“With my heart,” Mykal tells me, “my spirit. My strength and my soul. I will be loving you through eras. Yer mine, as the gods see it, as I feel it, as you will it.” He sets the berried wreath on my dark brown hair.
Tears sting my eyes, my heart overflowing. I rise, and our friends begin to walk around our bodies and let soft ribbons fall to the earth, creating a colorful circle along the ground.
Everyone sings, “Heya, heya, you’re together! Heya, heya, you’re forever!” Merriment flourishing, and the music fills the woods.
Mykal and I draw into each other’s arms where we’re safest, and as our lips meet, our bodies pull together in a powerful kiss. Emotion ripples between us like an endless river. I clench his hair between my fingers, and I feel his smile against my mouth. I feel my smile rise in kind.
I feel as though his lips are my lips and my lips are his lips. Dizzying and brightening and loving.
We are together.
We are one, and we are two and then three, and finally, we have found real, everlasting peace.
