Vialle starts making the wedding preparations, assuming that the ceremony will be held in the castle and thus under the roof where she has been acting as effective chatelaine for some time. Lady Vesper, as mother of the bride, immediately horns in on this job.
Lady Vesper wants the wedding to be as huge and showy as possible, whereas Vialle's concern is mostly that it happen before even the best design and tailoring can't hide Solace's condition from the guests. Vialle also thinks that even if this is the first wedding in the castle in half a millennium -- since Oberon's wedding to Paulette -- that, given the times, too much of a show of wealth and extravagance is insensitive to the hardships that many people are still suffering.
Lady Vesper overruns Vialle's feeble objections whenever possible and generally treats Vialle as little more than a hired lackey. It's bad enough that even Martin goes out of his way to be nice to Vialle. Within a couple of weeks, the trouble becomes so noticeable that Gerard intervenes himself to require Lady Vesper to behave towards his sister-in-law.
Paige will be more than happy to intervene between and even take the heat for some decisions to ease Vialle's hardships.
Lucas will seek to undermine Lady Vesper in order to aid Vialle. If he has to have her carriage sabotaged he will. In any discussions Lucas will vocally take the side of Vialle, pointing out the prominence of her station and her experience with such matters. If it comes to it, he'll threaten to get eloped.
Gerard puts a stop to things before it gets to the point where Lucas has to threaten elopement.
Strange minor accidents start happening to Lady Vesper when she visits the Castle. Her teacup is badly balanced and she spills tea on her dress. She slips and stumbles a lot. Her clothes catch on doors and banisters. Etc.
It's impossible to tell who is responsible, because these things happen in the presence of a number of different people, and there's no single person present on all occasions when they happen.
Lady Vesper begins to avoid the Castle after a couple of weeks of this, much to the relief of everyone.
Solace is embarrassed by all the attention, but mostly does what she's told by her mother. When asked to select brideswomen, she asks Solange to be her chief attendant, and in a tiny gesture of defiance, Brita, Cambina, Paige, and Folly to be her maidens.
Paige is thrilled, and agrees immediately, unless someone suggests otherwise.
Brita is honored by Solace's request. She is normally not asked to be a maiden because of her height. [If "maidens" are paired with Lucas's attendants as in our ceremonies, Brita will jokingly ask Lucas to ensure that she is not paired with someone she can see over. You might note, however, that her joke is a little strained.]
Folly, too, accepts the invitation with pleasure. Later, grinning, she quips to Paige, "This'll be fun -- I haven't been a 'maiden' since I was fourteen. We really ought to be called something else, don't you think? 'Bridesmentors', maybe...."
Folly decides that her responsibility to Solace includes finding out what Solace wants in her wedding and then coordinating with Vialle to make it happen.
Solange accepts, and, despite her previous low opinion of Solace, makes an effort to be genuinely friendly and welcoming to this new addition to the family. It's a nice diversion, after all, from the unutterably dreary Rangers-vs.-settlers inquest that she has to watch over the rest of the time, and that is preventing her from traveling for the moment. More on that in another message.
In the course of her being welcoming and sisterly and all that, Solange will attempt to influence Solace's preferences on things like dress and decorations and all that, away from Lady Vesper's "glitz and show" into more of a "tasteful and restrained elegance" in keeping with Vialle's thoughts on something suitable for hard times, and encourage Solace in useful ways to assert those wishes over Lady Vesper's objections. (If the Hive-mind would tell me in what season the wedding will occur, I can make more specific suggestions.) Solange will also suggest to Solace that she might want her attendants dressed VERY simply, so that the bride's costume will look the more dazzling by contrast, without having to overload it and make her look like a Winterfair bauble. (Solange does NOT want to be stuck with a hideous kelly-green, tea-length, ruffled monstrosity with a giant butt-bow.) She figures that even Lady Vesper will see the sense in THAT argument.
Brita looks horrified at the thought of a butt-bow. "Can I maybe wear a Ranger uniform?" she pleads, her eyes still huge like a deer surprised in the forest.
