Janessa was right. Sven loved how she looked in the dress. She met him at the castle entrance, where he was waiting for her. They were to arrange for a temple for the wedding ceremony.
"You look lovely," Sven whispered as he took her arm. Janessa giggled. She glanced back at Greta, who had walked to the castle entrance with her to meet her favorite guard, Leonid. It seemed some time with him was all that was needed to shake her out of her funk. Greta was happily making out with the much taller guard. They made a cute couple.
Most of the temples in Silverfall were located on Temple Row, a street lined with them. The only temples not there were ones that needed to be located somewhere else, like near a river. Temple Row was close enough to the castle that Sven and Janessa walked there. Winter was finally ending in Northfjord. Spring and summer would still be colder than Janessa was used to, but she welcomed the warmer weather. Sven helpfully identified the different temples they walked past; Janessa was unfamiliar with Northfjord gods.
"Do you have anywhere like this where you come from?" Sven asked. Janessa tried to think. For a moment, she had a vivid memory of temples surrounding a city square somewhere, but then it was gone. She tried to find the memory again, but couldn't. All she could recall were the temples by the Karagot Royal Palace, which the concubines were allowed to visit on days of worship.
When she relayed this, Sven laughed.
"No, I meant where you grew up! You grew up in an isolated area, yes? I imagine your temple choices were limited."
"Yes, families have their own private shrines," Janessa confirmed.
"What god did your family worship?" Sven asked. Again, a strange memory appeared, of walking into the private shrine at the palace, in which a statue of the royal family's patron god stood. But before she could focus on it, it was gone. Instead, she only remembered bowing before her family's small, homemade shrine.
"Antimera," Janessa answered. "Most of us on the fringes worship the smaller gods, and my family was that way as well. She is the goddess of filling things."
"Filling things?"
"Filling your stomach with food, your pockets with gold, your heart with love, your house with children..."
"Ah." Sven kissed her cheek. "A strange domain, but a surprisingly powerful one. We will have to install a shrine to her on my castle's grounds."
"You would do that?"
"For you? Yes." They arrived at their destination, the temple of Sonselle. She was originally from Northfjord, but joined the Karagot pantheon via Northfjord immigrants. She ruled over the dawn, sex, fertility, fate, and transformation. The last two felt very relevant to Janessa.
"Ah, welcome," said the High Priestess, waiting outside for them. "Come inside." The couple followed her into the temple. Janessa gasped softly. It was beautiful. Golden and red and orange. "Normally, we do not hold weddings here. But the goddess herself sent me a sign that she blessed your union. I could not reject that."
"That gives me relief," Sven said. He and the High Priestess talked, while Janessa, as though in a trance, walked up to the altar. Above the altar was a statue of the goddess. Behind that statue was a stained glass window. The picture it depicted was the cause of the colors in the room. In the picture, the goddess was, as always, nude and heavily pregnant. Her hair was the same red as Janessa's, flowing down the length of her body. Her enormous breasts leaked milk as she held a flaming axe high above her head to execute a man in a crown lying before her on the ground.
Janessa's head throbbed painfully. She grabbed her head, groaning.
"This temple is often overwhelming to those going through transformations," the High Priestess said. "And to those with red hair, which we call the Mark of the Goddess."
"I am undergoing no transformation," Janessa argued. Though it felt like a lie. The High Priestess chuckled.
"Not just physical transformations. Mental, emotional, social ones. You are transitioning from a former concubine to a wife of a nobleman. Sonselle presides over that transformation, too."
"...Oh."
"Those overwhelmed find relief in lighting incense and asking for the goddess's help." The High Priestess turned to Sven. "Let us speak outside while Janessa prays." They left the temple, leaving Janessa alone.
With shaking hands, Janessa lit an incense. The smell of jasmine filled the air. Janessa placed the incense before the statue of the goddess and bowed her head.
"Sonselle, I know that you are not the one I usually speak to. But if you bless my marriage, maybe you will help me. Please, help me with whatever transformation I am experiencing. Help me through it painlessly."
A breeze blew through the temple, rattling bells hung on the statue. Suddenly, Janessa's headache was gone. She raised her head.
"Thank you, goddess." Janessa went outside to join her future husband. They had other wedding planning to do today. As the day progressed, Janessa's head stayed clear and she no longer had the strange flashes of someone else's memory.
After a lovely dinner, Sven and Janessa parted ways. Janessa stopped by Greta's room to tell her about her day, but upon hearing moaning within, decided not to. It seemed Greta was feeling better as well. At least good enough to have sex.
Janessa retired to her room and went to bed. When she woke up in the morning...