Raji was a very lucky Marshite. All Marshites were lucky: To know the True Path that She Most High destined you for was a blessing, regardless of what that was. He was luckier than most though. How to count them all! To be raised by his Shrine from birth after his parents gave him up- becoming a Shriner- was a great gift. To be raised by the Female Shrine by birth even before the Revelation of The Shift, to have it confirmed, to know his role and place in the world- the stars above could not contain his thanks if every single one signified a prayer he uttered in celebration. To have his talents recognized early on and honed in service of the Shrine was simply another one.
They continued, of course. Scoring top marks in his pod after preventing the Dark Cell assassinations at the end of the schooling? Fated. Extracting his first charge from a crash that should have, by all rights, killed her and with the vehicle catching on fire only after they had gotten away? Killing three Kyogist militia during the Tenshu attack and getting his client out safe? Fated as well. Yes he had skills but they were Marsh-gifted. That was the only real way to explain what had happened after that client had released him from his required service time back to the Shrine Guard. He had expected to be given another clergy member, or a head of household, or maybe even just normal Shrine security. For a 23-year old, that would be fine.
But the blessings had continued. He had been assigned to the guard detail of Elizabeth Frenshaw, a massive political force in the Federation. He hadn't known why at the time, though he eventually learned that since she had a volatile career and life it was seen as a good idea to have a Marshite Shrine Guard- known as extremely competent bodyguards, intensely loyal to the Federation, and unlikely to lie- be her assigned bodyguard. He was more than happy to serve and since it was considered a long term assignment, he even got a name out of it: Raji Suraksha-Frenshaw.
The job itself went well. He was everything one could ask from a Shrine Guard and she was the easiest and nicest of the clients he had serviced. It was an odd pairing. Elizabeth was kind and curious while Raji was uncomfortable with a female client of his not following everything he had been raised within the Female Shrine. At first they were a normal team but after he had taken an eight-inch blade to the gut by a would-be assassin and disarmed a second one immediately afterwards, things changed. There was the normal relationship that developed when someone nearly loses a life for you, but Elizabeth was simply...better suited, it seemed, to soothe the wounds inflicted by another. While recovering, their conversations delved deeper and went further and finally they had developed affection for one another.
In time he was allowed in places and around events and conversations that most other guards wouldn't have been. This didn't seem unusual to him since Shrine Guards, especially of the Female Shrine and other Shrines of that type, were often allowed or even expected to aid their clients in more personal matters. But this was apparently strange to others and rumors started to swirl. He hadn't noticed as he had been too lost in the excitement of falling in love with Elizabeth Frenshaw. The Shrine was excited- Shrine Guards rarely performed better than when they had something even more physical to martyr themselves over. But others didn't view it that way. Eventually and with regret, the Federal Government forced him to cease his duties to her. He was despondent until the Mistress of his Shrine informed him that as far as the Shrine was concerned his job didn't change. After all, no one would stop Elizabeth from bringing someone she was seeing where she wanted.
Fast forward to this wedding. Raji was uncomfortable without having a bodyguard role for the night but while you could put the bodyguard in a dress and call him a boyfriend, you couldn't take the bodyguard out of the mindset. He was trying to not stick out and looked around at all possible issues. He had a TMP-32 and some armor underneath his dress and his eyes were always on the lookout, but he was unable to find anything. The security was great tonight. He wanted to allow himself to relax but he couldn't, playing idly with a glass of something or another in his hand. He looked around for Elizabeth and eventually found her with the King and Queen of Stevid. He had been reminded at length that he needed to mingle and not be a bodyguard tonight. Indeed, it would look bad for Her if he just shadowed Her. He downed his drink and slowly made his way deeper into the party. His eyes flicked back to her every once in a while- both as a bodyguard and as someone more. Still, he'd be a good boy tonight and like all others tonight find someone or something to socialize with.
It was clearly his greatest talent.
*********
A clandestine marriage was always so exciting. It didn't happen in the Theocracy if only because, sadly, most ceremonies were quick and simple affairs that had little of the pomp and circumstance she find so enthralling about foreign weddings. It was that pomp that made the clandestine, the secret, marriage so enticing. It spoke to eloping and love under cursed moons, the winds of cruel fate evaded for one wedding where a most important Union was made. The love story between Sofie and the Sona Emperor Fedor was a delight as well- though why would he be awed by this castle? Surely he had ten such palaces in the Golden Throne. She would love to have seen them, too. She had a fascination with the decadence of high nobility across the region.
"A celebration indeed. I had to fight off so many other Shriners to get this opportunity, and it has certainly been worthwhile so far. After your visit in the Theocracy, interest in you, Sofie, and the Golden Throne skyrocketed. I think a Statue is being built in the Dienstadi Hall, and they've started to organize Golden Shrine Apravaasan. All of that as a result of love- of the power it has to build up and destroy, to make great and grand things small and humbled, relatable and idolic in equal ways. Hopefully this wedding will promote the same sort of great and good change," she said with a pregnant sigh before he asked his question. She knew little of the Cult of Willed, but they sounded excellent.
"At some point we find our place and experience Chadha, or our True Birth. We find who we were meant to be and inform the Shrine of that. Our old identities and lives are struck from the record and we are who we are from then on. Some have to spend decades experiencing varied and wildly different lifestyles in orer to find it, others figure it out in a few years. I was lucky enough to have only taken a few years. Perhaps that is an achievement all in its own?" She replied excitedly, having remembered the past- the dreaded past- before Cassandra had experienced her own Chadha. A shiver down her spine almost caused her to recoil, but she kept it together. Let the past be the past.
**********
"Captain Wayne it is then," the Inquisitor replied, keeping note that as the file had said he was a man who was wedded just as fiercely to his Sea Hunter lifestyle as any other.
"It is good to see that you are nervous. I would have called you a liar if you had said otherwise. Your life is soon to be improved in ways you cannot yet fathom, but there will always be challenges. Know that if you walk the Path, you will never falter regardless of your trials," he replied honestly. Nothing seemed wrong with him- indeed, a fine man. Some held his crude and easy demeanor against him but Marshites cared little for such matters themselves as a social construct.
"I am here on behalf of the Arch-Bishop Herself, Long May She Reign. She has sent me here on Her behalf, to give congratulations to both you and your fiancee," he said politely, leaving out the other elements of his visit that had to do with the family and other arrangements. Positive, mind you, but for their ears only.
