Jennet
As I had predicted, Mission was moving her things out of the Phoenix when I arrived to shower and polish my armor.
"This is the last night in your life you want any guests," she said cheerfully as I made a feeble and insincere protest. "Stow it, you know you would have asked if I hadn't offered."
I grinned sheepishly, and she laughed. "There's room on the Ebon Hawk," she said with an impish grin. "And Dustil can live without me for a night or two."
"You could always oust Carth from his private room," I suggested with a wicked smile.
"Gods, no!" she exclaimed. "Dad's pretty sure about how things are, but he doesn't want to know until we're married. You know how fathers get."
"Yeah," I said, smiling, and trying not to show the sudden well of sadness. I wished my dad was here to give me away, with a sudden fierce regret.
"I'm sorry," Mission said softly. "I forgot you lost your father so young."
"Don't be," I said, giving her a hug. "I was older than you were. At least I remember him."
"I got lucky," Mission said, all smiles again. "I got another, with Carth. And when I marry Dustil, he'll really be my dad."
"Is that why he didn't adopt you?" I asked curiously. She'd shared large chunks of her life after the Star Forge mission, including that Carth had offered to do just that.
"Yeah," Mission said seriously. "I turned fifteen right after we got back from the Star Forge, and we picked up Dustil on Telos. I was crazy in love with him by the time I was sixteen, and told Dad that he couldn't adopt me, because I couldn't marry my legal brother in any system. He was hurt at first, but realized pretty quick I was serious. He agreed not to, but made both of us promise we wouldn't jump into anything. So I went to school, and Dustil went to the academy, and neither of us changed our minds. And I know Dustil had plenty of opportunity to." She said without jealousy, simply fact. "So did I, for that matter. But I knew what I wanted. Dad saw it, and agreed to the engagement a few months ago. We're waiting until Dustil gets his commission first, though."
"Good idea," I said approvingly. "You're an extraordinary woman, you know. To know at sixteen what you want, and stick to your guns until you get it. And to know it so fast."
"Didn't you?" Mission asked pointedly.
I laughed. "Yeah, even quicker than you did, I guess. But give me a break, I'm ten years older than you were."
"Nine," Mission said promptly. "But who's counting?"
I got in the shower soon after, soaking long and scrubbing every inch, shaving the bits that women do and using the cream Mira had insisted I get when I'd picked up my wedding dress. It smelled wonderful, and smoothed my skin to a healthy glow. She was going to help me do something with my hair, and I figured I'd better be dressed for that.
I pulled on the new tunic and breeches that I'd bought to go with the cape I was going to attach to the shoulders of my armor during the ceremony. The tunic was a deep blue silk, tight at the cuffs with slightly puffy sleeves. My locket picked up the color, glowing with an iridescent shine just below my collarbone. I belted the tunic over buff colored breeches and boots that matched. Tying on my pouch, I carefully checked to make sure Dad's ring was stowed in it. Canderous had handed it back to me the same night I'd tried to give it to him, saying he'd be honored to wear it, but wanted to wait until after we were officially wed.
I wasn't going to put on the cape or armor until just before the ceremony. Bastila's funeral was set for twilight, but Dxun has very long twilights; almost three hours. The wedding would take place at sunset; plenty of time to come back to the Phoenix and strap in; my attendants would help me. But Mira wanted to do my hair and makeup early, to make sure it was perfect; she could always touch things up later.
I rarely bothered with makeup, but trusted Mira to not make me look like anything but myself. And I did want my curls under control for the day; Dxun weather makes it snake around every which way. Mira arrived, cheerfully vulgar as always, and in under an hour I was amazed at what she'd done. I was still me, but better; my eyes looked somehow bigger and browner and my skin fairly glowed.
"You have to show me how to do that," I said, touching my reflection in awe. "I'm almost beautiful."
"You're a lot prettier than me," Mira scoffed. "You have that cuteness men love."
"Canderous doesn't care about cute," I scowled. "And you're gorgeous. I always wanted coloring like yours, and men certainly don't look at me the way they do you."
"You just don't show off your assets to your best advantage," she grinned. "Besides, while they're ogling your chest, you can hit them harder."
"I haven't noticed much hitting when you're with Dax," I said wickedly. "Wrestling, maybe."
"He's one of the rare ones I don't need to smack around," Mira said, but she came as close to blushing as I'd ever seen her.
"The hair looks fabulous," I said, giving her a minute to recover. "And it's not so full of pins I feel like I'm wearing a helm."
Using several substances I decided I was better off not identifying, she had managed to coax my hair into soft loose curls that framed my face instead of the willy-nilly mop of spirals they usually arranged themselves into. There were a couple of clips in there, I thought, but not a hairpin to be felt. I could even shake my head and not have the whole thing fall apart.
