After the previous day's battle, Xasxquar decided to go all the way to Ligold, Oq, with Swana, to attend Swana's brother's marriage, and also to catch a break from all the fighting with Junghybt, so Xasxquar decided to call the other mantles as well, since Xasxquar felt that even they needed a break, so he asked Swana, and she agreed with the same.
Swana and the others all agreed to use Xasxquar's hover-ship to go to Bharath's marriage, while Xasxquar stood wondering how Finoru could enter the ceremony. While Finoru just said, "Even in my world there is land, and to enter that land one must have no gills, or in my case a perfect disguise, because unlike yours, my disguise is exponentially better, it even has a small lining inside, filled with salty red dyed syrup to imitate blood, I'll get you one if you want" Xasxquar simply refused, and turned on his hover-ship, only to realize that Swana had already turned it on and he just turned it off, Xasxquar asked Swana, "How do you have access to my hover-ship?"
Swana replied, "I also got access when your hover-ship had an extra key, and you gave it to me, I mean, how did you forget that?"
Xasxquar then asked Swana, "Ok, then keep those keys safe. If you lose them, then it's your fault."
Swana, getting impatient, then said, "Oh my god! Just start the ship already." Xasxquar, slightly embarrassed, started the ship, then set the location. It was going to be on a long drive, eight and a half hours to be exact, Xasxquar told Swana the time, and she just said, "Put it on sports mode."
Xasxquar, then said, with an extreme superior voice, "You may not know it, but driving in sports mode is highly inefficient in terms of battery, and also very dangerous." Swana just said "Nerd" and crashed back into her seat, while Finoru sat in his seat reading a book, and Zaschrian was on his digital walkman, playing an electronic song, though his headphones were very poorly made, and others could hear the music. Deekshi sat there staring at them all. Xasxquar no longer worried that he had to drive, so he sat beside Swana and told everybody to listen to him. Then he said, "Let's discuss our lives, we haven't had much of an introduction, have we?" Zaschrian excitedly shouted, "I'll go first, I'm first, dibs on first." Xasxquar and the others looked at each other, chuckled, and told him to continue.
Zaschrian, "Ok, so, I'm rich in my galaxy, and I have a wife, though we're trying for a daughter, although a son will be fine, I'll treat both equally. Recently, my mother passed away, and I'm running in the elections, going for president of MDO."
As everyone said their condolences to Zaschrian, he sorrowfully accepted them. Nobody was willing to go next to Xasxquar, so he spun an empty soda can he had, and it landed on Deekshi. As she started. Xasxquar said, "No cussing, ok?"
Everyone agreed, and Deekshi continued, "In my galaxy, I'm not very rich, but I do enough to scrape by with some leftovers. However, I am grateful to be the daughter of one of the most intellectual women in the world. My father is more on the engineering and building side, so they match like a couple, hardware and software. I'm still not interested in getting married, but my parents are already searching for a man. Meanwhile, I have a job with a good paycheck, but most of it goes away due to taxes. And finally, I have been promoted to the Head of Department of Coding and Architecture. That's it for me. Who's next?"
As Xasxquar and the others congratulated Deekshi on her accomplishment, they once again spun the can; this time it landed in Finoru. Though initially Finoru was a little hesitant, after some persuasion, he accepted and started, "I'm proud to say that I am a father of three children, one in college with a full scholarship, one in high school, and one in kindergarten. One daughter and two sons, recently, from the Junghybt's attack, my daughter got severely hurt near the ear, but now it's fine. After that attack, Shakru Erd understood my pain and got everybody in the Court of Erds, their own saferoom for their family, not spiritually but physically. From that moment, Xasxquar realized that Shakru Erd really did care about the mantles.
Xasxquar then spun the can again; it landed on Finoru again, so Xasxquar spun it again, and now it landed on Xasxquar. Xasxquar, clearly frustrated, accepted his fate and started, "Well, you all met my mother, she's a bit of a psycho, my dad is non-existent, I hate my job, I get paid very low, so naturally, I'm broke, but I will always have person who will be there for me, through my lows and highs, and I love her very much." After that dialogue, Swana blushed a little, and then he spun the can, and before it could stop, Swana stomped on it, crushing it. Xasxquar asked, "What was that for?!"
Then Swana replied, "Look at the map, if we don't sleep now, we will get jet lag. I'm going to sleep, and so are you all."
Everybody agreed, due to Swana scaring them. As Xasxquar went to bed, he saw Shakru Erd wait for him. Xasxquar was startled at the sight and asked, "What are you doing here?"
Shakru Erd replied, "Hitching a ride to reach my friend's marriage, it just so happens to be the marriage you're attending."
Xasxquar asked, "First of all, no one can see you in the marriage, and you are not Bharath's friend."
Shakru Erd replied, "Well, specifically speaking, Shakru Erd is not his friend, but Shini Oru, the famous future predictor, is, and Shini Oru is my choice of pick, while in physically interacting with the world, and Shini Oru is also the same person who suggested that he leave you alone at the library."
Xasxquar astoundedly asked, "What?"
Shakru Erd replied, "I told Bharath to spare the person who comes at exactly ten o'clock at the library instead of turning them in. He refused at first, but when I offered him a free experience in my so-called 'Future seeing glasses', he agreed.
Xasxquar angrily asked, "So you set the whole thing up?"
Shakru Erd replied, "No, it just happened that you were the person to try to enter at that time; I was merely having fun. Anyways, I have to check up on the others, I'll put you to sleep though."
Xasxquar fell asleep before he could say no.
