the yellow rose of beta

[niq]

Well, I still haven't gotten my head back to a Torchwood place, but Vorkosigan I managed just fine. When I do get my head *to* a TW place, njordsifusansoo, I'll get yours written. :)



we'll play the banjo gaily, and we'll sing the songs of yore


Bel Thorne marries Lord Miles Vorkosigan in traditional male country garb except for the fresh yellow rose in the centre of the complex braids in its hair. The rose and the braids are the one, simple yet pointed, concession made to its feminine side.

The threads of its garb were hand-spun, the cloth hand-woven, then hand-dyed into vibrant patterns, hand-cut, hand-sewn, the embellishments hand-embroidered. Weeks of human skill and effort had gone into creating them, an investment of time lavish beyond comprehension to Bel's Betan eyes. Folk art, taken to a ridiculous extreme, except--it wasn't folk art at all, but the way these people had lived for centuries, how many of them still lived, with no comconsoles and no assembly lines, no quick run to the store for a new set of clothes, measured up by lasers and manufactured while you wait. Cordelia's warm, sympathetic eyes, her quiet words of explanation whispered low for Bel's ears alone, are almost too much to bear in this strange world. (Miles himself is little help; he pretends to be half-Betan and certainly the accent is note-perfect and the little Admiral an extremely well-executed role. But he is, at the end of it all, thoroughly Barrayaran.)

The rose is from Beta Colony; Barrayar has roses and other flowers besides, more readily grown as well, growing wild outdoors, not restricted to carefully kempt greenhouses and gardens. Bel has the rose bush shipped in, anyway.

There are no photographs of the wedding, no video, as there would be on Beta; years later, Bel has only its memories, the garb, and the rose. The petals are loose, dry, long since dessicated. On their anniversary, every year, Bel lets them run through its fingers, and imagines it can smell a lingering floral scent on them.

Comments

[gisho.livejournal.com]

Tremendously lovely. <3