Gold
The night’s last rays of starlight streamed in through Kev’s bedroom window. He sat in bed, staring at the dusty furniture, the piles of laundry, and, most of all, the empty spot next to him. Never had he yearned for a wife sleeping next to him more than this moment, the eve of what promised to be a lonely and loveless marriage to the only unattached female in town.
He grabbed the bed’s second pillow and threw it on the floor. No one would be needing it any time soon, not unless he somehow got out of the mining business that brought him here and left the village, and the pony, behind. At least he’d been on hand to take in Dana and Tam after the accident; the spacious house that he’d dreamed of filling with progeny of his own had plenty of room for a displaced sister, an infant nephew, and now for the pony wife sleeping in the living room.
The door creaked open and Dana peered across the threshold. “Are you awake?”
“Yeah… I can’t stop thinking.”
“Me either.”
Kev moved to the edge of the bed and set his hooves on the floor. “This has to be a mistake. I know it’s legal and everything, but when was the last time you heard about an interspecies marriage? The guys at work won’t ever let me live it down.”
“You could always beat them up after work, or fire them if you can’t wait that long.”
Kev laughed. “You’d make a great manager.”
Dana knocked a fist against the wall. “Would if I could. I never even thought about the law until after Jerek, but now…”
He could almost hear her muscles tightening. “If the pony saves us enough cash, you and Tam could finally move to Equestria. Iron Will always used to say everyone is equal there.”
She let out a pained sigh. “Yeah. I feel so bad for what I did now… helping kick him out of the family. If I’d known what I do now…”
“He was on his way out the minute he started going by an Equestrian name to ‘help with his business.’ ”
“Heh, I wonder if it helped… or if he was even right? If Equestria is so perfect, how come Morning Dew doesn’t want to go back?”
“How did you understand her?”
“Huh?”
“I know you don’t know the pony language, so how come you could understand what she was saying and I couldn’t?”
Dana laughed and stepped closer. “You mean you don’t remember Iron Will going on and on about pony magic and how it’d make him rich?”
“You mean all those times that me and my buddies punched him until he shut up?”
“Pony magic can make their language understandable, but it only works if you want it to.” She gave him a hard sock in the arm. “You can’t understand her because, deep down, you don’t want to.”
Kev rubbed his arm and snorted. “Feh, whatever. It’s all business anyway. Either we’ll save enough to get us all out of here, or I’ll finally get a promotion back to the corporate office. They said this whole mining thing was a temporary gig from the start, something to prove I was real management material.”
“Kev, do you really believe that anymore?”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“Because it’s been five years since we all moved out here! Jerek always believed that ‘temporary assignment’ thing, and look where it got him!”
Kev stood. “It was an accident, Dana! It’s nobody’s fault!”
“Then how come they never gave me his last paycheck? How come nothing ever came of all that ‘compensation package’ talk?” She went to the window and stared out at the dimming starlight. “They sent you and Jerek out here to rot, Kev. Simple as that. They needed a couple low-level guys to do a job nobody wanted, and guess what? Nobody wants to take your place. The only way we’re getting out of town is if you quit, and the only way you can do that is if the pony helps us save a ton of money or if you leave me and Tam behind.”
“You know I’d never do that! I swore I’d take care of you two, so unless you want to get married again—”
“Nope. Nobody else is ever going to be good enough to be Tam’s dad. He’s stuck with just me and his Uncle Kev.”
Kev yawned. “And his aunt… pony.”
“Morning Dew.”
“Right.”
“You’re marrying her. Learn her name.”
“I know her name! Saying it just feels weird. Who names their kid after fog?”
“Ponies, apparently. Let’s just try to make this a good thing.”
He nodded. “Right. We get water for free now.”
“Minus the cost of her food… unless I use the extra water to start a garden. That’s even less money for the goats, complete win-win.”
“Hah! Like I said, you’d make a great manager.”
A sliver of sunlight shot through the window just as Morning Dew knocked on the open bedroom door. She looked at Dana, opened her mouth to speak, and closed it again when she saw Kev.
