"Jorec, I felt him move!" Lia exclaimed as she walked towards what would be her husband in less than three hours.
Jorec walked up to her, and tentatively placed a hand onto her expanding stomach, feeling the fabric of her simple blue wedding dress beneath his fingers. He also felt the slight kicking sensation of his son as the unborn child moved around in his mother's womb. "That has to hurt, doesn't it?" he asked after feeling what was more than likely a particularly rough kick.
"Let's just say that it's not exactly comfortable," Lia simply replied.
"I think I have to agree with you. We still have to name him, you know."
"I have a few names picked out," Lia began. "I'm sure you have some as well. I guess we can talk about it tomorrow."
"I still have to work on the finishing touches of my opening," Jorec replied, noticing the evil look he received from his soon-to-be wife. "Don't look at me like that, I'm not a poet!"
A few seconds later Lia began to laugh. "Neither am I, and I still haven't finalized my speech either. It's harder than I thought it would be when I was a little girl."
"How hard could it be?" Jorec sarcastically asked. "How hard is it to put into words how much you love someone? Not to mention that, normally, you'd have to do so in front of several people. Of course, we are recording the ceremony to send to both of our parents, so I have to attempt to convince him that I actually care about you."
"Speaking of my father, are you--" Lia began.
"Going to let the proverbial whisperkit out of the bag about me being a Jedi?" Jorec finished for her. "Why not? After all, Rinoco's probably the one that's actually going to say it anyway. I'm probably going to have to tell my parents about my capture as well."
"I told you that you should have told them about that," Lia replied.
"I didn't want them to worry," Jorec began to explain. "They had just found out that I was alive after ten years of assuming me to be dead, and I didn't want them to get the impression that I could be killed any minute."
"Isn't it possible that they believe that could happen already?"
"I assume they know the risks, but they don't know that the Empire is actively hunting us," Jorec replied. "I guess that they should, so that they don't get their hopes up about us actually meeting in person. After all, me going to Coruscant to visit them would be suicidal."
"That's to put it lightly."
Owing to the obvious privacy needs of the participants, the small room in which the wedding was to be held was all but empty. The only living things in the room were an Ithorian government official; selected because he was the only Pro-Jedi government official on Alderaan that lacked the distinctive Alderaanian accent, also in the room was Rinoco Teves. His presence in the room served a dual purpose: he was the witness to the marriage as well as the friend of the couple that was to introduce them.
With a simple gesture from the Ithorian, Jorec and Lia walked towards the front of the room. According to Selvernan custom, which stressed the feelings that the couple had for each other rather than an elaborate spectacle, they were dressed in simple clothes. It was almost as if they were dressed for a simple date rather than their wedding, although Jorec would have considered wearing Jedi robes rather than his inexpensive suit if he had been able to acquire some.
After the couple stopped in front of the Ithorian that would marry them shortly, Rinoco stood out of his seat and walked towards them. He turned to face the blue-domed R2 unit that was recording the ceremony for discreetly distributing it to the parents. As Rinoco used one of his right hands to remove a small datapad from his shirt, a feeling of sadness ran through Lia. It wasn't that she didn't consider Rinoco a friend, it was only that she knew several other people that she had wanted to perform the following speech. Obviously, those possible choices couldn't be able to attend.
"I—I haven't know Jorec and Lia for long time, only for a few months, yet I feel like I can safely say that this is a couple that truly loves each other. They've both been through a lot in the past months, to say the least, and all of their tribulations seemed to only bring them more together." Rinoco cleared his throat before continuing. "Especially his capture, but I'll let him tell that story later on," Rinoco conceded.
Well, looks like the whisperkits are definitely out of the bag now, Jorec thought as he attempted to find a place to logically place the news of his capture in his coming speech.
About a minute later, Rinoco had finished his introduction speech. It was now time for Jorec to speak. One of most dreaded parts of Selvernan weddings for both the man and the woman was the part where they had to attempt to put their feelings towards the other into words. That part of the ceremony was a relic of a bygone era in which courtship rituals required the male to convince his bride-to-be's father of the sincerity of the relationship. Some time after the foundation of the Republic the concept had fallen out of vogue and was replaced by an early version of the tradition that was about to take place. About a hundred years later, the tradition was changed to allow women to speak of their feelings as well.
"Lia," he simply began, the nervousness of the situation beginning to slightly creep in despite the lack of many people in the room. "I know it seems completely cliché, but I felt some kind of connection with you when I first saw you. I can't really describe it, but I know that it wasn't just based on your beauty. It was in those early days of our relationship when I decided to do the stupid thing and lie to you about being a Jedi. With hindsight being as it is, those lies about my past could have been devastating. It's the one real regret I have.
