Solsday, 26th of Maia, 470th Year of the Fifth Era

It had been more than a week since the fiasco of the Begu Ganjang hunt. Needless to say, Josias and the rest of his team were shocked to find out what had happened in the span of just one night to Hesekiel and Sadrach. Not just about the growth of his two friends who were now also third star warriors like him, but about the hunt as a whole. Josias was of course grateful that his two cousins had made it out alive and relatively safe, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't the slightest bit annoyed that he hadn't been included in such a fun activity.

Regardless of all that, with the situation being handled and the rice fields and burial grounds being sanctified by the priests, the royal entourage had resumed their journey to Goria. The rest of the travel proved relatively uneventful save for some small spats between Prince Panghirimon and his half-brother Prince Hasianta.

Josias seriously doubted the capabilities of the Hutangali team in the upcoming festival tournament. As he understood it, the five warriors the King of Hutangali had chosen were his two sons, a son of the Simarhosa clan, another warrior of the Siposoan clan, and a warrior from Lasta's Spirnitondi clan, one of her younger cousins. That one team was more disunited than oil would be upon water and a lack of cohesion would prove detrimental to the team's performance.

But at the end of the day, it wasn't Josias' problem. It didn't matter how badly he thought the other teams were composed, because he was dead set on having Goria emerge as the undisputed victors of the tournaments. It was only a shame insofar as he had hoped his allies would prove to be on par with his own team.

Regardless, the entourage arrived at Goria proper a couple of days ago and were subsequently welcomed with a great feast by the King of Goria. The King of Rumaparau and his entourage had also arrived in Goria a few days prior. As it stood then, Goria was hosting more than a thousand foreign dignitaries and their retinue of soldiers and family members. If this was a lot, Josias could only imagine how much more the atmosphere within Matanitao would be when all the kings and prominent nobles of the Halaklands would be gathered in one place for a celebration.

However, even with the great Gotilon festival just before their eyes, one last great celebration was to be held in Goria proper. With the permission of King Parhal of Goria and the Archbishop, a wedding ceremony would be held at the great church of Goria between Prince Hagabeon of Rumaparau and Princess Marintan Victoria of Hutangali. This would be a marriage to signify a glorious union between the two christian kingdoms of the North.

King Tendi of Rumaparau had requested for the religious ceremony to be held in what he saw as the center of the Halak Church in Goria as the first christian royal wedding to be held between sovereign Halak kingdoms. He also wanted the prestige of having the wedding between his grandson and the Hutangali princess to be blessed by the Most Reverend Archbishop himself, the Lord Ephorus Ludwig.

Josias's grandfather and the archbishop had both readily agreed to King Tendi's request and King Tagam also consented to the wedding. And so with haste, the church building and its front courtyard were quickly prepared for the wedding. The courtyard of the King's Hall of Goria was also prepared to host the ritual traditional ceremony after the religious service was concluded.

Naturally, a great feast of celebration was also being prepared, not just for the two royal clans but for the whole of Goria as well. All of it was paid by the very wealthy King of Rumaparau as part of the Sinamot (bride-price/dowry) to Hutangali. Josias' eyes had almost fallen out of their sockets when he found out just how much King Tendi had paid for Princess Marintan's hand in marriage.

Josias, who was currently sitting upon the far-right pews of the church along with his family - the royal clan of Goria - could only shake his head as he was still thinking about the bride-dowry. He knew the Rumaparau were to an extent even richer than the Hutabaru clan, but that was still an obscene amount of money they were throwing around. Was he exaggerating or was he just poor? Such thoughts were running around his mind.

As Josias was thinking that, the bride and groom had entered the church from outside. The music started playing as they walked hand in hand to the forefront of the altar where Archbishop Ludwig was awaiting in full liturgical vestments. Unlike regular services, as the royal couple had walked down the aisle, a dedicated singer was appointed to sing while being accompanied by the music.

The singer who was appointed to the honourable task was Lady Arta Idabagak. She had inherited her father's angelic talent for singing and her soothing voice did well to lend itself to the beautiful occasion. As usual, Hesekiel was on the job as the church's pianist. While his flat expression didn't show it, Josias could feel Hesekiel was playing extra beautifully that day. As if to compliment her fiance, Safira's violin playing was also spectacular.

But what was the most eye-catching spectacle was obviously the bride and groom themselves.

"...Lady Victoria is just so naturally beautiful, I'm jealous…" Serena said as she held her hands to her face with a dreamy look on it. "Gosh, that beautifully splendid white dress and her quaint jewelry! She's positively an angel."

