I do not own Zootopia, that belongs to Disney. This a fan work made solely for the sake of amusement.

The Burrows

Chapter Thirteen: Here come the Brides, Part Two

By: Gabriel LaVedier

"Now... are you sure it's alright sharing a wedding day with your brother?" Princess asked. She was pressed up close and cozy with Jake, their masked faces placed near to each other, if only just, swaying to the slow notes of the song Bobby and Jenny were playing. They gingerly danced despite Princess having to do it on her platforms with her long neck helping her put her head close to his. They were swaying to the music before the intense but approving gaze of Pop-Pop.

"Family tradition, a long-time one," Pop-Pop said, nodding his head after. "Siblings share a lot of things. Birthdays, wedding days. Best to get them in as densely as possible. But they still feel special. This is even more special. Outsider weddings, held here in the Burrows, not just an idea of a wedding out in Zootopia. Sealing the Hopps and Weaselton families."

Jake nodded and quickly pressed a kiss on the part of Princess' neck that he could reach on tip-toes. "Kenny's one of my close-brothers. Age and encouraged closeness, working in the same area, helping each other out. Town-working sibs get close. Me, Kenny... It... it doesn't always work..."

Princess pressed Jake in tighter to her body, executing a deft twirl on her sandals while keeping Jake securely against her. "Hey, no thinking about that. Eventually we'll all forget he exists. Focus on the wedding, the store, and a pile of bunnies with springs for spines."

"High as the silo," Pop-Pop insisted. "Lots and lots. Need to make up for lost time."

"Despite all the rumors, we have our share of very energetic action," Princess said with a giggle. "It's very acrobatic. Be proud of him, Jake's flexible and energetic. He really fits into the Weaselton name."

The old bunny laughed deeply, thumping his cane lightly on the ground. "Neptem, she wasn't a least weasel but Toni was still a kind of weasel and she was happy with what I could do. I was pretty spry myself in the day. He may square off like my son or me, but he'll keep, long enough for big piles of Weaseltons to stock the store and run the farm."

"They can have their own careers... but I hope the oldest one really loves the store," Jake said with a laugh. "You can't always keep them on the farm, but sometimes they'll stay if they like the perks."

Over in another part of the dance floor the Sheriff and her lupine date were also doing the dance of the imbalanced, the big reindeer doe having to stoop a bit for the willowy, curly-coated strawberry-toned wolf. The closest pair to them had given up on the awkwardness, with roe buck Deputy Roeberts lifting up his rather tiny date, Hayma the leaf muntjac, swinging her around as they moved to the beat.

Sheriff Beatrix gingerly kissed the side of Rimpssie's muzzle and dipped him gently. "Did your isä complain overmuch at your carrying a garment bag with your good suit suit to a wedding, rakastettu?"

"He has so many complaints for a happy wolf, kultaseni," Rimpssie said with a shake of his head and a smile. "He still thinks a good wolf does not go to a wedding in a powder-blue suit. The Peaceground folk love it."

"And that's all that matters. We all made our choices and the Hoppses understand," Beatrix said. She was dressed in a gákti that was predominantly a rich sky blue and reached down to her knees. Blue leggings covered up her legs and she was decorated in a tasteful mix of family patterns and wrought silver held together with plaited cords. At her throat, the collar was secured with decorative gold clasps with detailed filigree around them. A buttoned belt cinched in at her waist, with rounded buttons, though rather boldly one of the most forward buttons had been capped with a lacquered wooden square, whose presence made Rimpssie tuck his tail and flatten his reddened ears. "I always want to get good use out of my gákti. It will even serve nicely for the wedding."

"Square... button..." Rimpssie mumbled, pressing his head in closer and hiding his face in his fiancee's chest.

"He's a sight more shy than usual. Something special going on with that bit of wood ya got?" Buck asked, peering at the square piece of wood.

Beatrix laughed softly and kissed Rimpssie on the top of his head. "In the old country, in our herds, this was special clothing. The patterns are from my herd, and my family, the gold and silver have special forms. And the buttons on the belt... round buttons are for unmarried folk, and square buttons for married ones. Rimpssie's pack isn't from the same place but he knows what square buttons mean. I put one on there just to say how much I'm waiting for our wedding."