"I'll put some flowers in it when you change after the ceremony," Mira said gruffly. "You look gorgeous."
"Thank you," I said, giving her a huge hug.
"Ah, go on with you," she said, shrugging, but pleased. "I'm sure you have a million other things to do."
"Not really," I sighed. "The entire camp is conspiring to keep me from lifting a finger."
"Well, go take a walk, or something," Mira said. "Shake out the bridal nerves."
"I'm not nervous about getting married," I said honestly. "It's really only a formality now. I'm just worried something else will happen before we can actually get there."
"Nope," Mira said with certainty. "Only one crisis per wedding day; it's universal law."
"Gods, I hope you're right," I said freverently.
I took her advice, and walked around the camp. I had convinced Canderous to let me dispense with my usual honor guard escort until the ceremony, pointing out that everyone seemed to be needed to set things up, and we hardly needed the formality today. He relented when I promised I wouldn't leave camp unescorted, and had no reason to in any case. What I did want was some peace and quiet, some time to gather my thoughts. I finally found it in a corner of the camp that was rarely occupied, near where Kex had set up the quartermaster post. He wasn't there now, and the equipment was shrouded in tarps. I found a shady spot and sat on a barrel that was shoved up against the side of a building.
I was impatient for the ceremony to take place, excited that we would finally be married, and somewhat in shock to realize that it had only been about six or eight weeks since I had met Canderous. I'd only known him a day when I'd killed the Hutt in a rage, thinking that monster had killed my Mate.
But like Mission, I knew what I wanted, and where I belonged. Here, with Canderous, and the Mandoa, who had embraced me as the spirit of their people. I was still sort of getting my head around that concept, but I couldn't imagine being anywhere else, and I hugged that feeling to me.
In the quiet of my corner, I meditated a while, touching my connection to the Force, and feeling it ground me. Somewhere, just out of reach, but their warmth wrapping around my mind and soul, I thought I could feel my parents. I smiled, and just sat, slowly coming out of my trance.
"I wondered how long you would take," Stefan said, and I started. "Hiding?"
"Yes," I said, giving him a halfhearted scowl.
"Nervous?" He asked, sitting on the barrel next to me.
"No," I answered. "Just anxious for nothing else to go wrong."
"We blew a Sith warship out of the sky today," Stefan said with a quick smile. "I doubt any last minute seating crisis will top that."
"I was more worried about cannoks overrunning the wedding party, or Sith assassins showing up," I said dryly.
"Things do seem to happen around you," he said cheerfully. "But I don't think you have anything to worry about."
"Probably not," I agreed. "Canderous says I worry too much."
"He's likely right," Stefan nodded. "Since the only thing he seems to genuinely worry about himself is you, I expect you'll keep doing it though."
"He worries," I said sharply. "Just not where anyone else can see it."
"I wasn't disparaging your Mate," Stefan said gently. "It's perfectly obvious how much he loves you, and cares about his people. He's a good man, and I'm happy for both of you."
"Thank you," I said, a lump in my throat.
"Now don't cry, or Mira will have to fix you," Stefan teased. "You've always been beautiful, but today you're absolutely stunning."
"How did you know it was Mira?" I asked idiotically.
"Well, I know your distaste for dealing with cosmetics. Mira seemed most likely."
I looked at him, and he stared blandly back.
"What did you want?" I asked finally. "You didn't track me down to buck up bridal nerves."
"No," he acknowledged. "I'm not sure why I wanted to talk to you, really. I just needed to. I've been thinking about Miranne and Drake today a lot. Not surprising," he said with an expressive lift of one brow.
"Me too," I said softly.
"Well, yes, of course," Stefan said gently. "You have far more reason to today than I. I wonder, sometimes, what way Drake would torture me to death for what I did to you."
The admission came so unexpectedly that I started. "For what, sleeping with me?" I blurted before I could stop myself.
"Well, yes, that," Stefan said, unruffled, but I could see the faint pink on the tips of his ears. "No man wants to admit that his daughter is having an intimate relationship. At least not if they're being honest. For that alone, I expect I have much to answer for once I join Drake."
"Not for a long time, please," I said very quietly.
"Oh no, I don't intend to," he said, cheerful again. "I'll be around long enough to see you make me a great uncle several times over, and hopefully see them well grown. You'll be a wonderful mother."
"Thanks," I said, not sure how to take any of this.
"I'm not going to offer to give you away; it would be more irony than Canderous could take, and I don't have that right anyway," Stefan said suddenly. "I know it's crossed your mind, and I just wanted you to know I understand and approve of why you didn't ask."
