Chapter 21

I Do…Finally

The next morning came with sunshine and the steady hum of anticipation. I was still asleep when I heard soft footfalls from across the room coming in my direction. "Shh. Do you guys want to wake her up?" I heard Bo-Chen whisper.

"Isn't that the point?" Tigress replied. I smiled softly and pretended that I was having a wonderful dream.

"Aww, look at her. I bet she's dreaming about the wedding." Chi murmured.

"Ok enough if this," Sariah grunted, and a huge bucket of water poured on my head. I gasped, awake instantly, and jumped out of the waterfall.

"What the heck is wrong with you guys?" I screamed and shook my feathers. Luckily I had been sleeping on the balcony in the morning sunshine instead of in a nest, because the nest would have been ruined.

"Happy Wedding Day!" They cheered and Tigress handed me a little tray with a bowl of the famous noodle soup and a few sweets. "The water was strictly Sariah's idea." Tigress smiled.

"Psssht! You found the bucket!" Sariah replied and elbowed the tiger. All she did was roll her eyes and smile innocently at me.

"Ah-ha." I sighed and shook my feathers again dousing them in the spray. "Well usually I would have some plan to get you guys back, but…"I paused and giggled in a silly little girl way while hopping around in circles, "I'M GETTING MARRIED TODAY AND I DON'T CARE!" I pulled them into a huddle and we were all smiling in the same way.

"YES YOU ARE! FINALLY!" Bo-Chen screamed in agreement and we danced around.

"What time is it?" I asked looking at the sun's position, "And how late did we stay up?"

"It's almost nine o'clock." Viper replied.

"We stayed up way late. That game of extreme Ma Jong went on forever!" LaBozzetta said. Now Ma Jong was a fairly dull and boring, but extreme Ma Jong (yeah, it's a bad excuse for something to do for a bachelorette party, but I had nothing to go with. ;)) was totally different. We had invented it at the Jade Palace and it was far more complicated; as in there was a lot of showing off, mainly with our Kung Fu skills. Chi had shown an incredible talent there too, seemed that she was full of surprises.

"Great! Less time for me to have to wait!" Giddy butterflies fluttered in my stomach and I couldn't stop smiling no matter how hard I tried. The wedding was at noon, when the sun was at its peak and shone on the little cherry grove just right. Where else to have our wedding than the place where we first kissed? Shen and I would say our vows under the little grouping of cherry trees that had woven themselves together to form a little roof of the pretty pink petals.

"Then let's get to gettin' you ready!" Sariah shrugged and lead the way down to the bath house so that we could all bathe. When we were finished we returned to the seventh tier in soft robes to preen up. Tigress and Sariah had been less than happy about the fact that they had to dress up in long robes and tuck a lotus behind their ears, but with a little coaxing, and batting of the eyes, we got them to cave. All of the girls were going to look stunning.

Tigress' robe was deep gold with a dragon embroidered in deep red thread across the whole silk canvas, along with a few swirly designs and flowers. Sariah's robe was lapis blue with a silver river flowing over the folds of the robe. Chi had a light pink one with all sorts of colorful flower arrangements. Viper had two new solid gold cuffs made for the end of her tail and around her neck, which were engraved with mystical designs, and the carve lines were packed with silver. Bo had an adorable little salmon colored robe with flowers and clouds stitched in amber colored thread. Bo-Chen had a deep red robe with a scenic rising sun and mountains embroidered in gold. We were all super excited to show off in our new finery in front of the boys, but, obviously, none more so than me.

My gown was spectacular to say the least. Pure white silk flowed like a soft waterfall from my shoulders to the floor, as cascades of spider-lace flowed around the skirt. My train covered the entirety of my tail and lighter pink lace played across the frosty fabric. The sleeves were long and trimmed in light pink, and my lotus was embroidered on the train in silver thread. My veil was short, so as to not get in the way of the splendor of the dress and was held in place by the wooden comb my father gave me (yes, the same one we fought over the night before).

Chi had worked wonders on my bouquet, as well. She had taken two small branches of cherry and almond blossoms and set them as a backboard for five fully bloomed lotuses. In front of those flowers she had arranged white orchids with their smiling petals to stand out in the front.

It was now about eleven o'clock and we started our way through the streets to get to the cherry tree grove and get dressed in the little tent that we had set up for us so that we didn't ruin our gowns walking through the city.

"Sixty minutes and counting!" Bo cheered as she soared over our heads and to the cherry grove. We were almost at the gates and I wanted Bo to go ahead of us and tell the boys to keep Shen in his tent.

"Sixty minutes…" I sighed and looked around, trying to keep my mind preoccupied. I was feeling almost sick. What if something went wrong? What if I tripped on my way down the aisle? What of bandits show up and trash the whole thing? I had an endless list of what if's and had told my girls all about it.

"Lien, just calm down. This is the happiest day of your life! You can't fret about every little detail that could go wrong." Viper told me and slithered closer to my side.

"Besides, the likelihood of anything happening is zero to none. You're going to be totally fine." Tigress added.

"I know, you guys told me earlier." I grumbled and tried to take a deep breath and keep myself from getting sick.

"Aw come on sis. You'll be fine. You're never clumsy!" Bo-Chen tried but I just looked back to my feet.

"Hey," Chi stepped in front of me and held my shoulders, forcing me to look up at her, "My sister was acting the same way on her wedding day, and she ended getting sick and we had to postpone her wedding. Do you want that?" She asked holding eye contact.

"No." I mumbled and shook my head.