"I am the soft one," Rimpssie said, still pushed to Beatrix's chest. "To her herds the soft one will make their mate's gákti. She had hers but she wishes for me to make her new belt. I will buy the buttons but put them on. Square buttons... a married poro's belt. My poro..."

"My species in Suomi," Beatrix preemptively explained.

"That is so sweet, sheriff," Hayma said, lightly fluttering her facial glands and flicking her ears. "I have wedding garb for when it comes but... many things complicate matters. Buck is an orphan now, and the buck's family should be the one offering gifts and making arrangements about time once the two have chosen. We can still have you go with new clothes. Mother and grandmother will bathe you, attire you and we will eat from the same plate. I-if you wish..."

"Darlin', if it means that much that's fine with me," Buck said, kissing Hayma's forehead gland and tapping the end of his snout on her preorbital glands. "We can even delay it all you want to make sure that astrologer gets it all settled up."

"An astrologer? Interesting. Rather like rabbits," Beatrix mused.

"Had a video call with him, asked about when I was born, all the little details about my blood and all. Real interesting stuff. Said Hayma and I were, uh... auspicious. Had our marriage written on our foreheads since we were little. Nice thing to think," Buck said with a good bit of pride.

"He read our stars and found us to match up so very well," Hayma said with a little bark. "Mother was so happy. She had hoped for a very auspicious husband for me. She wishes to make much of it."

"Oh Miss Sanda, all parents are like that," Beatrix said, kissing her fiance on the nose. "It's why his are such cringing, tuck-tailed whimperers. But I understand. I already love my new family, even if they don't realize it."

Over by the bandstand Sylvia and Kenneth were pressing as close together as they could get with her belly being in the way. They weren't quite following along with the beat of the music, Kenny was just swaying along with what Sylvia was doing. "Golly... hard ta think... still thinkin' about how it was back in the office. Just gettin' coffee, gettin' lunch, massagin' your paws if ya had a long day..."

"We're not giving my new sister more of a chance to be smug," Sylvia interrupted, booping Kenneth on the nose. "It's business as usual, Kenny. But that's nothing bad. You loved me when you saw me and I loved you when I thought about it for a second. Same as ever."

"I like that. Folk think I'm a little silly, but I like when things go on being real nice. I ain't the kind to go in for all that dark change and such. I love it when things get all bright and happy," Kenneth said with a smile.

"Change can be happy too," Muffin said brightly, dancing with Duke up to Sylvia and Kenneth. "Things that are the same can be good. After a time." She kissed Duke on the forehead and pulled him tighter into her fluff, all packed into a rainbow-swirled sheath dress. "What we have now, I'm happy with it."

"Same things still change," Duke said with a grin. "I ain't changed that much, I'm still me, just ask Nick over there. But I'm, uh, better, ya know? My doll calls me 'audacious'. Guess it means I'm bold. Not so usual fer a weasel but a survivor's gotta survive. Helps with that."

"Cousin, ya got audacious comin' outta every hair. And it's lookin' good on ya. Just like the Weaseltons we know. You're gonna make a good neighbor," Kenneth said with a bright smile.

"I think about how things are moving along..." Muffin mused, stroking Duke slowly. "Our condo is very generous, and this new home will have so much space. Would you like to add to our little family with a pet?"

"A pet? Now I'm movin' up! In Happytown ya named a roach 'r two but didn't have no fancy roach cage an' little leashes," Duke said. "Don't mean we gotta have one. Wouldn't mind some kinda lizard 'r bird. Porb'ly better."

"Well now... in all this farmland I feel inclined to one of those farmed types, just a hint of inspiration. There are decorative types of such things. Decorative silkworms, they come in such lovely colors now. A pygmy snapper. A silky chicken..."

Duke snapped to attention, eyes boggling happily. "Hey! Chickens! We hardly ever got even an egg but I got good about makin' that thing taste good. Do them pet chickens lay eggs?"

"Not as many as farm chickens, of course, but they do lay regularly. I would enjoy seeing your magic with fresh eggs. Some fluffy white ball of feathers, a young pullet we could call... Astra, if such a thing delights you," Muffin said, softly nuzzling Duke's cheek.

"Hey, doll, anything's good with me. You take care-a namin' the thing. I'll take on all the other stuff. Build a lil' pen in the condo, give it seeds, collect the eggs. Just gotta have 'em build a coop out here, just stick it ta the side-a the house," Duke said, looking thoughtful.