Josias knew better than to confirm his fiance's fawning over another woman. He wouldn't hear the end of it and so he chose to just put on a blank expression. But Serena wasn't wrong. The Lady Marintan did indeed look particularly stunning. Well, considering it was her wedding day, that was to be expected.

What had intrigued Josias the most however was indeed the choice of fashion. Perhaps it was just another case of them wanting to flaunt their wealth, or perhaps it was just general admiration, but the bride and groom were wearing very distinctively western-style clothing. Josias couldn't remember all the specific names for the articles of clothing that they were wearing, but they were indeed very extravagant. However, as another sign of acculturation, they still wore the traditional ulos cloth and talitali headwear. Marintan's white dress was full of intricate laces but the jewelry and gold necklaces she was wearing were distinctly Halak.

When the bride and groom finally reached the front of the altar facing the archbishop, he had immediately begun his reading of the liturgy. The two soon exchanged their rings - which Josias had found out were crafted by his uncle as well - and their vows. After the exchange of vows and rings, the couple knelt in front of the Archbishop as he put his hands upon their heads.

Invoking the name of the Triune Christian God, a faint golden glow could be seen flowing from the Ephorus' hands as he blessed the new couple and spoke from scripture. Finally, he had pronounced them man and wife. When the two of them stood up, Archbishop Ludwig said, "You may now kiss your bride."

Josias could see a faint blush appear upon both the bride and her groom's face. Regardless of that, Prince Hagabeon and Princess Marintan looked each other in the eyes before the two kissed. It looked like it was both an awkward and also an adorable first kiss between the two. But even so, the attendees all cheered at the sight. It was official, to the eyes of the Halak church, the two were married. They were in a union that - according to their religion - could not be broken by any power of man or otherwise. As the archbishop had said, it was until death do them part.

However, Josias knew that in the eyes of the church did not equate to in the eyes of tribal and ancestral laws and he knew they were still in for a long day of celebrations and traditional rites. Lord knows Josias wasn't looking forward to his own wedding in the sense of the sheer amount of energy he would need to exert at the ceremony and the amount of people he would have to greet. He was by no means a loner, but even someone as gregarious as he was found the whole ordeal to be quite taxing.

Regardless, the setting had quickly been changed from the church as the bride and groom were escorted to the stage that was prepared for them at the courtyard of the Great Hall of Goria. As the royal couple made their way out, the attendees soon followed suit as they had walked through the streets following the newly wedded couple who were being escorted in a carriage.

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The carriage wasn't awfully large, but the fact that it was an uncommon sight among the Halak - especially with it being pulled by two white stallions - made many of the Gorians curious. The people of Goria had already been informed of the wedding and they shared in the couple's mirth.

When Josias had reached the courtyard along with Serena whose hand he had held the entire time, he could see the various seating arrangements had already been prepared. The most precious carpets, cushions, and tables had been prepared by Rumaparau for the traditional ceremony. Various slain and cooked buffaloes were already prepared as well as some pigs for the masses.

Josias had taken his seat on one of the more peripheral tables along with his family. That was the thing about these Halak weddings. It mattered not what one's rank, occupation, or even prowess as a warrior was when it came to seating arrangements, order of protocol, and guests of honour. Even if they were the royal clan who controlled the realm, that didn't matter when it came to adat (tradition). This was a ceremony between the Rumaparau and Singalion clans and therefore those two clans held the most prestige and places of honour within the ceremony.

That wasn't to say that wealth didn't matter at all though. Obviously, the clothes one wore, the jewelry one was adorned with, or even the lavishness of one's gifts were plenty of indications to one's wealth. It was a vain thing, but if Josias knew one thing about the Halak, is that they were a very vain people.

Halak culture had three main basic philosophies when it came to the adat. They were called the Dalihan Natolu (lit. 'the three legged furnace'). Firstly was, 'Somba Marhulahula' (Reverence to the Hulahula or your wife/mother's family). Secondly, 'Elek Marboru' (Honour your daughters/women). And thirdly, 'Manat Mardongan Tubu' (Respect for your Clan kinsmen). All three of these guiding principles were on the forefront of Halak culture, most especially during Halak weddings.

***

As the wedding ceremony was being carried out under the auspices of the Raja Parhata (Basically someone chosen from among the groom's and the bride's clan to lead and mediate the adat processions between the two clans, usually someone like an elder with extensive and comprehensive knowledge of adat), Josias had busied himself conversing with his friends and family while enjoying the food that was provided to them.

