I had my arm slung around Ari's when we re-emerged to the celebration still in full swing outside.
I was right about Bee providing the room with clothes. I found them hanging up in the open cupboard.
The blue dress I wore was a match to the woman's one I had marveled at yesterday. I felt like a graceful queen, with its flowing material dancing in the air around me as I hung off Ari's arm.
Unfortunately, Ari did not have the same treatment. He was expected to wear the same white clothes he had walked up to the alter in, which were much too heavy for the bright sunny weather.
He had ditched the jacket just for the shirt and pants. He looked a lot cooler when he rushed back up the alter to retrieve the gift I had left there.
"I'm sorry" I apologised to him when I saw some of the flowers had drooped from the heat "I didn't mean to leave it behind."
"I think it slipped both out minds" he chuckled when I took it from him to marvel the beauty at the front and the intricacy of the weaving at the back.
"You did an amazing job" I gushed over it "you must have spent a long time on it."
"A few sleepless nights" he admitted humbly "stabbed myself a few times too, but you can barely see those marks."
"What about the one on your face?" I pondered as we were ambushed by a woman who hung flowers over our necks.
Ari touched it lightly and shot me a strained smile.
"Someone got jealous. I was cutting the threads and they decided to use those scissors on me. It was a big thing there; we are supposed to be perfect in every way, skin included. They were hoping you'd reject me because of it."
I felt anger bubble up again when I stared at the mark he kept his fingers pressed to out of shame.
"You are perfect to me" I grabbed his hand to force it down "and if anyone decides to do something like that to you again, I will make them regret it."
He chuckled at my fierce determination and wrapped his fingers in mine.
"Yes, my loving mate" he teased "you really are adorable when you get riled up."
We had another set of flowers slung over us before I could reply.
"Should we go somewhere quieter?" he suggested with a jerk of his thumb to the water.
"Please" I nodded and was about to rush off with him before someone cleared this throat.
It was the woman from yesterday.
She had her hands on her hips and was scowling at us trying to slip off.
"You two are staying right here" she chastised, grabbing Ari's arm to drag him along "we put a lot of effort into this not for you to just run off when you have the chance."
"Its not what it looks like" Ari chuckled nervously when she continued to drag him.
"It kind of did look obvious" I pointed out as I followed along.
"You two are going to sit here" she pushed Ari down into a chair behind a table that had been set up on the street that was connected to many more loaded with food and drink "Scala, sit. Eat and drink and get comfortable, OK?"
She clapped Ari on the shoulders with a false smile before leaving to chatter to some eager women passing by.
Ari looked to me and we both snorted, laughing behind our arms we hid behind.
"I feel like she'll reel us back if we try to escape again" he laughed "we should listen to her."
"We should" I giggled along "at least we won't go hungry."
"That's true" Ari eyed the mountains of food around us, with more being pushed in front of us by local makers. The fish monger even squeezed through the crowd to eagerly place a dish of skinned and sliced raw fish before me with a smile.
"I could get used to this" I grinned and handed him a necklace of flowers as a trade before snapping up a sliver that made the monger delighted at my approval "now all we need is cows and horsies and this feast will be complete."
"Horsies?" Ari snorted at me as the monger left, picking up some of the fish to flap it "who told you it was called that? It's just 'horses'. Horsies is what a little kid would call it."
I smiled at the first time Russet had exclaimed her delight in the horse I had provided her. I had just assumed it was the right word for it.
It was kind of endearing the way she had said it too. Horsies sounded much cuter than the actual pronunciation.
"This is cow" Ari slid a plate towards me "when it's cooked and cut in a certain way, it becomes steak."
I traded it for the fish and siezed the delicious slab tear into it greedily with both my hands. Ari watched me savour the burnt taste when I indulged in the forbidden food.
"And they just give it to you" I choked out in disbelief around it "it's one of the things I'm not allowed to trade for."
"Well, you don't need to trade for anything here. Have as much as you want."
I reached over for a sparkling pink drink, putting the steak in its place.
"Seems a bit rude not to give something in return" I commented and felt the drink burst on my tongue that sizzled in a way I didn't like "you can have this."
Ari smiled at me trying to scrape away the strange sensation and accepted the drink.
His eyes traveled to someone and I turned, still with my nails stuck into my tongue I had been scraping.
"Sorry to intrude" the woman hid her laughter behind a smile "but we were wondering if you would like to lead the dance for the others?"
I looked over from the woman to see others waiting at the stairs that a group had set up on with instruments.
I quickly composed myself and felt Ari's hand on my shoulder.
"We would be honoured" he spoke "please give us some time to get over there. They kind of boxed us in here."
The woman nodded and enthusiastically ran back to the others.
Ari slid from his seat to crawl under the table to the other side. He waited for me to do the same, holding out a hand to help me up when I crawled towards him on the stones.
