Who: Tenel Ka and Jacen (and y’know everyone at the wedding). What: Wedding and vows, you know all that jazz. When: 8/19 THE WEDDING DAY. Where: Lawrence, Kansas....some pretty wedding-having place.
Ceremony had always been a large part of Tenel Ka’s life. Or at least it had been once she had chosen to take her place as Queen Mother. Ceremony was a part of being royal, it was just something that the woman had accepted. Today was time for a different sort of ceremony, though. In fact, today’s ceremony was something that Tenel Ka had thought she might never have. At home she certainly was never going to have the chance to have this ceremony; in their own world Jacen was dead in the future. The redhead didn’t know if that would change if any of their family that happened to be here in Lawrence were sent back, but she didn’t particularly want to find out. Being in Lawrence had given them the second chance that they both had wanted to take. Even though he had gone to the dark side, Tenel Ka had never stopped loving him. She couldn’t help what her heart wanted. Her heart wanted him, even if it was far from logical. She was taking the chance on him because it felt good.
Jacen and Tenel Ka had done things somewhat backward, if one were to think about it. They had a daughter together, a teenage daughter at that, and they were just now getting married. It wasn’t all that common. The fact that they were here and ready to get married, ready to join their lives together for however long they had. She believed that he was attempting to change, attempting to control his anger. In many ways he had changed, but there were still many that showed her he was the same Jacen in some ways. She didn’t think that he was ever going to lose himself completely to a new person, but that was a good thing, really.
Marrying Jacen had been something that Tenel Ka would be lying if she said that it hadn’t always been something that she wanted, secretly so. There had never really been a time, or an opportunity, before now. Being thrown in Lawrence had been a rather large surprise. If someone had told her that she would be marrying Jacen after he had kidnapped Allana at one point, she would have said that they were insane, honestly. Part of her still couldn’t believe that they were at this point. The planning process hadn’t been difficult, but there had been things that had periodically caused her to second think her decisions. Nothing had been serious enough to cause her to actually change her mind, though. Jacen was far from a perfect person, but that was something that his future bride was more than aware of. She was far from unaware of what she was getting into. She was still more than willing to do this.
That was why today was happening. Despite the imperfections on his part, or even the ones between the two of them...they were dedicated to one another and to making this work. They loved one another. That was constantly in Tenel Ka’s mind. The fact that she loved him, and that it was returned had been in her mind the entire time that she had been preparing herself for the wedding. Family was surrounding them, as well as friends, on this special day. It seemed like time flew, actually. The thought was far from logical, but faster than Tenel Ka realized it would come, the ceremony was starting. The trip down the aisle to Jacen, she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. The smile on her face probably could have lit up a dark room at the moment. Her heart was beating calmly in her chest, there were no nerves about this because it felt right. The moment she was standing beside him for the ceremony, her smile might have even brightened.
After all they had been through together Tenel Ka was ready to be married to Jacen. If she had ever been impatient or excited in her life this one one of those moments. She was fairly sure that she hid it well. The only indication of those feelings was the light shaking in her hands, but even then it was so light. She couldn’t help but look at Jacen and mouth the words: I love you. The ceremony was beginning and Tenel Ka was, for once, not focused on everything around her. No, instead, her focus was almost completely on Jacen.
He had absolutely no idea how he’d gotten here. Or why he deserved it. That the beautiful and fierce love of his life was willing to stand here and say in front of their friends that she was willing to be his wife meant more to him than he ever could have imagined before. She loved him enough to forgive the last few years of his life, his mistakes, his plans for good or ill. And their daughter together, their Allana though she’d grown up without him had given her blessing to the wedding. He looked down toward her for a moment, as his intended walked down the aisle towards him, Allana leading the way, she was beautiful. She was strong, and she was the best thing he had ever done with his life. And Tenel Ka had given him that. They’d made her together.
It gave him a sharp pang of regret that Tenel Ka could not be walked down the aisle by her father. Not that Prince Isolder would have been willing if he was here, he wouldn’t have, couldn’t have anymore than Mara Jade or any of his other victims. But still Tenel Ka was willing to take a risk, take a chance. She was willing to let him keep fighting to find the person he was supposed to be now, find the balance he so craved.
He’d never seen any woman look as perfect as his Hapan Queen did in that moment when their eyes met. The angel girl talked about love, about it not needing to come from any particular faith or credo, about how love found its way in the strangest of circumstances and sometimes all one had to do was follow your heart. And Jacen had done that, from his proposal, from asking Tenel Ka to spend her life with him,or as long as they both had here anyway to this moment, standing here with her and professing their love.
He was directed to speak his vows finally, and it felt like he’d been waiting an eternity. The words were nothing he had written down, he chose to speak from the heart and they flowed from there. “Tenel Ka Djo. You were the only real love I’ve ever had, or could ever have. And we were friends before we even knew what love really meant, we played, we competed. I took your arm because lightsabers impressed girls so mine had to be the first finished, I wanted to impress you and I suppose you wanted to impress me, and I was so scared for you, so scared you’d hate me. But you never hated me. Even through my darkest times you never hated me. I think you pitied me and feared me but the look in your eyes, even when the things I was saying were...There’s a love we share that’s eternal, thats real. And not Vergere and not Lumiya nor anyone else could ever have taken that away from me. There’s no taking it away. Its pure and its forever. I mean who else would happily agree to sign up to be a Solo, right? ...Tenel Ka you keep me sane, and I mean that in the most literal sense. You keep me measured, you balance me when I need it, you pull me back when that darkness threatens to engulf me. You’re calm, collected and pretty much always right and I need that in my life. I love you more and more every day and I love that this place gave me a chance to show you that again.