"We're bride's-maidens, not bodyguards," Solange explains patiently. "Get used to the idea of wearing a dress and carrying flowers. If I don't get to wear a uniform, you don't either, and you'll survive for one day. I think I've talked her into something graceful, anyway."
[GMs]
[Just to clear up a misconception -- there is no such thing as a Ranger
uniform. There are barely Naval officer uniforms; enlisted Navy men do not
have uniforms either.
In battle, military groups are normally identified by the livery of their sponsor, e.g., a group provided by Lord Storm wears his device. The Rangers aren't a military group, or weren't until Eric's reign, and as such don't wear livery.
[Solange]
I'm amazed. I would have thought they'd be wearing Julian's livery.
I also think Julian's badge is fieldless, a striking falcon vert, but
perhaps I am too accustomed to the Calontir shield-wall.
[GMs]
The Rangers as an institution predate Julian's birth by a long time. Maybe
Solange should ask Reid what the Rangers were like in his day.
[Solange]
Reid, consider yourself asked.
[Reid]
"The way I remember it, just about every man of influence or power had a
small militia back then. I'd even go so far as to say that steel was our
primary import for a time. Amazingly the sum of corpses produced was not
proportionate. All of the wealthy houses were well armed, be they
wealthy by birth or by trade. Among the merchants, interestingly enough,
there weren't really many formal guilds. The prosperous merchants had a
larger contingent and the smaller shops had to make due with who they
could afford to hire (or take protection into their own hands, in the
poorest cases.) Alliances between merchants was not unheard of, and it
was considerably preferable to being on a powerful merchant's bad side.
Things eventually got a bit heated for one reason or another, so Oberon
sought to disband most of the groups.
"As to the Rangers, they were headed by Finndo for a time. As far as I know, he could have even commissioned their formation when he was still in Oberon's graces. You didn't know Finndo... hmmmm... Do you know how strong Benedict is? Consider that he was the youngest of three brothers. They'd occasionally squabble amongst themselves, but any outsider who challenged one had to deal with all three. In Finndo, you would have seen the strength of Benedict with more passion. Finndo would often choose the unpopular side of an argument, just to get in your face about it. He was very stubborn that way. It may have cost him his life, depending on who you ask. I think history's been rewritten a lot since it actually happened...
"But the Rangers wore the badge of the Crown. They weren't exactly protectors, because Garnath was well populated, and the houses there managed to defend themselves just fine. It would also be wrong to consider them strong-armed tax collectors, because such things really weren't among their responsibilities either. They did manage to keep people in line though.
"I hope that helps," Reid concludes.
"It does, thanks," Solange says. She then asks Cambina, the historian of the family, if she knows when the Rangers stopped wearing Crown badges, and why.
Cambina promises to look it up. She returns a few days later and says "it's complicated. It's tied up with the great 'respective bastardry proceedings' of almost 2000 years ago and it's not like anyone was recording what they saw, just what they thought would support their patron. I declare, it is almost more frustrating to have Reid around to question than it was to just be ignorant about what I'd been lied to about by history books.
"As best as I can tell, it happened a few score of years after the merchant houses lost their rights to arms. Naturally, they all went and became close friends with Princes, bringing Father and Corwin and Caine into the factionalization. Corwin had the Rangers, nominally marking him as the second son, according to some, since that was Finndo's role. He was close to the Rangers until his disappearance, despite giving them up for Julian. There's a story to that, of course, but nobody writes things like that down.
"In any case, the surface story is that Eric petitioned the crown for the right to have some of his house-troops wear Crown badges, because they served roles similar to the Rangers, who had the right. Oberon didn't like the way it was shaping up apparently, because the upshot was that the Rangers were given the option of militarizing and keeping the Crown badges or dropping them. The decided to stay semi-military and give up the right to wear the Crown except during times of war.
"Apparently it was something of a scandal. I don't think Father, Oberon, or Corwin got what he wanted out of it."
