Private Papa Don't Preach

[Ishani Dinn]

Ganner stared at Arc with suspicion, but ceased the suppression long enough for him to change his clothes. The children had to be coaxed by their mother and grandmother into leaving their father and shedding their comfortable pajamas. Marcus had a miniature suit and tie, while Eloise had a pale blue dress.

“Now, into the speeder,” Toloth commanded. “And no funny business.”

While they piled into the vehicle and rode into town through abandoned streets, Rhi wondered how they would find an officiant willing to perform a wedding ceremony in the middle of the night… until she remembered where she was. People are always getting married on Chaldea. That was the old famous saying about her homeworld.

Her heart began to pound as they approached Temple Row, a street crowded with houses of worship from a dozen different religious sects. The speeder came to a stop in front of a little chapel, simple but pretty in design. Even before everyone else had gotten out, Charisse was at the front door, pounding her fist against the carved wood.

“Please, what do you want?” a startled man with glasses answered.

“Jon, it’s Charisse. You owe me a favor, remember?” Charisse spoke sweetly. “I know it’s late, but I need someone to marry my daughter.”

Glancing over her shoulder, Jon shrugged. “I’m flattered, but I barely know her.” He smiled at his own joke. “Sure, come on in…”

Holding Eloise’s in one hand, Rhi slipped her other into Arc’s as they entered the chapel, which was little more than a room with chairs. She felt as if she were dreaming, it was all so unreal.

“All right, who’s getting married to who?” Jon asked, cleaning his glasses with a cloth.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He could tell that Ganner was reluctant, but all the same he felt his sensitivity returning even if only for a short while. Plenty of time to activate the pebble and call forth a suit from the Nether, complete with a sleek black tie. The pebble was returned back to the pouch which remained on his belt, and then he nodded to Ganner so that he could reinstate the block if he so desired.​

​

Arcturus did not need the Force to function, even if it had become a vital part of his existence.​

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"You look so beautiful, Louise," he said softly as she came into view, decked in blue, then beamed brightly toward Marcus. "So handsome."​

​

He led the children down to the speeder as instructed, both of them clinging to his hands whilst also reaching for Rhiannon's. His heart broke a little, he'd been gone far too long and had failed them hadn't he? Broken his promise... Would they resent him for it one day, when they were older?​

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Arcturus said nothing as they made their journey from the Threepwood estate, nerves flowed through him though more due to the company at hand than the realization that he was soon to be wed. Marcus kept him slightly occupied with curious looks and quiet queries, while Eloise turned slightly to fuss with his hair. As much as his pebbles could provide him with a change of clothes, it couldn't style his hair.​

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While Rhiannon's mother got out and banged on the door, he allowed his daughter to finish up before stepping out into the night alongside the rest of her family.​

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His family..? Soon, perhaps, if they'd even want to see him as such.​

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Eloise soon scampered to her mother's side, and Marcus remained to his right, leaving ample space for soon to be husband and wife to hold hands. While the other adults talked, Arcturus turned his gaze toward Rhi and gave her hand just a very slight squeeze to ground and reassure her. "You look divine" he whispered in her ear, "If you wanted more than this for your wedding day, we can still make it so. Arrange a ceremony for another day..?"​

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Jon's question had him returning his gaze to the others, and he found his throat threatening to close over. Even so he managed to raise his voice enough to be heard. "We are, Sir. Rhiannon and I..."​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Rhi smiled as she watched Eloise fuss with Arc’s hair. Marcus had spent much of the trip in his mother’s arms, sitting almost in her lap with his head against her chest. He talked a bit here and there, mainly to ask questions, but otherwise seemed to have a knowledge of what was happening far beyond even that of the adults. “You have to close the circle,” he whispered at one point, rather cryptically, and yet when he said it Rhi felt like she almost understood what he meant.

“Do you still have visions?” she asked him, keeping her voice low.

Marcus nodded. “We’re going somewhere strange and far away. But we’ll all be together there.”

Rhi kissed his head and stroked his back, refusing to let go of him until they were all filing into the chapel. It was only when Arc squeezed her hand that reality seemed to hit her, pulling her back down to earth. The corners of her mouth twitched upward at his compliment.

“I don’t mind it,” she whispered back. “I like a little spontaneity. It’s like an elopement, isn’t it? Romantic. Most Sith’s weddings probably aren’t half as family-friendly as this, either.”

She looked at her parents and brother. Toloth’s expression was stern as he stood by the altar with his arms crossed. Charisse was all happy smiles and nervous fluttering. And Ganner… well, Ganner was along for the ride, mainly here to keep Arc’s connection firmly suppressed.

They made for an odd bunch, but Jon had likely joined stranger unions than theirs. Glancing at Arc, he then turned to Rhi for her confirmation. She had begun to cry, but managed to nod her head. “Arcturus Dinn and Rhiannon Threepwood.”

“Those are tears of happiness, right? Good.” Retrieving an unlabeled book from the podium, Jon turned to face the couple. “Okay, face each other, please. Do you have the rings? Oh, you’re already wearing them…”

Rhi wiped her eyes as Jon flicked through the pages, then began to recite the traditional Chaldean wedding vows. She might as well have not bothered, because the waterworks only intensified as she heard the familiar words. Nothing she could do would stop the tears. Her heart was too full.