Muffin kissed him on the side of the snout. "Never cease thinking, my love. Your ideas succeed so well."

"Nick, Nick, don't you do this,"Judy said sternly, dancing with Nick, standing atop his paws and lightly rubbing them with her padless toes. "You'd better not."

"I thought this was your brother's department, carrots," Nick said with a chuckle, kissing the top of Judy's head.

"Don't try and distract me, I'm telling you, just stop," Judy warned.

"My ears aren't as long as yours," Nick said with a smile, dancing his way over to Gregor and Olga. "Hey, hey, Comrade White."

Olga was just barely audible, hiss-whispering to her husband, "Ne delay etogo! Ne delay etogo! Ne delay etogo!"

Gregor snorted contemptuously, pointedly ignoring his wife's demanding tone. "What do you wish to say, russki?"

"You're our family now, Comrade White," Nick said with his smarmiest grin. "Snap-snap, no takebacks. Can't get that bunny off your paws if you tried. You arctics got hustled hard by a master. One dopey smile, some coffee and your little kitten was sold. Takes a lot of stuff to make honesty work. How does it feel?"

Gregor seethed, gritting his teeth as he looked aside at Nick. "It is... good..." His arms trembled as he held his wife against him, moving stiffly to the music, practically stuttering his way like a malfunctioning robot. He couldn't make a scene and he very well knew it. "He is a... good... son-in-law. His children will bring much glory."

"Glory to the Hoppses, hallelujah," Nick said with a laugh. "Glad you like it. You're getting along great."

"Hopps...Hopps..." Gregor repeated, first with rage, then with falling realization. "Weaselton. Wilde-Hopps. Hopps..."

"She picked. Kenny would give her the sun if she asked for it. She had to make the choice," Judy said, softly, but loud enough to carry across.

"I didn't say a thing, you said it all yourself," Nick chuckled, dancing along with Judy continuing to massaging the tops of his paws.

"Hopps..." Gregor breathed, with a tight throat and gritted teeth.

"On the whole we're ahead," Stu said, leaning and swaying against his wife. "We just ignore the Arcticas after they leave, and we get left with the extended Weaselton clan."

"Lanige-Weaselton, dear," Bonnie corrected. "I don't doubt Duke will take her name but they'll be front and center on the family tree. We'll never hear the end of it from Meister."

"Not a problem. They're our kin too. We can be just as proud," Stu asserted.

"Proud..." Bonnie sighed, pressing her head to her husband's neck and swaying in time with his motions. "I think we should be proud of how much we're not who we used to be."

"Bon... it's not that big of a change," Stu said, unconvincingly.

"Really, Mr. Fox-taser?" Bonnie teased. "That's fox number two, and not the last one. And a certain weasel went from cheating like the dickens at cards to your closest kin, telling the Chamber of Commerce to endorse for you for that council seat. Don't forget the chinchilla now, if you hop a line on the family tree."

"We settled hard," Stu insisted, with a soft smile. "Settled like a good gourd I guess. And then the roots grew out and the vines curled all around. Yup. We settled. And look at us now." He looked to Sylvia and Kenneth dancing together, and the swell of her kit-kaboodle, the next generation of Hoppses. He glanced to Princess and Jake, still chatting animatedly with his father while the pair swayed. He looked at Judy standing on Nick's paws, head pressed up against his body while they moved. "Look. At. Us."

The dancing went on for a while longer, couples slowly stepping off the floor until only the most dedicated sweethearts were still out there swaying as Bobby and Jenny slowed and halted the music. "Thanks for the kind dancing, folks. We'll be back up here after the moonrise reception," Bobby said over the sound system.

"That's the sad thing," Jenny said, carefully stowing her harp and powering down her board. "The musicians are the only ones who can't dance. The ones who love it most can't take advantage."

"You've got every song you ever heard in your head, honey-hocks," Bobby said, gingerly taking Jenny's hoof and leading her out onto the vacated dance floor. "All of that was for everyone else. This is just for us. Think up a beautiful tune and dance with me, sweetling."

