Hi Zampsa!
As you wish:
Four weddings, no funeral.“No Faith. Nobody’s going to be naked at this wedding,” Buffy said, mock sternly. “I don’t care if they did it on Star Trek.”
Faith made a face. “Aww, c’mon B! It’s a whole new country, and we get to make the rules. Let’s have some fun new, ancient traditions.”
“That only sounds fun. What happens when somebody who really needs to keep their clothes on, goes to get married?”
Faith shrugged, kicking her heels.
She made for an incongruous sight, perched on a conveniently placed carven chest, as Hope crawled around on the bed.
That wasn’t so odd.
The odd part came from her glamorous makeup, stunning blue dress, and zip-up combat boots.
Buffy was similarly dressed, though her dress was a white number raided from a royal wardrobe, with delicate gold accents.
And she was wearing matching shoes.
Whoever these people were, they were they were definitely Buffy’s relatives.
She’d just about fainted when she saw all the pretty shoes.
And now the pair were in one of the rooms in the ‘royal suite’ or whatever it was officially called.
One quick going over with Dawn’s wands hade made the place clean and in decent repair.
A cheap repair spell could only do so much against the ravages of centuries, but it had helped quite a lot.
Though Dawn had literally run through the room, in an attempt to clean and repair as much stuff as possible before the spell ran out.
“Then we have a laugh. Win-win,” Faith said.
“Mom. Giles.” Buffy simply stated.
Faith looked thoughtful. “Yeah ok. You got a point. I mean they look good. But damn, that would be some awkward ceremony.”
“Yep. Also Queen, remember?” Buffy said with a smirk. “And there can be as much nakedness as you like,
after the ceremony.
“O’ course, after today, I get to be queenie, as well,” Faith said.
She smirked back. “There could be a palace revolt. Civil war. Messy stuff.”
“Giles is looking through the books to see how the other queens of Summer handled it. But there’s no ‘all you need to know to be queen’ handbook. Which sucks.”
“We can’t just ask ‘em?” Faith said, pointing at the ceiling.
Buffy shook her head. “Not really. It’s been like, thousands of years for them. Most of them have been.. er, ‘On a higher plane’ for so long they can’t even remember this stuff. And they don’t want to wreck our fun. So other than ‘watch out for tigers’ and ‘don’t pull this lever,’ they’ve left us to it. Heck, they didn’t even mention the dragon,” Buffy complained. “Dragons! My eyes still get all flamey when I get stressed!”
She finished checking her makeup in the huge mirror, fluffed her hair just a little, smoothed her wings and turned to Faith.
“How do I look?”
Faith smiled. A lot. “Good enough to eat.”
Buffy quirked a smile. “Later.
After the wedding, remember?”
She looked down. “I know we are setting new trends here, but is that going to be the new fashion of Summer? Slinky gowns, and combat boots?”
“Naw. Just really comfy. Plus you never know when you have to fight.”
She held up some nice shoes that went with the dress. “Got shoes. Comfortable ones even,” She said with a smirk. Again.
“I’ll put ‘em on just before the wedding.”
She tapped her feet against the polished marble floor. “I’ll keep these on, just in case I need to kick someone’s ass.”
Buffy raised an eyebrow. “In a ballgown? With a baby?”
Faith smirked. “You know you wanna see that.”
“I kinda do.”
Buffy gave herself a once over in the mirror. “Looks good. Let’s go see how the other two are getting on.”
“Panic. There will be panic.”
“You think so?”
Faith nodded. “Red getting married? Yep. Just one o’ the reasons I suggested that the old ‘bride doesn’t see the bride before the wedding’ tradition was stupid. Red’s gonna need Glinda to keep her calm.”
Buffy scooped up little Hope from the bed. The bed might be a little fusty, but Hope found it fascinating for some reason, and kept grabbing tiny handfuls of the bedding, to examine with a puzzled expression.
“Come on Hope. Let’s go see if auntie Willow is having a spazz.”
++
“Looking good cuz!” Faith said to Tara.
Tara smoothed down her slinky sky-blue dress, and flirted her wings. “Really?”
“Yep. Totally.”
“Uh, what’s up with Will?” Buffy asked.
Willow was sitting on the bed, wearing a lovely green satin dress, and some huge local flower in her hair. She was staring with a dazed smile off into the distance.
“She looks drugged,” Faith said.
Tara sighed. “More or less, yes.”
Two sets of eyes widened in shock.
