Happy Hallwe'en (if you are celebrating it that is)!
A massive Thank You for all the lovely comments on the previous chapter, I was so glad to see that you liked it. And an extra shout-out to RandomDragon who posted the 100th review to this book :)!
Guest: Thanks for the suggestion, I like the idea!
This is the first part of the wedding reception/dinner/party, it's mainly speeches but not boring ones I hope ;). There will be a second part coming fairly soon. I want to wrap up the wedding storyline (and I really enjoy writing this bit), so I am a bit behind schedule with my other stories, including the Halloween Special (but it's not strictly Halloween related anyway, so I will just post it a bit later…).
Thanks to LGOE (I always want to write LEGO instead – spelling that out would make your name sound a bit like Yoda speaking...) for some help with the timeline of the evening :). This chapter is again a mix of different traditions, please don't expect too much accuracy!
And just to annoy you one last time (I promise!) – please let me know what kind of Christmas Special you would like me to do. Details are on my profile. It's currently a tie between two of the options. (For registered users only: please vote in my Poll or send me a PM instead of putting it in a review!)
Something Blue
"Hey."
Nya grinned at her brother, who was casually leaning against a tree, a half-full champagne flute in his hand and watching their friends and family enjoying themselves at the drinks reception in honour of the marriage between the Masters of Water and Lightning.
Nya and Jay had chosen a small yet luxurious hotel just outside the city as venue for their wedding celebration. It was a lovely late afternoon, so most guests were gathered on the private terrace, chatting to each other while having a drink and some snacks, whereas a few people were even using the opportunity to take a little stroll through the beautiful gardens.
"Hi sis." He smiled back. "Finally done with all your wedding pictures? Where did you leave your husband?"
"Jay just went to check on his parents, Edna was pretty emotional during the ceremony." Nya explained. "So, what is such a handsome young man doing here all by himself?" She teased him. "Hiding from fangirls?"
"More like getting used to the fact that my baby sister is now a married woman who doesn't need me anymore." Kai told her, unable to hide the slightly sad tone in his voice.
Nya hugged her brother. "Even as a married woman, your baby sister will always need you. Just… not in exactly the same way as when we were kids. Did I ever thank you for everything you've done for me?"
"More than once." He replied. "And I am really glad that one of my closest friends is now my brother-in-law. I hope we'll always remain close, even when we all have our own families one day."
"I am sure we will. And speaking of having your own family, do you any plans for that?" The bride's eyes fell on her red-haired maid-of-honour who was talking to Seliel, and P.I.X.A.L., probably coordinating some of the events for this evening. "I've always wanted a sister. And I've developed some pretty accurate throwing skills over the last couple of years, you know?" She winked at him.
"I'd say we aren't there yet." Kai stated. "I sure hope we will be at some point though. But right now, I am just looking forward to having more time for each other again."
"I know we've kept you both busy with the wedding and such. And I wasn't too easy to deal with." Nya blushed. "I don't think we would have made it this far without all your help… and Jay has told me how much you've already helped him before his proposal."
"Yeah, to be honest I wasn't sure he would make it through the weekend at mum and dad's, when he asked them for their blessing." Kai smirked. "But in the end, it all went very smoothly."
"Good thing mum adores her new son-in-law." Nya sighed in relief. "But I'm not falling for your attempt to divert. This whole day may be about us, but if you ever need us, Jay and I will be more than happy to return the favour, okay?"
"I know, sis. Thanks."
"And I'm telling you, wedding preparations can be a pain, but the actual getting married bit feels really great."
Kai smiled at his younger sibling. "I love seeing you this happy, especially after you've been so stressed out. What did the girls do to you last night?"
"Oh, you know… someone recently said to me I should try to enjoy the day no matter what happens, and I am just following their advice."
"Sounds like a very wise and very attractive person to me." Kai stated with a smirk.
"Oh, totally. And definitely not short of confidence either." Nya agreed. "And last night… well, let's just say I came to realise that there are a lot more important things about a wedding than the flowers or the cake..."