Kev thought to the pad of paper she’d used the previous night. Save that, he was stuck asking yes or no questions. “You can still back out.”
She shook her head.
Dana patted him on the shoulder and laughed. “Congratulations, Kev, you’re committed. You’d better get moving so you’re not late for work.”
---
Dawn had barely begun as they left the house. Kev looked over the deserted streets and the quiet huts. None of his neighbors were awake yet. The goat merchants probably hadn’t even started their morning ascent from the oasis.
Morning Dew walked beside him. The rapid cadence of her hoofsteps, the two extra beats that he’d always associated with goats sneaking up to sell him something, made his skin crawl. She didn’t didn’t say anything, of course, which only made it worse.
He decided to talk instead. “I work in the mine on the other side of the mountain. I’m the on-site manager.”
She glanced up at him briefly, too briefly for him to gauge her reaction.
“It’s not a great job, but it pays. That’s what counts, I guess… Dana’s husband used to work there, too. One day he slipped down an open mineshaft and… You can probably figure out the rest. The point is, I support Dana and Tam. That’s what I do. I’m marrying you because it’ll help get us all out of this lousy village.”
She nodded.
“I come home just before sundown every day. That’s about the time Dana has dinner made. Sometimes it takes longer if Tam keeps her busy. That’s what kids do, I guess.”
She nodded again.
He didn’t know what else to say, aside from the obvious. “That’s the Magistrate’s house right there.”
They’d reached the center of the village, the spot that, by law, belonged to the keeper of the peace. The Magistrate’s house and office was the nicest building in town, which wasn’t saying much. The brick and mortar walls, hauled all the way here from civilization, were emblazoned with the Minos national flag: a minotaur at the center of a green maze with no entrance or exit.
Kev pointed to the flag. “Just in case we ever forget who’s in charge… The Magistrate’s the reason the village is built here at all; you can’t have a minotaur settlement without one. That’s why we’re stuck up here instead of down there.” He pointed a thumb toward the oasis. “Because his house is here, we’re here too.”
Morning Dew pointed to the house’s front door. So much for small talk.
He rapped his knuckles against the door, right under the notice listing the official hours. By law, the Magistrate’s office was open for business from sunrise to sunset. Kev had no intention of letting the minotaur with the shortest commute in town sleep in.
“Come in,” a deep voice said.
Kev pushed the door open and stepped inside. A large wooden desk covered in tall stacks of paper and taller stacks of books consumed the majority of the front room. The walls were decorated with swords and axes, some ceremonial and others merely dusty.
The Magistrate was seated behind his desk facing them, hunched over a long roll of paper with a fancy pen in hand. Tall candles stood on either side of him, casting their feeble light on his delicate penmanship. Seeing a minotaur as big as him behind a desk doing paperwork was almost comic. “Who’s there?”
Kev cleared his throat. “It’s Kev, Your Honor.”
The Magistrate’s pen didn’t pause for a moment. “What do you want?”
“I’d… like to get married.”
“Hah, you and me both. That sister of yours still in mourning?”
Kev clenched his teeth. “Yes, Your Honor.”
“Too bad. So where’d you find a woman?”
“She kind of found me. We’d like to get on with this, if that’s all right.”
“Don’t suppose your bride has a sis… ter…” Finally the Magistrate looked up from his work. He stared at Morning Dew for a minute, and then rose to his feet. From a standing position he could glare down at them both, not to mention almost brush the ceiling with his horns. “You think marriage is a joke? I could fine you just for coming in here and wasting my time.”
Kev made a fist. “I’m serious. Marrying a pony is legal, and I don’t want any trouble for it.”
The Magistrate stroked his chin. He leaned over to run his finger down a stack of papers, and plucked one out of the middle. “Heh, I won’t give you trouble. Everyone else in town… that’s your problem. Just sign this form.”
A legal form, dense with incomprehensibly small text, slid across the desk, and a pen quickly followed.
Kev grabbed the pen and scratched his name on the line at the bottom. Both he and the Magistrate looked on in mild disgust as Morning Dew did the same with the pen in her mouth.
