“And what are you telling my poor almost husband?” Jumie appeared behind them, scowling. “I only caught a bit of that nonsense.”
“Oh, just that…” Arthur suddenly realized he didn’t really want to let the lioness in on the details. “Just that he shouldn’t rock the boat very much. On your relationship. At first. Just to be safe.”
“Oh, that’s nonsense.” Jumie waved her hand. “You do whatever you want, Eito. Forever. I’m sure I’ll love it. You ready for the joining? I can’t wait any longer.”
Eito looked doubtful, then seemed to catch something in his soon-to-be wife’s eyes that resolved that doubt. He suddenly straightened a bit, like her words had put confidence directly into his veins. He nodded with a strength Arthur hadn’t really sensed in him before, then moved off with Jumie towards the center of the room.
“Oh, huh,” Karbo said. “She’s going to make a man out of him. Already has, I think.”
“That’s good, right?” Milo watched as they walked towards the center of the room, suddenly looking like they made much more sense together than they had before.
“Oh, sure. We can’t make as much fun of him now, but we make too much fun of him anyway. He’s one of the best people I know, you know. Ask Arthur.”
Milo looked to Arthur for confirmation. Arthur nodded, his head filled with memories of Eito’s conversation with Remmy. Eito was good in a way that people couldn’t always see, which meant everyone else got the full benefit of his presence, even if they didn’t know it. That also meant Eito didn’t get a lot of the benefit people normally got paid back for being nice. To his credit, that didn’t stop him. Arthur couldn’t think of a single interaction he had ever had with Eito where the trainer didn’t try to help him in some way or another.
“Welcome, everyone!” Jumie yelled, bright as a bonfire. “I want to be joined to this man, and he has agreed to it.”
“Good call!” an elderly raccoon-demon in the back of the room yelled. Everyone laughed.
“I know!” Eito yelled back, smiling. “I’m glad I did.”
“Shush!” Jumie said. “We are wasting time. I want to be joined right now. And our officiant isn’t even up here yet. Where are you at?”
The room went a bit more silent as everyone looked around for the officiant, but nobody budged. Arthur felt the cold creeps go up his back as he realized that, for the second wedding in a row, he had forgotten to make sure he knew who was running the thing.
“Is that…” Arthur yelled reluctantly towards the front. “Is that something I was supposed to do?”
“No, Arthur.” Eito shook his head. “I just thought he’d know without me telling him, since we’ve been friends for so many decades. Karbo, where are you at?”
Arthur craned his neck over to look at Karbo, who for once in his vibrant life found himself not knowing what to do at all.
“Really?” Karbo said. “Me?”
“Yes, you. Who else? Now come up here right now or I’ll drag you up,” Jumie yelled.
The threat of being dragged by the only person in the world who might actually be able to do it seemed to shock Karbo out of his brain-freeze. Looking very small in a way Arthur didn’t quite understand, He walked to the center of the room and stood with his friends.
“You want anything in particular?” Karbo asked. “I don’t know all of Arthur’s weird Earth ceremonies, if that''s what you wanted.”
“Just whatever comes to mind.” Eito put his hand on Karbo’s shoulder. “However feels right.”
Karbo nodded. Arthur thought that, for just a moment, he could see tears in his eyes.
“So, I don’t know how to do this. But I know I’m happy.” Karbo let his voice boom and echo through the room. “And it’s been a long time coming. In a way, we are all just here to see this, to know it happened. Like witnesses at a classing. But I think…”
Karbo cleared his throat.
“I think I’m thinking of it like a promise to be happy with them. About who Eito and Jumie are. And who they are together. And that feels like a promise we can start keeping right now. Tonight. Is everyone fine with that?”
A cheer went up from the audience.
“Good. Jumie, are you okay with being joined to this guy?” Karbo wrapped his arm around his friend. “He’s pretty boring, you know.”
“It’s a good kind of boring. So yes.” Jumie laughed. “I’d like that.”
“And Eito, you want to be joined to her? Bear in mind, if you say you don’t, I’m going to throw you.”
“No need.” Eito waved his hand dismissively. “I’d like that very much, too. Please make it happen.”
“Done. Lily, do you have the things?” Karbo asked.
“Things?” Jumie asked.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Things!” Lily said, tossing a few small boxes to Karbo. “He scared a couple of crafters very much to get them.”
“I didn’t mean to. I guess I’m scary when I’m in a hurry. Jumie, this one is for you. I’m giving it to Eito. And Eito, this is for you, so Jumie gets it. Can you open them?” Karbo said.
The two cracked open their boxes and gasped. Eito got his item out first. It was a ring of wood, two inches or so across.
“You know how to open that?”
“Yeah,” Eito said, dry-mouthed. Some majicka flared near his hand as the bracelet popped open and swung wide on a hidden hinge.
“Joining bracelets?” Arthur looked at Mizu, who had crept up to his side to hold his hand as he watched.
