After the neighbors rudely interrupted her preparations, Nephthys returned to her work. Funny though, if that emperor hadn't arrived with an invasion force she would have invited them to the wedding!

As Khyan is the first of her children to find his own mate, this was...special. Important.

Maybe it would kick Sobek and Cairo into gear to find their own mates, in each other or otherwise. Maybe she SHOULD have betrothed them?

It didn't help of course, that she hadn't been to a proper wedding, her own had been impromptu and inspired by a godly pull in her soul. It had very little flare, though the fissure had been a spectacle itself! It had been short, sweet, and sensual. It had been fitting for the pair, their fires burn hot and quick.

But their numbers have grown now, they were a proper pack, they need proper ceremonies, rituals.

Things Nephthys hadn't really thought about, until it was needed.

The children had been enlisted to help, of course, the youngest litter set to dragging flowers from the jungle and finding pretty shells to the beach, aligning them all in a half circle that would be the venue. The elder children were set to hunting for a feast, Vasili of course had been sent to gather his stashes for the festivities. The children would get to see their mother soft and cuddly for perhaps the first time

Once the venue was decorated, the real work began.

Bribery, first of all, sweet fruits given to a monkey Nephthys has been trying to befriend to put her fingers to work. The monkey rode in on Nephthys's back, was carried to one of the rock platforms at the venue, and set to work as well. Piles of smaller bones had been set down for the monkey to braid into fur for whoever wanted to dress up, flowers as well, Nephthys herself had a fine adornment now situated in her scruff, smaller skulls in a necklace of vine wrapped around her throat.

Horrifying to look at probably.

'Paints' too, a skull of blood, another of mashed berries and sap that had been made last minute when Khyan protested at the blood.

Just before the sun rose on the day of, delicately, very delicately, she decorated Idalie's face with the berry paint, scoring both sides of the golden girl's jaw with red. Nervous? She asked quietly, checking in on the girl she had adopted in heart only, before moving to her son. Khyan too, got his jaw stained with red on each side, and a swipe on his brow for royalty. Ready? She asked him when she was done, pressing her nose to his cheek in a kiss before pulling back and looking at the pair.

Once the couple were decorated, and everyone that wanted bones or flowers braided into their fur had their decorations set, she did Vasili's. Him, she painted with blood, her heart burning with want as she traced his fine facial features. Cheekbones, chin, forehead, she thought it magnificent.

Of course she did though, she was obsessed with skulls.

Nephthys then had Vasili paint her the same.

Then, the sun peaked over the horizon, she waited for her husband to take his place at the water's edge, before she threw her head back to howl an announcement, calling the rest of the pack to the northern shore that overlooked the coral reef.

The wedding begins!

Skill:

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She'd been sulking in her den that morning. She hadn't slept much since the hunt, she knew what was coming, her and Sobek had hunted to help prepare for the feast and the wedding. Her stomach flopped and flipped inside her body, her brain swirled and whirled inside her head, her body ached and she should have been fine by now it's not like she'd never hunted before...

When the call rang up in the sky Cairo growled to herself from inside the dark cave before she pulled herself to her large pale bottomed paws and set out to the shore. Duo-toned optics narrowed at the space ahead of her as she glared from a pale mask. Khyan. Idalie. Married. Yuck.

When she arrived she was the first one there besides her parents and the couple and she plopped her ass heavily on the sands to roll her eyes and sit slouched to the side with a bored look on her face already.

Yuck.

---

Now that the issue with the wolves across the ocean had been placed on hold, Idalie was back to buzzing with excitement. It wasn't only that she was marrying her soulmate - it was also that she was finding a sense of belonging. She'd spent almost all of her life here, hoping to one day be viewed as good enough to be part of their family.

And now, with Nephthys - the one Idalie had wanted to impress the most - coloring her face with berry juice, she finally felt as though she had.

Nervous?

Idalie shook her head with a smile. There was a fluttering in her chest and a jitteriness in her limbs, but it wasn't anything negative in the slightest. "Excited," she breathed a gentle correction. Excited. Proud. Adoring.

She'd never been more sure about anything.

And with her face painted and flowers braided throughout her fur, she'd never felt more beautiful, either.

