Rings

Summary: The wedding ceremony finally happens

Warnings: none

Disclaimer: I do not own Last Exile, no money is being made from this use.

Chapter 5: Family

The morning was clear, and the wether mild. Perfect for a garden wedding. The guest had arrived and were now taking their seats. Despite Mullin's apprehension there were no signs that there would be any problems. Though there were still signs of the fight the night before. Many of the bar patrons who had been invited to the wedding, including the mechanics, and General Fortel were cheerfully sporting impressive bruises.

The young priest who had accompanied Prince Justin, was no longer looking about as if he expected some divine punishment for attending a pagan wedding. He was now however asking a lot of questions to the young Disith man he was sitting next too. The Priestess of Hera stood stoically before the altar as the music began.

For Prester weddings it was traditional for both the bride, and groom to walk toward the altar down separate isles escorted by their parents. This was meant to represent the lives they had lived with their families. As both Mullin, and Dunya were orphans, Dunya walked between her aunt, and uncle, while Mullin much to his embarrassment, and gratitude was escorted by the Mad-Thanes. Each carried a small wreath of flowers.

Dunya looked radiant in the powder blue gown, embroidered with colorful flowers. The long lace veil was held off the ground by Alvis and Holly. Ingrid walked behind with a small pillow carrying Mullin's ring while Mischa walked behind Mullin with Dunya's. All of the children were dressed in a slightly darker shade of blue than Dunya's gown. Walking carefully so that they reached the altar at the same time they all bowed slightly to the priestess before Dunya's aunt and uncle, and the Mad-Thanes left the bride and groom to stand beside the altar. The priestess bowing to the couple in turn took each wreath placing them on separate pillars before lighting a fire on the altar.

Praying to Hera, the priestess took both wreaths and put them into the fire as a sacrifice to the goddess. Then taking Mullin's ring from Ingrid she blessed it over the fire before giving it to Dunya, and repeated this with Dunya's giving it to Mullin. Finally she solemnly lead them through another prayer as they exchanged rings. After the traditional first kiss the priestess put out the fire, and carefully scooped the ashes into two small round enameled cases and after sealing them shut gave them to Mullin and Dunya.

The guest stood as one for a final prayer as Mullin, and Dunya walked together down the path between the guest's seats. Many of the guest, including Alex were reading the prayer out of the small cards set on each chair. Sophia who had spent her childhood going to more weddings of nobles that she liked to recall spoke with a tone of someone who'd had it drilled into her head. The young Disith man rolled his eyes at the priest who had apparently been taking notes the whole time. Prince Justin sighing looked apologetic. After the prayer was finished and Mullin, and Dunya had passed the guest went into the dinning hall to wait for the newly weds to change and join them for the reception.

When they arrived together, Mullin was relived to see everyone getting along. Dunya was glad she had changed when they cut the cake because more ended up on her shoulder than even sticking to her face. Over on one side of the room the priest and priestess were talking quietly. She rolled her eyes as he continued taking notes. The mechanics were talking to some former Disith musketeers they were surprisingly amiable to each other. At the head table Claus nudged Mullin later biting his lip as he pointed over to Billie, who had apparently gathered the courage to ask Vincent to dance. She just stared at him red faced nodding every once in a while as he babbled on. Alex and Sophia sat at a table talking to Nestor, Dr. Actias, and Andrea, neither of them felt much like dancing at the moment. Dio however had hardly been off the dance floor once the music had started, he was now dancing with Lucciola if you could call random wild movements dancing. The children were running around, in and out the garden as they played. Mischa kept coming back hoping for more cake.

Feeling truly relaxed for the first time that day Mullin smiled watching the party. He turned blinking to Dunya when he felt her hand over his. She smiled at him a bit sadly. "I'm sorry none of your family is here." She said squeezing his hand knowing how much it had been upsetting him the past few weeks. He looked back out over the crowd of guests. Some he didn't really know, but those he did were easy to spot. Lavie had talked Claus into dancing with her. He wasn't very good at it. Dio was cheerfully dancing circles around them with Lucciola, who had given up trying to get away. Godwin was arm wrestling Dunya's aunt cheered on by the other mechanics, and Alister who was beside Ethan. It didn't look like he was doing very well. Wina was at the piano with Holly and Alvis. Vincent was now sitting beside Alex and Sophia, he said something grinning at them that made Sophia laugh and Alex glare in annoyance. Duke Mad-Thane, and Elisabeth were dancing well away from Dio. Tatiana seemed to have gathered several admirers she wasn't sure how to react to. Ingrid, and Mischa were clinging to Dunya's uncles legs giggling as he tried to walk.

Smiling he turned back to Dunya, Squeezing her hand back. "No, my family is here... Our family is here." Nodding Dunya smiled back.

End

AN: I didn't think I was ever going to get here!

A lot of the wedding ceremony is made up by me. I tried remembering what the weddings I had been to were like, and I did some research on wedding traditions, but in the end I decided to just make something up. I'm not sure any real world weddings are like the one written here.