Star Kitten (45 page)

Practically every tribe sent even more than
their invitations allotted, but this was more than acceptable to
Solomon. Chieftains were all sent invitations which entitled them
to bring their bodyguards, ministers, and retainers, but also their
personal harems. This could be hundreds of people really, but most
chose just ten or twenty of their best warriors and the prettiest
females from their harems. Pumalar chieftains of course brought ALL
of the Pumalar females in their tribe. And by association, a lot of
human tribes brought all their human females... and not just the
ones donated by their tribes to help Felina put on a real
Earth-style wedding. Even the Bandicoot delegation showed up with
Muroid and five of his “wives” as he had begun calling them.

Then there was Rex
Middlefield, who had now been made “grand chef” to a Pumalar tribe
called the Jaguarondi. He had quite extensive duties there; but
also had a staff of twenty other male humans who worked directly
under his supervision making sumptuous dishes every day for their
fellow tribesmen. Made into full members because they were male,
these "men" had suffered nothing in the way of secondary social
status with the Jaguarondi. In their view serving food and
preparing dishes then cleaning up a kitchen afterward was just
another valued role within the tribe. And at night, there was
plenty of action to enjoy among the big warrior cats after dinner.
Rex and his “men” embraced their duties as Servers and Cooks
rather…
enthusiastically
!

But when it came time for
the wedding, well, Rex was readily and graciously
donated
by the
Jaguarondi to serve as the caterer and head chef for the wedding
banquet. For days leading up to the ceremony he’d gathered up foods
from all over New Australia and devised a multicultural menu that
would be acceptable, if not delightful, to absolutely everyone. He
also had the Porkos erect partitions to shield the cooking area
from view. It was a feverish, hectic morning for Rex the day of the
wedding. The type of environment where he excelled, that was for
damn sure; but by the time of the ceremony, he was finally able to
shoo his staff out of the kitchen area and with a deep sigh he was
able to stand outside the partition wall to watch his best friend
Felina come up the aisle with her dashing groom Solomon. Wiping his
hands with a dish towel, already soaked in sweat from the heat of
his kitchen, he mopped his sweaty eyebrows and subtly dabbed tears
of proud joy. “
My, did Felina look
fabulous today
,” he thought to
himself!

For his BEST MAN, Solomon had chosen his
good friend Kscheeech; and practically no one was surprised at
that. To Solomon, this was the least he could do to honor his loyal
ship Captain, and for that matter, the creature most responsible
for this day's happy occasion. Solomon went further by selecting
twenty groomsmen (staff from his command terminal mostly; plus a
few trusted warriors from his tribe the Schpleeftkorkii). All of
this basically made sense to the audience. Besides, Felina had
nearly sixty Maids of Honor! She just couldn’t exclude anyone, she
explained. All had helped with the wedding planning; so all should
stand with her at the front of the ceremony, she decided.

However there was one
conspicuous absence at the wedding that day: Admiral Snout and his
crew from the Anarchy. Now that it had been so long since the
disappearance of their hero Snout and his crew members; all
Nausties in attendance were pleased to see Solomon's classy gesture
of leaving one open spot between his many groomsmen to signify
Snout's absence. And a stool was left unoccupied at the front of
the audience draped in black ribbons with a crimson Naustie flag
folded and placed in the middle. Laid over the top of it was a
newly minted Order of Heroic Merit (unanimously voted to be
bestowed
posthumously
on the crew and their Admiral by Tribal Confederation at the
last Assembly). If Snout and his crew ever actually DID come back,
they’d all receive one, it had been decided.

And as for Felina she was
dressed in her wedding gown and her fur preened up beautifully by
her staff. Pumalars of course never took baths, so her attendants
merely focused on brushing out her fur thoroughly that morning and
curling the ends to make her even more stunning than she already
was. Pumalars didn't need makeup either of course, but Felina did
agree to have her fangs and teeth brushed by her mostly human
staff;
just to make her smile
dazzling
. She coughed and wheezed during
the process; but this only made her human female attendants that
morning giggle like teenagers. Truth be told, Felina had no bloody
idea why they wanted to “clean” her teeth!