"Ok then. I want you to close your eyes and take a deep breath." I did so and relaxed just a bit. "Now, picture Shen's face. Think about all of the wonderful times you've had together. Think about how happy you are to be his wife." She said in a caring voice, and I did as she told me. Instantly, I felt better; I felt like a whole big weight was taken off my shoulders. I pictured Shen's sleeping face when I woke on the top of the Tower of Sacred Flame; his face when he returned to the palace right before the battle; the spark in his eyes after interrupting my Kung Fu class all those weeks ago.

With one more deep breath I opened my eyes and smiled. "Ok. I'm ready." My nerves were rested and my mind was at ease. "Let's get dressed girls!"

"Ok lover boy. You are officially trapped in here until we let you out." Garrett told me and pulled the door closed on our tent.

"So that means that Lien's here?" I replied sarcastically.

"Duh!" Po, Mantis and Monkey replied.

"Finally. Twenty three years of waiting, and here we are." I sighed and played with the ends of my robe. It was white with red silk on the trim and my rising sun stitched on the back. I felt rather spectacular dressed up in this finery, but I couldn't help but feel nervous. This was what I had been waiting for for what seemed like forever.

"Oh come on. Don't tell me you're having second thoughts?" Crane teased.

"NO!" I exclaimed and stood. "Never! Just last minute nerves I guess." I sighed again.

"Well good, cause I would have had to hurt you so bad!" Genji joshed and elbowed me.

"I promise that I would never hurt your sister like that. It would kill me." I told the golden peacock and reached to ruffle his crest, but he dodged.

"Nuh-uh! I spent forever on this piece of perfection this morning!" I grinned at Crane and the spindly bird walked up behind him and tousled it gently. "REALLY? It's all a conspiracy!" Genji wailed over dramatically, and fixed his feathers while we laughed.

"The only conspiracy is the fact that you two teens are here. You really think that a handful of Kung Fu masters can take care of you?" Po replied, and we burst out laughing again. We joked around for a little longer until a little antelope ran up to the tent and told me that we were ready.

"Woohoo! Let's do this!" Genji exclaimed and practically shoved me out of the tent.

"Easy there spit-fire. I'm going." I took a deep breath, let it out and let a warm smile come to my beak. Gracefully, with my head held high, I stepped out of the tent and strowed down the aisle. The entirety of the city nodded to me as I walked down feeling my stomach twist in knots. I made it to the end and stood before Shifu, who had agreed to marry us.

"I like the robe." He told me in a friendly manner.

"Thank you." I said quickly and nodded.

"Take a deep breath. You won't even remember what it's like to feel nervous here in about three minutes." The elder red panda teased and I allowed a chuckle to escape my beak. As I turned my head back down the aisle to the tents I watched Genji and Bo-Chen step out, practically glowing with pride to be part of such an anticipated affair. They were closely followed by Crane and Chi, Sariah and Garrett, Monkey and Viper, Bo and Mantis, and Po and Tigress. The girls all looked stunning in their splendid gowns, with a small lotus tucked behind their ears, and small bouquet of cherry blossoms.

As Tigress and Po took their positions everyone stood as Genji and Bo-Chen walked back down the aisle to get their sister. They peeked their heads in the tent and I saw a flash of feathers. Then, my whole world went into slow motion. Holding her skirt in her wing Lien, my lovely bride, stepped out of the tent and linked her wings with her siblings, letting her exquisite dress flow down to the cherry petal carpet. She straightened her neck, then dipped her head to form a sleek S-curve with her neck. Ever so slowly she looked up to my eyes and everything, the nerves, the impatience, any thoughts that were coursing through my grey matter, completely evaporated.

My heart was pounding with pure, undeniable joy, and I felt short of breath as they made it to the five little cherry trees. I couldn't look away from her even if I wanted to, there was just no physical way to do it. "Who presents the bride here today?" Shifu asked kindly, but to me his voice seemed far away.

"We do Master Shifu. Genji-Feng and Bo-Chen, Twin brother and sister and only living relatives of Master Lien-Hua. We are here to present our sister to the worthy Prince Shen." They said in rehearsed unison, then Genji smiled and added in a passive-aggressive tone, "Treat her right." Lien snapped her gaze over to him and rolled her crystalline blue eyes. "Love you sis!" Both peachicks murmured and kissed her on the cheek as I stepped up to take her. I swelled to at least five times my size as Lien turned back to me and placed her wing on mine, and we stepped back up to Shifu.

"You look magnificent!" I whispered to her as Shifu started talking, stating the vows.

"Same to you." She replied.

"Lien-Hua, do you take this peacock to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, to love and cherish for as long as you both shall live?"

Looking directly into my eyes, her wings clasped in mine, Lien spoke the two little words that sealed her end of the deal, "I do." She smiled widely and her eyes brimmed with tears, delighted tears.

Shifu beamed and turned to me, "And Prince Shen, do you take this peahen to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, to love and to cherish for as long as you both shall live?"

I paused for a moment, no not to think it over; I knew my answer. But to rather see the images of me and her through the years flip through my mind. When we first met, our first kiss, the first time I saw her after twenty years in the courtyard ready to fight me, seeing her curled up in my wings after sleeping on the Tower of Sacred Flame. Lastly the look of utter delight on her face when we returned to the palace. I blinked once, twice, and sighed. These images zipped through my mind in mere seconds, and when they were finished, I refocused on my lotus.

"I do."

I can't believe it! Last chapter of my last KFP fanfic...for a while at least (There's no way a fairly sane person would leave a cliffhanger like that at the end and a) not expect death threats, and b) stay fairly sane! XD). I've promised my Rio fans a little somethin' somethin' so I'll be reverting to Rio for a while, but please FEEL FREE TO CHECK THEM OUT TOO! I love these stories so incredibly much, and I can't wait for the third story in the seris, it's gonna totally rock your socks off! lol Well enough from me, but I would like a LOT from you! As in an insanely long review to just make me explode with mere happiness! XD

~PrairieRose1017