"Okay," I said, mystified. I was grateful, mind, but completely thrown by this conversation. It wasn't like Stefan to jump around subjects like this; that was usually my job. Something was on his mind, and he wasn't giving me a clue what exactly it was.
"I told you I saw your auras, that day on Onderon," he said, shifting gears yet again. I was starting to get dizzy from all the conversation twists.
"You did," I nodded.
"I had some wild idea about asking you to come away with me," He looked suddenly subdued, "When I got here the other day. But today…when you fought with Canderous, I saw that aura again. It was magnificent, and so beautiful I wanted to weep." He paused, looking not at me, but somewhere in the distance, like he was reliving a memory. "Drake and Miranne had that, sort of, but theirs was different. Internal, focused on each other. Not in a selfish sort of way, but…they were complete together, and truly didn't need anyone else. They had friends, of course, but I was the only one they let get inside that little circle they shared. Until you were born."
"So you weren't in love with my mother?" I asked almost involuntarily. It was something I'd been dying to ask for a long time, and it popped out. Damn me and my mouth.
"Oh no," Stefan said, honestly surprised. "I loved her very much, of course, and Drake. But never like that. They were the best friends I ever had, or ever will. When Drake died, a part of me died with him. And I lost Miranne too. Because he was the other half of her, and I wasn't enough to keep her together. I chose to stay in the Order, when they left, as you know. It wasn't such a burden to me not to be able to marry or have a family. I had seen what they were, and knew I couldn't ever settle for less than that. Knowing how rare it was, I was content to share it a little, with them, and lead my life in service. Is any of this making sense?"
"More than you know," I said. "There's a point in here, somewhere, I hope?"
"I'm getting there," he promised. "So then one day, I run in to you, and you were so bright and fresh with so much of both of your parents that I was enchanted. And ashamed that I'd let my best friends' daughter struggle along, alone. So I made you promise to keep in touch, and found after a time that I loved you, for your own self, and not simply the shadow of my friends. I thought I'd found what they had had; that perfect little circle, with someone who was my other half. But I was wrong."
He took a slow breath, and looked at me straight on, his summer sky eyes serious and penetrating.
"I love you, Jennet. I always will. I wouldn't give up our time together for anything in the universe. But you and Canderous have something that will change the galaxy. Because the circle you share is bigger than anything I've seen. It's not a constricting thing that confines itself to the two of you; it grows and encompasses everyone you let in. You're such a generous soul, love, that it has room for everyone. I just hope that I'll always be part of it."
"You will," I said, trying hard not to cry. "I love you too."
"Now, love, don't cry and spoil that face for Canderous," Stefan said, handing me a handkerchief.
I was wrong; Disciple wasn't the only guy I knew that carried one. I had forgotten that habit of Stefan's. I patted my face, and refrained from blowing my nose.
"Thank you, my love, for everything," Stefan said softly. "You're a beautiful bride."
He kissed me then, warm and comforting, but it didn't make my toes tingle anymore. Then he was gone, whistling something cheerful as he strode away. I sat a minute, getting my face back under control.
"You can come out now," I said, and Canderous came around the opposite corner. "How much did you hear?"
"Pretty much everything from 'wild idea of asking you to come away with me," he grumbled. "I almost ran out and killed him then. But I figured you wouldn't approve."
"No," I said, with a watery chuckle.
"How long have you known I was there?" he asked.
"Not long. I was distracted. Just before he kissed me, I think. I didn't expect him to do that." I said apologetically.
"I know," he said gruffly. "I could see your face; you looked pretty surprised. And I could feel you, anyway."
"Why aren't you mad?" I asked curiously.
"What's there to be mad about?" He countered. "He was saying goodbye, after all, and admitting you're with the better man. I'm generous enough not to kick a man when he's down."
"Banthashit," I said succinctly.
He looked at me a moment, then chuckled ruefully. "All right, I didn't like it at all. But it was obvious you needed to hear what he was saying, so I was willing to let it slide. Interesting what he said about us, though."
"Very. I don't see us changing the galaxy," I said, still puzzled over that one.
"Whatever helps him sleep at night," he shrugged. "But, Wildcat, I sincerely hope that was the last man you'll kiss besides me."
"I have no intention of kissing anyone else," I assured him.
"That," he said dryly, "was not what I meant."
I hopped off my barrel, and jumped lightly up to stand on it. It was interesting being higher than eye level with him. He stood close, and allowed me to kiss him slowly, teasing his mouth until he groaned faintly and plucked me off the barrel, wrapping his arms tightly around me. I sighed and molded myself against him.
He set me down abruptly, and growled, "The next time I do that, we'll have the same name."
Tweaking a curl in passing, he strode off into the depths of the camp. I grinned happily and headed back to the Phoenix.