Thus… after all this preparation and
assigning of talent… after all this hard work and labor of love by
hundreds of staff and volunteers… down the aisle they all came.
Solomon was seen holding his arm across his chest and Felina was
grasping his arm right above the elbow with her big cat paw. Her
gown’s long train was carried behind her, and the march up to the
dais where Architeuthis stood took several minutes. The audience
stood and guffawed with excitement. Some even wept with joy!
Everyone smiled and beamed with satisfaction. Music and singing
accompanied their slow march (step, step, pause... step, step,
pause) until finally they reached the front. Then Architeuthis
motioned politely for everyone to be seated. The music also ceased,
leaving the massive throng murmuring and whispering quietly as the
thousands of guests took their seats to get comfortable.

"Thank you for coming, one and all," he
began in a booming voice which echoed throughout the massive domed
facility. Wisely, the seat layout had been set up in a large
semi-circle around the dais where the ceremony was to be performed.
Only a small section at the end (maybe 10,000 square feet) had been
reserved for the banquet area. Architeuthis spoke in his usual
deeply resonant and mega-powered voice to this mass of people as
though he was addressing not just the dignitaries and nobility of
the planet, but indeed the whole planet itself. And he knew all his
words would be recorded to be used in ceremonies just like this for
years.

Architeuthis continued,
"Great and mighty creatures of New Australia. Honored guests and
dignitaries: Welcome and warmest greetings to everyone here today.
Nausties, all of us, we are indeed. Great and proud citizens of
this great planet we are, one and all. We stand here today as
warriors.”
He then paused after each title
or function to let the crowd react
: “We
are also farmers... engineers... and miners.”
The crowd murmured approval after each recognized role in
Naustie society
. “We are Porkonjii...
Schpleeftii… Zorgolongians… Pumalars… Slartigifijians... and
Humans.”
After each name of a species, the
crowd murmured even louder, and the respective groups once
identified all cheered with pride
. “We are
both male… and FEMALE,”
he then added in a
steadily rising voice; but when the females were recognized, a vast
swirl of excited squeals and screams erupted from the crowd,
prompting Archituethis to have to pause for a couple minutes until
the cacophony of spirited cheering settled down
. It was as if each cheer had to top the previous one; but
when the females finally got recognized, a crescendo of excitement
exploded throughout the cavernous arena.

“Yet… we are all citizens of this bold and
free planet,” Architeuthis finally added as the eruption of
squealing from the females gradually dissipated.

When everyone had simmered down a bit, and
the accompanying chuckles and snickers also died down to a dull
murmur, Arthiteuthis fluttered his cheeks joyously at the reaction.
Then he continued, "We have come together in this beautiful setting
today to witness the joining of two of our own kind in the bonds of
marriage. Nausties just like all of us, they stand before us today,
lovely in their appearance, committed in their devotion to one
another. And they come before us to declare their union and their
vows of marriage. They come before us today to profess lifelong
devotion to each other... until death finally parts them."

Next, Architeuthis paused for a moment. He
lowered his voice to just where the couple could hear him, then he
kindly asked, “Would you like to read any personal vows of your own
choosing to each other… in your own words or in the words of
others?” Solomon spoke up first, saying "Yes, great Architeuthis.
I'll speak." However instead of facing Felina, he turned to face
the massive audience inside the building. The sun was just starting
to peak over the horizon outside, illuminating the interior with an
orange and then gradually more magenta-colored misty glow as the
ceremony had begun. He looked down at his feet collecting his
thoughts for a moment, then raised his face to them all proudly,
glancing about at the anxious throng of people. "Good morning
everyone and thank you for coming," he began, with his voice
clearly audible above the huge blowers circulating fresh air into
the facility. "Before I speak my vows; I would wish to make a
confession to all of you about who I truly am; and what brought me
to this moment of great happiness today,” he said. Then in
deference to the great Schpleeftkorkii leader, the audience fell
almost completely silent.