"Nothing is ever more important than cake. And especially at a wedding." Cole joined the siblings, a glass of champagne in one hand and carefully balancing a plate loaded with sushi and spring rolls in the other. "But that's also some really nice food you picked for the reception, Nya. I was starving after the ceremony. When I'll get married, we will have some snacks even before the wedding."
"Cole, if you consider the food as the most important part of a wedding, no one will ever marry you." Kai chided his friend.
"Hey Sel." The black Ninja called to his girlfriend. "What's the most important thing about a wedding?"
"Celebrating the unbreakable love between two people." She shouted back. "And the cake."
"You see?" He grinned.
Kai rolled his eyes at the black Ninja. "Did you two by any chance meet on a dating site for cake-obsessed people?"
"You know exactly where we met." Cole reminded his friends of their first encounter with the Phantom Ninja.
"It doesn't matter where and how you've met, you two just make a really great couple." Nya laughed. "I am very happy for you."
"Be careful, Nya has gotten over her pre-wedding jitters and now wants everyone else to get married too." Her brother warned the other male.
"I'd say that's not gonna happen for a while, we haven't seen each other for that long." Cole replied. "Although I wouldn't mind having wedding food every day. Would you like some sushi?" He offered his plate to Nya. "I know these are your favourites. And you probably haven't eaten much all day."
"You are right, thank you." She loved sushi, but having to avoid the pieces containing raw fish, Nya picked a kappa maki.
"So, this is where all the food went." Jay came walking over, holding two glasses containing an orange liquid in his hands. "And my wonderful wife." He handed one of the glasses to Nya. "Orange juice. My mum insisted that we need more vitamins if we want to make it through the evening…"
"Thanks, my dashing husband." She flashed him a grateful smile before taking a sip from her glass. "Edna is too sweet. How is she doing?"
"Still a bit shaken but much better." The auburn-haired man explained. "Cole, stop eating all that stuff, we're gonna have dinner soon."
"And I hate to disturb your little gathering, but we need to start getting everyone inside rather soon, if we want to stick to our schedule for the evening." Zane had suddenly appeared behind the groom.
"Leave that to us." Cole gave his best friend as pat on the back. "The two of you haven't really had a break so far, so maybe you want to stay out here for another moment, or two."
"Thanks, guys."
"I like getting married, everyone keeps spoiling us." Nya smiled at her husband. "But I am sure I will also love being married to you."
"Me too. And I am really looking forward to going on our honeymoon tomorrow. But now that we finally have a moment to ourselves, there is something I've been waiting to do all afternoon."
Jay placed the two empty glasses on the ground and wrapped his arms around his wife's slender waist, drawing her in for a deep and long kiss.
It took quite a while to usher everyone into the bright and tastefully decorated function room. Thus, the newly wedded couple, after taking maybe just a bit longer than only one or two moments to themselves, arrived just in time to welcome their guests one more time before the dinner would start, their faces slightly flushed.
"Good evening everyone." Jay announced after clearing his throat a couple of times. As much as he enjoyed talking, he didn't like speaking in front of a large audience at all. "And thank you all very much for joining us here to celebrate this special day with us."
"Don't worry, we will keep this rather short." Nya added. "As we are sure you are all looking forward to the dinner."
"Probably some more than others." Jay chimed in, giving a side glance at Cole who was sitting next to him.
"Anyway, we would just like to thank the people who have helped us to make this day possible – and who really haven't had it easy with us in the past few weeks." Nya continued. "Yes, I am talking about our friends and teammates Zane, Lloyd, Kai – the best brother in the whole of Ninjago – and Cole, my husband's best friend and also his best man tonight."
"And then, we have the lovely bridesmaids, Seliel, P.I.X.A.L., and Skylor, Nya's maid of honour." It was Jay's turn again. "Sky's restaurant has not only provided the great food at the reception earlier, but she also helped us make a little gift for our guests. You each find a personalised fortune cookie on your place. So please do not swap them. And I would like to remind certain people that you are not supposed to swallow them in whole."
"Jay and I have also each made one for the other." Nya handed a fortune cookie to her husband. "This one is yours. I know you hate waiting, so you can read yours first." She offered.
