[SpringsSong]

Lana gave the woman a concerned look, as if to say, let her give you something, it's not that big of a deal. The woman nodded and took the stones from the Cathar, smiling.

"Thank you, miss," she said. "There are changing facilities located all around the festival grounds, if you don't want to make the trip back home."

"'Home' is definitely... a little far away for us," Lana said, and Xyshari gave a small, half-hearted chuckle of agreement. "So we'll definitely be taking advantage of those facilities."

[SpringsSong]

"I hope you have a marvelous time here at the festival," the woman at the counter said. Lana and Xyshari nodded their thanks to the woman before taking the dresses and meandering off.

"I had no idea that these people could be so generous," Xyshari said. "And here, I was thinking of dragging you to try on some costumes for the festival. Seems we were on the same page about that," she said, and Lana gave a small smile.

"Yes... we certainly were," she said after a moment, humming softly to herself. So far, so good. Now to get her to where the ceremony is supposed to happen...

[SpringsSong]

"So, were there any spots on the grounds you wanted to go to before we get changed into these costumes? Maybe have a bite to eat beforehand so we don't ruin the dresses?" Xyshari asked. Lana hummed for a moment before she nodded.

"Yes, I think that would be advisable," she said. "Have a nice, big meal so that we won't need to eat for some time?"

"Something like that," Xyshari said with a smile. "I've seen some stalls that look like they have some absolutely divine food," she said, and Lana smiled as she took her lover's hand.

"Lead the way, then," she said.

[SpringsSong]

Xyshari gave her lover's hand a squeeze and smiled at her. Lana returned the smile, and the Cathar began to meander off towards the food stalls that were in the area. She didn't seem to have any direction in mind as she meandered around, although she seemed more drawn to the stalls that offered some form of meat products in their offerings.

It was not much longer before they finally settled on a stall to get food from, which had a variety of meats prepared in a variety of ways that appealed to both the Cathar and the human. They ordered their food, and they moved to one of the tables to sit down.

[SpringsSong]

"Mmm, this is all so good," Lana said after a few minutes, having torn into a meat pastry. Xyshari nodded in agreement, focusing her attention back on her own food as she tried to hold back from tearing into her own pastry with the zeal of a vorn tiger that had just taken down its prey.

"Isn't it, though?" she asked, wiping the corner of her mouth with a claw.  "Mm. What's happening over there?" she asked, pointing towards a pavilion in the center of the square.

A pavilion where a pair of beings stood, draped in golden threats, with a third figure standing before them.

[SpringsSong]

Lana panicked.

That was the pavilion that she had booked hers and Xyshari's ceremony for. However, they weren't supposed to arrive for a couple more days. However, it was uncanny that Xyshari had brought them to a food stall near where that was going to happen, and had agreed to the dresses that she had picked and even tried to pay for them.

"I-it... looks like a wedding," Lana tried to say in a matter-of-fact tone. Xyshari, however, picked up on her stammer.

[SpringsSong]

"Mm... yeah," she said wistfully. "A wedding. We should get to planning ours, shouldn't we?" she asked, her tone knowing and almost coy.

"Yes. Yes, we should," Lana said, internally willing herself not to panic further. Xyshari, my love, you're going to ruin my--

"Why don't we do that here?" Xyshari asked, leaning over to look at Lana, meeting her eyes in a rare moment. Lana realized the gravity of this for Xyshari: for a Cathar to meet the eyes of another usually carried the connotation of a challenge, and those challenges were fought to the death.

[SpringsSong]

"Beg pardon?"

Lana nearly choked on her pastry as she said this. In her mind, she had screeched to a halt. Had Xyshari really been planning the same thing as her, and they'd had no knowledge of the other's plans?

"You heard me, Lana," Xyshari said. "Here. Now. At this festival," she said. "It seems to be centered around bringing people together and celebrating connections, and I know I've caught you looking at the threads people have been tying to their wrists when they're together," Xyshari said.

[SpringsSong]

"W-well, I..." Lana began to say, pausing and attempting to rephrase her statement a dozen different ways. Every time, Xyshari folded her arms and cocked a brow at her, finally, just shaking her head.

"You had plans," Xyshari finally said plainly.

"Was it that obvious?" Lana asked.

"I saw the price for these dresses," Xyshari said. "I also saw the gestures you were making to the clerk, when you thought you were being subtle. You'd already paid for the dresses."

[SpringsSong]

"I..." Lana began, sighing and shaking her head. "Okay, yes, I had been planning this. Carefully. For months," Lana said. "I wanted to surprise you..."

"Lana... you adorable, little mr'ho'ri," Xyshari said. "How'd you manage to keep it a secret that long? Wait, don't tell me... Theron helped you keep it off of the network?" she asked.

"He did," she said. "I wanted to do something... nice, something that we couldn't have done with the Alliance, or on Odessen," she said. Xyshari leaned over to kiss her lover tenderly, which stilled the Sith woman for a few moments.

[SpringsSong]

When Xyshari pulled back from the kiss, Lana gave her a shrewd look.

"You were planning something, too," she said in an accusatory, but playful, tone.

"I was," Xyshari said with a grin.

"For how long?" Lana countered.

"Not as long as you, but long enough," Xyshari said. "I knew I needed to get you out here and away from the base, and it turns out I was right to do so," she said, almost giggling. "I didn't plan an actual ceremony, though. Or get as far as the dresses."

[SpringsSong]

"Perhaps I should not have aimed to surprise you," Lana said. "I was a few steps ahead in certain areas, but I had intended to ask you about making... us... official at this festival, but I was waiting for the right moment."

"Well, looks like I did that part for you," Xyshari said with a grin. "But I think we need to try on the dresses before we decide to do anything else, and there's... the small matter of customs," Xyshari said.

"Customs?" Lana asked.  "Oh, of your people. You spoke on them once," she said.

[SpringsSong]

"I need to know, before we step into that pavilion," Xyshari said. "Would you be willing to observe them, and do you want to know what they are before you agree?" Her expression was solemn, which took Lana aback for a moment.

"It is important to you, my love, so I will honor them," she said. "But you must be concerned that I would say no if you worded it in such a way," she added.

"It involved the rites when a Cathar takes a mate," she said.

[SpringsSong]

"Go on," Lana said.

"Normally, this would be done before our shamans," Xyshari said, "as they would communicate to the spirits on behalf of the couple seeking to be joined. They would present the pendants of Ro'ta, the symbol that they were considered adults in the pride, to the shaman. The couple would face each other, and intertwine one of their hands for the entirety of the ceremony," she said.

"Not so bad thus far," Lana mused.

"The shaman will speak to the aether, and then, take the pendants and attach them to a ceremonial dagger," Xyshari said. "He then offers the dagger to the Cathar to his right, first. They take the dagger and hold it to their to-be mate's throat, but do not draw blood."

[SpringsSong]

Lana remained still, and Xyshari continued.

"The Cathar on the left will speak, and the words are both literal and symbolic. They signify that they would rather die as one than live a life without their mate. Once these words are spoken, the pair holds the dagger together, so that the pendants rest against their arms.  The dagger tip is pressed to the shaman's chest by the pair, again not to draw blood, but to show their resolve to defend the pride as one," she said.

"That's... intriguing," Lana said.

[Wild Pet Found]