"I realized early on that I loved you. It was an odd feeling for me to have when most of my life I've been told that love is forbidden. To tell the truth; it wasn't that odd of a feeling to shake." Jorec had to let loose a slight laugh at this last statement. "When the Empire captured me, I couldn't help but think about you. I was worried that somehow they were going to find out about you. I'm just glad they never found out about you until I messed up and gave you away. Perhaps one of the most important things," Jorec began, "was when you accepted me back after I told you that I was a Jedi. To tell you the truth, I really didn't expect that to happen. I'm glad that it did, however." Jorec continued for about a minute before concluding his speech with a simple declaration of love.
Lia looked at Jorec after he had finished speaking, knowing that it was now her turn. "Sometimes it seems like only yesterday that I met you. Kraat's drunken rant really introduced us, and in the following weeks when you visited the bookstore, we came to know each other even more. Even though your telling of your past wasn't 100 factually accurate, in that time I believe that got to know the real you.
"When you were captured I was angry at you, and that's because I didn't know the entire truth. I obviously had no idea that you were a Jedi, and my only information regarding your arrest was a propaganda-filled newscast. Then, hours after I had found out that I was pregnant, you come out nowhere and explain the whole thing to me. At first, the truth was a little hard to believe, but certain events soon spelled the end of that notion." She said as she remembered the feeling of Jorec leaping off of a third story balcony with her in his arms.
"You being a Jedi is still going to take a little getting used to, but I want you to know that you could have told me at anytime." She had meant that final phrase to be a symbol of trust, that at anytime during their relationship Jorec could have told her the entire truth. "I understand your reasoning, however." She also finished her speech with a simple declaration of her love for Jorec a little over a minute later.
"I thought you said earlier before that you weren't finished with your speech," Jorec whispered as Lia and him embraced. "That sounded like it took a while to write."
"I cheated. I used one of the Organa's protocol droids to help me finish it," Lia giggled.
"No wonder I couldn't find him," Jorec lamented.
The Ithorian official waited until the soon-to-be married couple ended their hug before continuing. "A couple embarking on the journey of marriage is truly an amazing occurrence," he read from a datapad containing Selvernan wedding customs. "It is an institution that is honored in form or another throughout the galaxy; two people deciding to officially commit to their relationship in the eyes of their families; or in this case, to a holorecorder that will send the ceremony to them. The few of us physically here have already seen Jorec and Lia go through the tradition of attempting to state their feelings for each other in words, now they will make their personalized vows. Jorec, as the one who proposed marriage, you will go first once again."
"It's in my opinion that my first vow is the most important promise that I can make," Jorec began. "I promise that I will love and care for you and our son as long as I live, and I will do my best to protect you both." There was, however, an unspoken addition to that promise. There were limitations on that promise, due to the ever-present concern over the Dark Side. He had privately confided with Lia about these concerns a few days after they had arrived on Alderaan, as well as spoken with Ylenic It'kla about the issue as well. They had both been extremely supportive of his concerns; but now was not the time to be thinking about such things.
"I also promise to be faithful to you. I've never strayed in our relationship, I've never even been tempted, and I won't be. You were the first woman that I ever loved and, Force willing, you'll be the last. I also promise to do my best to be a good husband to you. I obviously don't have a lot of experience in the subject, but I will do my best."
"Lia," the Ithorian official began after Jorec had finished, "it is now your turn."
"You are right about the first vow being possibly the most important," Lia replied to Jorec. "That's why almost every wedding begins with the promise you made, and that I will make. As long as I live I will love you, and I will do my best to be a good wife and a good mother, even though I have no experience in the matter either. I promise to be faithful to you as well. And lastly; I promise you that I will do my best to help you defend us. I didn't like the feeling of helplessness that happened back on Selvernos when the Empire was shooting at us, and I don't want it to happen again."
"Jorec," the Ithorian finally said after a slight pause to make sure that both of them had finished talking, "where your promises truthful?"
"Yes, they were."
"Lia, were yours?" the Ithorian asked.
"They were."
"Then by the authority originally granted to me by the Galactic Republic and kept by the Empire, I pronounce you husband and wife." The words were chosen carefully as to not offend the obvious dissidents in the room, and the official regretted that he was required to even mention the Empire at all. "You may now kiss."
It was then that Jorec and Lia shared their first kiss as husband and wife as Rinoco attempted to fill the room with applause with both pairs of his hands.