DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?

Rumors are the reason Sloan Murphy thought he'd failed his proxy sister. They're also causing mayhem back in the present.

Speaking of the present, Happy New Year all!

...

"Father, what do you think about this one?" Dalla turned her datapad to show him the image. "It's my favorite so far."

Marlon examined the page from the wedding dress retailer's HoloNet site. After he zoomed in on the dress in question and rotated the image to study it from all angles he smiled. "It's beautiful, Dalla. What do you think?"

"I like it," Dalla blushed and turned the 'pad back around. "I like it a lot."

"Is it what you want to wear to the salt formation?"

"I think so."

"Well then give me the 'pad." He added the wedding dress to his virtual cart and entered his payment information.

"Father, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm buying my daughter her wedding dress."

"Really?" She perked up before backpedaling. "You don't have to if you don't want to. It's been a good fishing season, and it's not like I can't afford -"

"I want to, Dalla." Marlon set the datapad with the completed order on his desk. "You're going to be a beautiful bride."

"Thank you!" Dalla hugged him. "I can't wait to try it on and show you."

"I'll make sure to get Lux out of the Hold that day." He only wished Lana could be there to see their daughter in a wedding dress. "The groom can't see the bride."

"Aye, that he can't." Her comlink rang and Dalla sighed when she saw the ID. "It's my first mate. I've got to take this."

"Go ahead." Marlon kissed her forehead. "I'll handle the rest of this."

"I'll tell you the second I get the package. Thank you so much!"

Marlon watched her go, still with the smile on her face, the smile of a bride who was going to be beautiful on her wedding day. Everyone should have that feeling and he was overjoyed he got to do this for her. Dalla did so much for him and for the north. She deserved to be happy on her wedding day.

Salt gods, her wedding day. For all his work in planning the wedding Marlon still could hardly believe his baby girl was getting married.

He was excited, of course. It wasn't every day your daughter got married. But Marlon was also nervous. Lux was a gentle, honorable man but Marlon knew he wasn't in love with Dalla. When he kissed her at dinner the night he arrived at the Hold, his heart wasn't in it. He was embarrassed and nervous, and when he looked at Dalla it was like Lux was wishing with all his heart she was someone else.

Since the crash thirteen years ago Dalla hadn't much optimism for a happy marriage, but Marlon had assured her that no shortage of young men would see her for who she was and the one she married would worship the very ground she walked on. It had seemed to work until the tabloids ran those lies about his daughter and Rash. Marlon wanted to track down the reporter who dared put such things to flimsi and teach him what happened when you messed with a Blackwell, but he was too busy responding as every family who'd previously fallen over themselves offering their sons withdrew their request for Dalla's hand.

Dalla put on a brave face when he broke the news to her. "I understand, Father. No one would want their son to marry a ruined girl with a broken face."

Then she went to her bedroom, shut the door, and cried when she thought nobody could hear her. Marlon never let her know he did. Instead he sat on the other side of the door with head in his hands, his heart breaking that his beautiful daughter was convinced no man would want her for any other reason than credits and power.

That would not happen. He would not allow it to happen.

So after he finalized the dress order Marlon opened his office closet, pulled out his harpoon gun, and took a stroll down to Lux's guest room.

"Lux?" He called through the door. "May I have a word?"

"Of course." Behind the door Lux moved some things around while Marlon shouldered the harpoon gun. "Have you seen Dalla? I wanted to ask her something about the wedding. Well, you might be a better source. I was wondering - ."

Lux opened the door to Marlon's harpoon pointing directly between his eyes.

"I didn't know you had one of those." To his credit, Lux was exceedingly calm.

"I keep it close."

"I take it we're having a different conversation than I thought."

"Aye, we are."

Lux stepped out of the doorway, leaning back to avoid the harpoon point but moving slowly enough Marlon could easily keep him in his aim. "I know Dalla didn't tell you about the negotiations we'd been involved in. We should have, but we were both so nervous and telling the family made it seem more real."

"It's very real, Bonteri." Marlon tightened his grip on the harpoon. "Your wedding's coming up quick, and Dalla's looking forward to it. Salt gods, I never thought I would see her look forward to her wedding."

"That she is." Lux didn't nod due to the harpoon in his face. "I can't think of a better match."

"Oh, but you can." Here the harpoon edged forward the slightest bit. "What about the Jedi advisor, from the war? I saw how you looked at her and I see how you look at Dalla."