"That smooth-as-silk sandpaper tongue's gonna get you in trouble one of these days, Bobby," Jenny softly chided, the mule deer doe gently taking the cougar in her arms and leading him through the rhythm she was picturing, his musician instincts moving his body along to the beat. "Not today. Not today..."

o o o

"I hope this isn't too much for you, Pop-Pop," Princess said. She was seated beside the old bunny and was leaning gently up against him. Both of them were facing west, watching the sun sink low in the sky.

"These tired old bones aren't happy about what I'm doing. I'm not dancing, I'm not hopping, but just being here isn't so easy," he replied, reaching out to take her hand, pulling it over to gently pat at it. "But my old body can take a hike. I need to be here. This is what the Hopps family has been needing for a long time. When that moon rises I'll be thinking of that moon that was over Toni and me. It should have been us. But it's gonna be you two. Losing a grandson, gaining the honor we lost out on. Family orchard's gonna look so much brighter with you on it. Weaselton. A proud trunk."

"And Lanige growing right beside," Princess said with an amused chuckle.

"That cousin of yours... suppose not every story starts bright as a pfennig. But now he's got all the polish you could hope for. Burrow could use that kind of gentlemammal farmer out here. Or what have you. If we're gonna have Zootopians, I'd want ones who really belong. Nothing more natural than a Weaselton around these parts," Pop-Pop said, staring upward at the darkening sky. "Been around long enough to absorb what there is to know about what I ain't. You going to go straight to it with the Houngan or did you call in a Bokor and not tell us?"

"Oh I could have, could have easily. But that's not for me. I'm not the spiritual type, just there for the life lessons and the good socializing. The Silver Glow shines on me and is lovely, and the Holy Dark is a part of my life, but it's all something to color my world and lift my spirits," Princess said. "I'm just lucky Jake feels the same way. The sun and earth bring forth bounty and all those good lessons from the church make life much better. But this," he said while tapping her mask, "Is about what they mean. The Houngan looked at us, looked deep into us and said we were worthy."

"Could have asked me. I could've told told him you two were perfect as mammals could be," Pop-Pop insisted, tapping his cane down on the grass.

"You're a little bit biased. I love it, of course, but we need an outside opinion for these things. Sure does make daddy proud," Princess said with a sigh.

"Has every right to it," Pop-Pop insisted. "Don't mean to toot the family horn too hard, but the Hoppses are a fine family to enter. And with the Weaselton name... you two mean so much for this Burrow."

"I don't want to sound too proud but this little Outsider union is even more impactful than my new sister's own," Princess said, very softly. "Moon love her, but she's a pretty ordinary Zootopia vixen. But, no Outsider union actually done here is ever a bad thing."

"It's all true. She's a strange one, but she makes Kenny happy, and that's a great joy. We'll have some nice ones here. Sheriff's gonna look nice hitching up with that skittish little wolf of hers. Sun only knows how he got the nerve to ask," Pop-Pop chuckled.

"She asked him," Princess laughed. "It's not a secret to some mammals, because she was always in the store buying canned fish and bugs. They wanted a dowry out of her, her responsibility and proof she could provide for a mate. She took it in stride. Head-tossing reindeer like that, of course she can provide for a skinny wolf."

"Takes all sorts to make the world. Happy I got to live to see it," Pop-Pop sighed as the sun finally slid down in a last, glowing sliver. He looked up at the dark of the night, rheumy eyes taking in everything he could. "The children of the Sun and Earth are looking bright tonight. They're all out to attend the moon. Needs to look its best to shine on you."

"Shine on, and shine bright. I'm marrying the buck that beats all the rest... sorry..." Princess said, managing to look sheepishly at Pop-Pop even with her mask on.

"None of that now. He's the best buck in your eyes and that's a great honor. Why I know it, never was or will be a jill finer than you, so far as he can tell. That love is why you're wearing those masks, and why you'll make for great partners. Now... give me a little help, neptem. Just gotta haul these old bones over to watch the history happen," the old buck said, holding out his hands.

Princess took his hands and gently pulled him to his paws, putting an arm around his shoulders as she led him over to the head of aisle ending by the cairn and Convocation banner. She helped him settle beside her father, giving both of them kisses on the cheek before she and her father went around to the end of the aisle in preparation for the start of the ceremony.