“Yeah. It’s not a necessary part of it, but people like them. I like them too, for the record.”
Eito turned to Jumie, still smiling but also now visibly nervous for the first time that night. Jumie turned to him as well, holding on to a simple black canvas loop.
“Ready? Good. Put them on.” Karbo watched in immense satisfaction as his friends fastened their bracelets on. Some enchantments flared as they sized themselves perfectly to the wrists they were destined for, and Arthur got the distinct impression that the bands were much more durable and permanent than they might look. He doubted there was much that could break them, just like Eito and Jumie’s relationship.
“Everyone, these two are now joined,” Karbo said. “Yell or something.”
The crowd was very happy to oblige.
—
“It’s odd,” Arthur said. “It suddenly feels like the trip is over.”
All around them, the streets were madness. Jumie knew a lot of performers, it seemed, and they were all eager to add their own little touches to the street-level party that burst out after the joining. There was food everywhere, courtesy of who-knew-what Demon World duty norm, all of it excellent and there for the plucking. Lily was laying on a bench near them, literally groaning in gourmet satisfaction after eating what Arthur suspected was enough food to keep a fully-grown Prata going for a few days.
“I know what you mean.” Mizu grasped his hand. “It wasn’t really what I expected, honestly.”
“Did you end up seeing all the wells you wanted to?” Arthur asked.
“No, not yet. But I think I’ll get that over with tomorrow. There’s only so much I can learn from the old way of doing things now. I’ll have to convert a lot of it over to work with my new rune stack, but it meant I didn’t have to pay attention to as many details.”
“And you are sure you don’t want to swap me out for that buff weller?” Arthur asked. “It’s probably your last chance.”
“Gross.” Mizu stuck her tongue out in mock-disgust, then cuddled closer to Arthur. “No, I think I’ll keep my Earthling. He’s pretty good, you know.”
“Thanks.” Arthur gripped her hand. “You’re pretty good yourself, you know.”
They sat in silence for almost ten minutes, watching the groups of entertainers circling the square, and only moving at all when an errant juggling-ball nearly caught Arthur in the nose.
“So did you get any achievements from all that?” Mizu said. “The whole mess, I mean.”
“Oh, sure. A few.” Arthur would talk to her about how much a “few” was tomorrow. It would end up being a long conversation. For now, he just wanted to enjoy the night.
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Blender’s Apprentice (Skill, Potential Outlet)
You have interacted with a world-class blender, managing to gain access to both his direct instruction and his notes. In doing so, you have managed to gain a glimpse of a whole new world of control around your brewing, your ingredients, and even the influence those ingredients might have on your medicinal boba.
This skill has been granted early in some ways, mainly as a way to off-load excess potential. As such, it starts at a negative level, one which you can quickly bring back to positive by spending more time seeking the council of the blender himself, comprehending the study materials he’s given you, and creating your own blends. This is nowhere near as powerful as Lup’s primary skill, but will be a useful and significant addition to your growing skillset.
Once leveled, this skill will give you a better inherent understanding of ingredients, especially as it pertains to interactions between them. As the skill grows, other qualities may be added on.
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Mystery Achievement #1 (Openable, Potential Outlet)
You have gained a mystery achievement. When you find a quiet moment, open it to find out what it is.
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When Arthur opened it earlier in the day, he found that it was something that would positively affect every single thing he did, especially his planting efforts. He had no doubt that keeping his own garden of tea had something to do with that, and he’d be stealing every single seed Lup would send with him before he went home to make sure he had plenty of ingredients to work with moving forward.
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Mystery Achievement #2 (Self-opening, Potential Outlet, Secret)
This achievement will reveal itself at the appropriate moment. Its best form will be achieved if you refrain from sharing its existence with anyone until after it opens.
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The second achievement was weird, especially considering that none of these skills and recognition started to pour in until after the joining ceremony was complete. It was made even weirder once he considered the fact that it came with an identically timed sibling, like twins.
“Uh-huh. Just a few normal achievements and skills. Like always happens to Arthur. I definitely buy that.” Mizu said. “Fine. Keep your secrets, for now.”
“I will. I promise I’ll tell you once I get them all sorted out. For now, I just want to enjoy… all this.”
Mizu sighed and turned way from Arthur, looping her legs over the arm of the bench as she laid her head down on his leg. “So what did you think? Of the joining ceremony.”
“It was good.” Arthur said. “It seemed like it was a long time coming.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He leaned back on the bench. “I feel like they were joined in a lot of ways for a long time before that. And it just took this one week for them to realize it.”
“Yes.” Mizu nodded. “It is like that.”
They sat for another moment, until Arthur was sure he wasn’t the only person feeling what was coming next.
“So when we get home, then?” he said, gulping. “We can see who can come with us, but there’s no way I’d do the ceremony anywhere but Coldbrook.”
“Of course,” Mizu said. “I’d like that too. And remember I like the bracelets.”