Josh found himself wanting to cheer the newly-wedded couple, but instead, he turned to his own bride and touched a kiss to her lips to remind her of their own wedding day in the not so distant past.

Dru's own cheer was lost in the kiss her husband bestowed on her, transported back to their wedding day amid the hustle and bustle of Itana and the crowds of people who had been cheering them on as they made their own vows. Despite how very different this ceremony was, it was no less binding, no less beautiful, and she felt privileged to have been included.

Carina curled her arms about Aran's waist as he kissed her, pouring her heart into that tender touch. To think, they had only met a little over a year before, and now they were bound not just for life, but for eternity. It was a heady feeling, one that had her giggling as she drew back from her husband. "We did it, melamin."

Aran circled Carina in his embrace and touched his forehead to hers, a warm smile on his face, blue eyes shining with happy tears. "My heart belongs to you for always, melamin," he told her softly, before echoing her laughter, his heart lighter than it had ever been. It was no exaggeration to say this was the happiest day of his life, and his face shone brightly with happiness.

"Just remember," her father cut in with a startlingly mischievous look in his eyes. "No consummation on the grass under the stars unless you are absolutely certain you want a child." His smile might almost have been innocent, but for that glint, too.

Dru blinked, looking surprised as she glanced between Josh and the older couple. "What does that mean?" she asked, torn between amusement and confusion.

Carina rolled her eyes, just about stifling a groan as she blushed crimson. "Elves are close to nature," she muttered, just loud enough to hear. "And we're both half-elf."

That brought a fresh blush to Aran's face, though he was still smiling. He made no comment regarding a child. Though he wanted a family someday, they were still young and had plenty of time.

Amara linked her arm with her husband's, now that he was finished with officiating the ceremony and touched a kiss to his lips, distracting him if only momentarily from the newlyweds.

Josh arched a brow at Carina. He'd known there was something different about them, but he hadn't really thought much about it until he'd seen her father. He'd seen enough elves in Rhy'Din to know that elven blood ran strong in Raniel's blood. It explained a lot, but it didn't explain why her parents had only had one child, or so he assumed.

"I am not of this world," Aran explained. "But my mother was an elf, and my father was a man."

Josh caught the word was and frowned, catching the past tense of it.

"You are a part of our family now, lonneg," Raniel reminded Arandir, subdued by his wife's affection away from the urge to tease the newly-wedded pair. "A family that includes friends as well, I see," he added, nodding to Dru and Josh. "I believe there was some talk of dinner, Amara?" He raised his brows to his wife above a teasing smile.

Dru giggled softly, letting the comments on elf-dom pass her by. "Is there anything we can help with, Mrs. Cox?" she offered. "Or perhaps you would let us pay for a meal to be delivered?"

Aran smiled back at the elf who was his wife's father. "And I am honored to be so, adar," he replied with a respectful nod of his head. It was the first time he had ever called the man "father", but it would surely not be the last. Despite the loss of his own loved ones, he was glad to be part of Carina's family.

"Heavens, no!" Amara told Dru with a laugh. "I cheated," she told her with a wink and a conspiratorial whisper. While she might not be an elf or possess any magic, she had learned a trick or two over the years. The trick tonight was called "catering".

As Dru dissolved into giggles at the conspiratorial whisper, Carina turned to her father. "Thank you, adar," she told him softly, embracing him the way she had since she was a small child. It wasn't simply a thank you for performing the ceremony, but thanks for allowing them to make the decision to join themselves together in this way, thanks for supporting them over the year, and deep thanks for accepting Arandir as one of them.

Raniel enveloped her in his arms, kissing the top of her head. "Be happy, little bird," he murmured to her, casting a smile to Arandir. "Keep him happy, too."

"Welcome to the family, Aran," Amara said, touching a kiss to her new son-in-law's cheek and offering a motherly hug. "I am glad my Carina choose you," she told him quietly, with a soft smile just for him. Aran returned the embrace, unable to speak for a moment, so touched was he by Carina's parents' warm welcome.

Josh exchanged glances with Dru, feeling just a little awkward while the small family embraced.

A little awkward, perhaps, but they were included as well. As Carina tucked herself into the embrace shared by her husband and her mother, Raniel moved to them, one hand over his heart as he bowed to them. "You are very welcome in our home," he told them, his formality returning a little with people he didn't know quite so well. Those piercing eyes looked from one to the other for a moment before he quite suddenly chuckled. "I should have known Arandir would have found friends among royalty. Like knows like."