Our lives have had too many lies and secrets controlling them, so today I say no more, today I say to anyone that can hear me that I love Tenel Ka Djo. I always have, always will and I will never stop being grateful that she loves me back. You have my heart Hapan Queen. You always will”
He smiled more shyly than most would have known him for as Anna directed Tenel Ka to speak.
No matter what had happened between them, Tenel Ka was prepared to move onward toward the future. She knew that she was going to balance him, she knew that he needed her more than she ever needed him, truth be told. At the same time, though, the Hapan Queen did need Jacen Solo. There were so many that had thought she didn’t have any emotions, so many who might have called her an Ice Queen, or other various monikers, but Jacen brought out more than that in the Hapan woman. He brought out smiles, he brought out a passion in her, and he brought out the things that she would have chosen to hide. He made her a better person, though he may not have known it. He helped her be the person that could admit to mistakes and move passed them; Jacen had been a constant friend, and now he had grown to be more. When he had changed, when he had lost himself, Tenel Ka and he had both made mistakes, but the fact that they were now moving passed them attested to their love.
They had a rich life that they were going to live together. They had already formed a bond that could not have been broken because of what they shared, and this ceremony was just solidifying that more. The day was perfect as far as Tenel Ka was concerned. There was no other way to describe this for her; it wasn’t about how smoothly the reception went, it wasn’t about how much preparation had gone into this day, and it wasn’t about the time. It was perfect because Jacen was the person that she was marrying, it was perfect because the people that they cared the most about were there with them. It was perfect because she was finally joining the family that she had been somewhat of a part of since she had been a child.
Between her thoughts and her focus on Jacen they had somehow come to the point in the wedding where the vows were to be spoken. Tenel Ka didn’t feel nervous, really, but she did have the slight fear somewhere in her that she wouldn’t be able to find the words. It was probably quite natural for her to have that thought somewhere in her head, though. The Hapan Queen had never been known for her emotions, but she knew exactly how she felt. Hearing Jacen speak her name she couldn’t help but listen intently to the words he spoke, her smile practically lighting up the whole room. She could remember when they had been children, when they had been in such a hurry to build their lightsabers; she didn’t regret anything that had happened then either. She’d never be able to hate him, as strange as the thought might be to some. He was firmly in her heart. That didn’t mean that she couldn’t get angry with him or disagree, but it also didn’t mean she’d ever hate him or give up on him if she could help it. Just as she’d told him already.
His words were the truth. He said things that most probably would have shied away from at a ceremony such as thus, but it meant all the more to Tenel Ka that he had said it. As he finished speaking his vows, Tenel Ka felt as if she were moments away from tears. She managed to hold them back. Taking a moment after she was told to speak, the readhead swallowed and then began. “Jacen Solo…I’m not known for my emotions, as many can attest to. Somehow you manage to bring emotions out in me, though. Even when we were children; we moved from competition, to attempting to impress one another, and eventually it progressed into love. A love that despite everything we have been through has only strengthened. We’ve had our disagreements; we have been through more than most couples could even dream of, yet here we are.
I believe that we fit because of how different we are. Whereas I help to ground you; you make me feel more than others can manage. You pull emotion from me that I am unaware that I am capable of at times. You make me feel things other than calm and collected. Jacen, you make me feel alive. I may never understand your sense of humor, but despite that and how different we can be I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you. I look forward to balancing you, and to making the most of this second chance that we’ve been given.
You make me more than just a calm and collected Queen, Jacen Solo, you bring out the best in me and I will never stop loving you. No suitor could ever compare to you.”
Tenel Ka stated, and finally took a breath, her eyes watering ever so lightly, thinking about all they had been through to get to this point. She was nowhere near shy in what she had said. She wasn’t quite certain her words were everything she had wanted, but she felt as if they would do. Smiling at Jacen, she really hoped that he knew how much he meant to her and what the words meant as well.
Every word she spoke made Jacen feel all the more like the luckiest guy on any planet in any galaxy. He couldn’t help some amusement at some of it, the one upmanship, the suitors. Those poor suitors that had so wanted to marry her and he’d fought them once to get to her, showey and cocky, he’d known he was pushing it but Tenel Ka had loved every second of it, Men didn’t act like that around her enough. As he recalled, that was the night they conceived Allana. Hopefully the girl didn’t recognise that bit of the vows. Tenel Ka said he brought out the best in her and in spite of all the times he hadn’t, he simply vowed that he’d never hurt her again, never make her have to make the choices she had in the past.
Never make her feel so alone again. He’d lost his way but here, in this place, Tenel Ka had found him.
Anna led them through the rest of it, the rings, the words that legally married them in this country. He swore to love honour and protect her and she swore the same. Anna finally after what seemed like hours, declared them wed and instructed Jacen to kiss his bride. He didn’t keep her waiting long and moved her veil out of the way so he could show her and show their friends just what she meant to him and just how proud he was to have gotten this far. He was married. He was a married man and Tenel Ka Djo was his wife. Or would it be Djo-Solo now. It fit beautifully well he’d always thought, having imagined her writing her name like that for more years than he’d cared to admit. His wife, his beautiful perfect wife. He might never get bored of saying it.
“...Thank you all.” he said when he finally pulled back from her and the applause usual for such moments died down a little. “It means a lot to us that you witnessed this, and thank you Anna.” The angel nodded with a smile, happy to do it. If they had to be stuck here they might at least find some measure of love where it lived.
And it seemed that Jacen, after so long, had finally done so.