"I think that's enough of a break," said Blanc to the others after he finished his story.
"Is there a change in our route?" asked Celine.
Blanc nodded to her question, "Yes. We will head towards Isai, the furthest town of the Domain. If we move quickly, we might get to it by tomorrow afternoon."
"But why not go there in the first place?" Kael questioned, more curious than anything.
"Because we would have to leave the Domain a few days earlier through there," Blanc explained, "Not worth turning back from that point on back here. We make do with what we have."
"Sounds like a plan. Which way then?" Miyanna asked.
Blanc replied, smiling to the four, "Towards Denegis's Fingers."
As they began walking, they made sure to keep their distance from the village. While miles away, most of the land near the plain was either worked on or had already been plowed. And so, without risking discovery in a place that wore their name, they walked in a curved path as conversations kept them busy.
"Brother," said Lune, interrupting the discussion he was having with Celine and Miyanna.
"What is it, Little Flower?" Blanc asked, turning towards her.
"When will you marry, sister Celine and Miyanna?" Lune wondered casually.
Blanc's eyes widened at the question of his little sister, "That's a difficult question."
"Why? Don't you want to?" she asked, frowning.
Celine and Miyanna were now all ears on the conversation Blanc was having.
"I do, Little Flower, but the issue is that there is no officiator we could call upon in the situation we are in. And marriage is more of a ritual than anything else," Blanc explained.
"But it sounds fun…" Lune muttered.
"I want to do it too, but that's how things stand as of now," Blanc replied with a sigh.
"Can't I be the officiator?" Lune asked.
Blanc couldn't answer her question. His sister's words just now were closer to blasphemy than an idea. It sounded fun, though, and it would be an amazing distraction for all if they could just do it.
He knew he had to take responsibility, so he first had to take Miyanna as his fiancée, which required a more intricate and important ritual than the marriage ceremony.
After all, marriage was more political in nature. Done only in the name of alliances.
If a betrothal ceremony was the foundation of a house, a marriage ceremony was just the decoration on the walls of an already finished house. For between a betrothal and a marriage, the people are most important.
They get to know each other, love each other, and build together. Marriage is just a ceremony to let their families know that they've done it. That they succeeded in building something beautiful together. Or at least that's how Blanc saw it.
"I don't see why not," said Celine with a casual shrug.
"M-me neither…" Miyanna stuttered, her cheeks a deep crimson.
Blanc turned for a moment and looked at the two women behind him.
There are things he needed to prepare if that were the case, without their knowledge. But how could he do that? Would he stand a chance of winning an argument against the two on this matter if they had already decided? Unlikely.
Which meant that, at least, he had to pretend like he already won an nonexistent argument.
"If my beautiful wives wish for it, then so be it. We will do it tomorrow night."
Celine and Miyanna stopped in their tracks at his words, and so did Lune, her eyes wide with joy.
Only Kael and Blanc kept on walking as if his words weren't madness.
"That… that was easy, no?" Lune asked the two women.
"Way too easy, I thought he would at least argue," Celine muttered.
"Married? Who? Me? What the fuck?" Miyanna whispered, not believing her ears.
"Did I do well, Sister Celine?" Lune asked, grinning.
"Wonderfully so," Celine smiled, "Thank you for your help."
"My pleasure," Lune smiled, seeing that their plan worked. "It sounds fun to be the officiator."
"As long as you're happy," Celine giggled as she grabbed a mumbling Miyanna, "Let's go, or they'll leave us behind."
"Was that wise, Blanc?" Kael asked once they had made some distance from the three.
Blanc could only shake his head at Kael's question, "Nope."
Kael sighed, "What will you do, then?"
"We do it. There's nothing else to it." Blanc shrugged his shoulders, "It's just that I will somehow have to get inside Isai without being recognized."
"Isn't that impossible?" Kael wondered.
"Close to. But I will figure something out," Blanc replied.
As he replied to the last of the questions, the three others rejoined them.
And all the previous conversations they had, had died down as they walked in silence, each thinking about the same thing, proving that Blanc was right.
It truly was an amazing distraction for the five.
A distraction from what happened and will most likely keep happening in the future. A distraction from suffering. For that, this idea gave them at least one more day to think about things other than their grim future. A day to focus on joy and love.
Humans needed stuff like that from time to time. Otherwise, madness would be far too common.
And, in that silence filled with joy, nervousness, and excitement, they arrived slowly at the Denegis's Fingers.
The Fingers were next to each other, and from far away, it truly looked as if a four-fingered hand was rising from the ground. But at the bottom of the Fingers, the hills and their placement gave them enough cover not to be seen by people passing by.
The hills were tall, and three of the four were quite steep. Steep enough not to be able to hike them or be worth attempting to.
However, the fourth one was just perfect.
The grass parts of the hill were not difficult to climb on, and some parts were straight enough for them to be able to put down their sleeping bags and rest for the night.
Just what Blanc wanted. Cover was more or less lacking, but high ground ensured that people at the bottom of the Fingers would not be able to easily spot them. If there were any people crazy enough to be passing in the middle of the night, that is.
A bit over the top, one might think. However, none could argue it was safer to do all this.
"We rest here for the night. Lune, Kael, you use the same sleeping bag as before. We will make no fire here," Blanc explained.
The twins nodded, preparing their stuff as quickly as possible so that they would be done by the time the sun finally managed to set over the horizon.