The sun rose and Nephthys, also decorated and painted resplendently, called for the Dominion. Idalie could hardly keep her eyes off of her betrothed as she waited, paws shuffling in the sand and heart beating a mile a minute.

Married! They were about to be married!

She sought Khyan's gaze, and though she didn't say it out loud, she hoped he could somehow sense the love she was experiencing, so intense that she felt as though she might explode.

You with the dark curls, you with the watercolor eyes.
3-3-3 OC

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Speech Emotional Actions Thoughts

To say he was nervous was an understatement, and he had no reason to be. He knew Idalie. He loved Idalie. He would do anything for her—slit his own throat if she asked, kneel upon the dirtiest ground without a second thought, cross oceans and tear down mountains if it meant proving that she was worth every ounce of devotion he had to give.

He was a loverboy, through and through.

And this wedding? This was his dream come true.

The berry paint still felt strange against his fur, especially the mark across his brow that Nephthys had given him for royalty. Khyan had never thought much of himself as such. He was simply Khyan. Her son. Idalie's mate. A wolf who had somehow managed to stumble into the greatest love he could have ever imagined.

Yet standing there now, decorated in red, with the ocean stretching endlessly behind him, it suddenly felt real.

He was going to marry her.

Idalie.

His eyes found her almost immediately.

And gods, she was beautiful. Flowers woven into her fur, jaw scored with red and her eyes oh so beautiful.

For a moment, everything else seemed to disappear.

The pack. The decorations. The feast waiting to be eaten. The ocean. Even the nervous thudding of his own heart seemed to fall away beneath the sheer, overwhelming sight of her.

She was looking at him.

That alone nearly undid him.

His ears tipped forward, his expression softening into something so openly adoring it would have been impossible to mistake. His tail gave an embarrassing little sweep behind him, betraying just how completely smitten he was.

He couldn't stop staring.

How could he?

This was the girl he'd chosen.

The girl he'd loved through every doubt, every hardship, every moment where the world seemed determined to pull them in opposite directions. Idalie had become so deeply woven into him that he couldn't remember what his life had looked like before her. She wasn't simply someone he loved.

She was home.

Khyan took a slow breath, trying to steady himself, before stepping toward her.

One paw.

Then another.

Until there was nothing between them but a few inches of sand.

His nose brushed gently against hers, and he let out the faintest, breathless laugh. Almost in disbelief, why?

Because Khyan had spent enough time loving Idalie to know that there was nothing in the world he wanted more.

His forehead pressed gently against hers.

I'd marry you a hundred times over if you'd let me.

A quiet smile pulled at his muzzle.

I'd choose you every single time.

His gaze remained locked with hers, impossibly tender.

He wanted her to know. Not just today, not just because there was a ceremony and a gathered pack watching them. He wanted her to know for every day that followed.

He would prove it.

If she wanted the moon, he'd spend his life searching for a way to bring it down.

If she wanted safety, he'd stand between her and every danger that dared approach.

If she wanted nothing more than to sit beside him in silence, he'd happily spend eternity doing exactly that.

Whatever she needed, whatever she asked, Khyan would give.

Because loving Idalie had never felt like sacrifice. It felt like privilege.

His nose nudged hers once more before he finally pulled back, though reluctantly, his eyes still refusing to leave her.

I love you, Idalie.

Simple words.

But there was an entire lifetime behind them because there was an entire lifetime ahead of the couple. A life to be explored, a life to adventure and learn these lands.

More than I know how to say.
And whilst these weren't vows, they felt like it to him, a vow he'd love her for eternity if she allowed. A vow that his soul was hers, a promise to her that she never has to fear him leaving again.

And for perhaps the first time that morning, Khyan didn't look nervous anymore.

He looked certain.

Certain that this was where he belonged.

Certain that she was the wolf he wanted beside him until the very end.

And utterly, hopelessly certain that he would spend the rest of his life making sure Idalie never had to question just how loved she truly was. Never had to question that he, was hers and hers alone, no one could take him from him, not even death himself. He'd return, another body, another name but he'd search the ends of the universes to find her again.

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“Should the day ever come when I have to live without you, I hope the last thing my heart remembers is this moment—the moment I had you, loved you, and knew with absolute certainty that there was nowhere else in this world I would rather be.”