Audrey hadn't spent much time in the ship's viewing deck, but she thought without a doubt that it was utterly breathtaking. With an immensely large window showing off the sprawling view of the universe around them, it was the sort of place one could easily spend hours and still find it difficult to leave.
Clearly, she was far from the only person to enjoy the impressive sight. The reason she hadn't been able to visit the room frequently was because more often than not, it was booked up for some meeting or event. She had learned within a few weeks of starting her travels that when she wanted to see out into space, she would have to make do with the smaller windows along the corridors or pulling up pictures on a viewscreen.
But today… today it was her event booking a little chunk of time in the room. Because today, it was her wedding. Even in all her wildest dreams of finding a new life onboard the Viridian, she had never imagined anything quite this wonderful. But there she was, dressed up in a white gown, clutching a bouquet of twinkling baby's breath flowers with a pale pink ribbon tied around it, and Seymour looking at her like she was the most incredible sight he had ever laid eyes on.
Audrey couldn't deny that she shared the sentiment. The view they had for their wedding was breathtaking. They were close to Earth now, close enough that she could actually start to make out things like lakes and mountains and even what she thought might be a few forests. And when she had first looked out the window and it sunk in that they had really arrived at the greenest planet ever discovered, she had been so thrilled her heart nearly leapt out of her chest. But then she'd seen Seymour, looking a little stiff in the dress uniform he was wearing for the first time because he'd wanted to look nice for her, and she didn't think she could ever tear her eyes away to look at anything else but the way he was smiling at her.
The voice of the ship's captain soon faded into the background as he ran through the ceremony, which neither of them understood a word of. Apparently, enough people from a vast array of different galaxies had decided to get married onboard a starship that the captain long ago put his foot down about trying to learn how to conduct a wedding in every language someone asked for, and now he simply used his own homeworld's native speech. Audrey supposed it didn't really matter what the words were, as long as it meant they were married.
Since there wasn't much point in listening, and the captain was too busy reading to pay much attention to the two of them, Seymour took a moment to lean closer to Audrey and whisper, "Are you sure this is the wedding you want?"
They hadn't taken a lot of time to plan things, and as much as the view was spectacular, purchasing the ship's "standard wedding package" meant the rest of the space was rather sparse. He had briefly thought about asking if she wanted to plan a ceremony back on Areole, but from the way she always talked about the place, he definitely got the sense she had no desire to ever see the planet again. Still, there were surely a lot of places they could go. Probably places where the decorations would look a lot less like something a few bored crewmembers were used to throwing together for impulsive tourists.
But Audrey nodded resolutely, her hand sure and steady clasped in his.
"This is exactly what I wanted."
The next morning, the ship would be docking at Earth, and there was nothing she wanted more than to step onto the planet as Seymour's wife. She didn't know for sure what people were going to think of her there. She hoped she would fit in, or at least that people wouldn't mind if she was a bit different. But whatever happened, after today, she would always feel that she was in the right place so long as they were standing beside each other.
After a few minutes of listening along and doing their best to follow what was happening, a nudge and an expectant look told them they had reached the part where they were supposed to kiss. Not long after, they were shooed out the door so the crew could start setting things up for the next appointment scheduled in the room.
Seymour was still worried it was perhaps not the most romantic way of going about things. He had never felt like he needed a big, fancy day with a lot of attention on him. If anything, the idea made him a bit anxious. But he certainly believed Audrey deserved the best. Though he supposed it must have been alright with her, considering she didn't stop beaming at him the entire way back to their quarters. And as long as she was happy, then he would also consider it a perfect day.
Seymour lost track of how much time they had spent just sitting in their room and talking together as they enjoyed a few things they had picked up from the dining hall. While he had never tried it before, he enjoyed the glass of what appeared to be some sort of purple-colored iced tea. Audrey had explained that iced drinks after a wedding were good luck, and that it stood for keeping away the oppressive heat of the desert. It was the only one of her old customs she had wanted to carry into the day, because she figured it couldn't hurt to have some extra assurance that she would soon be living in a place full of lush greenery and pleasant temperatures. Seymour had also provided two slices of cake, which, at least as far as he knew, was only a tradition because people liked eating cake. Audrey assured him it was as good a reason as any.
Later that night, he found himself wondering how he'd ever gotten this lucky, when for the first time Audrey was spending the night lying next to him instead of sleeping in the bunk above his.
Just before they turned out the lights, he watched her take a few moments to examine her new ring. In the rushed bit of planning time with the ship's event coordinator, they were shown to a shelf full of trinkets that were available for purchase, which were presumably the sort of things couples frequently wanted to use for whatever their planet's traditions happened to be. He promised Audrey that once they landed, they could find something better than the little circle of plastic stamped with the ship's logo. But in the meantime, she seemed delighted just to have something that could show anyone who looked at her that she was married.
The bed was a little bit of a tight fit with the two of them, but neither one minded being close. But even so, he had been thinking more and more recently that it was time to start making some real choices about the future, and he had already made up his mind that as long as Audrey liked the plans he suggested, this could very well be the last night they spent in the cramped staff quarters of a touring starship.
"Audrey?" He cautiously asked in a soft voice.
A small hum confirmed she was still awake.
"Audrey. I was wondering… what would you think about getting our own ship?"
She lifted her head off his chest to look at him, but with the lack of light and his glasses off, he couldn't make out the expression on her face. When she didn't say anything, he realized she was waiting for him to finish voicing his thoughts.
"I was just thinking, it's easy to send whatever data we gather to a ship's computer, and with the contract I have, I don't really need to live here. I know we couldn't afford anything all big and fancy like this, but we could get a little starship just for us, and fix it up however we like, and we could go wherever we wanted. And it would also mean we didn't have to be in space all the time, you know? We could just fly out to gather whatever we needed, and then we could go back home again. We could even open our own shop, like the one where I used to work with Mr. Mushnik, and then we could also sell some of the interesting plants we pick up."
He stopped himself before he could start rambling too much, and hoped he wasn't getting carried away before he knew whether or not it was the sort of future Audrey had envisioned for herself. Because he knew that as long as it would make her happy, he would gladly follow her to any sort of life in any part of the universe.
Audrey lay her head back on his chest, letting out a contented sigh as she settled in again.
"That all sounds perfect. I think that's exactly what we should do."
He could tell she was starting to drift off, and he supposed he should try to get some sleep as well. There were a lot of plans to start putting into place in the morning. Of course, they didn't need to have everything sorted out right away. Now that he thought about it, perhaps he should ask in the morning if she wanted to plan a honeymoon trip. Maybe to a beach somewhere. Sitting by the water with Audrey and realizing she actually enjoyed his company was a very fond memory for him, and since both of them had yet to see a real beach instead of just the ship projecting holographic images around the pool, it might be something nice to experience together. And if Audrey was interested, he'd like to plan a visit to see Mr. Mushnik soon, now that he'd started at least getting a brief letter every once in a while. He was pretty sure his boss half-suspected he was just making up stories about someone he'd met in space falling in love with him, and an Areolean at that. But Seymour was certain that once the two of them had met, Mr. Mushnik would like Audrey. It was hard to imagine anyone not liking someone as wonderful as her.
Still, even if it didn't have to happen immediately, he knew that neither of them wanted to wait long to start building a real life together. Hopefully, it wouldn't be much more time until they had a house picked out and could start turning it into a home. But there wasn't anything more that could be done until the morning, so for the rest of the night, he was going to do his best to put thoughts of the future aside and simply appreciate spending the night in each other's arms.