"Grillo Negro! Tepepia!"
Abraham's voice brought a pause to the music and an expectant hush to the crowd. The cookfires crackled merrily into the soft night, harmonizing with the cricket baskets and the bewildered sounds of turkeys in the shadows. Sparks danced up to wink out among the stars. People shuffled to face the center of the space beside the fires.
Abraham had forsaken his usual choice of a podium. Not because there wasn't one—there was a lovely rock in the village center that all the kids loved to climb on—but because Izel had prodded him off it claiming that she needed it more than he did. Now they were the same height.
"Tepepia," said Abraham again. "Grillo Negro. Welcome. Welcome grandmothers and grandfathers, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, aunts, uncles, cousins, gods. Welcome, friends. Welcome, family. Today, we are celebrating."
"Celebrating many things," continued Izel. "The return of our gods and the meeting of our villages. The defeat of one who would see it all destroyed, and the survival of the ones who could have fallen. The rise of a new sun and the honour we give the moon on her path through the night forever."
The villagers bowed their heads and crossed themselves in a moment of silence, an act that had become a ritual in the weeks following the battle. Nobody had protested. I suspected the gods appreciated it.
When heads lifted again, Izel still had the look of one with more to say. Instead, though, she nodded to Chal. They switched places. Chal grinned down at Abraham, who gave a wry smile.
The goddess cleared her throat. "Adriana."
My mouth fell open. We had talked about this, but not... well, they had never said it would be in front of everyone.
A cane prodded me from behind. "What, you thought you would get away without a village blessing?" came the creaky voice of tía Rosario. "Go on."
I walked to the space at the crowd's center in a daze. When I arrived, though, Chal just grinned wider. "And Jem."
I spun around. The villagers parted with a sparkle in their eyes that told me everyone had known about this but me. Lupe looked smug.
Jem measured his paces down the makeshift aisle. He had dressed up for the evening, and he kept one hand behind his back as he stopped in front of me. The corner of his mouth twitched. I realized mine was still hanging open, and shut it, my face flushing.
I spoke with everyone personally, he said in my head. No one had anything but love and encouragement, so we went ahead and made it a village ceremony.
My words weren't working anymore. The last pang I had felt about what we were doing melted away, and I dropped my head. Partly to hide my relief, but more so he couldn't see the tears that threatened my smile. Thank you.
Are you okay with it?
Of course I am.
He winked at Chal. Conspirator.
"Perfect," said the goddess. "Shall we proceed, then?"
Jem reached out a hand, and I took it. Chal hopped off the rock and came around us, a hand on each of our shoulders. She turned us so she could face the crowd.
"Half-death is not a way of living," she said, "and eventually draws life away, both before its time and without allowing new life to flourish in the space between. There is, though, one way to circumvent it." She gave my shoulder a light squeeze. "Have you decided?"
"Home," I said. "And kids."
Her eyes twinkled warmly. She turned to Jem. "And you?"
"Medicine and doctors."
Of course he would. It suited him so well. He had always spoken about wanting to replace some of what was lost the day the world burned.
"You've made your choices. Alright, gods first."
Everyone not already standing rose. The gods were let through the crowd. Except for Xochi, they were all here—even Xolotl, who I'd scarcely seen out of the gods' tent since he'd woken up. He looked tired and pale, and both Quet and Xipe kept a hand on his back. But he was here.
The gods and Emma arranged themselves so they each had a hand on either Jem or I. Jem squeezed my hand and I squeezed it back. Now the villagers added themselves. Our families were allowed as close as the gods' shoulders, but no closer. From there, everyone else built out the network until it filled the village center and spilled out between the tents.
Izel spoke first, murmuring a prayer that passed through the village like a gentle breeze. Then Abraham gave a blessing. When this finished, Chal squeezed our shoulders again. My heart had been going double-time already, ever since Jem had arrived. Now it leaped again. Gods, if half-death didn't kill me, my pulse would soon.
Jem squeezed my hand again. It helped.
A whisper of magic had threaded between the gods without my noticing. I'd been told any one of them used to be able to do this on their own. As the world stood now, it might be a few millennia before they got that back again, but I didn't care. I liked it like this.
The whisper wove around our circle again, then inwards to Jem and I. I felt it touch me, surround me, move down my arm and connect me with the whisper from Jem. We were an unbroken chain. Between life and death, the present and eternity. It had cracked every inch of my heart to come to terms with what immortality meant. The alternative, though—an early, painful death and no chance of a family—was not the life I wanted, either. And this way, at least, I would not be leaving Emma alone.
We. We would not. The ache eased a little again, and I squeezed Jem's hand. He squeezed it back.
"We make you gods," said Chal quietly.
Simple words, but I felt that whisper thrum inwards and outwards, a symphony of magic for just a moment before the night air fell again. Chal smiled at us and lifted her hands. The gods stepped back.
Jem got down on one knee.
"You didn't," I whispered.
From behind his back, he had produced a bouquet of flowers. Beautiful, tropical ones, every one of which I knew had meant something to the Mexica. He must have spent weeks channeling his budding magic to make them grow.
He wasn't done yet, though, and pulled something else from his pocket.
"I know you don't like rings," he said. "So we compromised."
It was a ring, but on a delicate gold chain, to be worn as a necklace next to my Grillo Negro pendant. The ring itself was gold and silver inlaid with turquoise. Xipe's craftsmanship, without a doubt. Maybe even Xipe and Xochi, depending on how long ago he had commissioned it.
"Will you let me spend my life with you?" he said.
"That's going to be a long time," I said, because my brain was fuzzy and I couldn't speak with my fingers over my mouth and tears streaming down my face.
"That's the point."
"Can I kiss you?" There was nothing else I could think of that would make this night more complete. Well, maybe a few things, but none that could spoil this moment, right now, right here.
Jem just smiled. I knew he felt the same. I could see it in every inch of his love: in his hands, his smile, his warm, dark eyes. "Yes."
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