"I don't know other dances" I fretted when he led the way over "I'll make a fool of myself."
"You don't need to be perfect" he reassured as he slipped from my hand "you just need to have fun!"
He jumped into the circle that had formed and bowed elaborately. The music started with an upbeat tempo that he stamped his feet to and turned. He gestured for me to jump in with him, but I hung back nervously.
Ari was having the time of his life just making up moves as he went. He twirled and yanked me in with him so he could grab my hand in his and jig in the circle. It was like we were waltzing on pure energy.
"Don't be afraid" he beckoned when others joined in happily to jig around too and clap along to the beat "go crazy!"
Ari let go of me so he could rush over to one of the tables and stomp down on the surface. People moved the food and drinks from around him as he jumped and twisted.
"Scala!" he called out and held out his hand toward me "don't leave me hanging here!"
I saw everyone watching me expectantly and ran over to be helped up onto the table.
"Here's one for you" he chuckled and stomped about before pausing and waiting for me to copy.
I did so nervously and nowhere near as fast as he did.
He tapped and spun.
I felt a smile grow when I threw it back at him with minimal mistakes.
He upped the difficulty by adding in a few new moves that were too fast for my legs to follow.
He knew this and caught me when they got tangled up.
Ari finished his tabletop dance with a leap through the air back onto the street.
I leapt after him and felt my body be buffered by his hands as he caught me and spun me around before placing me down.
I felt giddy with joy at how weightless I had just been in his arms. It was almost like I had flown again.
"Isn't this fantastic?" Ari panted to me when we leapt around in each other's arms.
"This is great!" I squealed back in excitement when we stole the spotlight again "I can see why one of your passions is dancing."
"You got me" he winked and dipped me when I wasn't expecting it, sending the thrill rushing to my head.
The crowd cheered when Ari bought our dance to a close and let everyone else steal the street so we could collapse in our chairs to watch them.
Ari's smile was wide the whole time. He loved watching the others keep up the tempo of the infectious beat of the music.
"I'm so glad I chose you" I nudged him cheekily while he took a huge gulp of the drink.
"Who did I almost lose to?" he continued to watch the cheerful crowd.
"The bone collector."
Ari choked on his drink and pounded his chest. I slapped him on the back to help him recompose himself until he stared at me in disbelief.
"You can't tell me you had a choice between March or Ted and you chose me?"
"Actually I think it was both of them. Two bone collectors, one flower weaver, a bug enthusiast, and an artist."
He blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair to rough it up unintentially.
"I chose the flower weaver" I whispered to him with a nudge to drag him out of his stupor.
"Yeah, but why?" he almost whispered now "I'm scared of heights and play with flowers. To a dragon, that's already two things that are the complete opposite of what you are looking for."
"To be honest..." I began and averted my eyes "...i thought you were a dragon, just shapeshifted. No-one told me otherwise. I thought that your love for dancing would be good for me and that the flowers would be a safer option for my nest of crystals than bones. You seemed like a better fit despite being afraid of heights. That is what confused me the most about what I thought was a dragon."
"I can see why" he leant back in his chair now to let it all sink in "it would have been nice if they told you."
"You are telling me" I chuckled back to his smile "I never thought I'd be mated to a human."
"And me either to a dragon" Ari laughed now and filled up a cup for me before holding his own up "a toast for the odd couple?"
I held up my cup and he clinked his against mine when I didn't know what to do. He then shook his head at me as he quickly chugged down the rest and went for a refill.
"You know, I thought I was going to be mated to a werewolf" he started with a snort, reaching for some food now "we don't know what the creature is until its chosen us. I'm really glad it turned out to be you. Poor Lucian got a male werewolf last week despite being completely straight. Now that I think about it, I'm guessing that's where some of the jealousy of the others came from."
A werewolf? Did they have to find mates like dragons did? Was Russet going to be in this same predicament when she got older?
"Anyone who can't find love, finds us" he shrugged it off "we just don't know what we are going through it all for until we are chosen."
I couldn't help but feel sorry for Ari. It sounded like I had saved him from a fate much worse. In a way, we had saved each other.
I definately felt a lot happier having him here, despite our deceptive meeting.
He looked happy too. I couldn't imagine him finding much of it in a place like that he had come from.
I moved over so I could rest my head on his shoulder and wrap my arms through his to hold him.
He rested his head on mine immediently and I felt his hand on my hip pull me towards him.
We didn't say anything, just enjoying each other's company and warmth as we watched over the celebration for our union echoing through the buzzing street.
All doubts I had before were gone. Despite being human, I could see now that things could have been much worse than having a caring and compassionate mate like Ari here with me.
I smiled down at the woven wreath I had sitting in my lap and relished in how lucky I had been to finally have someone to love.
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