After she returned the pen to the desk, the Magistrate flicked it onto the ground. “I’ll just add the cost of the pen to your taxes. Do you have your rings?”
“I don’t think we need to wear—”
The Magistrate tapped on the completed form. “Subsection eight. You both need to wear rings to make it legally binding. You wouldn’t want some desperate guy to think your woman is fair game, now would you?”
Kev groaned. “Any other surprises?”
“It’s your legal duty to protect her, and hers to care for you… all the stuff a ‘loving couple’ such as yourselves would do anyway.” He reached under the desk and retrieved a wooden box. “And what better way to start your lives together than by buying your wife a little present?”
Rings of every kind slid around in the box, some glittering with gemstones and others as drab and worn as the box itself. Kev picked out a plain gold band and rubbed his fingers against the cold metal. “Where do you get these?”
The Magistrate grinned. “My brother runs a little shop. I always keep some around for spur-of-the-moment couples like yourselves, not to mention guys forgetting birthdays and anniversaries. Buy something here for a fair price, or take your chances with the bleaters outside.”
Kev squeezed the ring in his fist. He’d pulled higher quality gold out of the mine with his own two hands. Still, he was going through with all this to save money, not waste it. “How much for two like this one?”
Morning Dew cleared her throat and held up her front left leg. A regular ring obviously wasn’t going to fit.
The Magistrate nodded. “Right, no fingers.” He fished around in the box and held up a slightly larger ring that narrowed down to a pinpoint. He twisted it in his fingers and the narrowest part split in two. “You’ve got two choices: wear it in your nose, or in your ear. Either way it’s going to hurt.”
She stared at the sharp metal tip with wide eyes. After a moment’s silent thought, she pointed to her left ear.
“Suit yourself. You can just take the rings, Kev, so long as you tell your sister how generous I am.”
Kev slipped on his ring. It felt pleasantly heavy, like it’d do a fair amount of damage if he were to suddenly punch the Magistrate in the face. “Thank you, Your Honor.”
“Just take care of your… bride, and be on your way.”
Kev looked down at the earring on the desk. “Don’t you have tools for that or something?”
The Magistrate slid one of his candles across the desk. “My brother’s the jeweler, not me. You want to get married, you do this yourself.”
Kev picked up the earring and tested the sharp point against his finger. He didn’t want to do this. Marrying the pony was weird enough without having to stab her in the ear. He held the pin over the candle until he could feel the heat in his fingers. “You sure you want to do this?”
Morning Dew took a deep breath and nodded. Her left ear, the one closest to him, stood up proud and tall.
Her ear felt like soft velvet between his fingers. “Are you ready?”
She gave the smallest of nods.
Kev took a deep breath of his own, and gave the pin a hard, fast push. A few droplets of blood, the same vibrant red as her mane, soaked into her coat as the earring clicked together. Much to his surprise, she didn’t cry, or even gasp. She was tougher than he thought.
“All done.”
Her ear flicked away from his touch in response.
Kev stood there for a moment as the irony soaked in. He was married. He was married to a creature that, by their mutual agreement, he’d never touch again.
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The setting seems very middle eastern or Turkish to me.
Great stuff so far. A sign of a good author is the ability to seamlessly work worldbuilding and exposition into dialogue, which you seem to be able to do quite well.
This is fascinating. I'm looking forward to where you take this.
Brave brave Morning Dew, you'll love her in the end Kev.
The symbolism is overwhelming.
This is really awesome so far! They all seem like believable characters in an interesting setting. I'm putting this on my tracking list, posthaste!
The story continues to grow more interesting.
I wonder what else about Morning Dew will end up impressing Kev?
I'm definitely intrigued by Morning Dew's past. A little surprised by how primitive the Minatours are. From what little we've seen of them, they seem to have a higher level of technology than Equestria, so it's a bit surprising these ones don't even have electricity. Then again, this is a really remote village.
6885133 Kev may not be what you'd call an unbiased observer, but I don't get the feeling that Minos's government would go for a Rural Electrification program.
6882704
There is no escape.