“Really?” Buffy said in disbelief.
“Didn’t think you had it in you Blondie,” Faith said. “I mean, I figured she’d be running around panicking, but jeez.”
Tara looked a little put out. “I’d never drug Willow like that. It was meant to be a strong cup of chamomile tea, with a pinch of valerian, for calmness.”
“And?” Buffy said.
“And Willow put way to much valerian in there. I’m thinking a big lump fell in. I’ve had that happen with spices if you don’t shake it up before you sprinkle.”
“And you can’t just-” Faith wiggled her fingers in the universal ‘magic’ gesture.
Tara shook her head. “No… Well, yes, but that would make it worse. Sudden removal of a sedative from your system? That’s going to be even worse on your wedding day than this is.”
“How long?” Buffy sighed, ever practical.
“An hour or two. The effects will last a good few hours, but the worst of it will pass quite quickly.”
Buffy chuckled. “Oh Willow,” she said in an amused tone.
“Only in our family,” Faith said. “Just lucky we didn’t bother with a hen’s night. We’d have ended up looking for our car on the roof or some shit.”
“You can go ahead and have your wedding if you like. We’ll do ours later,” Tara said a little sadly.
“Oh hell no,” Faith said. “We ain’t doing that, right, B?”
Buffy nodded seriously. “Nope. Also there’s the continuum thingy to think about.”
Tara raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure Dawn was kidding about the spacetime continuum being destroyed. Well, pretty sure”
“I’m not so sure. If Dawn was at our double wedding, and it never happened, she might get a really bad headache,” Buffy said. “Or the planet might explode. I don’t want the planet to explode. It’s where I keep all my nice shoes!”
Faith snorted in amusement from the bed, where she was playing with as she put it: the strawberry twins.
“Totally ruined my first anniversary gift. No point getting more shoes, when you have an entire palace of handmade shoes for tiny Slayer feet to raid.”
“There’s no such thing as too many shoes,” Buffy said, as if explaining santa to a toddler.
“B, you have enough shoes to open a shop. Even Imelda Marcos thinks you have too many shoes.”
Buffy sniffed. “Not. Possible.”
Faith poked out her tongue. Buffy just laughed.
“Fresh air?” Faith said, when she and Buffy had finished making faces at each other.
“It might help a little,” Tara said.
Buffy switched hips with Hope, and gently hauled Willow to her feet. “C’mon sleepy head. Time for walkies.”
Buffy hooked her arm through Willow’s, and Tara took her other hand.
“’S alright. I’ll look after these two cuties for a bit. You look after the big cutie.”
Faith easily scooped up the twins, and carried one on either side. Tara shot her a grateful look.
“Also, we need to let folks know things are a tiny bit delayed.”
++
As the four women stepped out into the warm sunlit courtyard all activity stopped.
After a few seconds, one of the Slayers whistled long and low.
Tara brushed down the front of her dress self consciously.
The healing spell she had cast on Willow and herself had done its work well.
But she was still self-conscious. And sporting a big baby tummy had not been conducive to running. And especially not rock climbing. Though she still got a good deal of flying in, and that helped.
She would not have thought a wolf-whistle would have been her first choice for a pick-me-up.
But, oddly enough, it helped.
And she smiled shyly.
Willow smiled back happily, if more than a little dazedly.
Faith just game them the finger. Awkwardly, as her arms were full of babies.
Though it didn’t stop her from posing in the sun, for their admirers.
Their ancestors had some amazing styles.
And had come up with super lightweight materials that flowed beautifully, and breathed almost like they weren’t there.
And no one had any idea what they were made of.
Very shear.
Which was necessary in the almost Greek climate.
The jungles were sweltering, but the city itself got a good breeze from the sea, and was a lot drier.
And tall. So many tall towers.
“Man. Really wishing we’d brought a baby stroller right about now,” Faith grumbled.
“Well, I was thinking more jungly and ruin-y,” Buffy said as they climbed the long sweeping staircase to the raised walkway. “I didn’t think a baby stroller, even out good one would be up to it.”
Faith gestured with her chin at the jungle outside the walls. “Jungle.” She flicked her hair back at the city. “Ruins. Kinda. Still would be handy.”
After a few minutes, Willow giggled sleepily at a big brightly coloured butterfly that fluttered past.
“Y’know,” Buffy said, “That’s an improvement. I think the fresh air is helping.”
“Hey Will,” Buffy said.
“Whee!” Willow said dreamily, wiggling her fingers in an imitation of the butterfly.
