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Ahsoka should never have agreed to this.
“You look lovely,” Padmé told her, smiling at her reflection in the mirror.
Privately, Ahsoka thought everyone else in the room paled in comparison to Padmé at that moment. The wedding dress had looked lovely on the hangar; now she was in it, she was a vision. Pure white, with demure off the shoulder sleeves and an abundance of lace detailing, Padmé outshone everyone else already, and her hair wasn’t even finished yet.
Ahsoka, on the other hand, looked like the ugly duckling in a flock of swans, at least in her opinion. The other bridesmaids had been trying to convince her that she looked nice, but rose pink wasn’t really her colour, and the sparkles were the really objectionable part.
Each of the bridesmaids were wearing the same dress, and Ahsoka felt a little annoyed that it seemed to have been designed to suit everyone but her. Sabé, Padmé’s childhood friend, was the maid of honour. Two of Padmé’s old school friends, Dormé and Rabé, were bridesmaids, as was Padmé’s elder sister Sola – just as Padmé had been at her wedding, she said. Padmé’s nieces, Pooja and Ryoo, looked adorable as flower girls. Their dresses were pale pink with floaty skirts and embroidered flowers, and the moment she had put hers on Pooja had announced, “I’m a Princess!”
Ahsoka muttered something in response to Padmé’s words and tried not to look in the mirror herself. For at least the next twelve hours she had to wear this dress, like it or not, so she might as well grin and bear it.
Padmé’s mother was bustling around, often diving out of the room to fix unknown last minute problems. Mina Bonteri, apparently a mentor figure of Padmé’s, was also in the room, looking very happy as she and Sabé went through jewellery choices with Padmé.
“We agreed on this necklace last night,” Sabé said with a grin, “but Padmé keeps changing her mind.”
“I just don’t know which one I like more,” Padmé sighed, unable to move her head to look at the options as the hair stylist worked on the curled tendrils that would hang loose from her messy bun.
“The crystal one,” Rabé said.
“I like the plain silver,” Dormé disagreed, shaking her head.
“I like both of them,” Sabé shrugged.
Padmé caught Ahsoka’s eyes in the mirror. “Ahsoka?”
“Erm.” Ahsoka looked at the necklaces. One was a plain silver pendent in the shape of a teardrop, the other a fall of sparkling crystals. “The crystals, I think.”
“I think that’s a majority vote for crystals,” Padmé said.
Sabé snorted. “It’s your wedding. For once you have full permission to be a dictator instead of a representative of democracy.”
“Still.” Padmé glanced at the necklaces. “Yes, the crystals it is. Could you put it on for me, Mina? I don’t have the mobility for it right now.”
Ahsoka wandered away to the window as Mina stood. Outside on the wide lawn, a huge marquee was being set up, along with trellises hung with real climbing plants. Lights were being strung up here there and everywhere. The actual site for the marriage was over by the edge of the lake, hidden from view by the house.
Ahsoka tapped her nails impatiently on the windowsill and wondered what it was like with Anakin right now.
/
“I hate suits,” Rex muttered, trying to straighten his tie.
“That’s blasphemy, brother,” Fives said, grinning. He was doing his hair in the mirror, perfecting its casual, blown-backward look. “Every woman loves a sharply dressed man.”
Rex made a noncommittal noise. Maybe women did love it, but he sure didn’t. It was uncomfortable as hell, and he was already too hot, even with the wide window open.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure we can all take our jackets off when the dancing starts,” Obi-Wan said from where he was sitting in an armchair, looking quite serene.
Anakin had three groomsmen as well as his best man. Rex, Fives, and Anakin’s childhood friend Kitster were the groomsmen, while Obi-Wan played best man. He was quite competent at the role, Rex thought, and made the perfect calming counterbalance to anxious mother-of-the-bride Jobal.
Kitster they had first met at the stag party three days ago, but after the wild night that Rex couldn’t quite remember the whole of, they had all become fast friends. “He looks like he’s about to be sick,” Kitster commented, looking over at Anakin.
Anakin had been pacing at the other end of the room ever since he’d gotten dressed, with his mother providing calming words and occasionally managing to get him to sit down for a few minutes at a time. Rex had never seen the man more het up and nervous. “You’d think with all this fuss about loving her he’d be more enthusiastic about marrying her,” Fives said, one eyebrow arched.