“...Repeat after me: ‘I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.’”

“I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,” Rhi said, surprised that her voice didn’t waver with emotion.

After both had spoken the vows, Jon closed his book. “With the power invested in me by the Unifying Force, I pronounce you husband and wife.”

He might’ve said something else, but Rhi hardly heard it. She flung her arms around Arc, kissing him like she never wanted the moment to end.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Whatever did I do to deserve you?" he whispered when she declared that she was satisfied with their lot. The excitement of an elopement, the romance of it all. She was a wonder to behold, and to think he could call her his. "I love you.."​

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He might have said more had he not been interrupted by their officiant. Rhiannon did the smart thing and actually gave their names, which Arc had forgotten to do in the heat of the moment, and then it was time for them to face one another. It was all happening so quickly that it was dizzying, but when his gaze met Rhi's everything fell back into place. He breathed a soft breath and managed a meek smile, even as Rhiannon began to cry tears of happiness.​

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His own eyes became glassy too, especially when the vows were exchanged.​

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"I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine" he said with such a firm certainty that the words themselves seemed set in Beskar. "My beautiful wife" he managed to whisper moments before his lips were seized. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her in close as they sealed their vows in a deep and passionate kiss.​

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Nothing else mattered, he had his family.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Rhi had broken from the kiss to find her mother smiling. Her father looked relieved, and even Ganner was smirking faintly. The twins bounced excitedly, reaching arms out for hugs.

Her parents embraced them as well, but Toloth remained stiff and distant. The sense of being welcomed home evaporated, and Rhi was left with a nagging sense of paranoia.

They left the chapel and headed home. Marcus and Eloise started to nod off in the speeder. It was way past their bedtime.

“We really should get going,” Rhi said as they stepped out into the cool night air.

“So soon?” Charisse asked in dismay.

Though it broke her heart to see her mother’s crestfallen face, she was far more leery of what might happen if they stayed too long. The differences between them couldn’t be denied, and it seemed like only a matter of time before conflict began… No, they wouldn’t be here long enough to allow that to happen.

“Yes,” she said firmly. “We really came here to take Marcus and Eloise home with us, after all.”

Charisse opened her mouth to speak, but Toloth stopped her. “If that’s your decision, it’s out of our hands now,” he said. “A deal is a deal. We saw you married, now it’s time for you to leave the nest.”

“We love you very much, you know,” Charisse added.

“I know,” Rhi echoed with a sad little smile. But I can’t take you with me where I’m going.

---

Roughly half an hour later, Rhi stood in the cockpit aboard the Beholder. She was still wearing her wedding dress, her long golden hair hanging loose about her shoulders.

After bidding goodbye to her parents, they had bundled the sleeping twins into bed, packed away their things, and set sail. Rhi still felt like she was dreaming. I’m his wife, she kept telling herself, as if it would cease to be true without constant reminders. We’re married…

All right, Mrs. Dinn. There was still some business to attend to. But first, they had to pick a destination. The obvious choice was to return to Eliad—but Rhi found that she had no desire to go there. In fact, part of her dreaded returning to Sith territory now that they had the children with them.

“You know, people usually go somewhere nice after they get married,” she said, glancing at the navicomputer. Recent news reports had announced the fall of several major galactic factions, including the Maw. The galaxy had never felt so free and open. “Any ideas, husband?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Though the kiss ended far sooner than he might have liked, the sight of their excitable, bouncing twins was well worth it. They were tired, beyond tired, kept awake solely through their excitement, and he knew they'd soon crash. It was sadly inevitable. "They're going to need a lie in" he whispered to Rhiannon, as they made their wider embrace. He could feel her trepidation, that sense of paranoia that things wouldn't change as much as she might have liked them to even with the marriage now sealed, so when they made their way back to the estate he kept his hand in hers, his other brushed through the twins hair one at a time.​

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They were fast asleep.​

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Once back at the Threepwood home Rhiannon was quick to urge them toward the exit. He did not interrupt nor participate in their farewells, instead he focused on lifting both of their kiddos from the speeder and into his arms, holding them firmly to his chest to keep off as much of the chill as he could.​

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"I'll get them settled" he told her with a kiss to her forehead, giving her a chance to properly say goodbye.​

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The twins were soon tucked snuggly within their bunks. Their room aboard Beholder was just as they had left it, down to the toys they'd kept in a pull out box beneath the beds. The clothes in the closet were much too small, those self same toys having long since been outgrown, but when Rhiannon returned she had things with her. Their things.​

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He spent a little time rearranging, getting it set up for them so that if they awoke they would have something familiar at hand. He tucked them each a stuffed animal into the blankets with them, Marcus' a rancor and Eloise's a terentatek, then kissed them gently on their cheeks.

It didn't take them long to be back in the deep, endless void of space. Rhiannon joined him in the cockpit, and he gently pulled her into his lap as they ummed and arred over where they were to go. "I do not mind at all," he told her with full sincerity, "Wherever you go is where I want to be..."​

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In the end they settled upon a world they'd previously retreated to, at least for their initial stop.​