Dru's mouth dropped open - a very unprincess-like expression for someone who was supposed to know how to keep herself composed at all times. She looked up at Josh. "Where does it show?"

Josh arched a brow, looking nearly as surprised as Dru, though he somehow managed to keep his mouth closed. He reached over to close Dru's mouth with a chuckle. "Is it that obvious?" he asked. It was then Josh realized what Raniel was getting at and looked curiously over at Aran. "Royalty?" he echoed, wondering just how royal the half-elf was.

Raniel nodded, chuckling once again at the familiar affection between the human couple. "Indeed," he told them. "He is a prince among his people, though his people are out of reach for now. It does not surprise me that the friends he has made share his rank."

Dru sighed, rolling her eyes. "How did you know?" she asked, needing to understand what it was she was giving away.

The elven man shook his head. "It is centuries of experience," he assured the human couple. "Royalty, nobility, you carry yourselves in a certain way, you express yourselves in a certain way. We will keep your secret, should you choose to share it with us."

Surfacing from the embrace just a couple of feet away, Carina eyed the other trio. "What are you talking about?"

"Enough talk!" Amara chided playfully, linking her arm with Carina and Aran. "There will be plenty of talk over dinner. Your father forgets that we are not all as long-lived as he is," she remarked with a fond and amused smile at her husband. "Come, children. It's time to celebrate."

"Yes, naneth," Carina chuckled softly, letting her mother link arms with her and steer the newly weds to the house.

Her smile deepening with each word he spoke, Carina raised her glass to touch it gently against his own. "Forever, melamin," she promised him, stealing a kiss before taking a sip from her own glass. The sound of glasses clinking around them drew her from her tender contemplation of his eyes to join with their family and friends, however small that number might be, in celebrating their union as the sky grew dark and sparkling with stars.

Aran reclaimed his seat to touch his glass to hers, eyes meeting her in tender contemplation, a smile touching his lips. Forever was a long time, but to Aran, forever hardly seemed long enough to spend with her.

Josh touched his glass to Dru's, leaning close to whisper quietly, but perhaps not quietly enough, "What did he say?"

Touched by the obvious affection shared between the couple - affection that they were so good at keeping from open view at work - Dru bit her lip, trying not to giggle as she whispered back to Josh. "I haven't the foggiest idea," she confessed, shrugging as she looked up at him.

"Ever is thy sight a joy, love of my life," Raniel translated for them over Amara's head. His hearing was sharper than any of theirs, but he was usually good enough not to eavesdrop too openly. "And he thanked you, his friends."

Aran had thanked Amara and Raniel in the common tongue, but chosen to thank Dru and Josh in his native elvish, for some reason. It was a language that rolled easily off Aran's tongue - a musical language that sounded more like song than speech. Though it did not always translate well, it was the feeling behind the words that was important.

"You are most welcome, lonneg," Amara replied with a smile to Aran, eyes sparkling. "Our home is your home; our family is your family." She had not been married to Raniel all these years without learning his language, which was not so very different from Aran's.

It was a little odd - and a little sad - for Dru and Josh to see a family that included a mother alive and well and so lovingly approving of her daughter's choices, but Dru could not help smiling as they settled in to eat. It was good to know that Aran was not quite so alone as he first seemed; better to have been invited to be a part of the select few he chose to acknowledge as friends. "We'll have to invite you to Itana sometime," she said, making the decision then and there. Combating xenophobia in Tirisano would have to start at the top. "All of you."

Aran frowned a little at Dru's invitation, not because he didn't want to go, but because he knew only too well what it was like to be hated, simply because of the lineage, and it reminded him a little too much of home, where his mother's and father's people had gone to war over old hatreds that made little sense. "What is it your people fear about our kind?" he asked, curiously, without condemnation. He clearly identified more with his mother's line than his father's.

"Tirisano has always been very inward-looking," Dru tried to explain. "It's only in the last hundred years that we've begun to trade outside our own borders openly. It isn't so much tradition. It's more than our people haven't been exposed to any other race but humanity, and everyone is afraid of what they don't know. Xenophobia can be fought, though, and between us, Josh and I, and his brother and his wife ....we are popular enough that the people are likely to follow our example, rather than condemn us."