[GMs]
Most everyone in Arden knows the Rangers anyway. This may be part of the
problem on the Arden-Garnath border -- the Garnath folk and the city
settlers wouldn't recognize a Ranger on sight and thus wouldn't know that
he had a position of authority to speak from ...
Before you ask, Royal Guardsmen are dressed in Royal livery. You can tell them from the pages by the fact that the pages are younger and not armed. ;) ]
Solange pulls out a sketch of an eight-gore gown without a waist seam. "Hers is going to be embroidered up to about knee- length from the hem, and have a lot of decoration around the neckline. We get ones the same shape, but with only a handspan's worth of trimming at the neckline. Oh, and we have to wear our hair down, bound with a fillet."
Folly grins with mischievous glee. She's gotten good at hiding the purple streaks in her hair when she needs to -- as long as she wears it up.
[Solange]
Guess Folly's going to be wearing a purple dress then...
"I convinced her that the usual chaplets of flowers would make Cambina look like a scarecrow with her short hair. Trust me, it could have been a lot worse."
"Alot worse. Green gowns with pink organza accents and flowers." Paige shudders.
[OOC: what color? and the dress is straight down from the shoulders? and what is a fillet?]
The colors are allowed to vary. Solace is actually wearing gold brocade, although in a display of restraint the embroidery is white silk, with only crystal beads and a reasonable amount of seed pearls, instead of the polychrome wonders that might otherwise have held sway. Paige is undoubtedly wearing deep green, and although Solange usually favors olive and gold, she's leaning towards Prussian blue, although if either Cambina or Brita wants to wear that color or something that would look horrid with it, she'll settle for rose.
Brita would prefer the rose or perhaps a slightly darker shade of red if possible?
[Solange]
No problem at all.
The dress flares from shoulder to hem, rather than hanging straight. It's a bit fuller than A-line. This is meant to present an elegant display of fabric while providing enough folds to conceal the Little Stranger. It also doesn't impede movement, the way a narrower or more constructed full-skirt style might.
A fillet is essentially a headband. In this case it's a very narrow metal headband (plain gold, about 1/8" wide) that goes around the whole head, across the forehead, and has a small gap at the back where it ties with ribbon, so it's slightly adjustable. It's providing a minimum of decoration while holding the hair out of your eyes.
Brita looks resigned, but you can hear her mutter something about looking like a [insert color here] pillar.
[Folly OOC: OK, the first time I read this, I assumed you meant a curse word -- a "colorful metaphor" -- rather than an actual color.]
"No, you won't at all," Solange assures her.
Solange picks up her embroidery frame, and you can see that it's one of the dress panels.
"That will be really pretty, Solange." Brita adds in a more normal tone, pointing to the embroidery.
"I don't suppose you know how?" Solange asks hopefully. "We're all pitching in on this to make sure it gets done on time," she adds as she sets a seed pearl into the center of a flower.
Brita quickly steps back. "No, I am no good with a needle." she says, hands up as if to ward off an advance. "I could maybe cut the material into patterns, but that's about it."
"I never thought I'd be glad that Mama made me learn all of this," Solange says, "but it's finally turned out to be useful.
[Lucas will also need to have some attendants. Someone has to arrange the bachelor party.]
On a totally random note, Lucas will likely ask Martin to be his best man or equivalent thingy.
Martin is honored and accepts. (Brita, as soon as Lucas tells us who the other groomsmen are, he'll help make sure you're paired with the tallest one.)
Lucas will have the captain of his fleet and a prominent noble from Garnath, as well as Jerod and Vere.
Assuming Vere and Jerod accept, the wedding post will follow later today.
What? Jerod refuse?...and miss the opportunity to see Lucas attempt to be crass, vulgar and married all in the same moment?...Jerod wouldn't miss that for the world...though he reserves the right to select what he's going to wear.
Vere accepts immediately, and expresses the great sense of honour that he feels at having been so chosen.
