The City Of Death

Chapter Twenty- Macy

The next three weeks pass in a flurry of changes and preparations. When Atlas and the rest of the Renegades came back from the woods, they announced that they had found nothing in the woods. Atlas declared the area safe but warned everyone to watch their backs for the next few days. Once that announcement was made, Gemma and Savannah announced their plans to be married, and the date was set. 

Since then, Aubriana, Oskar, and Sabella were sent to relieve the four Renegades in the north, and those four returned. I didn't have a lot of time to get to know them the first time around, and it wasn't until now that I realized just how much of a travesty that was. Lee is an entertaining person to be around, as is Kyran. Cory would rather hang back and watch the people around him, and Jax often joins him. 

It makes me wonder, though, just how much they notice. How much shit they have to talk about everyone. I think it would make for an excellent conversation. 

But that will have to wait. Today is the wedding day, and preparations are in full swing. Annalise has spent all afternoon working on a banquet fit for a queen. Many Renegades are rearranging the logs by the firepits, making a small aisle and altar in front of the main firepit. Gemma and Savannah are nowhere to be seen, and that makes me wonder what they have to do on the day of the wedding. I'm not sure how weddings work around here. 

In the City, weddings are much different, so much so that I'm not even sure they can really be called a wedding. Couples simply go in front of a Judge and announce that they want to be married, and the Judge signs the certificate. No fanfare, no celebrations. In and out in five minutes. Why spend too much time on something that won't last very long? But from what I've seen already today, weddings are much more exciting. 

It's all everyone can talk about today. At the moment, I'm working with five other Renegades to sew Gemma and Savannah's tents together. I was nervous at first, seeing as my only experience with sewing was stitching wounds together. Turns out, it's not that much different. Normally, Gemma would sew the tents together herself since she's easily the best seamstress at the camp. But, from what I understand, since she's the one getting married, she's not allowed to take part in some of the wedding traditions. 

That means it's up to the rest of us. We've each taken a piece of the new seam, working together to combine the tents. That's the tradition out here. When a couple is married, their tents are sewn together to make one larger tent. It represents the two lives coming together and intertwining their lives, their hearts, right down to their very fates. In the Outside, "until death do us part" actually means something. 

At least, that's what Atlas tells me as my section of sewing joins up with his. And, in his opinion, the Renegades working together to make the new tent has much more meaning than Gemma doing it by herself. He's even considering making this the new tradition. Not only is the couple intertwined with each other, but they are intertwined with the fate of the Renegades. They are part of a larger family, and we are here to support and help the new couple for the rest of their lives. 

Once the new tent is sewn, we all work together to put it up. It's not as easy as putting up a single-person tent, and it takes all six of us to make it work. As we marvel at our work, Atlas holds his hands up in the sky and announces that we have an hour until the wedding. So far, nobody's taught me the hand-in-the-sky trick, but I also haven't asked about it. It might be time to remedy that. I'm curious how it works. 

Everyone flies into last-minute preparations, and I'm left without a clue of what to do. That is, until I see three Renegades approaching camp. I'd been told that Aubriana, Oskar, and Sabella were coming back from the north for the wedding. I wasn't sure I believed it, but I have been thoroughly proved wrong. Oskar and Aubriana haven't been Renegades to tell me anything about the wedding traditions, but Sabella has. She was in the Outside for the last wedding they had. Israel and Annalise's.