T'Pau slowly approached the round platform. The human girl and Spock knelt facing each other across the heated coals. Each sat nearly perfectly still, palms resting on their thighs. They did not speak. Good, the old woman thought to herself. They recognize the significance of what they are about to do.
She eased herself down onto the broad space surrounding the fire pit, her back to those who had gathered to watch. Without uttering word — the girl had expressed her acceptance in her refusal to prevent the third sounding of the gong — she placed a hand at each of their contact points.
T'Pau had been alive for nearly a century and a half, and had melded with many in that time. Almost instantly, she was inside both of them.
As expected, she found Spock's mind to be almost wholly Vulcan in composition. Thoughts were ordered, passionate emotions were held in check and neatly assigned channels through which he could direct their flow.
The human's, Nyota's, mind was far more composed than any other of her kind that T'Pau had touched. It was not Vulcan, but as she had seen earlier, this woman knew how to order her thoughts, separate reason from emotion. Nyota Uhura matched Spock well.
Drawing on the two consciousnesses she held, T'Pau directed them to reach for each other physically, to touch the meld points where she did not touch, to weave themselves together, firming the link the link they already shared, making the bond permanent.
As the pair's thoughts mixed together, T'Pau felt Spock's amusement when he noticed his adun'a held something back.
Secrets already? he thought.
A surprise, the girl replied. For later.
T'Pau withdrew from them, her hands dropping to her sides.
________________________
Although I have enjoyed your surprises in the past, he teased, I have found in general, they are not to my liking.
You will appreciate this one, she thought back. And then, you will possess all I have to offer.
I will hold you to that, adun'a, he thought, sending her an impression of a completely different kind of possession. In return, he felt her aroused anticipation of their wedding night.
You'd better, she thought.
________________________
"That was it?" muttered McCoy as T'Pau rose from the platform and walked back to her litter, still without addressing the small audience. "We traipsed out here to the middle of the desert just so the three of them could play touchy-feely and the lovebirds could make googly eyes at each other?"
Jim elbowed his friend in the ribs.
"Shut up, Bones," he said.
Spock and Uhura continued to kneel, eyes for no one but each other.
Elijah Uhura stood on the wide edge of a plant bed built into the center of a stone floored plaza in the largest of his cousin's walled gardens. His tunic, with its twining vines embroidered in brown across a field of light olive green, nearly disappeared into the foliage surrounding him. His hand and face, he knew, would seem to hover in the half-light provided by a score of torches set high into the garden walls. The heady scent of night-blooming jasmine teased his nostrils.
Faces of seventy or so friends of and relatives and familiar strangers glowed in the torch-lit enclosure. Their portable chairs, set out in two groups, formed a wide aisle.
The tall half-Vulcan standing before Elijah among a small group of men inclined his head towards one of his companions.
"They come," Spock whispered.
Muta took up is small drum and gently struck up a simple, sensual cadence .
As the first quiet tones vibrated through the air, Elijah stepped forward slightly. His movement, more than the drum, caught the attention of the wedding guests. Everyone sat up a little straighter.
Muta's playing grew louder, but its rhythm never varied.
Nyota walked up the path, carrying a bouquet of fiery-colored Michigan lilies and with M'Umbha and Benjamin on either side of her. They moved their feet in time with Muta's music.
A melodic hum began to twine itself into the beat of the drum — Elijah recognized Upenda's much-less-off-key-than-usual contralto as the first voice (she must have been practicing!) — and spread through the seated guests as the women, Wakufunzi, Uhura and friends alike announced the bride's arrival.
Heat rolled off Spock in waves as he turned to face the approaching party, and Elijah could see that the younger man's breathing rate seemed to accelerate. As it should, he thought with a little smile before schooling his face back into what was proper.
The women and the drum grew louder as Nyota and her parents came closer to the top of the path. By the time the three stood directly in front of Elijah, the women's joyous crooning and Muta's powerful drumming were nearly deafening.
And then everyone went silent.
Elijah paused to allow the heavy weight of emotion to dissipate just a little before he spoke.
"Nyota and Spock are already of one mind and one heart," he told the gathering. "Tonight, we are gathered so that I can make it official for the Federation."
His words got the expected chuckle from the audience. When they'd settled down again, he immediately launched into the ceremony.
"Sarek, son of Skon," he addressed the Vulcan ambassador, his voice serious once again, "you and lady Amanda Grayson made a baby. You loved that baby and gave him comfort and you succored him during his times of need. He grew into a child whom you taught what is right and what is wrong, and watched that child grow into a young man. And you watched that young man find his way in your world and in many others. That young man has grown to become Spock, who stands before us all tonight, ready to confirm his pledge to his mate."
He turned to Benjamin and M'Umbha.
