"I... I am your mate?" I asked. Natu smiled and nodded.
"Will you mate with me Jess? Will you become mine for life?" He asked, looking at me with loving eyes. I thought about it for a minute, thinking about my brother and friends up in the human world and how they probably all thought I was dead. They had probably all moved on already.
"Yes." I said with a smile before jumping onto him and hugging him tight. He picked me up, holding me close and laughed happily before kissing me. I kissed him back passionately, enjoying our first kiss. After a minute of this there was a voice that called for Natu from the other room and he broke the kiss.
"Let us go." He said, pulling me out to the front room where his mother was waiting.
"We must prepare the feast." Mana said before noticing the smiles on our faces. "You have told her?" She asked with wide eyes. Natu nodded and I smiled, blushing slightly.
"We must announce it to the village! We will have the ceremony tonight." She said with a big smile. "You will be such a beautiful bride my daughter." She said, stroking my cheek, the sign of endearment. I blushed at this and thought that it was so soon, but then I realized that it was actually the perfect time. I had been here almost a year after all and Natu and I were in love. This celebration was the perfect time. We would celebrate the good hunt and the new life Natu and I would start together.
"You go." Mana said to Natu while grabbing my arm to make me stay. "Go find Tika. I will announce it but she must be taught what to do." Natu nodded and then headed out the door while Mana turned back to me.
"Tika will teach you what to do. It is not complicated." She said, smiling at me, true happiness in her eyes. I smiled back but felt butterflies in my stomach. I had the rest of the day to learn what do for this ceremony. I really hoped I didn't mess up anything.
Tika came in a minute later and Mana left to announce the ceremony. I heard a loud cheer from the village and blushed slightly. The village had accepted me as one of its own after me being here for so long and that made me feel happy and like I belonged. Tika then started to teach me what to do during the ceremony. I wasn't allowed to see Natu until the ceremony and that made me a little anxious but I knew I would be distracted my preparing anyways.
She taught me everything I needed to know and when she got to the end of the ceremony I blushed. The ceremony required us to fuck in front of the whole village. This made me nervous since it would be my first time even though I was 23. Tika explained it better and told me that since their kind mates for life they could only have sex with one person, so it was always the couple's first time. This made me feel a little bit better but I was still nervous about that part.
After awhile of going over what I had to do for the ceremony I heard the celebrations begin and Tika and her sister and sister in law started to prepare me. They took off my loincloth and washed me off, getting me as clean as possible. They took my hair and weaved flowers into it, making it look beautiful. It hurt and took awhile to do but they finally managed to pierce the upper part of my left ear, which was their symbol of a mated couple. Then they laid me out on a fur blanket, given by Tika's family, who would be considered my family for the purpose of the ceremony, and the blanket would go with me when I mated with Natu. They started to paint me with the different tribal designs, the ones that meant princess. They were similar to Mana's but less intricate and with a smaller crown design on my forehead that meant second in line since that's what I would be by mating with Natu. I had to hold perfectly still while they did this, for if I didn't it would be the same as refusing the mating. It was hard but I managed to do it and the designs were beautiful. They helped me up and then rolled up the blanket so they could present it when it was time for us to be mated.
We waited for awhile while the celebrations continued before we started to hear the music change. That's when we started walking out, Tika in front with me in front of her and her sister's on either side of me. We walked through a line of men, all making mating cries and trying to get me to stray from my choice, as we traditional. I stayed looking forward like I was supposed to, thinking only about Natu. Finally we reached the end where his parents were. I stopped in between them as was expected and they sniffed me, trying to scent it there was another man's scent on me. Mana smiled at me and her and Ju nodded, not smelling any other man on me, as was expected. I then continued into the circle where Natu was waiting for me with a smile on his face, having just been scented as well.It took all my will not to just run to him and jump in his arms, which would have ruined the whole ceremony.