Up to the front of the aisle stepped a large, powerful gray wolf wearing a sharp navy blue suit covered in shimmering pieces of nacre arrayed like stylized bug scutes. He had on a midnight black top hat with polished pieces of silver looking like different kinds of fish resembling the phases of the moon, from a whip-thin eel to a huge, round opah as the full moon front and center on it. He leaned on a silver-plated cane, polished up and looking gleaming in the modest light of a few electric lights and some torches.

The wolf tapped his cane down solidly and let out a huge howl, the foxes in attendance yap-howling rapidly, and Rimpssie joining in with a high, reedy howl of his own. Following the howl another slam of the cane brought a hush over the crowd. "Brothers and sisters beneath the moon! We gather in this glorious glow to bring forth a union, a union of hearts so rare one might lament of ever finding them. Hearts so full of love it should be impossible. But these fine folk made the impossible possible. Those worthy before the glow of the moon and the eyes of the Convocation to wear the masks of the spirits who represent the purest and most perfect love, Maman and Baron.

"We join here in caring and adoration, family, friends and community, to see a new phase in two lives, two lives now to be made one, two halves of a whole coming together to form that irregular circle. Pocked and divoted, outline coarse and wavering, but not from intent, from pure and honest nature. They will not make the impossible perfect circle, no unblemished orb. But they will create the orb we see, make of their lives the best they can muster, as every mammal must, the best of their abilities, two lives striving as one to do greater things than some impossible ideal could ever manage! Can I get a yap-howl?"

Duke spontaneously squeaked out, calling in a high shriek and yap, raising his arms and swaying. "It ain't fer us ta be perfect! We just gotta love 'til it's over and be our best!" Other yaps and howls cried out in response.

"Glory and glow! The truth, it squeaks out from all mammals! How true it is, we all rise and fall, never failing forever nor doing it all perfectly! Let these two know they must remember such lessons! Feel it in them! Glow and glory! Come to the cairn, young folk! Come to the cairn and lay your hands down upon the stones, plucked from the secret depths of the Holy Dark holding the slumbering insects, being smoothed by the water that cradles our fishy harvest. Come up, you lovers, to become one!"

The first one up the aisle was Princess, locking arms with her father. She went up to the sprightly sounds of imitation organ music so familiar to the Convocation members, provided live by Bobby. Given he was the regular organist for the Convocation, it all came through very well.

Meister gave his daughter a pat on her long neck and went back to his seat beside Pop-Pop. The music changed to a different but equally happy tune, with Bonnie leading another son along to his nuptials. "Jake... I'm so proud of you. Even if I lose you," she sniffed.

"Mom... I'll still be a Hopps deep down. I'm just going to be a Weaselton too. I'm bringing honor and love to this family. I'll still be at the church, and I'll always be your little kit," Jake promised, patting his mother's hand before she left him beside Princess, making her way back to her own front row seat.

Houngan Luparov thudded his cane down and let out a yap, placing Jake and Princess' hands on the cairn. "Beloved community, we witness here a union, as I have said. We make the imperfect circle, a unified whole to show love, and we do so in a special way, by special significance. These who love, they are the future, and show by their masks how they come to it, gloriously, beautifully, as one, devoted.

"Maman, the blessed lady of healing and nurturing. Baron, the bon vivant of the grave, the hand over from life to the next life. A loving mother and a waggish rogue of the passing. But the old slick-talker with his skeleton mug and his fancy duds don't make a move without his wife the lady of love and mercy, behind that smile and care she's got just as cussed a mouth as his and is just as much a spicy soul as he. Time and place, am I right, brothers and sisters?"

"Hallelujah! Time and place for spice is nice!" Nick called out, Judy trying to pull down his raised arms briefly, before noticing the odd stares were directed at her, and not Nick. "Praise the ones that know it!"

"Glory, fox! Howl it out! You have to know the right time, know the right place, be yourselves but be one in the same time and measure! Match up and be counted as equal in praise to Maman and Baron!" Houngan Luparov howled. "Young ones! Howl out, cry and call as you want, show me the spirit within, the passion that flows between and enriches you both!"

Jake was actually the first to cry out, letting out the special kind of squeal that rabbits used, joined by Princess' squealing squeaks in turn, joining in tone at one point, both their heads thrown back, fingers pressing hard into the cairn, bodies stretched out to their fullest. They trembled in tension as they gave it their all, creating a cacophonous squealing. Neither species was known for the lyric vocalizing of the wolf, but they had no shame in expressing what they could do, filling the night with their echoing calls.