The Master of Lightning broke his cookie and took out the folded small piece of paper.
"A perfect marriage is just two imperfect people who refuse to give up on each other." He read out his message. "Jay: I am far from perfect and I haven't always made it easy for you to love me, but even in the worst times, you never gave up on me. I promise to never give up on you – on us – again. I will love you for as long as I live, and beyond. PS: Remember to always stay as imperfect as you are. Because I like – love – you best when you are you.
He swallowed. "We may have come a long way from there, but I'll never forget the day when you first told me this."
"Me neither." Nya smiled at him. She then opened her fortune cookie.
"Nya: After all we've been through, you know me better than anyone else in all 16 realms (including those weird guys from Cloud Kingdom) and yet you've still agreed to marry me." She read. "I have loved you from the moment we met, and with every day I've loved you more the more I've gotten to know you. I promise to make you happy, to make you laugh, and to always be there for you, each day of our life."
While a round of applause was given, the Water Ninja embraced her husband, a few tears glistening in her eyes. "Thank you." She whispered.
"No, thank you. I meant every word of it." He whispered back, before placing a delicate kiss on her lips.
"Well, I think we've kept you waiting for long enough now." Jay then addressed their guests again, raising his glass. "Thank you very much again for coming, and enjoy your meal."
After all guests had finished their main course and all tables had been cleared, the Master of Earth stood up from his seat and, by carefully tapping a teaspoon against his delicate glass, called for everyone's attention.
"Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen. My name is Cole Brookstone, I am a teammate and 'brother' of Jay and Nya's. And as the groom's best friend, I now have the honour and definitely also the pleasure of telling you a couple of things about Jason Edward Walker.
"I first met Jay and Zane about seven years ago, when Sensei Wu recruited the three of us to form a new team of Ninja and, as we only found out much later, Elemental Fighters. A couple of months later, Kai rather reluctantly joined our team, to save his sister Nya who had been kidnapped by Lord Garmadon.
"Before I continue talking about the happy couple, I would like to propose a toast to two absent friends, who are dearly missed – and who are also somehow responsible for Jay and Nya meeting each other in the first place."
The Master of Earth gave a quick nod at his girlfriend who had an open laptop in front of her, and a picture of Wu and Garmadon, taken a few weeks after the first defeat of the Overlord, was projected onto the screen behind the top table.
"To our great teachers and even better friends, Sensei Wu and Sensei Garmadon." He said, raising his glass, and everyone else did the same in response.
"And it was already back then that Jay knew that Nya would become a very special person in his life," Cole continued after the toast. "Because when Kai first mentioned his sister to us, he became very interested in finding out more about her. And interestingly, the second question Jay asked about her was 'Does she like blue?'
"As you can probably tell from the wedding's colour scheme, the answer to that question was yes. Of course, Nya and Jay have a lot of common interests, but their love for the same colour – which is also related to both their elemental powers Water and Lightning – has also strengthened their love for each other.
"This is why, in preparation for this speech, I have asked our friends and family what they associate with the colour blue. I would like to thank everyone who has replied, and I am now going to share a few of the responses with you."
Seliel handed him a pile of papers of different sizes as well as a couple of other things which she had kept in a briefcase under their table. While Cole was going through the gifts, messages and comments, photos of the respective items were shown on the screen.
"For example, I have received this highly detailed and very interesting twelve-page essay on various aspects of the colour blue, for example that, I quote, 'light with a dominant wavelength between 450 and 495 nm appears blue to the human eye. In the traditional RYB colour theory and in the RGB model, blue is one of the three primary colours, while in the CMYK colour model blue is obtained by mixing magenta and cyan. Depending on the model applied, its complementary colour is orange or yellow.'"
"Unfortunately, I won't have the time to go into all the details, but I will give the two of you the complete folder, just so you'll have something else to do during your honeymoon." He winked at the newlyweds.
