Orange Chicken Tempeh

Chapter 24: Dragon “Marriage”

“Ok, then it’s settled. We’ll tell my family we went on a trip to meet your family and got married while we were there. Just so my dad doesn’t string you up by your thumbs the minute we get there.” Mirabel had finally agreed to this level of deception in order to keep both her honor and Svend’s head intact.

“Right, and then, whenever you’re ready, we can get married for reals! Then you won’t be lying to your family anymore!” Svend announced with significantly more confidence and enthusiasm than Mirabel felt.

“Har har har. ‘Whenever I’m ready.’ you say that like we’ll be getting married next week. Svend. I do not know that we will ever actually get married, but I guarantee I will not be ready next week or anytime soon. Especially if you keep going on like it’s a sure thing without any further efforts being made to win me over.” Deep in her human turned dragon heart, Mirabel knew she would marry Svend eventually. She had finally decided to trust him again and really the dragon aspect was pretty sweet. But still, a girl likes to be courted.

“Of course, my dragon-lady.” Svend bowed low with mock sincerity. Only to be lightly punched in the arm as he arose.

“You can’t call me ‘dragon-lady’ in front of my family so don’t start now.” Mirabel hid her smile at the term.

“They don’t have to know you are my literal dragon-lady. Maybe I just see the fire within you! Ok, ok, ok. New nickname for the wifey.” Svend backtracked as he saw Mirabel roll her eyes. “Not wifey? Man, this is harder than I thought. No dragon-lady, no wifey. What am I supposed to call you then?”

“How about Mirabel? The same thing you’ve been calling me for the last year? After all, nothing has actually changed between us.” Mirabel began packing up their gear to go. She was so excited to see her family after all these months gallivanting around as a dragon.

“Mirabel? Doesn’t that feel a little formal? I mean, we are newlyweds after all! How about Bel? Can I at least shorten it? I mean, what does your family call you?” Svend was convinced even a fake term of endearment would endear Mirabel to him little by little.

“Not Bel. Definitely not Bel. There’s a girl in my village that goes by Bel and we’ve never really gotten along. My family calls me ‘Mir” in a pinch but mostly they call me by my actual name. Mirabel.” Mirabel had never had a nickname and she wasn’t sure she wanted to lose another part of her identity so soon.

“Ok Mir-dear whatever you say!” Svend jumped in close and stole a kiss on Mirabel’s cheek while she finished packing up their gear.

“Just practicing! We need to convince your family we’re in love!” Svend hurriedly explained, afraid he was going to get a much harder punch in the arm for his antics this time.

Mirabel, however, just turned away to hide her blush. She really did love Svend, and she knew her family would adore him. All this banter was helping keep her nerves at bay. What if she couldn’t control her dragon form? What if she accidentally hurt someone? What if her family found out and they cast her out? Whew. Deep breaths. She had practiced everything she needed to do and say to pull this off. They were only going to be visiting her family for a few days anyway. She could do this. Svend would help her. At least he was good at blending in with humans.

As if he could hear her thoughts and nerves pouring out of her body, Svend drew near, this time with sincere concern written on his face. “Hey, you’re going to be fine. They’re your family. There is no need to worry. I’ll be with you every step of the way. And if things get crazy, I’ll just run out back and burn something so you can escape. Easiest distraction ever. No worries!”

Slightly mollified, Mirabel led the final stretch through her hometown and up the hill to her parents’ house. Her parents and four siblings that still lived at home saw them coming and raced out to meet them, tackling Mirabel with group hugs before pausing long enough to stare, very conspicuously at Svend.

“So.” Her dad, Conrad, finally broke the awkward stare down to say. “I see you finally brought our Mirabel back. Will you be on your way now then? Or will you leave after dinner?”

“Dad!” Mirabel immediately stepped in but she needn’t have worried, Svend may not have been human, but he was fully aware of the Dad’s role to hate any challengers to the primary male figure in their baby girls’ lives.

“No, sir. I will stay as long as Mirabel stays. On account of her being my beloved wife, and I do not think it wise to leave my blushing bride too long, lest she forget how devastatingly handsome she thinks me.” Svend accompanied this bold declaration with a wink to Mirabel’s mother and pulled Mirabel close in a side hug. He even pushed his luck so far as to give her a little tiny kiss on the cheek.

Mirabel, of course, blushed furiously and stammered her denials or refusals or something. She was very taken aback and could not even form cohesive stammers.

Her mother stepped in, “Well, in that case, I hope you like tempeh! We’ve developed some slightly unusual eating habits but it is a family favorite so if you’re part of the family, best it becomes a favorite!” Mirabel’s mother, Ella, ushered the family in with this statement of acceptance, much to the chagrin of her husband, who would have very much liked to continue his stare down and interrogation.

The whole family filed into the small, but comfortable home and began with dinner preparations. Mirabel fell into her old familial roles with ease, leaving Svend to fend for himself, as he deserved after that little display. Svend, however, was determined to make this a positive experience for Mirabel, so he stuck with her mother and made himself surprisingly useful. Ella had him make the naan for the tempeh sandwiches. This is the tempeh that they ate.