Jerod nominates Vere for the duty of bachelor party arrangements...chuckle...Jerod is sure that it will be an excellent party and of course well within the bounds of suitable convention for a member of the royal family.
Vere blinks. "Why, I am honoured by the thought, Cousin, but I cannot think that I am the most qualified person for this task. I know very little of the traditions associated with this particular ritual. Should not someone more acquainted with such festivities undertake the arrangements? Of course, I am certain that information exists in the Library, and if there is no one else, and if it is truly desired that I be the person to make these arrangements, then I will do the best that I can. However, I again urge that a more experienced member of the Family be chosen for this duty."
Jerod puts his arm around Vere in a comradely fashion and smiles. "Vere...here's what you do. Go talk to your friends at the Naval Club...tell them you're putting on a bachelor party for a good friend - and Gerard's gotta approve of it. They will be your best source of information. Better than any book."
Vere looks slightly dubious, but he appears to accept Jerod's suggestion.
Over the next couple of days he will discuss the topic with members of the Naval, soliciting their opinions.
And then (because despite what Jerod said nothing is better than a book) Vere will search through the Library for references to bachelor parties in literature and sociological studies, compiling a body of knowledge of the various sorts of activities that should be part of such a celebration.
And knowing Vere the way Jerod does, Jerod makes sure to write up a list of acceptable practices for a bachelor party that would fit in the current culture, and hands it to Nestor, with instructions to give it to Vere and to inform Vere that Nestor had collected this information for him after hearing that Vere was working to arrange the party and thought this would prove useful and that all other references were not suitable for the current occasion - in Nestor's opinion as Chief Librarian.
And with luck...that'll get Vere out of the library and back to a social situation that he'll be in charge of...:)
Assuming that Nestor actually does this Vere will raise an eyebrow, Jerod's particular writing style being very familiar to him from the times he's perused Jerod's writing table when Jerod wasn't present. He will doublecheck the list against suggestions given to him by his associates at the Naval to see how closely they match...
He will then arrange the bachelor party, taking over a fairly respectable tavern for an entire evening exactly one week before the wedding. All the male Cousins are invited, and Vere will ask Lucas if there are any other gentlemen he would like in attendance. Vere will ensure that there is lively entertainment, including female musicians, dancers and acrobats, an enormous amount of excellent food and drink, and he will make sure that everyone who is going to be present is given instructions on how to play hazard...
After overhearing Vere and Nestor talking about the bachelor party (while she was looking up what "Maidens" are supposed to do), Brita will ask Paige and Solange whether a corresponding activity is being planned for Solace. "It might be fun."
Solange says, "I think you'll probably be disappointed with what's considered a suitable farewell party for the bride -- I've been organizing it, it's part of my duties. It's one of those afternoon tea- party deals, where all the bride's girlhood friends give her sentimental little gifts, and there's a cake with charms baked in that are supposed to foretell who and when everyone will marry."
"Kill me now?" says Folly plaintively.
[Solange]
"It's really dull, but her mother will wonder if we DON'T have it. But
don't worry, I've been cooking up something else as well --
Cambina turns out to know some very interesting Rebman
customs..."
Paige can offer to help with the arrangements for any of the above, if they're willing to have her and tell her of the customs here, but is hesitant to suggest anything, and obviously bites her tongue at some moments. The sparkle in her eye suggests the more risque of ideas, but they're never voiced other than in guarded company.
"A tea sounds nice." You can tell Brita actually means this. "But what kind of gifts? Are we supposed to give her one even though we weren't her girlhood friends?"