The bride and groom and their families were currently going through the mangulosi process (Where representative parts of the wedding guests would gift and cover the couple and their parents with an ulos). Speaking of which, there was indeed some form of drama that had happened. Which was what Josias was currently talking about with his family.

"Mak, did you see that the woman standing beside the King of Hutangali is actually Princess Victoria's real mother?" Josias whispered softly to his mother who only raised her eyebrow.

"Well of course it's her real mother, who else would it be? Are you alright in the head, my son?" Josias' mother couldn't help but look at him like he was some sort of crazy person. Josias only laughed before he told his mother about the Hutangali king and his whole polygamy scandal. Josias' mother could only shake her head as she heard the story.

"Son, I didn't expect you to be such a gossiper." His father said as he shook his head.

"Pa, I literally got the story and its details from you! You have no right to say what you just did to me…" Josias retorted.

"But still, bang, how does this make sense! Then, the woman that's sitting over there is…" Josias' mother, Hotma, looked to where Lady Sortauli Siposoan was sitting a little far to the side with her children who were all technically a part of the Singalion clan.

"Yea. And, get this ma, according to the adat, she is the king's legal queen and consort!"

"But if that's the case, then the beautiful Bontarmata lady shouldn't even be sitting there…"

"Bang Josi, if you're going to tell the story, at least tell it the right way." His father cut in once again. "It's a complicated situation to be sure, dear, but technically speaking while we were on the road, Bang Tagam's tulang side had agreed to officially mamboruhon (adopt) the Lady Therese as a Simarhosa. She has the right to be there."

"Yes, but if that's the case, it still shouldn't be allowed because their marriage is still invalid in the eyes of the adat… If they were to go about it, they'd have to do the sulang-sulang pahompu (author's note: don't worry about it), no?" Hotma asked her husband.

"You don't need to worry about that. All of that was settled on the road. Bang Tagam had paid for the sinamot and had the full cooperation of the Simarhosa."

"Well that's convenient…"

"My lovely wife, aha na so boi diatur hepeng? (What can't be solved with money?)" Lord Parulian laughed at her comment.

"Well regardless of all of that, I do believe Lady Marintan deserves to be happy and have her mother there with her on her wedding day…" Serena said as she looked at the bride with an expression that had a look of both happiness as well as longing.

"Oh you poor sweet thing…" Josias' mother had quickly caressed Serena's auburn hair with a soft voice. "It's alright. You're a daughter to me already, and the Lord knows I thank Him everyday that someone as perfect as you could somehow fall in love with my boy."

"Ma, you make it sound like she got cursed or something." Josias shook his head at his mother's comments. "I'll have you know that I'm a catch!". Josias had resorted to flexing his muscles to prove his point. Serena could only giggle as she saw his antics.

"Pffft, you call those puny little twigs muscles?" His father had snorted derisively before he flaunted his own muscles. Due to his larger build and frame, his father's muscles were indeed far more toned and imposing compared to his. Josias could only roll his eyes.

"Alright, you two. Stop embarrassing yourselves at someone else's wedding." Josias's mother had raised her tone slightly. The scowl on her otherwise beautiful face was enough to intimidate both Josias and his father into silence. "Honestly, you two should behave better. Especially you, Josi. You need to take this opportunity to best learn how you should conduct yourself in your own wedding. I won't forgive you if you embarrass our sweet Serena here."

"I promise I won't. Truly." Josias said, though rather unconvincingly. He then turned to his younger brother, Jakobus. "What about you, anggi? When are you gonna get married?"

"Bang Josi, your brother's barely twelve years old!"

"Mom, I'll be thirteen in a few months.." Jakobus slightly protested their mother to which she only returned with a glare.

"That's still too young!" She said, clearly not looking like she was going to accept any further arguments.

"Alright then. You'll see. I'll get myself a foreign princess to marry when I grow up." Jakobus scoffed before he got back to eating the food on his plate.

"You mean like the Princess Marintan there?" Serena had asked to Jakobus.

"Nah, I was thinking more… Foreign princesses, you know. Maybe from somewhere outside of these realms. Like the Archbishop's home country!"

The people at the table couldn't help but laugh at Jakobus' lofty aspirations. Josias took this opportunity to ruffle up his little brother's hair. It was good to aim for the stars, so that in failing that, you'd hope to still be able to hit the moon.

All that being said, they continued to enjoy the food and festive atmosphere. Though there would be plenty of feasting to be had at the Gotilon festival, it was still rather relaxing to enjoy festivities in one's hometown. There were still adventures to be had and even marriage was just a start to a newer adventure.

An adventure that deep down in his heart, Josias couldn't help but feel excited to start.

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