"Hear it! The cry into the Holy Dark! The call to the Silver Glow! The passion born of affection, no base lust, the pure emotion from the love in their hearts! If you speak to the moon, speak! If you speak only from the heart, speak! Make your vows before the Convocation and in this holy moment!"

Jake threw open his eyes, his hands trembling as he held onto the cool rock topping the cairn, the blood thrumming in his veins. For a nothing-special buck from the Solaterra church it was quite the change. Raw emotion filled him and he looked across at the masked face of his beloved. "Princess! We just wanted to be together! I always wanted you. Back before I knew what an Outsider was I only ever wanted you. If Judy hadn't done it first I would have done it! I'm the buck Pop-Pop always hoped for! I know it! It's not just the moment talking, I can't live without your love, I would never want to! Our families have always been just at the edge of closeness, now let's seal them up tight!"

Princess wasn't exactly a regular attendant of services, but she was more used to how they went. It was a slower burn for her but no less a real excitement was in her slim chest. "Sealed forever, bloodline to bloodline. No Hopps rabbit will have to know shame again, never feel guilt. We are a promise made real! From the start, from a wiggling little noodle to here, I never wanted to have anyone around but you. Not this close, not this warmly. The life we're going to make together, that will bring glory to everyone. The farm, the store, our children will be important parts of that. Our children! All our little hybrid children!"

"High as the silo!" Pop-Pop cried out suddenly, standing up a small bit and waving his cane around. He fell back down into his chair, Meister checking up on him after.

"High as the silo! Lots and lots of babies. I'll happily do it! It's all ahead of us. Our lives will be amazing!" Princess squeaked.

"Then kiss, you, lovers! Seal your future!" Hougan Luparov cried, slamming his cane into the ground.

The pair needed no further prompting. Princess squatted and pulled her head low while Jake went up on his toes, their lips meeting in the middle. Their kiss was wet and noisy, soppy in the way that only something born of the rush of blood and genuine desire. The kiss was met by cries and yaps and squeaks, along with clapping and cheers from the more reserved members of the audience.

"In the name of the Holy Selenic Convocation and through the power of the Governmental Council of the Unified Counties, I declare you're wed! Glory and glow! Go forth and live with joy!"

The newlywed pair separated with a loud pop and sigh, drool surrounding each mouth, lightly sliding down. Each one dabbed at each others' mouths with handkerchiefs from Jake's pocket. "Wow... so... even with some instruction... that's how the Selenics do it..." Jake mumbled.

"You get used to it," Princess sighed. "But when everyone's filled with emotion and your heart is racing you get caught in the moment no matter how much you know. You just have to say something. Even Pop-Pop got into it."

"Should have seen it coming," Jake said, slowly stepping over to Pop-Pop. "Well... was it everything you hoped it would be?"

"I only wish my eyes were younger," Pop-Pop said with a panting tone. "Couldda seen it better. And it wouldda happened earlier. Didn't think I'd say this, but it was like an effigy on Pa's grave. Maybe that would be best. He wasn't so bad, not back then, not compared to other folk back then. But now... I wouldn't put a hand on a kit. Wouldn't stop a kit from their wedding. Jake... I hope your life is blessed, so blessed."

"Pop-Pop, I promise, we'll both give it our best shot," Princess said, leaning in to kiss the old buck's cheek. She took his hand and slowly lifted him to his paws. "Now... need me to take you to the house, get you down into bed? Probably wore you out a little feeling the moon in you like that."

"I got too into it all. Felt that spirit in me," Pop-Pop puffed, rising to lean on his cane. "Probably need to get my old carcass to bed, but I'm not going down on an empty stomach. Gotta toast the good fortune. See this wedding to the end. Probably slip out after I get my dance with you, neptem."

Princess smiled, Jake helping her to lead the old buck down to the table, where new seating cards were being placed around by Bonnie, Stu, and Meister.

"I'd complain the kids aren't pulling their weight but seeing them lead my old pater down here is quite the important duty," Stu noted, laying out a card and plate and going back for more.

"He was pulling hardest for them from the start. He deserves the honor of their escort," Bonnie noted with a smile.

"Good having someone so supportive around. He's quite a character. Not like someone who... what was it? Thought I cheated like the dickens?" Meister asked while nudging Stu.

