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Cantor smiled. "Being in a place where intermarriages between elves is rare enough would make things hard. Believe me, I've been there. But from what I understand, interracial marriages are still completely unheard of in the Four Lands."

"I don't know that I would ever have thought of it, either, before meeting Kyrie or visiting Shiezin," Lara added. "Really, finding Kyrie and realizing that half-bloods aren't the monsters they were always portrayed as ... well, that was a turning point for my family."

Lara laughed. "It sounds like fun!"

"Here we are," Kyrie called back to them, pushing some branches out of their path. "Go ahead, I'll hold it."

Earendil smiled and led the way forward. Past the branches that Kyrie was holding back was a large clearing. Most of it was shaded by the dense trees that surrounded it, but in the center, where the shadows could not reach, there was a circle of bright sunlight. In this circle was a marble statue of two elves locked together in an eternal embrace. The female was only slightly smaller than the male, her face tilted up toward his, and though they were only made of stone their expressions were very clear, and the warmth of their love was obvious.

Around the statue was a circle of thick candles, though none of them were lit at the moment.

Just in front of the statue was an archway woven out of vines and branches, decorated with flowers. Luk and Lily were both already there, making final adjustments. Luk was wearing his very best clothes, a white shirt and black long-tailed overcoat, and Lily was dressed in dark green and gold, her hair tumbling loosely about her shoulders.

They looked up as the others began to enter the clearing and both of them grinned widely. "Welcome," Luk greeted them warmly, motioning for them to come closer. "I'm glad to see that you found the place all right."

Earendil chuckled. "It's easy when you have a guide."

"Thank you," Luk smiled softly. "I have worked hard to make it what it is. This place is very precious to me, and this is the first time that I've welcomed anyone who was not family here."

"He's right," Kyrie spoke up as she brought up the rear. "I was here centuries ago - and I was far from welcome." She grinned at Luk. "No hard feelings. It was my own fault."

"Come," Lily smiled brightly, sidling up to Luk and putting one arm around his waist. "Is everyone here now?"

Lily turned to Luk, her eyes sparkling brightly. "Well then, no sense in waiting," she murmured.

"No, you're right," Luk grinned back. He motioned to the area around the archway and statue. "Make yourselves comfortable."

There were no chairs, so people started to find places to sit on the ground. It was comfortably warm, as the trees blocked the hottest of the sun's rays, and the opening in the trees allowed a gentle breeze to blow around them.

Earendil found an open area just on the edge of the sunlight and motioned for Lin to sit next to him.

Andarien let his pokemon out of their pokeballs before he sat down. Ponydash trotted once around the clearing before settling near the trees, and Eon dashed and rolled, reveling in the freedom of being outside of his pokeball outside of the city before he returned to Andarien's side and settled into the grass next to him.

Eon's ears perked up when Ai laid down near him. He peered up at Andarien, who wasn't paying attention, then moved to sit next to Ai. He nuzzled her neck, then sat tall as if watching over her protectively.

Behind them, Kaito grinned and poked Shiro, pointing out the two Pokemon before turning his attention to the matter at hand.

Luk and Lily made their way over to the archway and stood there together, waiting for the others to finish finding a place to sit.

Once everyone was settled, Luk and Lily took hands and turned to face their friends and family.

"You know that when it comes to weddings, most of them are kept very private, to the point where the only reason people know about it is because the man and woman begin to live together," Luk began, smiling warmly at everyone, "and really, Lily and I could have done the same thing. Everyone we know had a wedding like that. We don't need any big ceremony to make our wedding complete."

"But at the same time," Lily added, her eyes sparkling brightly, "we wanted to share the joy of the day with those who mean the most to us. To have you all here to witness our vows is a gift for us."

Earendil smiled and put one arm around Lin's shoulders. He recognized the looks on their faces. He felt the same way every time he thought about his own wife.

Turning their attention away from those who were seated, Luk and Lily turned to each other and took each others' hands.

"Lily," said Luk softly, "I take you as my wife, to love you, protect you, to care for you, to provide for you all the things that you need, no matter what life brings us."

Smiling widely, he pulled a ring from his pocket and slid it onto Lily's finger. "I give you this ring as a symbol of my undying love and faithfulness. Hearts may be broken, but circles never end."

Lily smiled widely. "Luk," she said, equally softly, "I take you as my husband, to love, serve and obey, to provide for you all that I can, to care for you, to live for you and only you, no matter what life puts in our path."

She pulled another ring from a fold in her dress and put it on Luk's finger.

"I give you this ring as a symbol of my undying love and faithfulness," she said, repeating the same thing Luk had said. "Hearts may break, but circles never end."

Smiling broadly, Luk pulled Lily close and kissed her gently.

Without missing a beat, Kaito let out a whistle and started clapping. River giggled, and more of them burst into applause.

Earendil rose to his feet and helped Lin up as well, grinning widely.

"Shall we?" he asked softly, nodding at the newly wedded couple. Already several of the others were moving forward to congratulate them.

Seeing that the solemn part was over, Ponydash started trotting around again, since he didn't get out of the pokeball often, and Eon took the opportunity to pounce playfully on Ai.