“I wonder how long we’re going to have to walk before she comes round?” Faith said.
++
The answer was: about ninety minutes.
And Faith was unbearably smug about her boots.
Because though well made, and comfortable, the dress shoes the others were wearing were not made for taking long walks in.
And so when Willow had shown signs of waking up, they had turned around and walked back.
Tara pointed out that Willow was likely to fall over in about an hour, as her body dealt with the valerian.
So they had a narrow timeframe to do the wedding.
When they got back, they found a surprise waiting for them.
And all the guardians were standing around in stunned awe.
Joyce and Giles were present, and done up to the nines.
Giles in a tux that looked like a million bucks, and Joyce in a cream and gold dress that complemented her wonderfully, and somewhat matched her daughter’s dress.
Jesse was present in a white suit, along with Jenny Calender in a red dress, Anya and Xander in white and Cordelia, also in a flowing cream dress that showed her tan wonderfully.
Rhiannon O’Liathain was at the forefront, wearing a flowing dress of sky blue and smiling radiantly. Her eyes only for her first and only daughter, on this special day.
Dawn and Heather were still in their adventuring gear, minus the black body suits. It was just too warm in the jungles, so they were looking very Amazonian. Lots of bare skin, black armour and weapons.
But that wasn’t what had the Guardians of the flame, and the Slayers in awe, no matter how well dressed, or respected they were.
No, what had that effect were the other two women.
One in a red dress all the colours of fire, with hair to match.
And a dark haired woman that many thought looked like Joyce.
Wearing a dress as many shades of green as the jungle outside the walls.
Brighid, and The Mother.
“Hello darling,” Joyce said, greeting her eldest with a hug.
“Hey mom,” Buffy replied. “Kinda surprised to see you all.”
“You didn’t think I’d miss your wedding, did you?”
Faith snorted. Buffy elbowed her. “Sometimes I forget that you can orb wherever you want to go.”
“It is handy,” Joyce said.
Buffy looked at The Goddess. “I am really wanting to curtsey or something right now.”
The Goddess laughed brightly. “If it makes you feel better, go ahead. But I don’t actually want you to. A hug will probably do.”
“Check. No curtsey,” Buffy said. She gave the Goddess a one armed hug, Hope tucked into in her other arm. The Goddess tickled little Hope, and received a happy giggle in return.
“Kids are kinda your thing huh?”
“Well, I did birth the universe. So, yes,” she said. “And Dawn painted it in pretty colours.”
“Hey, I like stars!” Dawn replied.
“A lot, apparently,” Willow said. “There’s like a trillion galaxies with like a hundred billion stars. Each. That’s a lot of stars,” she said a little unsteadily.
“Well, the walking seems to have helped. Welcome back Will,” Buffy said. “Are you ok to get married, or do you want to postpone it till tomorrow?”
Willow shook her head slowly. “No. We get married today. I feel really weird, but I don’t want to wait.” She frowned. “What happened? I feel woozy. And kinda out of it.”
Tara squeezed her arm. “I think that really strong cup of chamomile with a dash of valerian, turned out to be a really strong cup of valerian, with a dash of chamomile.”
“Oh,” Willow said. “Lumps?”
Tara nodded. “I think so. This is why you shake powdered stuff, remember?”
“Ooo. Really regretting it now,” Willow said.
Her expression firmed. “Let’s do this.”
“Sweetie, are you sure?” Tara asked softly.
Willow nodded, her expression melting. “I’m sure. I might have to use my resolve face to get through, but I want to marry you, more than anything. Not because I need to, or for some legal reason, however that works in the first brand new country in a couple of centuries, but because I want to be married to you. Even if it’s not ideal right this second. Do you get it at all?”
Tara nodded. “I get it. Let’s go get married.”
She turned to Buffy and Faith. “You ready?”
Faith unzipped her boots, peeled off her socks, and slipped on her gorgeous blue shoes. “Let’s do this.”
While they had been talking, everyone had lined up to act as an honour guard.
Lines of armed warrior women in green and black drew their weapons, and raised them in silent salute.
MusicHeather and Jules started playing their guitar and flute respectively, doing the famous alternative to the wedding march, Canon in D minor.
Giles and Joyce stood side by side, their elbows cocked out to be held.
Willow and Buffy joined Joyce, and Faith and Tara joined Giles as the music played.
All the girls smiled radiantly, and with just a hint of amazed disbelief.