"Then, someone has sent me this album entitled Blue is the Colour [this is a real album by The Beautiful South] without any further comment, but I'd assume it is from one of Jay's admirers – yes, those apparently exist! – because the first song on this album is called Don't marry her. Unfortunately, this warning comes a bit too late, so... my sincere apologies to all Jay Walker fangirls, the man is taken." Cole shrugged and tossed the CD over his shoulder.
"As Jay is well known to be the blue Ninja of our team, it is not surprising that many answers are somehow related to the Mouth of Lightning, the hot presenter from that Ninja show on TV, nunchuck guy, Zap Trap, the gosh darn cutest baby I have ever seen, Motormouth, and so on.
"Despite – or maybe because of – its connection to Jay, most people associate very positive attributes with this colour; only one person has mentioned a rather traumatic experience of being defeated by an opponent using the same blue bath towel as both weapon and only piece of clothing. But I don't want to spoil anyone's appetite for dessert, so I will keep the details of this encounter a secret."
"Apparently, blue symbolises creativity and intelligence – no, I am not going to comment on that – as well as trust, loyalty, and honesty. Those three characteristics definitely represent Jay. The poor guy can't cheat or tell a lie for his life." Cole summarised. "Also, the colour is supposed to have a calming effect. As Jay is certainly not famous for being the calmest person in Ninjago, it could have been very interesting if Sensei Wu had decided to give him a more 'exciting' gi colour, like for example red...
"And speaking of red," The black Ninja took an A4 sheet from the pile. "someone has sent me this list containing Fifty Shades of Blue, from indigo over royal blue and sky blue to sapphire. It finishes with the remark PS: Red is so much better, so I think we can thank Kai for this incredibly important contribution." He folded the sheet in half and placed it back on the other documents.
"On the other hand, a lot more relevant to this day is this rhyme I reveived. Every bride should wear 'Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue', on her wedding day, to bring good luck and happiness to her marriage.
I am sure Nya has followed this common tradition and has all these items hidden somewhere on or in her outfit, but there is something that makes her stand out from any other bride in Ninjago. Nya," He directly addressed the bride. "you are an extremely lucky woman to have your very own something blue not only for today but for the rest of your life. And I know that he will do anything to make you happy.
"Another tradition is that bride and groom shouldn't know about everything that will happen during their wedding party in advance, but in a close team of highly skilled and sneaky Ninja, it is seemingly just impossible to keep secrets from each other. So, thanks to the bride for this cute little note saying It's my favourite colour, with a little blue heart drawn next to it.
And this item in fact now brings me back to the very beginning of this speech. After hearing so much about the importance of Jay's second question about Nya, you may be wondering what his first question was."
"Cole, if you keep talking now you are not getting any cake." Jay hissed.
"I think I am going to take that risk." The other man replied coolly. "As you know, cake and I will always find a way to each other. And I am sure everyone else in this room, including your wife, would love to hear the answer – or the question for that matter.
"So, the first thing the guy who is now banging his head on the table wanted to know about his future wife – oh, by the way this means," Cole took a folded note from his shirt pocket and put it on the table, "this one goes to the green Ninja for predicting Jay's reaction correctly. Well done, Master Lloyd."
"You are enjoying this, aren't ya?" Jay asked in a rather desperate voice.
"Absolutely." Cole smirked, after taking a very slow sip of water. "Most certainly a lot more than you do. But I shouldn't drag this out for too much longer, mainly because there will be cake after this speech, so, the first thing Jay asked about Nya simply was 'Is she hot?'
"Back then, Kai refused to give us an answer to this question, and I'd say it was probably for Jay's own good that we never spoke about it again. Although I am sure your husband will be more than happy to give you his opinion in this matter later tonight, when you are alone in your honeymoon suite." He winked at Nya.
"But for now, I would like to give you my opinion on a different matter. After going through all your responses, it's only fair that I should also tell you my answer to the question what the colour blue means to me. That's very simple. For me, blue stands for the best friend I have ever had - and I ever will have. And I wish him and his new wife nothing but happiness in their future together.
Please raise your glasses to Mr and Mrs Smith – I mean Walker." Cole announced. "And then," he pretended to check his watch, "it should finally be time for cake."