Kennalaria had to admit, when Keekee had first shown Her a mental image of Suri, She had felt a little surpassed. If the girl looked like that without any of Her Mother's spells, in armor of all things, then Kennalaria had no choice but to relinquish the Goddess of Beauty title to its rightful owner. Through Her laughter, Keekee had gasped reassurances that the objectivity of the image was doubtful, being from the mind of an observer who had literally asked the subject to marry him within about twelve minutes of speaking more than pleasantries to her for the first time, so Kennalaria shouldn't take it too hard. Still.

But then Kennalaria had seen a sparkle in Her left iris in the mirror the next morning, and remembered that She was the luckiest person ever born. At Her family's insistence, She had secluded Herself, in order not to spoil the once-in-an-eternity surprise for the public, only jumping Her Sisters from Sanctuary to Sanctuary as required. The world knew exactly what was happening, and now, four months later, was on the verge of a collective seizure of anticipation.

The transformation now seemed to be complete, at least complete enough not to bother with seclusion any longer. Kennalaria had looked Herself over in the mirror in advance of entering the Esto Dome, and decided that She was coming dangerously close to narcissism, so She needed to meditate.

It was hard, with four fluffballs trying and failing to squeeze onto Her sparkly head.

"People are going to have an even harder time interacting with You," Her Mother lamented, observing Her from the doorway. She had never squealed over Kennalaria's transformation like She supposedly had over Keekee's. The Twilight Goddess' new appearance wasn't something that caused squealing. It dazzled. Stunned. Silenced.

'Yes,' Kennalaria thought, 'but comments like that are as helpful to the anti-narcissism meditation process as this game of bumper birds.' Keekee laughed from the other room. Kennalaria's recent...struggles with Her appearance were apparently so funny that mere giggling was insufficient.

Kennalaria sighed, reopened Her eyes, and saw Her reflection again.

Her hair, including Her brows and eyelashes, was sparkling rich, dark violet, but with a dramatic transparency effect. It wasn't possible to see through to Her scalp, but the color smoothly faded out toward the tips, transitioning to pure sparkles apparently suspended in midair towards the ends. The hair on Her back formed a glimmering veil when it wasn't braided, and with apologies to Izena, and Her statue, She planned to wear it that way more often now. The fading effect wasn't really significant to the appearance of Her brows, but it was striking for Her eyelashes. They were sparkling violet at the roots, gradually transitioning to sparkles suspended in midair toward the tips.

Twilight's eyes were even more magical.

The original icy blue inherited from Her Mother appeared to have persisted, intermixed with the violet. So, Her irises looked like a glittering blue and violet nebula. That alone would be satisfactory, but Kennalaria was the Goddess of Luck, so She received an extra sprinkle in Her sweetfluff: The cloud pattern shifted in real time, as though the blue and violet couldn't decide which should show where.

Finally, She gave an overall impression of being...airy? Incorporeal? It was hard to verbalize. She wasn't transparent, aside from Her hair, but Her shadow was not as dark as it should be, bright lights penetrated Her a little like sunlight through a hanging bedsheet, and She wasn't pushed into the ground as strongly as She should be, like She was subject to a slight buoyancy. She had started to feel genuinely lighter recently, even before the transformation happened, but now She was starting to look the part, too. She could already infer what the ultraviolet passive effect was, analogous to Her Mother's light and regeneration, or Keekee's emotional aura.

So, altogether, a dictionary could simply use an image of Her as the definition of 'ethereal' annnnnnd it was thoughts like that one that required this meditation session.

The Twilight Goddess stared at stage one of Her final form, already so spectacular that it exceeded Her dreams, despite Her dreaming about it for hours a day while torturing Herself across more than seven centuries. Soon, She would wear only mana.

Binka kloo-rooed in triumph as Kennalaria rose from the ground.

'Ah, whatever, I'm fabulous, and there's nothing wrong with that. Let's go.'

Beauty Herself emerged from a Sanctuary for the first time in four months, and the Guards posted to the door gasped.

She had to admit, She was glad that this had happened before Keekee introduced Them to Suri and Zyriko.

----

As expected, Zyriko's parents accepted the proposal enthusiastically, immensely proud of how prestigious the match was. Moreover, for the first time in his life and to his amusement, Zyriko felt something approaching sympathy from them, when they were introduced to Suri in full blast I-am-the-perfect-wife-candidate-for-your-son mode. Like, 'Ah, hmm, right, nothing you could have done about this. We understand.'

Suri's parents had given her a pointed look, in response to which she had simply nodded. That was all they needed, before heading off to the joint meeting.

The only issue requiring real discussion had been how the lineage merging would work. Normally, the weaker spouse would marry into the lineage of the stronger. Suri was stronger than Zyriko--she was the strongest mage in the world--which was fortunate, since that meant they would be more closely connected with the Keyics' power base while they remained only Heir and Heiress.

