"By custom, the groom will spend the next three days here, in the bride's house," Chiun went on distractedly. "At the end of the third day, the newlyweds will be obligated to come and live in the house of the male line. Because the groom is from a foreign land and not one of us by birth, I will now ask him to agree to our honored custom. "
And Chiun turned to face Remo, grinning like a cat. "Yes," Remo said, brittle-voiced. Under his breath he added, "You always get your way, don't you?"
"Only when it counts," Chiun answered, turning his back on the bride and groom so that he again faced the wedding party. Remo saw his shoulders lift, a sure sign of a deep breath and the beginning of another long-winded oratory. Remo wondered if Chiun intended to stretch the ceremony over the whole three-day honeymoon.
Abruptly Chiun turned to face them again.
"I now ask the bride to say that she accepts the groom." Remo heard, for the first time since he had returned to Sinanju, Mah-Li's sweet voice whisper a breathy, "Yes."
"I now ask the groom," intoned Chiun, "if he accepts the maiden as his bride, today and forever."
"I do," said Remo.
Chiun faced the crowd one last time. He raised his hands so that the sleeves of his costume fell back, exposing spindly arms.
"I now ask those assembled here to witness this marriage. And before I pronounce them wed, I further ask if there is anyone present who objects to the joining of these two. "
The crowd gasped with one voice. Such a question had never before been asked at a Sinanju wedding. Was it some strange American custom? How were they to respond? The members of the wedding party looked at one another blankly.
And through the crowd, a tiny face pushed out from between the legs of Pullyang, causing the old village caretaker to cackle with surprise. Tiny brown eyes fixed on Remo Williams and widened suddenly.
"Daddy, Daddy!" a childish voice said, a smile breaking over a cherubic face.
Remo blinked. A tiny figure bundled in a blue snowsuit toddled up and wrapped stubby arms around his right leg. "What's this?" Remo asked awkwardly.
The Master of Sinanju hurled the wooden duck to the ground, causing its head to snap off. He clapped his hands once, sharply.
"There has been a mistake," he proclaimed. "This man is not pure. I declare this marriage invalid because the groom is not a virgin."
"Not a . . ." sputtered Remo. "Since when is that news? "
"The bride did not know," said Chiun. "Only one who is pure in mind and body may take a Sinanju maiden to wive. Remo, I am ashamed of you for leading her to believe otherwise when the proof of your unchaste behavior clings to your leg for all to see."
Remo turned. "Mah-Li, I don't know what this is all about," he said, anxiously. "Honest."
"You do not?" a woman's crisp voice asked from the crowd.
Remo's head snapped around. The voice. It was familiar. Standing at the front of the crowd, draped in a forest-green cloak, was a tall blond woman with coils of hair on either side of her face. Her eyes shone an angry green, and then darkened to a flat unfriendly gray.
"Jilda!" gasped Remo.
Chapter 25
It had all happened so fast that Remo Williams was paralyzed by surprise.
Jilda of Lakluun stood before him, throwing back her long cloak to reveal a Viking warrior costume of leather and chain mail. She wore a short dagger clipped to her belt.
"How?" Remo sputtered. "I mean, hi! Uh, what are you doing here?"
"Before you wed this woman," Jilda said frostily, "you should look upon your child. Then if it is your wish to wed, so be it. "
Remo looked down. Troubled brown eyes stared up at him. The child hugged Remo's leg tightly.
Remo looked up, his face stricken. "Mine?"
Jilda of Lakluun nodded severely. "Ours." Remo turned to his betrothed. "Mah-Li, I . . ."
But she was no longer standing there. Remo saw that the white strips of cloth that had bound their wrists together dangled loosely from his arm. And the door to Mah-Li's house slammed shut after a scarlet train of silk.
The Master of Sinanju stepped to Remo's side and lifted the child from Remo's leg. He faced the wedding audience, holding the child above his head with both hands:
"Do not feel sad, my people. For although no wedding will take place on this day, behold the son of my adopted son by the warrior woman Jilda of Lakluun!"
The people of Sinanju started to cheer. But the cheering died in their throats.
"White," they whispered. "It is white. Are no Koreans ever again to take responsibility for our little village?" Remo stepped in front of Chiun:
"You did this," he said. "You told Jilda about the wedding."
Chiun stepped around Remo so the audience could see the child, who stared wide-eyed and uncomprehending at the wedding party.
"Later," he hissed. "This is the crucial moment. The village must accept your son as Sinanju."
"What am I going to tell Mah-Li?" Remo said hotly.
"She will find another. Mah-Li is young; her heart is resilient. Now, be silent!" Again Chiun addressed the crowd. "You call this child white," he cried. "It is white-now. But within a year he will be less white. In five, you will not be able to tell him from a village child. And in twenty, he will be Sinanju in mind and body and soul."
"His eyes are round," a boy said.
"He will grow out of it," insisted Chiun. "Already the sun source burns within him. After Master Chiun, there will be Master Remo. And after Master Remo, there will be this one, Master . . . What is his name?" he asked Jilda from the side of his mouth.
"Freya, daughter of Remo," Jilda said.
"Freya, daughter o-" Chiun's mouth froze on the open vowel.
The villagers broke into howling laughter. They pointed at the little girl and openly mocked Remo's tattered figure. Remo looked at Freya, at Jilda, and again at Freya. He mouthed the question: Daughter? Jilda nodded.
Abruptly the Master of Sinanju handed the child to her mother, his face bitter. He waded into the crowd.
"Away! Away with you all! What follows here is not for the ears of common villagers."
Reluctantly the village people started to drift off. Curiosity slowed their feet. But at an angry exhortation from Master Chiun, they broke and ran. The Master was beside himself with fury. They understood it was not safe to remain.
Chiun waited until the last flop of sandaled feet had faded from hearing. He faced Remo and Jilda.
"You tricked me!" Remo said.
"And me," added Jilda. "Your letter told me nothing about a wedding. Only that my presence was urgently required."
Chiun dismissed their complaints with flapping hands. "Trivia! I will not hear of it! Do you not realize what has happened here?"
"Yes," Remo said bitterly. "You ruined my life."
"Your life! Your life! What about mine? I am shamed. You are shamed. We are all shamed."
"What have I to feel shame for?" asked Jilda, patting Freya's head. Frightened by Chiun's strident voice, the little girl had buried her face in Jilda's shoulder.
"For this!" said Chiun, pulling back the hood of Freya's snowsuit. It came off like a golf-club cover, revealing hair like new gold.
Remo and Jilda looked at Chiun blankly.
Seeing their expressions, Chiun stamped a foot and spoke his shame aloud, which only made it worse. "A female. The firstborn of my adopted son, the next Master of Sinanju, is a lowly female."
"So what?" said Remo.
"Yes, so?" agreed Jilda.
Chiun pulled at the hair tufts over his ears in frustration. "So what! So what! She is useless. Masters of Sinanju have always been male."
"I have not given permission that this child be entered into Sinanju training," Jilda said firmly.
"Your permission is not needed," snapped Chiun. "This does not concern you, only Remo, the child, and me."