“He’s just nervous about messing up his lines,” Obi-Wan said, brushing an invisible speck of dirt from his shoulder.
“How long until this thing starts, anyway?” Rex asked. He wasn’t sure he could bear the tension for much longer.
Obi-Wan looked at his wrist chrono. “It’s soon,” he said, to Rex’s extreme relief. “We’d best get moving, I think.”
Rex thought Anakin actually might be sick when Obi-Wan told him it was time to go. He kept it in check, however, and as they made their way down to the lakeside Rex thought longingly of the moment when he might be able to slip off his jacket and loosen his blasted tie – which had become wonky again, goddammit.
/
The wedding was beautiful. In the sunshine, by the lake, with Padmé resplendent in her dress and Anakin actually looking smart for once in his life.
The moment they saw each other over the heads of the crowd, it was clear nothing else mattered. They looked at each other like there was no one else in the entire universe. The priest had to clear his throat to get them to actually respond to his prompting, which caused a wave of affectionate titters in the crowd. Someone – Ahsoka was sure it was one of the groomsmen – had wolf whistled loudly when the final kiss went on a few seconds too long.
Then there had been photos, and speeches, and a delicious dinner, and the tables had been pushed back to start the dancing. Ahsoka had definitely spotted more than one person crying at Anakin and Padmé’s first dance, among them Padmé’s parents, Shmi, Mina, Sola, and – had Obi-Wan been completely dry-eyed? She was sure she’d seen him discreetly wipe away a tear.
She wasn’t completely unaffected by the whole thing. She loved Anakin and Padmé dearly, and she loved that they were so happy together, but she couldn’t get over the fact that she just didn’t feel comfortable. It wasn’t just the dress; there was just something about the whole spectacle of the wedding that left her feeling…exasperated.
Now the evening was wearing on, and while lots of people were still dancing, lots had also gathered outside to look at the stars or enjoy the night air. Ahsoka was standing on her own at the bottom of the long garden, nursing a glass of champagne and wondering when it might be appropriate to slip away, when she heard a relieved-sounding sigh close at hand.
Curious, she looked for the source. On the other side of the tree she’d been standing by was one of the groomsmen, and she was instantly struck by the fact that he was the only person here who looked as weary and miserable as she did. “Long day?” she asked, before she really thought about it.
He glanced up, looking slightly surprised, and she saw him take in the dress. “Don’t like suits,” he said with a small, tired smile.
“I don’t like this dress,” Ahsoka said, plucking at the fabric. Slightly hesitant, she walked the few steps past him to a white marble bench that stood positioned to take advantage of the beautiful lake view, and sat down with a sigh. “I don’t think I like weddings, either.”
There was a pause, and then he slowly came to sit beside her. “This is my first experience of one,” he said.
“Me too.” She glanced sidelong at him. “I can’t believe we’ve both known Anakin so long and never met. I’m Ahsoka.”
“Rex,” he said. “We met through work, we’re on the same cases mostly,” Rex volunteered, “You?”
“It’s a weird story,” Ahsoka said, grinning. “It started off with this bunch of jerks and a trash can…” Ahsoka felt much happier concentrating on telling the story of her first crazy encounter with Anakin, when he’d let her off with a warning after he’d caught her teaching some punks a violent lesson. Then she skimmed through the rest of their relationship – her nearly getting arrested at a protest, him appearing to give a safety talk at her university, getting to know each other better through Padmé when Ahsoka joined Padmé’s model Senate group – while Rex looked more and more incredulous as the story went on.
“So you’re the kid friend he talks about,” he said at the end. “I swear from the way he talks about you, we all thought you were some punk teenager.”
Ahsoka winced slightly. “I was a punk teenager. Now I’m a graduate, and I have a job lined up for when I officially finish my course.”
“Nice.” Rex looked as if he might say something else, but then a loud cheer came from the crowd up by the marquee. Looking around, they saw people were gathering outside.
“Probably time to see them off on their honeymoon,” Ahsoka said. She turned to Rex with a smile. “Wanna go pelt them with some rice?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” Rex grinned back at her.
And somehow, as they stood and walked back up through the dark garden together, Ahsoka felt better than she had all day.