"M'Umbha Wakufunzi, you carried the babies of Benjamin Uhura in your body and brought them forth into the world. Together, you and Benjamin loved these babies and you comforted and succored them when they cried out the needs of babies. They grew into children whom you taught what is right and what is wrong. One by one, you watched your children grow into young adults. They have found their own paths through this world and many others while you have stood back and watched, at parents must do. Your youngest child has grown to become Nyota, who stands before us all tonight, ready to confirm her pledge to her mate."
Although his attention was focused on the three parents he was addressing, Elijah noticed that some guests were already wiping their eyes. Good. He liked keeping everyone on their toes.
"Sarek, M'Umbha and Benjamin," he continued, "a parent's job does not end when his or her child joins with another. But it is a time for stepping back, and for preparing for a new role in their lives."
Sarek stepped back from Spock's side and a tearful M'Umbha and a carefully sober Benjamin moved away from Nyota.
"We are thankful that you have given life to such children," Elijah said.
"Thank you, Sarek, for creating Spock with Lady Amanda Grayson, so that I could find in him k'hat'n'dlawa, my t'hy'la, my adun," Nyota said.
Elijah wondered if the Vulcan noticed the implications inherent in his little cousin's words and if he was horrified by them. Between the darkness and the ambassador's control, he couldn't tell.
"Thank you, M'Umbha and Benjamin, for creating Nyota, so that I could find in her half my heart and my soul, my life-friend, my wife," Spock said.
When the two had finished the ritual expressions of gratitude, Elijah addressed the couple for the first time.
"Spock and Nyota, please join hands."
Without speaking again, they complied.
"Your love for one another has brought you to this moment. Already, you stand before us, two minds and one, never to be parted. Throughout your lives together, you will face challenges and embrace joys. Your love for one another shall touch all you experience. There will be times when you will rely on it and revel in it, as much as you will rely on and revel in the bond you made less than an hour ago. And so, Nyota, Spock, remember these words about love,
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden."
In the silence that followed, the words to the famous 20th century poems settled over the gathered guests and the couple.
"And do not forget the rest of what Mr. Gibran had to say on the subject,
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips."
Elijah's pause was shorter this time. It was time to get down to business.
"Spock, if you will take Nyota, repeat after me," he ordered. "I, S'chn T'gai Spock," he managed not to mangle the lineal name too badly. Much like Upenda, he'd been practicing! "son of Sarek have pledged myself — mind, body and soul — to Nyota Wangari Uhura, and promise now to honor that bond as long as we both shall live."
The half-human man's eyes never left his bride's as he repeated the words in surprisingly warm tones. Elijah sensed a surge of joy rush through the garden.
"Nyota, if you will accept Spock, repeat after me: I, Nyota Wangari Uhura, bint Wakufunzi have pledged myself — mind, body and soul —," he paused, deciding there was no way he was going to attempt Spock's full name once again, "to Spock, son of Sarek, and promise now to honor that bond as long we both shall live."
Her voice shook just the tiniest bit as she recited her vows, and Elijah bit back a smile. There was still one last bit to get through.
"Spock and Nyota have vowed, before all present, to honor and uphold the bond that joined their minds. By the laws of Vulcan and of the Federation, they are a bonded pair. Now, by the power vested in me by the district of Garissa in state of Kenya in the United States of Africa on the planet Earth, I now pronounce this bonded pair married throughout the member planets of the United Federation of Planets and under all laws recognized therein," he said, at last exchanging solemnity of what he called his "officiant face" relax into a fond smile. "Welcome to the family," he murmured for Spock's pointed ears only.
His young cousin was clearly head-over-heels for her new husband. She beamed up at him and then at their quietly clapping guests. But Spock continued staring at his wife with an intensity that made Elijah's heart clench. Whoever said Vulcans didn't have feelings must have been blind. That, he decided, is love in the boy's eyes.
His musings were confirmed when Nyota started to turn and step down the aisle, but was stopped with a gentle tug of her husband's hands.
"Adun'a," Spock said, drawing her close. Elijah smiled as bemusement warred with joy on her face. If he was reading the barely there expression on the young man's face correctly, he suspected he knew what was on his new cousin's mind. "Is it not currently customary, at the conclusion of most Terran wedding ceremonies, for a groom to kiss his bride?"
Fleetingly, shock played across her face, but was immediately replaced by another blinding smile.
"Oh! Yes!" she told him, laughing. "Absolu— ."
Spock's lips were on hers before she could finish speaking and Elijah's own shout of laughter was instantly overwhelmed by cheers and thunderous applause as family and friends joined in rejoicing for the couple.
Rising above the sounds of celebration, Elijah caught a voice that held distinct traces of the American South.
"Now that's what I call a wedding!" exclaimed Dr. Leonard McCoy.
A/N: Elijah quotes from Khalil Gibran's poem The Prophet. His advice to Uhura and Spock is taken from the end and the beginning of the section on love.
Stay tuned for the reception and Uhura's "surprise".
Disclaimer: I don't own them.