"Don't worry, I've invited some of her actual schoolroom companions too," Solange says. "The gifts are usually token things -- embroidered handkerchiefs or garters or jewel-cases, because young women don't usually have funds to present the bride with more substantial gifts than fancy-work, and they often have little sentimental mottoes about friendship on them. Since we're her new family, and the royal family besides, it wouldn't be out of line to give her something a little fancier -- serious jewelry wouldn't be tasteful, that's Lucas' job really, and the Princess Florimel's when she returns, as Lucas' parent -- but decorated gloves, or a silk-and-ivory fan, or an evening reticule, or even some nice hair-combs. Lace caps used to be another mainstay, but the younger married ladies aren't covering their hair any more, and I think Solace will be a lot happier if we give her hair-ornaments that are meant to be seen, to suggest that we don't expect her to cover her hair, because if I know Lady Vesper, she's ordered two dozen thread-lace caps already. Don't worry, we don't have to make any of these, I can show you some shops that'd be glad of the business," Solange explains.
"My mum hosted a few of these things when I was a girl -- her friends tended to get married over and over again -- and from what I remember, frivolous underwear was a popular gift," says Folly. "I'm thinking maybe a nice shawl that can double as a baby-wrap might be more appropriate, though. I've been keeping track of what colors she wears so I can get something that coordinates, and let me just take this opportunity to say, my god, she is such a girl."
"No, no, save the frivolous underwear for the Rebman-style party, Folly," Solange says, laughing. "The shawl's a nice idea, though. And, yes, she's Such A Girl, but that's normal for young noblewomen. We're oddballs, didn't you know? If we weren't the Royals we'd be considered hopelessly eccentric and our mothers would despair of our prospects."
"And don't you just love that in shoehorning her way into Royal society, Lady Vesper ensured that her grandchild will grow up around us?" adds Folly with a wicked grin.
Solange grins back. "We do make quite the collection of crazy aunties, don't we?" she agrees.
Paige laughs, "Cambina said it best, 'We're not just high-ranking noblewomen, we're Powers.' No, cousin?"
"I wonder how long it's been since there was a baby in the castle. Some of the senior staff may have been maids when Mirelle was born. I don't think the library has a copy of _The_Care_and_Mollycoddling_of_infant_Powers_, but we can look. Or we can make it up as we go along and pretend we know what we're doing."
Folly nods enthusiastically at the latter suggestion. [It's not just an opinion -- it's a way of life. :) ]
"If there is a copy I'm sure Vere can find it, of course I think it would be much more fun to just leave the child with Vere for an afternoon and spy on him." Paige laughs, "I want to see your brother changing a diaper with one hand holding the mid-wifery book open!"
Paige has done deliveries and is willing to be the "Royal Mid-Wife" if Solace will have her...
..."And maybe I can sit unobtrusively in the corner and offer up a little soothing music," Folly adds.
Then Paige looks to Cambina, enusring that Solace is not within earshot, "Wait! Infant Powers? IT'S A GIRL!"
"Hmm? Oh, yes. That's what the cards say. I guess we find out if they're right on this one. "
Lucas will name off a number of token men to invite to the bachelor party, as well as his merchant crew.
If Vere wants any help with the bachelor party Ossian is eager.
It is agreed that Gerard will perform the ceremony. He asks Vere to help him with the writing, because he's going to have to deliver some sort of homily, and he's not very good at that sort of thing.
"Of course, Father, I will be pleased and honoured to assist in this matter. What sort of sentiments do you wish to convey, and what length are you thinking of? Shall you take this as an opportunity to expound upon the important links between the Royal Family and the citizens of Amber, or simply speak on the matter of new beginnings in the face of tragedy and adversity? Do you think the subject of fertility and children should be avoided, as being too sensitive in the current situation, or is that a foolish and cowardly reaction and should there be some subtle reference to our hopes that a child shall soon be born, as a token of the continuation of life and so on? Should there be any mention at all of our dead? What of the family and friends of everyone present who are still with the Army, how shall we include them in the speech? And finally, what sort of inspirational message do you wish to end with, something personal to the bridal couple, or something of much more applicability to everyone present?"
Gerard looks a little overwhelmed at the barrage of questions. "Erm, probably better not to embarrass poor Solace -- enough of the biddies will be counting on their fingers as it is. Death and dying aren't happy talk for a wedding, so none of that. Otherwise, why don't you just write me something, and we'll go over it together and make any changes?"
