Simone looked down at the dress the Fae had conjured for her, and her heart filled with awe. It was the most lovely garment she had ever worn, by far.
As a library assistant, she had spent most of her life in a uniform. She lifted a hand to her hair. Instead of her normal braided hairstyle, it fell around her shoulders in loose curls, a thin circlet of flowers resting atop her head.
Even her shoes were repaired and new, not the bloodstained, torn boots she'd worn into battle.
She sighed, filled with a tumultuous blend of emotions she couldn't quite parse out, let alone name.
Nearby, Victoria beamed with joy. There was not one bit of sadness in her eyes as she asked dozens of questions of her birth mother and father. Dr. and Mrs. Sherman were also there, standing with their adoptive daughter, smiling and fussing over her as the wedding was almost beginning.
That's what was missing for Simone. Though so many others' long-dead loved ones had come on this day, she still had no one. It was a strange feeling. Were her family not good enough? Was her father still alive?
Everyone who had fought on the side of the Sorcerer during the battle was healed and well now. Lysander, the former provider, and his phoenix mount had flown over humanity to take a short census. He had radiated joy as he announced the news, hugging his sweet wife and daughter with gusto before taking a count of his grandchildren.
All were accounted for, and all were loved.
Simone had smiled warmly at his display of delight and peace, but the hole in her own heart had widened slightly. The entirety of surviving humanity that had not served Beast had gathered in that mountain valley, and her father had not been there.
He was certainly dead now. As was her mother, and yet, she was still alone. She did not know what criteria the Sorcerer had used to determine who was able to come back and visit this world before the lands of life and death separated once more, but whatever they were, her family did not qualify.
Gwen approached to wrap thin, pale arms around Simone's shoulders and squeezed them gently.
"It is not always the family we come from that loves us best, but the family we find."
"Shayn certainly has enough family to suit me very well for many years to come," Simone managed a smile. "I could not have asked for anything better."
"May I have the honor of escorting you into it?"
The woman startled slightly and turned to see a man with a shining face holding out his arm in invitation. Shayn's father, Ashmayne. Simone's breath caught with emotion, and her eyes filled with moisture.
"We can't have a tearful bride, Dear," Gwen chastised with a sweet smile.
"You're perfectly right," Simone straightened her shoulders. "It would be a delight to have you escort me, Sir."
Ashmayne smiled broadly as she took his arm. "I'm entrusting my middle son to you. Perhaps the biggest handful of the bunch in some ways, but I trust you can handle that."
The bridge giggled. "I'm sure I can."
Victoria approached, her birth father on one arm and Dr. Sherman on the other.
"Are you ready?" She asked with delight. "As much as I hate to say we're short on time, that seems to be the case."
Simone nodded. "Let's go."
__
Finn led the line of bridesmaids down the aisle. It was the largest wedding she'd ever been to, eclipsing even Ashley's well-attended ceremony.
The entirety of living humanity, and many thousands of visiting deceased, were present to wish the two couples joy.
The Fae, now with the restrictions on the uses of their power lifted for at least the moment, had done many works of splendor.
Tall trees blooming with delicate pink blossoms created a beautiful canopy under which the guests watched. As the regal queen made her way forward, the numerous nieces and nieces-to-be of the brides scattered petals of sweet-smelling blooms ahead of her.
The sheer joy on Gabriel's face as he waited with Shayn at the front for the women they would spend their lives with made Finn's insides melt with happiness. From the day he was born, she'd held and loved him.
This seemed a completion of her task as his mother figure, though their mother now sat as a guest, watching them both with boundless love.
But it wasn't an end, it was the beginning of something new. Weddings were curious that way. So often they seemed a final step to adulthood and completion, a goal children looked forward to, but in the end they were really the start of a different adventure.
Her eyes moved past her brother, and her stepbrother, and found her husband, waiting at the center to officiate the proceedings. Judah sat proudly behind him, his coat a brilliant red befitting a wedding celebration.
Finn's heart nearly burst.
It wasn't the first wedding they had been in together, and it was far different than their own wedding, witnessed only by Lysander, who was looking as happy as could be next to his wife, and by a young Rhone soldier, Ezra, who had been Roland's aide during battle.
Ezra, clad in shining white, stood smiling with many of the other resurrected warriors. Captain Grayson, too, was amongst them. There were many beloved faces here for reunion and celebration.
Finn reached the front of the crowd, where Roland stood looking at her with an expression that curled her toes with desire. He winked and her stomach fluttered with that old, wonderful feeling of new love.
She took her place to the side and watched as the rest of the bridesmaids came forward, followed by the brides.
The aisle was just wide enough to accommodate the procession, and both ladies were positively radiant, and so different!
Victoria with her rippling dark hair and silver circlet, a princess in her own way, and Simone with her blonde curls about her like a halo, with delicate flowers framing her face. The former boasted a gown with all of the poof and decadence of her own bubbly personality. Simone's dress, while not quite so large, was no less eye catching. The delicate white, gold, and silver embroidery shimmered as if the fabric were made of starlight. The classic lines of the gown draped around Simone's figure perfectly, accentuating her glowing expression.
At the very back of all was the Sorcerer, the shining figure of light looking on with a love so palpable that the entire crowd was warmed by it. He did not come to the forefront, but let the attention be on the happy couples, though he was, of course, the author and conductor of it all.
Finn sniffled softly, trying to contain her happiness for her friends, her joy and relief at the survival of humankind, and the wonder of the world they now inhabited.
In some ways it was the same, but in others, it was entirely new, as the bright silver birds tinkling softly like bells testified.
The Sorcerer said evil had been defeated. What did that mean for their future? No more wars? No more strife? A world where everyone would work heartily and find blessing in it?
She looked to the West. In the far distance, she imagined the islands floating in the sky that Jimmy had talked of. Perhaps the griffins might carry them that high to explore?
Or the new sea, made entirely of glass, with strange creatures beneath it! The new mountains in the Northwest, or a thousand other places never seen or known by human eyes!
A lifetime seemed so little now to explore it all, and yet Finn's heart wondered what great beauties awaited humanity from this day forward. Who would be the first and bravest explorers of the new, united word?
When the ceremony concluded, the dancing began. The Rhone, Cetoan, and Klain dances mixed and varied, continuing well into the evening. The otherworldly creatures joined in the revelry, leaping and frolicking and adding their voices to the songs.
Several phoenixes used their fire to create a display of colored explosions of light in the sky as the sun set, and the people of the world hugged and kissed their departing loved ones; the land of the dead was separating once more.
It was bittersweet, with the knowledge that they would all one day reunite; a goodbye would never again be permanent.
Finn hugged her father-in-law as he prepared to leave with the rest.
"My time is done in this world," Duncan spoke with a smile. "I have been away from my Liberty too many years… but I will see all of you when it is your turn."
As the shining white warriors faded into the night, there was a moment of quiet reflection. Should they soberly mourn again the departure of their beloved? Should the celebration continue? The emotions of the day were heavy and light, a mixture difficult to fully process in the moment.
The silence was broken by a loud belch and a surly voice.
"What are we waitin' for?" Jimmy called from a long makeshift table of food the Fae had rushed to gather from near and far. When had he arrived? Had he been there all along?
"Ya can't stop livin' just cause of death. Start the music back up!"
And that's exactly what they did.