occasion!�
�Mother! You know I have not a dress, let alone one suitable enough to wear to my own wedding ceremony!� cried Akorsa, beginning to fret again.
�Do not worry daughter, do not worry yourself! Come with me,� said Aroha, leaving the food over the fire so that she might go into her and Alvis�s room. Akorsa followed, and then watched as her mother went and began to sift through the contents of the chest at the foot of the bed in the room. Eventually Aroha pulled out a bundle wrapped in a wool blanket. She set it on the bed and uncovered a bundle of green cloth, which, when he unfolded it, appeared to be a lovely green dress. �It is not much, I fear.�
�Mother, it is lovely!� exclaimed Akorsa, bouncing with a sudden excitement.
�It is simple, but it was the dress I wore on the day I married your father. It held luck for me then, and I believe it shall do the same for you now. Though, I do wish I had something more, but on such short notice I cannot make you a dress of your own,� said her mother with a hint of disappointment in her voice. �But never mind that; it matches your eyes, and I am quite certain that Fionn will be far too happy and nervous to notice anyway.�
�It does not matter to me what I wear, truly, mother. The dress is lovely and will do wonderfully,� Akorsa assured her mother. �When is the ceremony taking place?�
�It shall not begin for several more hours, as it is planned for past midday, so you need not worry. Your father, Myron, and some others, including Lord Verican, are arranging things for the feast we are having. Your brother Doyle is with your future husband-to-be, making certain he stays at home and remains calm,� explained her mother.
�Fionn! He must be making himself sick with worry this very moment! If only I could see him��
�You absolutely may not see him!� interrupted Aroha sternly. �You know tradition is that the bride and groom are not allowed to see one another on the day of their wedding. I love you dearly, my darling daughter, but I will not allow you to see him. You shall thank me for this later, I promise.�
�Oh, I know it, mother, truly I do. I just know he must be in a fit of nervousness right now!� said Akorsa as she imagined, for a brief moment, Fionn pacing about his home while he bit furiously at the nail on his left thumb. It was a terrible habit he had always had, since he was a wee lad, and Akorsa knew he would die before he ceased doing it. �What am I to do in the meanwhile, mother?�
�In the meanwhile, Akorsa, I am taking you down to the river so you can wash up. Then we shall return here, get you dressed and make you look as stunning as can be. By the time we are finished, it shall already be time for the ceremony to start. Go get your robe and your cloak and we shall leave immediately,� said Aroha.
�What about me? Do I get to go to the river too?� queried Keihl, as his elder sister went into their room to fetch her robe and cloak as her mother had ordered.
�You shall be going to your brother�s house. Lenna will watch you while we are gone. You can play with wee little Wyllim while you are there,� she said, and the small boy smiled. Akorsa came back into the kitchen with her clothes sling over one arm, and some soap and a towel-like cloth in the other.
�Let us go prepare for one of the greatest days of your life, child,� said Aroha, as she led her two children out the door.
- - - -
After seeing Keihl off to Doyle and Lenna�s home, Akorsa and Aroha headed down towards the river. There, Akorsa made a tedious job of cleaning herself, and when she was done, the two of them headed back home. Upon returning home, Aroha set about to get her daughter dressed, which proved to be a relatively successful and simple task.
Akorsa fixed her hair so that her gentle curls at least appeared to be placed symmetrically about her head. She donned a pair of light slippers that belonged to her mother, ones that easily matched the dress. Aroha had refused to allow her daughter to wear her leather boots, saying that they were inappropriate for such a special occasion. The mother claimed that the slippers would be suitable for dancing during the festivities that followed the wedding ceremony, which as the bride, she would be doing a great deal of.
Soon enough all the preparations were made or completed, and all that Akorsa had left to do was to wait for the time of the ceremony to arrive. This left the young shepherdess roughly an hour beforehand to pace about her parent�s home in anxiety. Her apparent nervousness amused her mother to no end, but Aroha was as sympathetic as she could be, for she had been exactly where her daughter was now, only a very long time past.
Being unable to take it much longer, Akorsa had started looking out all of the small house�s windows. She was not looking for anything in particular, but she was desperately attempting to keep herself preoccupied. She feared that if she dwelled on it any longer that she would break into a fit of tears where she stood. Eventually Akorsa�s frantic pacing was interrupted by her mother, when the older woman tapped her shoulder gently.
