Walk on the Moon

Don't you think their hands were shaking

as that rocket ship touched down
I'm sure they shivered
when they finally touched the ground
The giant leap so fragile
that it hardly made a sound
But it must have been amazing
What a world they got to see
So I don't care, my foolish fear
Won't get the best of me

I'm Alive
Got one shot and I'm taking it to you
I'm Alive
I've come to realize not a moment too soon
This is my one small step
This is my Walk on the Moon

- Great Big Sea, Walk on the Moon, watch?v=nW1KP434sl8

Jack paced the guest suite at the Pole that had been transformed into the Groom's Suite for today. He and Tooth would have like to hold the wedding at Punjam Hy Loo, so even the Baby Teeth on duty could see, but in the end it simply wasn't able to accommodate everyone they'd been obligated to invite – to the reception, at the least. Too many were earthbound to be able to fit in the Tooth Palace, built for those who spent more time airborne than with their feet on the ground as it was.

North had set up a viewing crystal on the command central platform connected to one in the ballroom bower so the girls on duty could still watch, while the girls who were off duty darted about the Pole in a tizzy.

All but Baby Tooth, who as Jack's Named daughter was flitting about the Groom's Suite in excitement. Jack had a feeling that the rest of them were having just as much of a hard time concentrating, though he didn't blame them, and neither did Tooth. Who could blame them, really?

Jack was grateful North had set up that crystal, he really was – it was just buried under a heaping pile of nerves at the moment. It was a good thing it had been unveiled long before today, so he and Tooth could both express their thanks when they were thinking straight, rather than today.

He and Tooth had done their best, and the other Guardians had stood by them, but in the end, two major spirits as powerful as they were getting wed was the Event of the century, and every spirit who was anyone had wanted – or in some cases, expected – to be there.

Tooth had claimed that the actual bonding had to be done with only family and close friends present, otherwise under Sister of Flight tradition it was not a true wedding. Jack was ninety nine percent sure she'd made that up wholesale, but he wasn't going to complain. Not when it was what they both wanted.

...then again, Sisters of Flight had been very secretive. It was hard to tell, really. They'd rarely wed at all, so there was no one around who remembered a Sister of Flight wedding to gainsay Tooth's word.

They'd compromised on part of it – Tooth did have a need to show off her plumage and her mate's, and so they were going to be making an entrance and walking down the aisle before going into the bower North had created at one end of the ballroom with gauzy curtains to shield the actual ceremony from view.

Apparently, showing off your new mate was a Sister of Flight thing...or possibly just a Toothiana thing.

Smiling at the thought, Jack glanced down at his hands, covered in henna designs. His feet were covered with them too, spiraling up his calves and forearms in designs similar to his frost. It had been important to Tooth that he have the designs inked all over him, and she and Bunny had had such fun doing it...

He glanced over at the clothes laid out for him on the bed and shifted, nervous and unready. Once he put those on, it'd all seem so much more real, despite the henna covering his skin.

It wasn't how he'd pictured his wedding day...he'd always pictured it differently. Then again, when he'd last thought of marriage, before Tooth, he'd been mortal, in a colonial town – nothing even remotely similar to all of this.

The door was flung open before Jack could finish mourning the lack of his family here, on his special day, North striding in as loud as always, joyous and grinning so wide it looked like it should hurt.

"Jack!" North boomed, scooping Jack up into one of his rib cracking bear hugs. "Is big day, wonderful day, yes! Why aren't you dressed yet?"

Jack laughed breathlessly as North dropped him, bouncing a little as he landed. "Hey, North. Where's Bunny and Sandy?"

"Bunny is with Tooth, being big brother. Sandy is putting last touches on ballroom and ceremony site," North answered, taking a cookie from the plate on the table by the door.

He scanned a quick eye over the room, nodding in approval. The yeti had done a full one eighty on their opinion of Jack and had gone out of their way to make the rooms for both he and Tooth special for the day, with hangings on the walls and soft lighting transforming it from impersonal guest room to bower.

Jack was shifting nervously in the middle of the room, glancing up at North through his bangs in the way North had, over the past few years, learned meant 'I'm–really–glad–you're–here–but–I–won't–admit–it'.

"Well, why aren't you dressed?" North repeated himself, poking Jack lightly in the chest and beaming. "Yeti work hard on clothes for today, can not get married in ancient hoodie and older pants!"

Jack laughed, touching the fabric folded on the bed with cautious fingers. Baby Tooth, perched on the bed by the clothes, chirped encouragingly as his hand traced over the shirt on top. It was finer than anything he'd ever owned before, and he was half afraid of wrecking it before the ceremony, fingers rough from years of handling his staff catching on the embroidery lining the collar.

Jack gave North a quick glance and grin before leaning his staff on the wall and picking up the clothes, ducking behind the screen in the corner.

