Would you...

Once the commotion surrounding the Thunderbolts' arrival home had died down somewhat, Aleyn managed to get Kallista alone for a few moments. "I'm so glad to see you again," he told her with a grin, even though he'd already said it to all of them.

Kallista smiled and threw her arms around Aleyn, squeezing him tightly.

"I'm glad to see you too! We were gone for so long, I thought we'd never get back."

She let go of the human, and pulled back, but grabbed his hands in excitement.

"And I can't believe you guys are getting married! How awesome is that! You know you're not allowed to do cool stuff like get engaged when I'm not around!"

"Well... there wasn't much time," he said with a sheepish shrug. "At least you got back before the wedding, though."

"You better be glad we did!" Kallista said with a grin, "I'd have had Tzesira kick all of your asses if I'd had to miss it."

Aleyn laughed. "That would have been fair, I guess." He paused for a moment, as if considering his words carefully. "Speaking of the wedding, I was hoping... that you would be willing to be my guide for the ceremony."

Kallista blinked, nonplussed.

"Your guide?" she ask with a tilt of her head, "You mean like... to the church? Do you not know where it is? I thought you were doing it at your church?"

"Oh, yes, I know how to get there," Aleyn said with a chuckle. "I mean during the ceremony - I need someone to stand up with me, and also keep me from walking into any walls while I'm blindfolded. It's a Sehanine thing," he added with a smile and a shrug. "And there's nobody I'd rather have by my side than you."

Kallista looked at him for a moment and seemed about to speak, but her mouth opened and then closed again without a sound. A moment Aleyn saw tears begin to well up in the corners of her eyes and she threw herself towards him again, hugging him tightly.

"Ohmigods! Yes! Aleyn, I... I don't know what to say!"

Aleyn hugged her back. "You already said yes, that's the main thing. Vedran's asking Beryl to stand with him, and Ardith... actually, I'm not sure who she's asking, probably one of the friends who's being an attendant at the other ceremony - I haven't met them yet, though. It's all going so fast..."

Kallista pulled back enough to look her friend in the face.

"It is, isn't it." It wasn't a question. She gave Aleyn a sympathetic look.

"I know this marriage isn't... ideal, for any of you, but if there's anything I can do to make it easier or happier, I will. Even if it's just someone to talk to, ok?"

"Thanks," Aleyn said. "It's... well, it's going better than I hoped, actually. At least so far. It's more complicated than the other options we had, but I think it has the potential to make us happier in the long run. If we can just get through this part and have some actual time together, anyway," he sighed.

"Yeah. Maybe once all this is over and Nachtur is settled. We could all use some downtime after the last few months. I haven't seen Brenn in weeks."

She raised one eyebrow in thought.

"I wonder if that cat is still hanging around our apartment. I haven't been there in forever either. All of my clothes are probably all dusty again."

Her eyes opened wide and her grip tightened on Aleyn's hands.

"Clothes!" she gasped, "What am I going to wear to the wedding?! Gods, I need a new dress! I wonder if Ciora will have time to make one for me..."

"I'm sure you'll find something lovely," Aleyn began, before remembering rather vividly her choice of outfits for the full moon ceremony. "Uh... something that you can wear in front of my mother," he added cautiously.

"Oh..." Kallista said, "That... might take longer. When is the wedding, anyway?"

"Uh... four days," Aleyn said, mentally doing the calculations. "Oh my gods, four days." His eyes widened anxiously.

"Oh my gods, FOUR DAYS?!" Kallista exclaimed with a hint of alarm, "Ok, that's nowhere near enough time to make a dress. I'll have to go buy one! I hope Ciora can make adjustments for me by then! And ooooh... I'll need to reserve someplace for the bachelor party! Oh! I bet Hesta would rent us out a room over at the Barnacle... What kind of liquor do you drink? How do you feel about strippers? How do you feel about cake? How do you feel about strippers in cakes?"

"I don't even know how to answer that," Aleyn laughed. "I'll drink anything, I like cake, and I have nothing against strippers but it's probably best to avoid alarming Vedran too much - he's already pretty stressed. Something low-key would be nice - but you don't have to do anything, since there's so little time. We could just consider the welcome back party to be our party too - Ardith will be there, I hope."

"Oh no you don't!" Kallista said, a somewhat unhealthy tone in her voice, "You're getting a bachelor party if it kills us! Well... maybe not if it kills us, but I can't see how that would possibly be the case, short of alcohol poisoning, which I'm sure they have charms for."

She put a friendly arm around the human.

"You deserve a party. I'll be damned if you're not getting one."

Aleyn smiled. It seemed that resistance - or even pleading their extremely busy days and general lack of time - would be pointless. "Thank you, Kallista, that's sweet of you. But could we make it a party for all three of us? I don't think that we have time for three separate parties, and I don't want anyone to be left out..."

Kallista seemed about to respond, but she stopped herself and smiled at Aleyn.

"Ok, I'm sorry. I get a little... carried away sometimes. I just want you to have a good time and relax. If you just want to do something small with just us and a few friends, then that's what we'll do."

She winked and elbowed him in the side.

"But I still think cake strippers are a good idea."

Aleyn laughed. "I think that would be best - we are trying to keep things fairly quiet for now, and... well, I don't want to scare Ardith off, or make Vedran have a panic attack," he added with a smile. "I'd like them both to stick around for the actual wedding, after all!"

Kallista laughed.

"I'll talk to Brenn. I'm sure he'll know somewhere we can rent a private room. And Vedran and Ardith are welcome if you want them there. It would be a good chance for me to get to know her. I can't wait to meet her. She'd better be good to you two. If not, I'll punch her in the kidneys."

"I think you'll like her," Aleyn replied, stifling a laugh at Kallista's affectionate offer of violence. "She's very thoughtful and kind, and I think she has Vedran's... and my... best interests at heart. I mean... I wouldn't be doing this if she wasn't."

"Good." Kallista smiled. "She sounds like a lovely person."

She thought for a moment.

"How is Vedran doing with this whole thing? I mean, he seems ok, but he's really good at keeping his worries to himself most of the time."

"He's doing that thing where if he keeps busy enough he can distract himself," Aleyn said. "It's when he stops for a minute and thinks about it that he starts to freak out. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's regretting his choice or anything like that - but it's just all going so fast, and he worries about what things will be like afterwards..."