Due to the peculiarity of the mixed color situation, and to acknowledge Zyzz's status as the clearly preeminent red lineage, both sides had agreed that Keyic would not simply absorb Zyzz. Both lineages would operate in parallel in the future if there were suitable red and blue heirs in the same generation, red operating from Zyzz territory and blue from Keyic, in order to maintain the strength of the red and blue lines separately. Any mismatched progeny--a blue child born to Zyzz parents or red to Keyic--would be formally considered part of the other lineage. And on, and on, and none of it mattered.

It made Zyriko feel better that Suri had also been flustered while their parents casually discussed their future children. And, he didn't need to ask her to know that none of this was relevant to them; Suri had just made clear that she held the entire concept of lineages and breeding for high 'divine power' in contempt. If they had children, they would just have a normal family, rewriting the rules to suit them when they had control. The only thing that mattered at the moment was making an agreement that would seem normal to the world, and would gain his parents' approval. Zyriko just trusted that Suri's parents knew what they were doing. The Keyics had apparently been having these conversations under similar circumstances for centuries, the only wrinkle of this edition being the color mixing.

Zyriko's parents, especially his father, had been a little miffed that immediately after Zyzz had ascended to clear dominance as the premier red 'god' lineage, it would be absorbed into a hybrid lineage. Zyriko reminded them that this was happening because their son, the most powerful red 'god' ever born, had nevertheless managed to marry up, uniting the clearly dominant red lineage with arguably the leading blue one to create easily the most prestigious lineage in the current world. Zyzz was so superior to all other red lineages that none were worthy. Insisting on a red match to keep Zyzz pure red would inevitably mean marrying down, way down, like some kind of act of charity. Keyic was the only lineage in the world with a daughter worthy of Zyzz's son, and vice-versa. That change of perspective had been enough to mollify them.

With their parents' mutual approval sealed, Suri officially became Zyriko's fiancée within the week.

And now, having reached marriageable age a few months later, Zyriko was traveling north, toward the equator, to move to his new home in Keyic territory in advance of the ceremony. He ran his fingers along his new blue circlet in a daze.

Suri, Heiress Keyic, the most powerful mage in the world, a fellow devotee of the True Goddesses, someone who shared his goal of reforming this broken world, sky blue eyes as beautiful as her sky blue mana, had made this circlet herself to mark him as the fiancé and soon husband of the Keyic Heiress. Because Zyriko was going to marry her soon. The ceremony would be in Keyic territory, where he was going now, because he was going to become a Keyic, because he was going to marry Suri, the Keyic Heiress. Incredible. It was actually happening.

In addition to the circlet, she had grown armor for him in the same core design as what she wore. Zyriko was wearing it now. It, too, marked him as Keyic. He was a Keyic, because he was marrying the Keyic Heiress, and she was stronger than him. Incredible. He could just look down and see her lake-reflecting-sky appearance, on himself, whenever he wanted.

Deep breaths.

The Red Goddess had promised to be available, to speak to everyone through him and provide the final confirmation that the Keyics had requested. Most exciting of all, since the meeting would not be so rushed and clandestine in Keyic territory, She would introduce Her Sisters as well.

When he arrived, the Keyic family was waiting for him, along with some of their non-mages, who on paper had the same status as the Zyzz's slaves, but clearly not in practice. Everyone was wearing blue, but only Suri's hair was blue. She was wearing the same formal outfit to receive her fiancé as she had worn when they agreed to marry--that had happened!--the same style that he was now wearing. The fact that it was still comfortable in this heat and humidity was testament to its magical nature. Well done, future wife.

...Incredible.

Almost everything about her appearance was unchanged today compared to the last time he had seen her--blue armor, blue hair, blue eyes, blue circlet, blue mana impression, all the exact same lake-reflecting-sky blue--with one minor but dramatic exception: Today, her nails were painted red.

It made him feel so foolish, but this struck Zyriko as the most romantic, erotic thing he had ever seen or heard of, and his mind was in overdrive after he noticed, while walking over to make formal introductions. Why did simply painting her nails red do this to him!?

Suri clearly did not wear anything but that same shade of blue normally. Zyriko approved. That shade had thoroughly cemented itself as his favorite color, and he still felt drugged when he thought about how he was wearing it now and would wear it forever. Even so, she had, intentionally, obtained a red tint for her nails, and not just any red tint, the same red as his hair, and the glow of his mana. She did not need to make any change at all and definitely did not need to get the perfect shade of red, but she had. With voluntary purpose, she had invested effort to paint her nails that exact shade, changing what was surely a lifetime habit, because she wanted him to experience exactly what he was experiencing right now.

Zyriko wasn't sure what her exact intended message was, but he heard:

'I am excited to see you, so my nails are red. Do not be afraid that I am marrying you reluctantly out of desperation or coercion. I was desperate, but if I were marrying you out of desperation, my nails would be blue. I was forced into making a choice, but I chose you enthusiastically, so my nails are red. We have a massive power imbalance: I am elder and stronger, you are marrying into my family, you pursued me, showed your attraction to me first and I have not reciprocated, and your family is toxic so you have little to fall back on. None of that will matter. Look at my nails. I didn't need to paint them red, and nevertheless they are red, even though that took much more effort. You are the best option, not the least awful one. Thank you for existing. My nails could be blue today. They are red.'