"Now Meister, you know I said that because you do, you know you do. I just say it less because you know I know," Stu chided, carrying more plates and seating notices.

"I'm just lucky they never made a Weasel-Taser," Meister chuckled.

The cake presented to the folk that stuck around for the second reception was tall as the other, topped with porcelain figures of a bunny buck groom and a weasel jill bride, with little masks made of marzipan and dabs of dye. Gideon looked on it proudly, Sharla softly nudging his side. "You didn't need to make the little belly for Sylvia, or the masks for them."

"Got my pride, darlin'. If I'm gonna be the best baker in these parts folks gotta know I take that little extra step. I ain't so fancy, but I still got some kinda artist in me. Maybe why I was so angry. Weren't supposed ta be so arty, far as my daddy thought. Servin' me good these days," Gideon said, nuzzling in at Sharla's black wool.

The newlyweds cut into the giant cake, feeding one another and taking the time to cut out portions to serve out individually. Different layers were either plain cake or enhanced with insects, each one having a preference marked on their seating card and getting their preferred type.

The parents and newlyweds made the rounds a second time with a steaming trolley, doling out side salads and a hot entree of pasta or steamed trout. One last pass gave out non-alcoholic carrot cider, to make sure everyone could keep their heads about them and make it back home.

Following dinner and more drinks, Meister clinked the side of his glass and stood up, toasting to the two. "It's hard for a father to be part of a wedding. You always know, in the back of your head, something changed. Your little jill isn't so little, she's not just yours anymore. There's a new mammal in there, calling you dad, being in your space. And your little one isn't the same one you have memories about. Princess was a scamp. I'll carry all that with me. Even after that vacation. That day at the cabin..." He cleared his throat and drew in a deep breath. "We both kept going. She was so strong, is so strong. She's not my little jill. But she's still my daughter, and soon enough, I'll be grandpa. And she'll be a mother. Everything changed, and nothing did." He sat down to a round of applause.

Pop-Pop slowly rose up, Stu putting a hand under his elbow to help him get to his paws. "No one outside the family knows why I have the biggest smile at this wedding. It's a story I keep. A story of shame. Weakness. How we fail as mammals. Jake's the second chapter. He's the fulfillment, the promise I could never complete. Family knows why it's so important, Jake knows what it means to have Weaselton be his last name, knows what it is to have a springy-spine for his bride. I watched him, watched him more than the rest, when I saw that little noodle crawling on him. I didn't say a word, but as time went on, as the world stopped being so bug-stubborn and sponge-stupid, I saw what he was. I wondered if they would have accepted Division. I think no. He would have done it. He would have still put his hand on that cairn and squealed out to the moon to unite with her. Because that's the buck he is. We grow our family and grow it well. But with Jake I can say, from here on out we'll keep on growing them right. I wanted to say here, too, my will is signed and settled, thanks to Mr. Dreyson. Kenny will be the heir to the majority, after my son. Jake, I expect you to keep that store running, keep standing there for as many generations as you can. You keep Weaseltons running it long as possible."

Jake dabbed at his eyes and nodded slowly. "Promise. Promise..."

The old buck turned to the dance floor. "Strike up some swing, young Catmull, the old Chomper Music that made my paws tap. If I go back down I won't be back up. Need to get in my dancing while I still have the strength to stand."

Bobby and Jenny rose immediately, rushing over to the stage. "Right away, Mr. Hopps!"

"Don't often see you getting your tail in gear that fast," Jenny teased, powering up her board.

"Don't often get kicked a few extra bucks for such special orders," Bobby chuckled. "Set your mixer to lo-fi. Full experience for the old buck. Make it sound like like one of those old mono radios, from the days of big microphones."

"Full service. Sun love you Bobby, you know when to pull out all the stops," Jenny said with a smile, flicking some switches and pushing some of her sliders down. "Think a harp sounds good on that old Chomper Music, mesquite?"

"Swing it, sweetie, you always sound great!" Bobbie cried, loading up some pre-recorded backing music and starting to play a swing tune on his keytar on a piano setting, Jenny plunking along at the same pace in a complimentary style.

Author's Note

Don't worry, Pop-Pop will be alright. The Will thing is just as a notice of how serious he is. He means that if he sits down he's out for the night.