“When I was a young man, I thought like a
little child,” Solomon began again. “I spoke as a child and acted
as a child, because that’s all I was. Exceptional in some ways,
some would say. Average in most others to tell you the truth,
however….”

Solomon grinned sheepishly, which elicited a
few humorous snickers from among his groomsmen at his feeble
attempt at modesty. Yet he continued, “…my ambitions might have
been that of an adult; and my moral fortitude was certainly that of
several men. But my heart was also filled with blind courage and
naive confidence. I gained power and a reputation for bravery as I
grew older. I soon gained achievement of great wealth and not
surprisingly allies aplenty. Men followed me... even made me their
leader on occasion, throughout my younger years. I eventually had
all I’d once dreamed of as a boy; and much more. Yet my soul
remained quite empty. No God could fill this void within me. My
pride prevented it from occurring; and eventually my distrust for
others made me but a cynical creature who I could only assume God
had forsaken when my life was later turned upside down.”

Solomon looked out into
the crowd and even glanced for a brief moment at his friends from
the Inshallah tribe who were in attendance. They nodded proudly at
seeing how much Solomon had learned as a man—how much he’d gleaned
from the time he’d visited with them. Here was a great man,
powerful and respected among others throughout the planet,
humbling himself before God
and his “people”. That’s what a truly brave man must do, they
believed.

And Solomon went on,
tapping his chest for emphasis saying, “It was only me… against the
world. It was only I who truly believed in myself; and therefore I
trusted in no one but me. I was born with ability and strength. I
saw that I had wisdom and intelligence to become a great leader
perhaps
someday
.
Yet this ambition was never fully realized. And when I was exiled
to this planet to die, as many of us also were, I finally looked to
God. It was only then that I finally sought Him out." Solomon then
bowed his head in shame for a moment, raising one hand and index
finger to point toward the brightening sky above him. After heaving
a big sigh, he raised his head once again and looked out bravely at
his audience saying, "Yes... I looked to God. But not as a solution
to the despair in my heart, did I finally choose to seek His
guidance. Not even for protection from the threats to my own
personal safety. Instead I looked to Him to have mercy on me
finally as a poor sinner, and mercifully allow my life to
end
. THAT is what I
finally, in my arrogance and desperation, prayed to Him for. I
begged almighty God to let me die."

With that, he gave a long pause and sighed
deeply once more, bowing his head again in shame before an audience
made up of literally thousands of the bravest and mightiest
warriors he'd ever known in his life. Eyes welled up with tears.
Heads bowed and nodded in shared shame for their own past
transgressions and sinfulness. Many others just gasped in awe at
Solomon's brave candor. Men, Porkos, even some Pumalars... Spleefs,
Zorgs, and nearly all the females began to sob and even weep at his
words. The emotions were already quite high; but even with all the
expectations previously held of an inspiring occasion, still no one
completely expected something like this.

And yet Solomon was only
just getting
started
. He continued proudly, "But God did not allow me to end my
life... nor did he allow me to have my life ended for me. I lived
on, tortured over my painful past and haunted by regret. And yet
then... one day… the Almighty allowed my suffering to come to an
end. I emerged from the icy cold prison which was previously my
soul. And God so loved me that he sent this beautiful creature to
me... to be my mate and companion.” The crowd began to murmur with
delight and in waves of realization, as the message became clearer
and clearer to one and all. Solomon turned slightly toward Felina
and reached toward her with his big black hand. She grasped it
lovingly in her paws. Solomon concluded his wedding vows thusly,
“Felina, you have healed my soul and changed me into the man I was
supposed to be… the man I should have sought to be all along." Then
he turned completely toward her, grasping both of her paws in his
hands, adding "And I will today devote the rest of my life to you
my darling wife." She purred and glowed with blissful happiness, as
the inside of the building grew brighter from the rising
sun.