The more he thought about it, the less stupid Zyriko felt for being so elated over it. This was the kind of minor but major thing that made mana beautiful. He could have chosen any red mage on the planet. He was marrying this blue mage who would paint her nails the perfect shade of red, for his sake, even though it was contrary to her habit and cost extra effort and was probably embarrassing.

This period of formal introductions was not appropriate for the conversation, but he would ask her later about her actual intent.

"I am Zyriko, Heir Zyzz. I wish to enter the domain of the Keyic divine lineage, in order to join that illustrious lineage through marriage to its daughter Suri."

Good, he managed to say that without fainting.

"You are welcome, Zyriko of Zyzz. You shall be Zyriko of Keyic, with our blessing," answered Suri's mother, the stronger of Suri's parents and, thus, the original Keyic of the two.

Zyriko moved to continue introductions, but the greeting party gestured toward Suri.

"I asked to speak with you privately, when you arrived," she explained.

Well, this was a perfect opportunity.

"Good, I am grateful for this chance," Zyriko said, smiling at her. "Before you begin, let me say that seeing your red nails was a memory that I will never forget. Now that I have that memory, I want you to know that I love the blue, it really suits you, and I would be glad if you return to wearing it in the future. Can I ask exactly why you chose the red, today? Did you have a specific intent?"

Suri looked down at her nails.

"The answer is related to what I wanted to say."

She paused briefly to compose her reply, before she started speaking again, inspecting her nails the whole time. Zyriko looked too.

"I have dreaded this day for years. It has felt more and more like an impending execution. But now, I am excited about it. I have spent these last few months replaying those few minutes of conversation out of joy, not dread. This," she raised both hands and displayed her nails near her face, "was an outlet, and a way to show that to you. Like I said," she dropped her hands and locked eyes with him as she had on the bench, months ago, and he was transfixed the same way, waiting to see a cloud, "'thank you for existing.'"

Suri resumed her nail inspection, and Zyriko followed her gaze. His pulse had been racing since he first saw her, and never slowed down.

"There's more. I was worried that you might believe you were just convenient to me. A name that I would use to solve a problem, and no more. Or, that I may never take you seriously, maybe treat you like a younger brother, or that I intend for you to be more like a business partner, or comrade. That when I 'agreed to be your wife,' I was agreeing to a formality."

Back to transfixing eyes, again. Zyriko was about to marry this person, who could put him in the sky with a few sentences, gestures, and glances.

"I know that is not what you want. You showed me, gave me an absolute certainty that many would envy, that you really do want to marry me, for who I am personally, not just as a solution to a problem. I want to affirm that I was aware of that from the beginning, that I said yes fully knowing your intent, and planning to accept it. I deeply respected your honesty, and so I have resolved to return it today, because to do anything less would be to answer courage with cowardice."

Suri paused briefly, only locking eyes while breathing slowly, and that was completely fine with Zyriko.

"I want this to work. I want it to be mutual. I do not know you well, but I have seen enough to conclude, even after only a few minutes of conversation, that I am eager to know more. I intend to make an earnest effort at being your wife, for real, with all that entails. I have no intent of this being a marriage only in name. I painted my nails red because I was greeting someone I have romantic interest in. For anyone else, my nails would be blue today. When you got out of the transport, I wanted you to see someone waiting for you who knew she had agreed to be your wife and meant it, not your big sister or business partner or comrade, and despite all the weirdness of how it happened and the age gap and the timeline and everything else: I. Am. Eager. And so, my nails are red."

Zyriko was still waiting for that fluffy white cloud he knew must be coming into view soon, while wondering how he was still conscious.

Ah, acclimation to emotional overload from talks with the Red Goddess.

"Now, the age gap was an issue for me, before," Suri confessed, "so I could not immediately return the feelings of attraction that you showed me. And, it is true that I agreed so rapidly, and we're rushing, because I urgently need to get eyes off me. But, I do not want you to misunderstand. That is not all you are to me. I do find you attractive, still a little young for me but," she pointedly looked him up and down, then looked right back into his eyes, and swallowed conspicuously, "seeing you wearing...me, my color...does things."

Suri had endured well until then, but that last part had her blushing furiously. Zyriko blushed and swallowed back.

She stepped forward and leaned in to murmur in his ear.

"Make sure you always wear my color, so everyone knows exactly who Zyriko of Keyic belongs to, hmm?"

...As if he'd ever willingly wear anything else. He nodded enthusiastically.

Zyriko was astonished that his knees and heart hadn't given out for that entire...confession? And, he'd even remembered to breathe, and not drooled. His conversations with the Red Goddess really were paying dividends in multiple ways. But she wasn't done.

"It makes me happy that you like staring into my eyes so much, but I sense that you have never considered why I spend so much time staring into yours."