Arrangements and negotiations

Vinalia was of course excited to meet her son's future wife, and soon had made plans to have Ardith over for dinner one evening - with Vedran and Aleyn in attendance as well, of course. The two ladies had seemed to hit it off well, and indeed spent so much time chatting over the meal about Ardith's work, her family, various social events, and so forth that the men barely got a word in edgewise.

After dessert, however, Vinalia excused herself with a smile, and gave quiet instructions to her staff not to disturb her guests unless summoned - the young people had not had many opportunities for privacy so far, and she could certainly provide them with that.

For a few moments they sat together quietly, sipping their coffee and (in Aleyn's case at least) helping themselves to just one more biscuit, as if no one was quite sure how to begin the conversation. "Vedran told me," Aleyn said at last, "how things went... Thank you for, uh, including me, even if I couldn't be there..."

Ardith smiled, still looking awkward.

"Well, it didn't seem right not to mention you. I mean, it does look like we're all going to be big parts of each other's lives."

Vedran nodded, setting down his cup with a smile. "Yes... I want to do this right, so I suppose we still have quite a lot to sort out, and a lot of getting to know each other better too. I'm just not quite sure what to start with, now that you're both here, and we have some time."

"Well, perhaps we can start with discussing who we're comfortable telling about this? I would like to be able to tell my mother, for instance, but I don't want to make anyone else uncomfortable by spreading the news too widely. I imagine Vedran and I will have to tell the rest of the Thunderbolts as well, once they return. We've already let them know the official side of the story, of course..." Aleyn smirked a little, remembering the exchange in the book. "I'm pretty sure they suspect there's more to it than that, though."

Vedran nodded. "At least, they - The Thunderbolts, I mean - are going to know Aleyn and I are still together, and hopefully that you're aware and accepting."

Ardith looked lost in thought for a moment before answering.

"Well, I'd been considering this, which obviously you must have as well. I have a few people I'd like to tell, but believe me I understand the need for discretion. I kind of assumed you'd need to tell your team. How many other people are you wanting to tell?"

Vedran nodded. "I'd like to be able to tell my mother - though I'm sure she'll guess anyway, and some of my close friends on the team, like Brenn and Beryl, Thru, Cael, Alia... I expect I will have to tell my father regardless, but I think he'll understand not wanting to spread it in the family further, with the possible exception of my half-brother."

"Oh, I, uh... might have already told your mother," Aleyn said shyly. "At least, I mentioned it was a possibility, so she's probably figured it out by now..." He considered for a moment. "Like I said, I'd want to be able to tell my mother... most of my siblings, it's probably best if they don't know, at least for now, but maybe Tavya, especially if she agrees to come help out with the kids... And I'd like to tell my friend Lila, if possible. Maybe one or two people at the temple... well... I guess that depends on which temple we decide to go with for our own ceremony - if it's Sehanine, then certainly there are some people I would trust there."

"I'd like to talk to my sister Liuba about this," Ardoth responded. "And my friends Catinne, Amala, and Besnik. They should all be able to make it here for the ceremony. Speaking of which, how do we want to handle that? The private ceremony, I mean. I imagine the big public one will have to deal with a lot of input from our families."

"Well, settling on a church might be a good place to start with that." Vedran smiled. "I don't have a strong opinion on that myself, but you both may?"

"I don't want to be presumptuous - I know we all have our own devotion to particular deities," Aleyn began, "but the church of Sehanine kind of specializes in this sort of thing. Or at least, in secret or unconventional relationships. And for me personally, that makes the most sense - I already have contacts there, and I know it'd be kept private - but of course I'd say that," he added with a bashful shrug. "I'm willing to listen to any other suggestions either of you might have, though. I assume whatever church we go with, we'll have to write our own vows - there's unlikely to be a preordained ritual for this precise... configuration." He glanced from Vedran to Ardith with a smile. "Probably going to be a fairly small group of guests, it sounds like, but that's all right - it'll be more personal that way."

"You're right, one of the Sehanine temples makes the most sense," Ardith agreed. "I was hoping the public ceremony could be in the Temple of Erathis the Lawgiver, but I wasn't sure what everyone else's opinion would be."

"Those both make sense to me. I think the my family will be fine with the temple of Erathis for the public ceremony."

"That sounds fine with me," Aleyn agreed. "Uh... will I be doing anything for the public ceremony?" He turned to look at Vedran. "I imagine you'll be kind of nervous... would you like me to be there to help? And I guess we also need to consider which will be first..."

Vedren took a deep breath, thinking for a moment. Kind of nervous was an understatement. "I think... I would find it all easier, I think, if we can work things out for our private marriage first, though it will mean not having the Thunderbolts here. And of course I want you there, for the other, but how is going to be one of those things that might not be completely up to us. I know I want you and Brenn to stand with me though. Maybe Beryl, dependigng on how traditional we keep that."

"Okay," said Aleyn. "I just didn't want to be there just a guest..." He left aside the possibility of him not being there at all as too distressing to think about. "If we sort out the ... the real wedding first, then hopefully it'll be easier to deal with the show one, for all of us. Will it be a problem for the, uh, wedding night, though, if you two aren't... publicly married yet? Could you stay overnight, Ardith? And where would... we... even stay?" He blushed at bringing up the subject, but he figured they would have to talk about it sooner or later.

Vedran went from feeling a little nervous to wanting to curl up into a fetal ball. The blood drained from his face and he felt ill. "Oh - I don't...-" was about all he got out before his thoughts froze up and all he could manage was to shake his head.

"Oh, uh, well," Ardith mumbled shyly, casting a worried look at Vedran, "I'd assumed that a 'wedding night' wedding night would be a ways off. I know there are...things to work out in that regard."

She swallowed nervously.

"But, yes, I could stay, and I'd like to, in a manner comfortable for everyone."

Vedran nodded, tension easing a little. He still couldn't quite speak, or look at either of them. He reached for his coffee cup instead, taking a slow sip. "Sorry," he muttered after he'd swallowed.

"It's okay," Aleyn said, reaching out to put a reassuring hand on Vedran's arm. "I didn't mean anything would happen beyond what all of us are comfortable with - and like Ardith said, we can take as much time as we need to figure out where those boundaries lie. I just thought... to get things off on the right foot, it feels important that we have that time together - whether we decide to use it for talking, or getting used to being around each other like that, or even just sleeping."

Vedran nodded again, though he wasn't really sure what Aleyn meant by 'liked that'. It wasn't something he felt up to examining more closely. "Right. That would be good - to have time together."

Aleyn dropped his gaze. "I just... if I'm going to have to leave, and be apart from you both for a while, I'd like to have that night at least... just for us."

Nodding again, Vedran set his cup back down and offered a hand to each of them, smiling nervously.

"Well, as things stand, it doesn't seem like we'll be apart too long," Ardith said, taking Vedran's offered hand and casting a smile towards Aleyn. "We'll be working together pretty closely, and, from what Monti's told me about our preparations, we'll be in the field soon enough."

"...We?"