Buffy breathed out, almost a sigh. “Ohmigod. I’m getting married. I’m actually getting married.”
“Hell yeah,” Faith murmured back as they walked, six abreast, down the else of drawn swords into the main hall.
Whether it was a throne room, meeting hall or dining hall was unclear, but for now it was the only convenient place big enough to fit everyone. But it sure looked impressive.
As they walked down the aisle to the dais, Buffy glanced over at her best friend, who looked almost giddy. Idly she wondered what she’d be like right now, if she wasn’t half doped down on witchy tranquillisers.
Tara just looked... Buffy wasn’t sure what the word was. Something combining ‘serene’ with ‘bursting with joy.’ Beatific maybe.
And she herself could barely keep the amazed grin off her face.
And she didn’t even have to ask how Faith felt.
There weren’t words for how Faith felt. But happy, oh yes.
Also just a tiny bit terrified.
Well, so was she.
Faith nudged her. “Don’t worry. If it wasn’t scary, it wouldn’t matter. And it does matter.”
All six of them stood on the dais, facing the two goddesses, and Dawn, fresh from patrol.
Complete with weapons and armour, looking very Amazonian. It suited her.
“Dearly beloved,” the Goddess said in warm tones.
And such was the warmth of her voice, that everyone in the hall felt cherished and loved.
“We are gathered here today, for many reasons. To reclaim a homeland. For adventure. For growth. For learning about the past. For establishing a future. And for love. Always love.”
“And with that in mind, our couples have opted for a semi traditional handfasting and marriage.” The corner of the Goddess’ mouth quirked up a little. “I imagine we are well past the getting to know you stage.”
All four women smiled, smirked or nodded.
Rhiannon stepped up with a pair of soft, sky-blue cords. “Blessed be this union with the gifts of the East and the element of Air, for openness and breath, communication of the heart, and purity of the mind and body.”
She tied one cord in a figure eight around the joined hands of Willow, and Tara, her eyes shining. And again, around Buffy and Faith.
“From the east you receive the gift of a new beginning with the rising of each Sun, and the understanding
that each day is a new opportunity for growth.”
Giles stepped out slightly, and with a gesture, flame burned in his hand, elongating and forming into two deep red cords.
“Showoff,” Buffy murmured with a smile.
His eyes twinkling, Giles recited his part.
“Blessed be this union with the gifts of the South and the element of fire, for energy, passion, creativity and the warmth of a loving home.”
And he tied first Buffy and Faith, then Willow and Tara in the traditional knot.
“From the fire within you generate light, which you will share with one another in even the darkest of times.”
Not to be out done, Dawn stepped forward, and drew from herself brilliant green light, forming it into cords of green so deep and intense it defied al description.
“Blessed be this union with the gifts of the West, the element of water, for your capacity to feel emotion.”
She tied the hands of her mothers in the traditional knot, a tear running down one cheek as she did so.
And then tied her sisters’ just as intensely.
She sniffled a little.
“In marriage you offer absolute trust to one another, and vow to keep your hearts open in sorrow as well as joy.”
Joyce stepped up with a pair of rich black cords. “I got this from a shop,” she murmured, getting a chuckle.
“Blessed be this union with the gifts of the North, the element of earth, which provides sustenance, fertility and security.”
She tied her daughters’ hands in a figure eight, and moved over to do Willow and Tara.
“The earth will feed and enrich you, and help you to build a stable home to which you may always return.”
Then the Goddess spoke.
“These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow and forever.”
“These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as you build your future together.”
“These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years and with the slightest touch, will comfort you like no other.”
“These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief fills your mind.”
“These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes, tears of sorrow and tears of joy.”
“These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children, the hands that will join your family as one.”
“These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it, support and encouragement to pursue your dreams, and comfort you through difficult times.”
“And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.”
The Goddess looked at them each in turn. “I ask for no vows, no declarations of commitment. Each of you has shown that commitment in deeds, far deeper than any vow could ever be. Instead, I will simply ask you to look at your beloved, and ask you, Is this the woman you wish to spend your life, and much of the hereafter with?”
“Yes!” Buffy said proudly.
“Always,” Faith said.
“Until time ends,” Tara said.
“And about five minutes longer,” Willow added.
“Then I pronounce you married!” she said jubilantly. “And if anyone objects, they will have me to deal with.”
“You may ki- oh never mind,” she said.
They had started without her.
A huge cheer rang through the halls, such as had not been heard in an age.
More Music+++