Yuna caught her out-of-breath cousin as Rikku burst into the well-made large shack by Besaid Temple. The ginger way she held the sweaty thief was more to preserve Yuna's diaphanous formal gown, all silk and pastels, than to represent loss of affection.

"You're late." Yuna did a double-take and frowned in alarm. "Is that what you're wearing?"

"No," gasped Rikku. "Didn't have time to change." She immediately started wriggling out of her thief's garb.

Yuna checked her white gloves to ensure they were still spotless. She fretted.

Lulu, with her usual unerring sense of timing, entered. She took a long measured look at the half-clad Al-Bhed hurriedly unpacking a wrinkled peach gown from a dirt-covered travel bag. Lulu just arched an eyebrow.

Spotting the disapproval of the woman in her strapless tuxedo gown, Rikku screamed in frustration. "Can't I do anything right? We were just…"

"Rikku!" said Yuna, rather more sharply than either of the others expected. "Please don't make excuses. We don't have time. Is Auron with you?"

"He's in the Crusaders' Lodge, or whatever the ramm it's called now," said Rikku.

"And similarly in need of a change, I expect," said Lulu.

"We wanted to be here in time," Rikku said helplessly. "Really we did."

Lulu shook her head. "I'm just glad you made it before we gave up on you."

"I'll help you," Yuna said, shucking her gloves and at last melting.

"I'll wait outside," said Lulu.

"Are you really mad at me, Yunie?" Rikku said in a small, hurt voice as Yuna did up the back of Rikku's dress and tried to smooth out the worst of the wrinkles.

"No, of course not," Yuna sighed. "But I wish, I really wish you'd turn up more. I worry about you."

"Thanks…" said Rikku.

"And watch your mouth! This is a wedding and you and Auron aren't the only ones who know Al Bhed here, I'll have you know."

Rikku ducked her head to hide a smile as she tied the fluffy sash around the top of the voluminous skirts. She turned to Yuna and spread her sun-bronzed arms. Yuna didn't look particularly pleased. Rikku's heart sank.

"It's your bleached frizzy hair, that's what it is," said Yuna, heading for her dresser. "I'll tame it in the next five minutes or we'll die in the attempt."

Rikku knew better than to argue with that tone of voice.

Auron wore a black suit of silk with a gold-edged Mandarin collar, a gold silk sash emblazoned with complicated emblems in black thread tied around his waist. Worse, he looked amused as he waited for a music cue and eyed his young friend. Rikku stared at him until Wakka nervously jabbed her with a finger and she took Auron's arm to walk down the aisle.

"You look ridiculous," Auron murmured to her.

"So do you, old man," she retorted so only he could hear.

"I've never even seen you in a skirt. If you didn't have that suspicious gleam in those Al Bhed green eyes of yours I wouldn't know it was you inside that hideous dress," he whispered.

"You look like you're wearing pajamas," she said.

"Bihg," he said.

"Banjand," she said.

She didn't dare look at his face as they reached the steps up to the inner temple and stepped to their respective sides. She doubted their ringing laughter would be welcome in Besaid Temple's vaulted arches this day. Instead she turned to watch Kimahri escorting Yuna up the aisle.

They were a much more pleasant if mismatched pair; both looked suited to formal wear. Kimahri's tribal garments as an elder of the Ronso were not the ridiculous sort of things humans wore. They covered him better than his loincloth but didn't besmirch his dignity, crossing his chest with beautifully metal-studded red straps and encircling only his thighs in black buttoned leather. His wristguards were black and brass.

Yuna floated serenely on his arm in her lavender blue and white dress. She stopped in front of Rikku and the two girls peered down the aisle in anticipation of the groom.

Wakka, squeezed into a ridiculous formal Crusaders uniform, walked up the aisle like it was a stretch of beach. The comical sight of him trying to look dignified despite his teased-up hair told Rikku she needed somewhere else to rest her eyes. She knew better than to look for Auron for stoicism; lately he was even more childish than she and would surely be grinning himself. She looked up at the dark, distant ceiling and trod discreetly on her own foot.

The music quieted and a hush rose from the spectators like desert heat after sunset. She looked down toward the temple's open doors and the blinding sunlight beyond.

Lulu's full black skirt trailed into fine lace behind her. Shining silver cuffs adorned her neck and wrists. Her step and smile were of a measured patience. She'd known this day was coming for some time, possibly even before the proposal, and was in no hurry to rush through it. The Eternal Calm that now graced Spira shone nowhere more clearly than in her impassive brown eyes.

