Lyra woke up, squinting in the sunlight. She took a breath. Her whole body was thrumming, though with nervousness or anticipation she didn't know.
Soon she was getting married. And today she would meet her husband-to-be.
She didn't even know what the boy looked like. He'd come from another region - Kanto, according to her mother.
She glanced down at Chikorita.
"Will this really be okay...?"
After much organization and steeling herself, they were on their way.
Her mother told her it was essential the marriage took place; the boy was in trouble, and to get married was his only option to escape that trouble.
Lyra was only twenty, and the boy was the same age. Surely, no matter how great the trouble, marriage wasn't the only solution at this age.
Lyra had dreams. This boy must too.
Plus, who wanted to marry a stranger from somewhere as tiny and boring as NewBark Town?
They stood outside where he was staying in Cherrygrove City, her and her mother, arriving to practice for the ceremony. She'd been told to dress formal but refused, staying in her overalls, keeping her hair in its childish pigtails, even though her mother fussed. This boy could take her as she was or not at all.
An elderly woman answered the door, hair in a tight bun. "Oh, you must be Lyra! Do come in!"
This woman wasn't his mother or grandmother. Lyra knew he grew up in foster care and now lived alone, and she was only here to help with the ceremony.
She walked in, glancing around. The place was large but felt so empty.
"Silver will be down shortly," the woman told her, and ushered her mother into another room.
Lyra noticed a piano in the corner, and jumped at the chance to distract herself while waiting. She was playing for a few minutes when she heard a voice. "Wow. You're actually not terrible."
Lyra jolted. "Ah!"
She looked up to see a redheaded boy dressed in black. His hair was tied back and he was watching her.
"You're… Silver?"
Her fiance?
He nodded. "And I'm guessing you're Lyre?"
"Lyra," she corrected. "But yes I am."
Silver moved to sit beside her. "I never learnt how to play. I never stayed in one place long enough."
And then he began to tell her, how he ran away from home, ran away from his father who was always away, and went from foster home to foster home.
He clenched his fists. "But now he wants to take me back. I won't go back! I'm an adult, and this wedding will prove that." He looked over at her. "He won't take in both of us, and he can't take me from my spouse. That's why…."
Lyra nodded. "I understand."
And she did. She herself felt stifled by her own mother.
Maybe this marriage could set them both free in a way. Maybe it wouldn't be so talked for awhile. Silver was a trainer too; he showed her his Cyndaquil while she introduced him to Chikorita. She was actually enjoying herself.
Then a voice called them. "Silver, Lyra! It's time to practice for the wedding vows!"