The untold consequences of Adult Awakening.

  Everyone talks about how lucky I am to have Awakened. They tell me I should feel special to have this new life. They talk about all the things I'll discover, all the opportunities I have now that I don't have to be an Unawakened in the "Shallows".

  Fine, so magic is real? I'm still going to be going to court, still going to be practicing law, at least that's what they think I should do. I have a mind for it, I have experience with such things.

  I have experience with housing law, I don't know anything about Combat Paths or Weregild or what Duke so and so did 300 years ago. Which, it turns out, isn't even all that old.

  I can't even call what they have a legal system. There's laws, there are penalties, there are contracts. But anyone with actual experience could point out flaws at every turn. They shouldn't though, I tried and only later found out that I almost got executed for it. Who still has High Justice in this day and age? Awakened do it seems.

  The downsides? Besides having to learn everything all over? I can't tell my girlfriend about this, I can't tell my parents. I'm going to have to vanish from their lives. The odds of my surviving were in the single digits, the odds of them surviving are just as low. So no more happy life, no more two and a half children and a white picket fence.

  ~ * ~

  Fay watched the sisters wandering through the store. She understood why she was there, why Anya wanted her opinion and presence. She even understood why she'd need to be fitted for a dress once everything was picked out. What she didn't understand was why Anya was so determined to find the perfect dress to begin with.

  Too sheer, too heavy. Too frilly, too plain. Every choice had something wrong with it. The few she'd tried on had looked lovely, had been something Fay would have expected her to pick, but then Sandra pointed out some small flaw, or Anya realized it didn't move the way she wanted and so it was back to more searching.

  At least Anya had known what color she wanted them to wear. Pale grey with green accents, as close to her robes as they could manage while still looking celebratory. She'd first said she wanted a darker grey, only to change her mind after the clerk brought out a pale option for comparison. The dark would have made the green pop sharply, but the pale had made her mention Seb's eyes with a faint smile.

  "This one?" Sandra called out.

  "I already said no."

  "This?"

  "Sandra!"

  "But it's so pretty, it would look so good."

  "On you, on mother, on-" Anya huffed in frustration. "Look at me. How would that sit?"

  "Well with a few…" Sandra trailed off as Fay came around the corner.

  "Anya?" Fay said.

  "Yes?"

  "Have you looked on the other side? I know they said these were the wedding dresses, but some of those look like the dress, maybe they can get one in white?"

  "The dress?" Sandra asked even as Anya started to nod.

  "You think they do? That they could?"

  "If Madam can find a dress she likes, we can have one ready for fitting in any color within a month."

  Fay rested her hand on Sandra's shoulder as her sister all but ran across the shop.

  "The dress she wore to court. She surprised him with it," she explained.

  "Oh!" Sandra said. "So if she can find something like it?"

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  "She knows they'll both love it," Fay confirmed.

  "Fay!!" Anya called out. "Sandra."

  Fay let Sandra rush ahead. There was no point rushing, the store wasn't that big. From the sounds the two were making she suspected they'd found the right dress, or at least a possible right dress. Catching sight of it she smiled, she'd seen the style Anya went looking for, that Seb's eyes lingered on for longer moments than usual. This dress fit the bill, if it wasn't perfect it was the next best thing.

  "Do you think?" Anya asked.

  "Yes, but you have to try it on to be sure," Fay said.

  "Maybe?" Sandra said before flinching at both their gazes. "I mean yes! Try it on."

  ~ * ~

  The dress was going to be perfect. Anya was sure of it. It wasn't quite the same as the first dress, but she didn't want it to be identical. She wanted something that reminded her of it, but that he'd never seen before. It wasn't quite her size, it wasn't quite adjusted, not yet at least, but she knew it was the one.

  Sandra didn't disagree, didn't seem to have anything to say at all. Fay nodded, she'd seen the previous dresses, she knew the look Anya wanted, she'd pointed her to this side of the shop after all.

  "Is this Madam's choice?" the clerk asked.