Rikku snatched a look at Wakka and Auron, across Yuna's shoulder. Wakka had been disallowed from seeing his bride in her dress until this moment. He looked like he was about to faint or let out some sort of victory shout. Somehow he restrained himself.

Auron glanced over, probably to check Rikku's reaction, and shared a remarkably restrained grin with her. Lulu at last gained Wakka's side before the elderly Yevon priest. They waited while the priest's brow furrowed and he paged through a large book on the stand in front of him. Wakka was practically vibrating with impatience when one touch from Lulu's hand stilled him.

Oh, she's got him where she wants him…! Rikku thought with glee.

Somehow, despite the itchy formalwear and the oppressive heat of the dim temple, the priest's nearsightedness and Wakka's stammering, the chaos was beautiful. From it a relieved husband and wife emerged into Besaid sunshine amidst fantastic cheers.

Rikku stood to the side at the temple's doors while people threw garlands of flowers over the new bride and groom. Even with the omnipresent threat of Sin removed people were still grateful for life's little happinesses. They clung to what they knew in the wake of Yevon's lies and wondered in the dark of night who would lead Spira tomorrow.

Rikku wondered too. As she looked up across the doorway she knew who'd be standing there, mirroring her thoughts. Auron gave her a distant smile and offered his arm to take her down into the crowd of well-wishers.

"I remember when it was just you hanging around the fringes of large groups," she said. "You and your stuffiness."

"I remember when you wanted to be the center of attention," he said.

"It's their day," said Rikku, nodding to the couple at the center of the knot of humanity.

Auron said nothing. To Rikku, sometimes his silences were loudest of all.

Auspicious days in Besaid were always followed by a lovely bonfire night in the village square. A drunken Wakka had been towed off by Lulu some time ago, when that patience had run out and her eyes gleamed with more than firelight. Auron had gone to talk with Yuna and left behind his sake jug, which Rikku was sipping from when he returned.

"Careful, you still have yet to beat that fiend," said Auron.

"I will, one of these days," said Rikku.

Auron pulled it from her fingers. "Not if you drink it like that."

She scowled. "What's wrong with the way I drink?"

"You drink like you want it." He took a sip.

"How is that different from the way you drink?"

He snorted and corked the jug.

"Anyway, you're the one who always carries alcohol around." She folded her arms around her knees at glared at the fire. She'd long since changed back into her normal clothes, while Auron seemed content to stay in those ridiculous pajamas and sandals.

"If you carried a container for alcohol around it would always be empty."

"Right, and I know that, so I don't. You big meanie."

"You're right." He sighed. "This is a time for celebration." He cast a long eye at the darkened house that was no longer just Lulu's. "Do you think they will be happy?"

Rikku lifted her head and squinted at Auron. "Yes. He doesn't seem to mind her being in charge, and that's just how she likes it. Why do you ask?"

"I wonder."

"You wonder what?"

"I wonder… whether their match, made in desperate times, reflects that desperation. Desperation doesn't last."

"Hmph. Did for us."

He turned, ever so slowly, eyebrow raised. Something in his look made her flush.

"I mean, we became friends on a pilgrimage. Two pilgrimages, if you want to get technical." She hiccupped and cursed herself, wishing she hadn't said that. Sake didn't go down well with her complaining stomach. "We're still friends."

"One might say Besaid is relatively sheltered from the aftermath of the storm," he said. "We still move in desperate times, you and I. We almost… seek them out."

She scoffed. "People are leaving the island who never thought of it before, all inspired by Lady Yuna to want to see the new world they're in. Even if it is a right mess. …Auron, we're talking about sad things again. Can't we just enjoy our friends' wedding feast? Are we so scarred by the world?" She reached for his jug again and his hand covered hers.

"I wonder," he said.

She pulled her hand back a little too quickly and hiccupped again. He stood up.

"I'm going to get out of these ridiculous pajamas," he said.

"Your monk robes are just differently ridiculous," she muttered.

He froze.

"I mean, it's been how long since you left your order?" she added, dimly aware she was treading in dangerous water. "And you're still wearing them? Do you know how silly that looks?"

"Oh, you did not just say that."

She looked up as he dove on her, picked her up, and carried her shrieking and kicking body down to the beach, where he threw her in. She came up spluttering and enraged. She chased a laughing Auron up the dunes. By the time they walked back to the village, they were both soaking and covered in sand. More importantly, they were grinning.

Somewhere in her heart of hearts, she knew this stolen moment of happiness would not last for them. She hoped it would for Wakka and Lulu, at least.