Yul stood up gracefully after that without any emotion. Feraya nudged her brother lightly to tease him but he didn't even budge. On the other hand Liya was feeling all embarrassed and awkward to have experienced this in front of a lot of people. The high priest then guided Liya to stand on Yul's left side as the marriage was deemed completed.
The next process was seeking blessing from everyone. The bride and groom started with the high priest and the monks. Yul and Liya presented gifts, in tiny golden silk cloth wrapped and tied at top to resemble a bag, in return for their blessings and presence. The gift was predominantly gold coins according to the custom of the royal family.
This process continued with all other elders sitting in the first row of the prayer hall. Devin followed the bride and groom with the gifts in another silver platter.
The first important person was Yul's paternal grandmother, the eldest of all, Mrs Fariya Amarok. It was her name that was given to Yul's sister. Devin informed about each person one by one to Liya in a hushed voice.
The next were Yul's maternal grandmothers. To Liya's surprise, there were two maternal grandmothers. Though she wanted to ask why, now was not the right time for that. So she kept silent and smiling as if a programmed doll.
The next in line were Yul's paternal grand uncle, or his grandfather's brother and his wife, then Yul's uncle and wife, his mother, then his aunt and her husband, and at last his elder cousin or the grand uncle's son Jahan and his wife Nara.
There were many other relatives left in the hall, but they were not important considering Yul's position as heir of the family. After Yul and Liya received the blessings and gifted them, they went back to where the high priest was sitting.
The servants guided everyone to another hall were the royal feast was arranged. And thus the wedding was officially over. Food for the monks was arranged separately and Yul guided them to another room for that and Liya followed Yul.
There was a custom of giving honeyed water to the bride and groom to share together as their first meal together and the mother in law was to give that. But when they reached the dining room Thamina was not seen anywhere. She had actually gone with the elders to see to the arrangements. Since the auspicious time was to be over, the high priest handed over the honeyed water to Liya himself.
Liya was wondering why a priest would do something the elder woman in the house should be doing. The high priest said to Liya as if listening to Liya's thoughts, "These are simple rituals meant to unite the bride and groom. As long it's an elder, it doesn't matter who gave you this. Because it also represents the giving person's blessings. Or do you feel I am not eligible to stand as your elder?"
"No, not at all. How can I possibly think like that! I don't dare to. It's just that I am not familiar with all these rituals and customs." Liya replied apologetically.
The high priest smiled and then placed the small glass containing the honeyed water in Liya's hand. Just as monk's fingers touched hers she saw something weird.
The scene was of a young man who was running away with two young girls holding on to each of his hands. The girls were no older than five and they struggled to keep up with his speed. They were running through a forest path, alongside the river that looked all black in that night. They were constantly looking back in fear while running. Then suddenly a gun shot was heard and the man fell down towards the riverside with blood flowing from his body. The girls also tripped down in that force with him. The girl on his left hand got separated as they rolled down the slope and the rest two of them fell into the river downstream.
Liya was shocked by what she had seen and staggered backwards in fear. Yul had to pull Liya with some force towards him in order to prevent her from falling backwards. Liya was still in shock and Yul had to support her to keep her in place.
Seeing Liya white like a ghost and zoned out, the high priest also got worried. "She must be exhausted," said Yul to the high priest to ease the situation. Then he made Liya drink the honeyed water she was holding. It took some seconds, but Liya came back to her senses soon. She can't possibly tell anyone what happened, so she went along with what Yul said and admitted her exhaustion.
Yul asked two maids to send Liya to his room and went to attend the guests. The moment she reached the room, she dismissed the servants and closed the door. She was yet to register what she had just seen. It was unlike anything she had seen before. Unlike what she sees normally, it wasn't about any relationship about the person she touched. There wasn't anyone she recognised in the vision she had, nor was she sure what it was all about.
Liya walked to and fro in the room without being able to understand anything. From the moment she saw the Gods in the prayer hall she has been feeling weird. Now something weirder and scary was happening. She got more anxious as she thought about it and wanted to escape from here as soon as possible. She quickly went out of the room to look for Inu by herself.