"Yeti still annoyed you won't agree to let them make you wardrobe," North commented in an offhand manner, as though trying to distract Jack from nerves.

From behind the screen Jack laughed, carefully stripping to preserve the admittedly ancient fabric of his pants. "They make it too fancy," he protested. "I saw their designs for a proper Guardian outfit, and I couldn't play in those, North."

"...will speak to yeti. If they make new designs, you try?"

"I'll look, but no promises," Jack tossed back, tugging on the pants they'd sewn up for the wedding. They were short, like his usual pants, but not quite as tight. They still clung closely to his legs, and the hems were embroidered with swirling patterns in shades of white and blue that sparkled as his frost curled around them, enhancing both.

The new belt to go with them was silver blue leather, simple and unobtrusive, just like the old save coloring and wear.

The shirt felt strange after having worn his hoodie exclusively for so long. He may not have technically needed the hoodie or the thick cloth the new shirt was made from for warmth, but he appreciated the thought nevertheless. It was softer than wool, and lighter, and Jack decided not to question just what they used to make it. It was open necked and long, with long sleeves drawn close at the wrist, embroidery banding the sleeves, neckline, and hem, and Jack half wished he could wear it all the time.

Still, when he played, he played hard, and yeti work or not there was no sense wearing something so fancy when it might be ruined.

He stepped out from behind the screen and gave a little turn, laughing. His frost glittered along with the embroidery, nerves making it heavier than usual. North laughed at his antics even as he threw a cloak around Jack's shoulders, fastening it at the neck almost formally.

Jack reached up and fingered the clasp as North's hands settled on his shoulders. The cloak was new, too, a thick, rich, blue velvet that Jack would never have picked for himself but that somehow felt right, now that it was fastened over his shoulders, already picking up frost.

He and North smiled at each other even as North brushed a touch of frost off Jack's shoulder. "Nervous?" he laughed, looking down at Jack with understanding eyes.

"Maybe a bit," Jack laughed, scratching at the back of his head as North's arm came to rest around his shoulders, scooping up his staff and detouring just enough to pick up avery important box he'd laid on the table that he'd carved special for today.

"Nervous, but ready."

Tooth flitted around the room, too excited and nervous to be still, almost too excited and nervous to get ready. The baby teeth that had come along with her were no better, flitting around even faster than their mother and getting in each others' way as they argued over the last minute decisions.

Bunny, sitting by the vanity, rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. "Nobody's gettin' hitched today if ya don't sit still an' get dolled up," he said as sternly as he could though a mouth that kept insisting on trying to smile.

Tooth took another spin around the room before settling onto the backless stool in front of the vanity. Her feathers had already been groomed until they shone like emeralds, sliding into amethyst each time she moved, each beat of her wings casting sparkling jewels of light to dance around the room.

She chattered happily and aimlessly, Bunny nodding at the appropriate times as she began fastening the jewelry she'd brought along special for today. It had been her mother's wedding jewelry, kept safe for this day at Punjam Hy Loo rather than taken along when she and her husband had left to live among mortals.

The necklace draped over her shoulders and chest, ending in a high collar around her throat, the whole made up of tiny plates of gold set with gems that reflected her own feather colors. Bracelets and bracers circled her wrists, matching anklets around her ankles, in more gold, Bunny helping her with the ones on her ankles as she snapped the bracers around her wrists.

She paused before lifting the crown from the box it had stayed hidden in for years, staring at it, abruptly silent. She suddenly missed her mother with a pain that was almost physical. Her mother should have able to be here for this, to fasten the crown for her and watch her marry the spirit she'd finally found worthy of commitment.

Tooth started as Bunny took the crown from her hands gently, looking it over. "My mother was supposed to help me with it," Tooth said quietly, "but I suppose a brother will do."

Bunny's grin was rueful as he lifted the crown, a marvel of filigree and gemwork that mimicked the natural sweep of Tooth's feathers, as tall as the golden feather crowning it all, into place, laying over Tooth's natural crest. "Time ain't been kind ta any of us, Toothie." He adjusted the chains that draped from the sides of the crown, giving one a little flick. "Makin' a difference now, though."

Tooth reached up to touch the crown, fluttering up to look at herself in the mirror. The jewelry hung just as it should, and she smiled at Bunny in the mirror as he laid a hand on her shoulder, careful of fluttering wings.

"Think they'd all be proud of us today," he said softly. "Still nervous?"

Tooth lifted her eyes from where she'd been examining the bracers around her wrists and the bracelets over them to meet his again, nodding firmly like the Queen she was. "Yes. But ready."

A/N: So...yes. Sugar-rush fluff. Did anyone else notice in the movie, when Tooth moves her legs, the feathers turn purplish? I had to have it pointed out to me.

Fluff Fluff extreme fluff and the beginning of the long-promised wedding. :)