5

Mira stood in her bedroom with her mother as she was getting ready for the evening's choosing. To say she was nervous was putting it mildly. Her stomach had finally stopped rolling but her heart was still racing. It had slowed somewhat with the 2 glasses of wine her mother had given her with her supper. Mira almost snorted in a very unladylike fashion. Supper indeed. She had struggled to get the food past the tightness in her throat. She was so badly shaken from the thought of finding her husband tonight that she had barely managed to get soup and a small bit of bread into her stomach. While the wine had gone down easily, the food had not. And Mira was now in a state of relaxed chaos.

She frowned to herself. Was that really a thing, she wondered?

"Mira, darling, perhaps a bit more of the soup? You are swaying somewhat. I think, perhaps,  you have had a little too much wine and not enough food." Mira turned to see her mother speaking to her but in her head, she felt vaguely disconnected.

Looking at her mother, she smiled, then giggled as the thought of what she had said was somehow funny.

Mira's mother frowned and placed one hand on her hip and used the other hand to rub her forehead in a worried and distracted manner. Signaling to Mary, Mira's maid, she asked for bread with honey butter to be brought to Mira's room.  When it arrived, Lady Amethyst smeared the honey butter on the still warm bread and held it in front of her daughter's nose.

"Eat Mira! You have had too much wine and need something to soak it up." Like an obedient child, Mira opened her mouth and her mother placed a piece of bread in it. She chewed on reflex and swallowed.

A few minutes later, Mira, horrified, realized what had happened. "It's alright, Mira. Mary and I both know how important tonight is for you. This is your second time at the choosing, and you are wondering if you will ever have a husband. I promise you, daughter, not only will this be your final choosing, but that your future husband is here and you will smell his unique scent tonight. Of that, I can guarantee. Now, get ahold of yourself, girl. You have to finish getting ready."

Mira, Mary and Lady Amethyst spent the rest of the afternoon braiding, twisting and curling her hair, lining her eyes with a kohl, painting her lips with a berry stain and dabbing expensive and rarely used oil on the pulse points of her throat.

When it was time to leave the each loaded up into the family carriage with her father whose smile was somewhat misty. Before Mira could say anything, her mother covered her eyes with a emerald green silk scarf. The weave was thick so that she could not see through it, and was tied tight enough to stay in place. Feeling the sway of the carriage and hearing the clip-clop of the horses hooves echoed with the staccato beat of her heart. 

No one spoke on the journey to the temple at the other end of town. When the carriage came to a stop she heard her mother directing her father to exit the carriage first and help his daughter negotiate the steps of the carriage so that she would not fall with the blind fold on. 

Being blindfolded really did sharpen the sense of hearing. Mira could hear several other carriages pull up behind or alongside of theirs and similar instructions being given by mothers to fathers. As she stepped down out of the carriage, a hand, old and with prominent bones, reached out to take her hand. 

"Mira, my dear, it is I, Tomias. I will lead you from here. Unfortunately, your parents are not allowed to accompany you." As they walked, the old priest's voice soothed her in a way the wine earlier had not. "You will be led through several rooms of the temple. In each room there is an eligible man worthy of you. You will step into each room alone and I will shut the door. The man will not say anything. He is not allowed to. If you smell something that entices you beyond anything, intrigues you, calls to you, that is your mate, you spouse.  All you have to do is speak the words "I choose you." I will be called in and your blindfold removed so that you may begin the process of getting to know your future and only husband. Do you understand the instructions that you have been given, Mira?"

Mira, whose throat had tightened up once more, merely nodded. As they began to walk, the priest spoke directions for her on where to step and what direction to turn and when until they reached the first room. 

"Mira, I will lead you inside and you have one full minute to decide. You will know almost instantly so a minute is really not needed. But we provide that as a matter of historical preference. After one minute, the door will open and I will come in to retrieve you. Then we will continue to the next room until we get to the room where your husband is."

When the Priest was done speaking, they stopped. "This is the first room, Mira. There are eight rooms for you to go through. I have no idea if you will need to go through all of them. That is not for me to decide. That is solely your choice. Are you ready, my dear?"

At Mira's nod the priest opened a door and led her in. She stood quietly in the blindfold induced darkness and took a deep breath and then smelled the air of the room. While the air smelled familiar, it did not do anything that the priest had previously mentioned. She knew the man could see her, but she had no way of knowing who it was until her blindfold was removed. She could hear the person breathing, but that was all and when the minute was up, the elderly priest opened the door and reached for her hand, startling her.

"Easy Mira. It is I, Tomias. I have come to take you to the next room." As they were exiting the room, Tomias must have known she was disappointed. "Do not fret, child. Many girls go through several doors before finding their husband. Your mother was one such. Your father was in the last room that your mother went into. It was the last room with an eligible man in it. Just like tonight, we had eight men and eight rooms. Your father was in room number eight. Your mother walked in there in tears feeling hopeless and afraid. When I closed the door, I didn't have to wait long to hear the words that we had hoped to hear. You will choose the right one and you will be very happy with each other. Now, we are at the second door."

Mira went through the entire ritual. She had been in seven rooms and this last one was her final hope. She wanted to sob. She wanted what she had smelled in the forest the previous day. That wonderful spicy smell that had drawn her. It had enticed her and called to her. Her heart had beat furiously and her legs had followed it automatically, as though, given no choice.

Tomias shut the door and the smell of her mate and husband washed over her. Mira almost couldn't get the words out in her excitement. "You! It's you! From the forest! I choose.....I choose you"

Tine walked over to his mate and soon to-be wife and leaned down to gently take her face in his giant hands and brushed his lips against hers, causing her to gasp. Then he reached up in the darkness and removed her blindfold. He knew she couldn't se him in the dark. But he see her perfectly. After all, dragons had excellent night vision.