Lux had the wisdom not to dismiss the accusation. "I...It's true, I loved Ahsoka but she's gone now. I don't know where she was when the Purge began, but nowhere in the galaxy is safe for someone like her. I couldn't find her no matter how hard I tried and believe me Lord Blackwell, I tried."

"Like how you tried to locate your Mandalorian half-sister, mother of your child who died in two different explosions?"

Lux suppressed a sigh when Marlon mentioned the gossip stories. "Dalla is my best friend. I don't love her the way I loved Ahsoka, but I care about her a great deal."

That was a good answer but Marlon wasn't done with him yet. "Dalla is happy. I don't care what you have to do, but you're going to keep her that way. She doesn't deserve to have marriage ruined for her again."

"I couldn't agree —."

"— And if you hurt her, then the last thing you'll see is this harpoon hurtling toward your head!"

Lux gulped. "Lord Blackwell, sir, I will do everything in my power to make sure you never have to get that thing out again. And it's not because of the threat."

He'd give Lux this. He was a smart man.

"You'd better hope you succeed." He growled and lowered the harpoon past Lux's neck, his chest, his gut, and lower still. It lingered there while Marlon never broke eye contact with the former senator.

…

Dalla had finished her business with the first mate and gone back to balancing ledgers when Lux walked into what would soon be their bedroom looking like he'd gone through a cyclone.

"What happened to you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Lord Marlon Blackwell. That's what happened to me."

She was worried something like this would happen. "Blaster rifle?"

"Harpoon gun! You didn't tell me he had one of those!"

"Aye, he does." Dalla winced. "Are you okay?"

"I don't have a harpoon in my head, if that's what you mean," Lux said sarcastically and sat on the edge of her desk. "I didn't know I had such a reputation as a heartbreaker."

"He and I read the gossip stories in the holos. I laughed about how ridiculous they were, but he must have thought there was some truth in them. Salt gods Lux, I'm so sorry."

"I'm okay." He took a breath to center himself. "He seemed satisfied with what I said. But I'm going to be part of this family, I should be treated like part of it."

"You should and I don't know what got into him. He's been a little unhinged about my getting married ever since Sanjay Rash." She saw his what the Dxun expression and rephrased. "Not that he thinks you're anything like that monster."

"That's comforting." Lux rolled his eyes.

"He's protective, but he can't treat you like that. I'll talk to him later."

"I'll make sure he doesn't put a harpoon through you."

"Pretty sure that threat only applied to you, holo star."

"I should probably cancel the gossip 'zine subscriptions. They've got to be all over our engagement like mynocks." He groaned and then held his hands out pantomiming a headline: "'Breaking News: Crown Prince of Onderon Engaged to Northern Lady. Is He Really Leaving His Other Loves Behind?"

Dalla shook her head. "Change 'northern lady' to 'kingslayer.' They're going to have their fun deciding whether or not I'm going to kill you."

"Of course they are." Lux lay backward across the desk in defeat. "We're going to be hiding from them for weeks before and after the wedding at least."

He sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets to rest when his fingers found something and he pulled out a faded cloth pouch.

"What's that?" Dalla angled for a better look.

"That is what I wanted to ask you about before I nearly got harpooned." He dumped the pouch into his palm and held out the contents: a set of two silver rings. "They're my parents' wedding rings."

She had an idea of where this was going, and she liked it. "How long have you been carrying those?"

"I grabbed them on the way out of my house on Raxus. They were the only family heirlooms small enough to carry. Anyway," he shrugged. "I thought, maybe, we could wear them. We don't have to. We could buy a new set or if you have some of your own -."

"Aye, I'd love to wear them." Dalla cut him off gently and picked up the smaller of the two rings. She'd only met Mina once but she remembered the woman's kindness and compassion during what had then been her darkest hour.

"Really?" Lux perked up like he hadn't been expecting such an answer.

"They clearly mean a lot to you if you carried them around all these years. I'd be honored to wear them." She slipped the ring onto her finger to test it and held it up for him to see. "Look, it's a perfect fit."

"It is." His smile grew. "Let me get them cleaned, at least. I can take them to the same jeweler I got your engagement ring from when we go down to Iziz. That way we can have a whole new start."

…

If you are a clothes fiend like me (LS), Dalla's wedding dress is Princess Eugenie's wedding dress.