With the roar of the fire, my heart rose to its feet

Evie

I get to love you, it's the best thing that I'll ever do
And it's a promise I'm making to you

Considering the preparations had fallen almost solely to the two of them, the days preceding their wedding had been full of work and ever-furthering details to be checked. Evie had welcomed those days with open arms, exultant in not only the chance to build their ceremony with their own hands, but to have so many hours of unrestricted access to her fiancé. With careful hands and keen eyes, they’d woven a veritable tapestry of greenery and lights throughout the greenhouse to shelter and usher in their nuptials.

Before they’d parted, she had kissed him slow, wanting to savor and carry him with her until they would meet again at their makeshift altar.

Hadama had visited her early in the morning at the Bay, the cold wind off the sea no match for the warmth his dedication to being present had instilled in her. Alys and Hotaru, true to their promises, had helped Evie into her dress and had assisted with artfully curling and pinning up her long red hair with pearl pins that shone with prismatic colors. Their companionship had smoothed over the old, quiet ache of family present only in lantern fixtures and memories, and the morning had been filled with laughter and cheer - and a budding, restless yearning to see Deimos again.

Now, though, her stomach is full of butterflies, and her hands are slightly clammy around the stems of the small bouquet she’d grown for herself. Evie knows there’s nothing to fear, but as all eyes turn to her as the quiet click of her footsteps alerts them to her arrival, she feels it all the same.

At least until she looks away from those precious few in attendance, and finds Deimos at the end of the petal-filled walkway. Her fiancé looks stunning, and any nerves burst from thistles into blossoms that unfurl blooms of color in freckle kissed cheeks that swell with the force of her smile, everyone else forgotten as she takes that first step fearlessly toward him.

Whatever may come, your heart I will choose
Forever I'm yours, forever I do