"Very good, Father. I will submit a preliminary proposal as soon as possible."
And then back to the library to look for any information on wedding traditions in Amber. It's a pity that we haven't had more Royal weddings in the past, but Vere can at least find out what was usually done at Oberon's weddings, and what is common practice for the weddings of the nobility of Amber.
The who's who of Amber will all be invited. Barenthkov will perform the music at the ceremony -- Vialle insists on this, later confessing to Lucas that she's afraid Lady Vesper will mortally insult Ossian and Reid if they are involved. (She asks Jerod to smooth any trouble with Barenthkov over.)
A couple of bottles of good stuff, some extra time with various notable artists arranged by Jerod and all will be smoothed over. Though if an embarrassing little ditty gets out on the street with a main character that sounds vaguely like Lady Vesper (assuming anyone's foolish enough to piss on Barenthkov)...well, Jerod can't cover every angle now can he?...:)
The ceremony will take place at midday, to reduce the size of the banquet and avoid waste. Vialle asks Folly to arrange for some of the more presentable of her friends from the Pickled Grouse to be available afterwards so that whatever is left of the food can be distributed to the less fortunate.
"Oh, Vialle, you're a peach!" says Folly. "Consider it done."
Vialle asks Ossian to help design the wedding cake and the flowers and such. She needs someone with a good visual sense to help her. She would like Reid to paint a portrait of the bride -- it's short notice, she knows, but she's sure that Reid can help.
Ossian will gladly help Vialle with this. He will try to get a grip of the whole visual part of the ceremony and dinner, including the clothing of both bride and groom. [One day he drags Lucas aside and asks him if he wants to fit into the style or if he wants to be contrating wildly.]
Lucas regards Ossian as though he's gone mad. Quite crisply he responds, "I always either fit the style or start it." and leaves it at that.
Ossian smiles a wry smile: "That is my impression, yes. The question is how far from the everything else you want that starting point to be."
The wedding is set for a fine day in early spring.
About a week before the wedding, the girls host a tea and shower for Solace. After the women of the elder generation leave (shepherded out by Vialle), the girls give her some lingerie for her wedding night.
Actually, Brita probably would have worked on a fan for Solace that had a painting of Solace and Lucas sitting together on a bench in a garden.
That can be her gift for when the elderly ladies are around. The group girl gift is one of those Rebman things arranged by Cambina. ;)
Paige offers a gift of simple smooth polished horn (think ivory) which she had fashioned in Heerat, but has never removed from it's case. "For those long voyages, I fear we'll all have to keep making, this should take our cousin's place rather handily."
Solange turns bright red as she collapses in laughter.
The same evening, the gentlemen have a night of Hazard and other games, ably arranged by Vere based on the advice of Jerod and the men of the Naval.
The wedding is held in the early afternoon on the castle grounds. Everything is very beautiful, including the gentlemen and ladies in their finery. Even the normally rumpled Martin manages to look pressed and polished for the occasion. Brita is mercifully paired with the tallest of the groomsmen. Folly's hair arrangement hides most of her purple streak, somehow.
Gerard gives a very polished homily that everyone in the family recognizes as Vere's work, then marries the happy couple. The bride is radiant, and even though she has to be close to half-way through her pregnancy, her dress disguises the roundness of her belly enough that no one says anything.
After the ceremony, the traditional feast is held in the hall of Castle Amber. It's the biggest occasion that has been held in the hall since the last anniversary celebration of Eric's reign. While there is more than enough to eat, those of you who were present for some of those previous occasions, or have heard of them, can't help but notice that there is just ... less of everything.
Afterwards, the happy couple is permitted to leave without the traditional "putting to bed", which, under the circumstances seems a mercy to everyone involved. The remnants of the feast are gathered up by Ever and a number of his comrades after the guests depart, and distributed to the needy from community HQ at the Pickled Grouse.
Last modified: 1 Jan 2002