When they all woke up, they had only an hour before reaching their destination, so they went back to their room and changed. Swana, on the other hand, was already ready and sat in the pilot seat and started driving in sports mode, despite Xasxquar's muffled screams, then Xasxquar burst out the door, with his shorts and his traditional shirt half on him, and put the Hover-ship back to auto-drive, but Swana put it back to sports mode the moment Xasxquar went back to his room.
An hour later, they were there. Swana asked Xasxquar to park the ship and charge it; fortunately, Bharath had reserved them a slot and charging station. Xasxquar drove there and parked it. After plugging it into the charging station, he ran to catch up with the others. Bharath was waiting outside to welcome them in, while his parents were criticizing people about their ways of dressing and their way of walking, breathing, and even existing. Apparently, this was their way of showing appreciation, Xasxquar muttered beneath his nose, "Weirdos."
Swana started searching for Bharath, just to realize that she had to look the other way. They both hugged each other gracefully and went to see the bride; her name was Varsha. She was a kind and humorous person. While Swana was away, Deekshi came to Xasxquar and said. "She isn't gonna be on the market forever, better move fast." For which Xasxquar replied, " I know."
Later, when Swana arrived, Deekshi pushed Xasxquar, but barely missed, due to his dodging the push. Xasxquar always knew that Deekshi would do stuff to get things going the way she liked, so initially, when Deekshi suggested Xasxquar make a move, he knew that she would do something to start a conversation on it.
Later, when Xasxquar went to talk to Bharath, she saw through the corner of his eye, Deekshi was going towards Swana, so he quickly made a turn towards Deekshi. This entire trip had been a roller coaster for Xasxquar. It started well, but it was getting worse and worse. Xasxquar ran towards Deekshi to stop her, and requested her not to spill any emotions Xasxquar had for Swana. Deekshi just said, "I got your back." Xasxquar, still worried, went back to Bharath. He started a nice conversation, but it immediately shifted when Bharath asked, " When are you proposing to Swana?" Xasxquar, surprised by such direct questioning, simply, out of confusion, said, "What?"
Bharath replied, " Ohh… I know the way you look at her, I can sense when someone is looking at my sister in the 'lovey' way.''
Xasxquar shyly said, "I don't know what you're talking about, you're probably just imagining things, I don't look at your sister, weirdly… do I?"
Bharath laughed and said, "Oh yes, you do, Mr.Lover-Boy."
Xasxquar, embarrassed, said, "Shut up" and left.
Xasxquar united back with Swana and the others. He whispered in Deekshi's ears, "Did you tell her anything?" to which Deekshi replied, "I told her exactly what I told you. It seems to me that she does look at you the same way."
Xasxquar once again had butterflies in his stomach, so he went and sat beside Swana.
It was dinner time, and Bharath made sure that every one of them received special service. He had got all of them, extra curries, traditional curries, like milk cubes, eggplant curry, and the most delicious of them all, chicken. After the dinner ended, Xasxquar and Swana went back to Bharath to bid a happy marriage and farewell. On the way back to the Hover-ship, Xasxquar said to Swana, "So, what do you want to do in this return trip?"
Swana replied, "Let's play a game of truth and dare."
Xasxquar, realizing the opportunity, immediately agreed. Swana chuckled, and Xasxquar once again felt butterflies in his stomach, "oof, this day can't get any weirder." Xasxquar thought.
Back at the ship, Xasxquar had to find a new can to spin because Swana crushed the last one. Deekshi managed to sneak in a bottle from the dinner, drank it completely, and used it. Xasxquar and Swana were both very nervous, but before they could say anything, Deekshi spun the bottle, and it landed on Finoru, though Deekshi tried to blow it in Swana's way. Finoru excitedly picked dare. Xasxquar decided to give Finoru a tough dare; Finoru had to drive for three hours straight, everybody but Finoru agreed, but it was a dare, and a properly given dare is undisputable, so Finoru said, "After the game is over, I'll drive, but I'm driving in sports mode." Finoru snickered and spun the bottle again; this time it landed on Deekshi. She picked truth. Swana asked her, "Who is the kindest person you've met?" Deekshi replied, "Xasxquar." Xasxquar once again felt butterflies in his stomach, but this time the butterflies were bigger and heavier, and once again they spun the bottle; this time it landed on Xasxquar. Xasxquar tried to pick dare, but instead Deekshi asked a question as if he chose truth, "With whom do you see yourself in a commitment with, basically who do you love?" Xasxquar answered with a huge pause, "Swana." Swana blushed terribly; there were 'ohhhhh's." Swana told everyone, "Go to sleep." Meanwhile, Zaschrian asked, "Don't I get a chance?" for which Deekshi replied, "Not today, bud, the lovebirds are shy."
Swana blushed even more and said, "Do you all want to be put to sleep?"
Xasxquar tried going to his room, but Swana pulled him aside and asked, "Do you really feel that way about me?" Xasxquar replied, "Yes, and I always will, no matter what." Swana blushed so hard her entire face was a bright pink, then said, "Even I feel the same way about you." And before Xasxquar could ask anymore, Swana slammed the door. Deekshi came outside and said, "Thank me later." Xasxquar said, "Go to sleep."
At the end, Finoru still didn't do his dare, so he had to become Xasxquar's chauffeur for the next three weeks. Finally, when Swana talked to Xasxquar, she hugged him tightly and said, "Love you." Xasxquar reciprocated, "Love you too." After three weeks, Finoru asked if his punishment was over, but they said, "Not until the lovebirds say so. They will probably say no, so you're not done yet."