"Sorry, I'm late, had a quick errand to run," Ashley said hurriedly, huffing as she dashed into the kitchen. She paused, taking a deep whiff of the delightful smells filling the kitchen.
Aeian slipped the finger out of her mouth that she used to sample her cooking and turned to give a glowing smile. "You're right on time, actually. Would you like to help with this? The coating for the Kyrinian chops still needs to be made."
"Oh, don't mind if I do!" Ashley quickly made her way to the counter, grabbing a bowl that needed mixing and peppering it with the right ingredients before bashing it to bits with the whisk.
"Careful, you're going to break the bowl," Aeian laughed, walking up behind her girlfriend.
"Oh...sorry..." Ashley let out a nervous laugh. She resumed her pounding with the whisk before her Asari lover wrapped her arms around her, the chub on Aeian arms slightly compressing against her own as she took her hands and demonstrated the correct, gentler movement.
"Nice and easy, like this," Aeian said gently, removing her hands to let Ashley take over. "That's it...you're doing great." Leaving a gentle kiss on the inside of Ashley's neck, Aeian squeezed her a little tighter, swaying on the spot, before returning to the cooking again. The cooking finished up with the usual amount of lessons, kisses, and hugs exchanging between the two, though Ashley seemed somewhat distracted, like she was expecting something, and soon enough another feast was finished, one which the two were eager to sink their teeth into. Lowering themselves into their seats, Aeian dug in with gusto, but faltered when she saw Ashley hadn't taken a bite.
"Something wrong?" Aeian pressed gently.
Ashley let out a choked sigh, staring at her plate with the air of a student hoping the paper she's getting back was a pass. Taking a deep breath, the portly former soldier pushed herself up from her chair, her hand digging through her jacket pocket.
"So...uh...." Ashley started. "I...tried to look up how Asari do this, because I didn't want to be offensive and stuff, but the information was conflicting, and I couldn't get a straight answer, but I wanted it to be special, and...well..."
Aeian stared, not used to seeing her girlfriend quite so disoriented and unsure as she dropped onto her knee. What exactly was she doing?
"I guess if you...well, we can maybe do it your way, that is if you WANT this..." Ashley meandered, taking something out of her pocket and tumbling it over in her hands.
"Are you...talking about a human custom I'm not aware of?" Aeian asked wearily. Ashley swallowed, her nerves steeled from fear-driven courage, and responded with what little vigor she could muster.
"Yes, I am!" Ashley said loudly, holding up the small thing in her hand and opening it up. Inside was a beautiful ring, glistening Turian rhinestone set in gold. "This is how humans...ask to marry one another."
"Ah, yes the down-on-one-knee custom, I'm familiar with-"
Something clicked, and Aeian suddenly realized what was going on in front of her. Her blue face paled in shock as she looked between the ring and her girlfriend, and then, inexplicably, she began to laugh.
"Oh....Ashley, I wish I knew..."
"Knew what?" Ashley asked, looking crestfallen.
"That you got the blue." Aeian, who had done some research of her own, pulled a box out of her pocket and opened it up. "I would have gotten yours in a matching color," she said, tears of joy streaking down her cheeks.
-----
Asari weddings, as it turned out, were nowhere near the lavish affairs that human ceremonies entailed (or maybe they were, because the author can't find anything about how Asari weddings work). Ashley of course didn't mind, she could have been married in the bottom of a garbage dumpster and it would still be the happiest day of her life, but it turned out to be a wonderfully little ceremony all the same. Sure the fact that neither of them could fit into their dress uniforms without a giant potbelly hanging out put a damper on things, but with a cute set of matching dresses they soldiered on, their hands clasped together underneath a sacred tree in a secluded grove, only inhabited by the couple, the priestess, and one guest each to bear witness to the love they shared, as Ashley was told. Her choice may have been a little too obvious, as the young priestess was somewhat flustered to see who Ashley invited.Still, the ceremony was perfect, absolutely everything Ashley could have wanted, sealed with a loving kiss.
"Be one in the eyes of the goddess," the priestess concluded, bowing her head ceremonially. Breaking apart with hands held, the new couple stepped out from underneath the tree to the sound of a high-pitched wail. Aeian had warned Ashley that her childhood friend Sega V'tiari was a touch emotional, but it still surprised her when the tall Asari jumped on them to give a giant hug, openly weeping.
"I'm s-s-so happy for you t-two!" Sega sobbed, squeezing into their fleshy bodies and nuzzling their necks one after the other. "You're just so cute together I can't stand it, aaaaaah!" Breaking off the hug suddenly, Sega ran off in tears of joy, arms over her head, leaving Ashley's guest to hobble up, still recovering from her second near-death experience.
"Congratulations, you two!" Jane Shepard said brightly, her puffy eyes betraying her otherwise stoic expression. "You'll forgive me if I don't jump on you and start shrieking."
"One is quite enough," Aeian laughed as Shepard approached them and pulled them into a hug of her own, one after the other. "I hope you'll be staying for the after-party?"
"Well, the doctors advised me not to, still recovering and all that..."
"So you're going then." Ashley said.
"You know it, sunshine," Shepard smirked.
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