Just as the bells begin to ring noon, a priest of Akhale comes to collect her. His long orange robe swirls around his feet, lively as a flame, but somehow manages never to touch the floor; whether from divine favour or excellent fashion design, it's hard to tell.

He leads her out of the main hall with its grand vaulted ceiling and down a succesion of increasingly obscure corridors, never saying a word. This probably does not do anything to soothe her nerves.

It absolutely does not. And she can't even knit anymore. She does her best not to mangle her sleeve hems, but aaaaauuuuughhhhh what is this foooooor.

In the small round room he leads her to, there are two people waiting: another robed figure, this one in the green of Vaneda, and a boy about her age leaning against a pillar with his hands in his pockets. When she enters, the boy un-leans from his pillar and turns to give her an appraising look.

"Ekideth Evetrie Lucaran," says Akhale's priest, directing her to stand on the life-green leaf of the six-pointed god-star in the center of the room.

"And Ashazei Tael Ismani," says Vaneda's priestess. The boy steps forward of his own accord to stand opposite her, on the red leaf representing the god Zokoris, whose element is soul.

She stands where directed, returning the appraising look with a shy little smile. Maybe he knows why they're here...?

Then his title clicks and she blinks. Ashazei? It's a little tricky to keep track of all the syllables and their meanings, especially when so few people have all three, but that's - air, soul, fire...? But that's almost perfectly opposed to her set -

She realizes what they're here for, and accordingly flushes scarlet. Oh. Oh.

Tael grins.

"The gods have seen the balance of the world reflected in you," says Vaneda's priestess. "On the first day of the coming year, you are invited to return to this temple and join your hearts in marriage."

"We are pleased to offer you these gifts as tokens of your betrothal," says Akhale's priest, and he hands Evetrie an ornate god-star necklace, each leaf of the star a shining gem set in a silver pendant. Vaneda's priestess gives a similar token to Tael; he looks at it, shrugs, and puts it on, still grinning.

Evetrie puts on the necklace. She can't decide if she wants to examine her new fiancé (!!!!!!!!!), or her shoes, and so she does a mix of both. He seems... happy? To be engaged (???!!!!) to her? He's smiling, anyway. At her. That's - probably a good thing?? She thinks???? It's probably better than an expression of revulsion or a frown or immediately attempting to flee the room, at least? Or is it? She doesn't know what his smile means, does he think she's cute or is he glad to avoid the trouble of dating or is this giving him an exit from a shitty family situation or, or, or -

She's just going to stand here. Bewildered and blushing and wearing a betrothal necklace and wondering what in the world she's supposed to do. If they hate each other are they allowed to go, 'No thanks, gods'??? Are the gods good enough at matchmaking that this won't be a problem???? Can she successfully flee to the hills if he's awful? Maybe? She can maybe do that, that sounds like an option if she needs it. It wouldn't be fun, but she could probably pull it off, and go build a giant plant castle in the middle of nowhere. If anyone has a problem with it she can set them on fire.

In summary: aaaaaa.

"Hi," says Tael, laughing. "Nice to meet you."

She smiles a shy, tentative little smile at him. He has a nice smile, and a nice laugh; he seems sweet. At least, as far as she can tell. After less than five minutes with him. This is admittedly not enough evidence to accurately gauge if he is in fact sweet. But he's cute, so, she's got that going for her.

Um - words, she should words, those are important. She should not stand here awkwardly smiling like an idiot.

"Hi," she says, bravely fending off a vicious attack of the shy. "Nice to meet you too."

"I've only been in this city about three hours; they gave me a house but I haven't seen it yet. Want to help me find it?"

Is that a lead in to, to, 'introducing' themselves at his home?? No that's ridiculous, she's reading too much into that for sure, he's just trying to have literally any personal interaction with her. And also maybe could actually use help finding his house. Wow, three hours in a city and already engaged, that sounds like it would be really really stressful, he's handling it well. Also, they gave him a house? Is - that going to be her house too, now, or...?

"- Yeah," she agrees, ignoring the mess that is her mind right now.

He beams at her. The priests gesture them toward an open door, and Tael takes her hand and leads her through it. A couple of turns later, they emerge from a side door into the alley that runs alongside the temple.

"And now I'm completely lost," he says cheerfully. "I don't think I even remember the way to the skytrain."

She is perfectly happy to let him lead her out of the temple. Also: aaaaaa he's holding her hand aaaaaa!

Despite this nigh insurmountable emotional obstacle, she still giggles a little once they're in the alley.

"It's, uh," she takes a moment to get her bearings, then points, "that way. If it's the one I'm thinking of, anyway. What's your address?"

"Rose Street. I don't remember the number, thirty-something?" He digs in his pocket for an envelope and peers at it. "Thirty-eight."

"Oh, that's a nice neighborhood. I don't know Rose Street in particular, but different districts here have different name themes. If it's a flower, then it'll be to the northwest. We should be able to find it without too much trouble."

"Lead on, then," he says, smiling at her.

"Okay," she agrees, ambushed by another shy. He still has her hand, so she can just - tug him along and show him where his house is.

"Do you want me to just - lead you straight there or, um, maybe attempt to give you a tour of the city first?"

"A tour of the city sounds like fun!"

"Okay. I um - might not be the best for it, but I did uh. Grow up here. So. I can definitely hit the high points."

"Why wouldn't you be the best? Nobody else is going to show me the parts of it that you like."

... Well now she's blushing and stammering like a dork.

"I-I mean, for - for showing you which parts I like, yeah - but for an, um, unbiased overview, I-I don't know what you like? And we probably have different tastes."

He giggles and squeezes her hand. "Oh, you're cute when you blush. I don't want an unbiased overview, anyway, I want your Okaiva."

He finds her cute while she's blushing? Well, then she has good news for him! There is a lot of that going on.

"Okay," she agrees. "Um - thank you? I'm glad one of us is - benefiting from my - inability to social competently right now."

He grins at her. He has a good grin.

He doooooes.

All right then, if she's showing him her Okaiva, then she's damn well showing him her Okaiva. There's a park she likes nearby, she can take him there. The fact that she helps with the plants there is - well, part of why she likes it. Then they can go ambling down a lovely little path with exquisitely well-tended gardens. The plants are fascinating - some look like they're spun from colored glass, others look like woven webs of sunlight. One section has a whole set of flowers with petals that look like stained glass windows, another has a series of trees and bushes in a dark, faintly iridescent blue-green, set with glimmering droplets that catch the light. Another section has ghostly wisps of transparent leaves and flowers in shades of pearl and alabaster and moonlight. After some breathing space is a brilliant set of autumnal tones that shine like jewels, reds and oranges and golds brilliantly shining among deep browns and blacks and greens, carefully balanced so as to be brilliant without being too much...

It's a nice park.

Tael likes this park. Tael might want to marry this park.