Carina listened with interest. She was aware of Tirisano, on the fringes, having never been able to visit there with her mother on trading runs due to the elven features that marked her as not entirely human. "What do you mean, popular enough?" she asked curiously. "You make it sound as though you are leaders in fashion, or something."

Josh's fingers found Dru's, and he gave her hand a light squeeze. Raniel had already guessed their secret, but Aran and Carina had not. "We're sort of royalty in Tirisano," he explained, though there was no sort of. Dru was the second in line for the throne after her uncle, and Josh was the son of a duke. "Not many people in Rhy'Din know that, and we'd like to keep it that way," he added, for good measure, though he doubted anyone at the table would be inclined to blab.

"Sort of royalty?" Carina repeated, not entirely sure how you could be "sort of? royalty. "Of course we wouldn't tell anyone."

Dru smiled faintly, holding to Josh's hand. "I'm second in line to the throne," she told Aran, Carina, and Amara quietly. "I am a Granger, but I was born out of wedlock when there were more options for an heir. Two years ago, my uncle, his wife, and my mother were all killed in a terrible accident, and my uncle, who is Prince of Tirisano, had no choice but to name me his heir."

Josh gave Dru's hand another light squeeze as she explained the tragedy that had left her as heir, knowing how much that tragedy still affected her. Thankfully, she didn't add many details to that story, or he might have a crying mess on his hands. "My father is a duke," Josh went on to explain, hoping to steer the conversation away from any further questions Dru might find painful. He said nothing of his mother, but it could probably be assumed she was no longer living.

Aran arched his brows at the irony, but it was Amara who spoke. "Oh, my dear," she said, reaching across the table to touch Dru's hand. "I'm so sorry for your loss," she told her with maternal compassion.

With her eyes glistening, Dru found herself laughing a little helplessly as Amara touched her hand. "I didn't tell you to ask for sympathy," she tried to clarify, turning her eyes to Aran. "We're sharing this because you're our friends, and you deserve to know." She glanced up at Josh, swallowing hard. "We've never told anyone in Rhy'Din just who we are before now."

Carina nodded slowly, understanding the other couple a little better now. She was glad they had shared their secret, knowing that Aran might find it a little easier to open up to them now he knew of the similarities in their stories. "We'll take your secret to the grave," she promised Dru and Josh faithfully, blushing as her father nodded approvingly to her.

No one but family anyway. Aran studied Dru quietly, realizing that, of all of them there, she could probably relate to him the most. Not only was she royalty, but she had lost her family to tragedy, just as he had. It saddened him to know that she had suffered such a tragedy, even if it didn't compare to his own situation perfectly. At least, he had the crystal that hung around his neck to remind him of those lives that had been lost. He hoped Dru had something similar, especially where her mother was concerned. He wanted to share his own story, to tell her she wasn't alone in her grief, but he didn't think this was the time. He chose to tell her something else instead, hoping it would bring her a little peace. "My people believe that when a life ends, the soul lives on. There are as many souls as stars in the sky, all of them looking down on us and watching over us, until we join them in the heavens."

Dru's smile softened from the brittle cast it had taken on as she struggled with her own emotions. "That's beautiful, Aran," she told him. "Thank you." She drew in a sharp breath, forcing herself to relax as she breathed out. "But this is supposed to be a celebration, isn't it' Enough of my sad story. I've got my happy ending, after all." She looked up at Josh with a wide grin.

"We have all found the one we will walk with," Raniel said quietly, raising his glass in a toast as he looked at his own Amara. "To love, my children, and eternity."

There were tears in Amara's eyes in sympathy for Dru's loss, as well as Aran's and Josh's, but a smile touched her face when her husband drew her back to the present and raised a glass in toast to her and to their love and the love of family. "And to friends, old and new," she added, raising her glass to mirror his in toast of her own love, her daughter's marriage, a new son, and new friends to share their celebration.

Perhaps it was unconventional, in both cultures, to have a ceremony that was so very short, among such a small gathering, but it was what they had wanted. Gathered together with the family they loved, in spirit and in flesh, and with the new friends they needed, Aran and Carina had everything they could possibly want there in that moment. Family and friends, and the dedication of their love to one another, shared in the magical dusk of Rhy'Din. It was perfect.

((So there we have it - Arandir and Carina are married, in retrospect! They won't have made a big deal out of it, but you can bet Dru and Josh did! Many thanks to my partner in crime!))