  At Anya's nod she was led to a proper fitting room and found herself poked and prodded until she was certain they would have known less about her body had she simply posed naked. The fact that they had to do all this seemed insane, she had felt herself prodded with Energy techniques to go along with the actual needles, thankfully they hadn't drawn blood.

  Slipping back into her own clothes she came out to discover that her bridesmaids had picked out their dresses as well. She did have to tell Sandra that she'd have to leave off some of the lace and frills, it wasn't going to be her wedding dress. Fay's dress was almost too simple, too plain, but the look in her eyes made it clear it was the one she wanted so she said nothing.

  The rest of the day was spent wandering between stores, making plans for what they would need to buy, what they would need to arrange, who they would need to hire to finish getting them ready on the day of. There was no point buying everything now when they had to make sure it went with their dresses.

  It was going to be a simple ceremony, something small, something for family. She trusted them to make sure everything was handled. She trusted Fay to make sure her sister didn't get too enthusiastic and plan something insane. They knew what she wanted, what Seb wanted. Fay understood why she wasn't going to be there to arrange things, she knew about the time constraints.

  Spending a whole day shopping, a day she could have spent with Seb, a day they could have spent pushing further, felt wrong. But she needed the dress, she needed to see that look in Seb's eyes, when she felt his reaction. She'd gotten him with the dress, he'd gotten her with the ring. Then he'd knelt and…

  "Anya," Fay whispered. "You're blushing and staring into space."

  She blinked and took a gulp of her… water? Had she actually gotten water? She realized how little attention she'd been paying, how her thoughts had drifted back to the moment where he'd proposed. She hadn't thought about marriage, hadn't thought about anything more than how happy they were together and having him as her Partner so everyone would know.

  She hadn't realized it would matter to her until he'd asked how she'd want to be introduced. Then all she could think about was how he'd never asked, he'd never taken that step but was considering introducing her that way? They were together, they were everything to each other, but they weren't married.

  Next thing she knew he was kneeling, ignoring the gore around them. He was proposing and she was saying yes. No, she'd screamed yes, loudly enough that they'd had to deal with a goblin that had somehow not woken up when it's kin were dying. She'd challenged the cavern with that yell, challenged anything and everything to dare disagree.

  She'd wanted to leave that part of the story out when they let Fay know, she'd thrown a coffee mug at Seb when he told her anyway. Did he really have to share that she'd woken a goblin up because she was so happy he proposed? Did anyone have to know they'd both somehow overlooked a goblin just outside Seb's awareness, a goblin that could have, if it had been incredibly lucky or skilled, injured them? That they were that sloppy at times?

  Fay had completely ignored the risks it implied, she'd focused entirely on the moment itself, on the way they had both felt in the moment. She'd made sure to tell Briana everything, or at least everything she'd felt was important. Then told Sandra, which meant Sovereign Lys knew as well. It was going to be a small ceremony, cozy and intimate. It was not going to be a grand affair, it was not going to have guests she'd never met.

  "It is going to be a small ceremony," she said.

  "I know," Fay said.

  "What?" Sandra said.

  "I don't want anything big, I don't want a grand affair. I want…"

  She paused, she knew what she wanted, she'd told them what she wanted.

  "I don't want to slow down, fall behind," she finished.

  "You won't," Fay said while shushing Sandra. "You're not going to let yourself, you're not going to let Seb let you slow down."

  "How can you be sure?"

  "Because of who you are," Fay answered, her eyes flicking to Sandra. "Because you know yourself."

  Challenge. This was her challenge, this was something she would manage. Fay was right. This was who she was, what she knew about herself. She wasn't going to stop, she would slow down as much as absolutely necessary and not one bit more. Seb wouldn't slow her down, he would push her until she pushed back, challenge her to go a bit further.

  She smiled then finished the last bite of her meal. She hadn't paid any attention to the food, it tasted fine but that was all she remembered. They'd done what they had set out to do, now she could do what she needed to.

  "Is there anything else you need me to help plan?" she asked.

  Her sisters shook their heads. Both looked ready to tease her, to remind her of something. Neither did.

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