Arrangements and negotiations

"Well, not about the vows themselves, but about the private ceremony... will we have rings?" Aleyn asked. "I know you two will probably have to have them for the public ceremony, and so I'm just wondering how that will work out best. I'd like to have one too, but obviously if we do ours first, then you guys would have to take your rings off and then... put them on again for the public ceremony? Is that what makes the most sense, do you think? Will anyone notice if you're wearing them for a little while before-hand? Heh, hand," he chuckled at his own inadvertent pun.

"I think that should be fine? I don't know how much time there will be in between the two, anyway, but I can't imagine it will be a huge problem. I suppose if we needed to we could wear them some other way - on a chain, maybe."

"I don't think anyone will really notice, do you?" Ardith asked tentatively. "And it'd likely be easy to play off if we really have to. I...Once we've had our ceremony, I'd rather not take them off except when truly necessary."

Ardith paused for a moment in thought.

"Vedran, if you don't mind my asking, what did you do with your wedding ring while adventuring? Did you take it with you?"

"I did. I always wore it."

"There might be times if I'm working with certain chemicals when it might be best for me to take mine off so it doesn't get etched or damaged, but I can wear it on a chain then, to make sure I don't lose it," Aleyn added. "Otherwise, yes, I'd like to keep mine on as much as possible too."

He gave each of them a look. "Did either of you have more to say about this, or should we move on to another topic... say, children?"

"I didn't really have more to add right now about rings, and I'd be interested to talk about arrangements for children," Ardith responded.

"I know that we may have trouble with some of the inheritances we get," she said, gesturing to her and Vedran, "transferring to children officially adopted only by you, but I think we can structure our wills and trusts to account for them. There may be some legal construction to be done, but, as an end result, I'd like for any children we have to all receive the same benefits and consideration."

Ardith smirked.

"Legally, I mean. Obviously they're all going to get the same level of love and care."

"Benefits like being PCs?" Aleyn said uncertainly. "Because of course I would want that for them, if we can arrange it..."

"I'd need to check, but I think there might be something about getting PC status for the children of PCs who otherwise wouldn't 'qualify'," Ardith said, the last word spoken with obvious disgust. "Uh, it may involve officially filing their paperwork in other cities..."

"I think we should be able to manage that, yes, and I think we're on the same page about everything else. With Macen though... I had to agree to certain matters about his inheritance, and formally recognize him as my heir, as part of the ..divorce. Our custody agreement says that we get equal time with him. We'd settled on every two weeks, while we're in the city, and while he's still so young, but that may need to be renegotiated, depending on where we wind up."

"Maybe I'm not quite understanding the details about inheritance," Aleyn said slowly, "or about Macen being your heir specifically - is that different than what the other kids would get? Like... he would get your land and title and stuff? But the other things you were talking about, Ardith, is that more about money? Or is it about your family's titles and lands too?"

"I guess it does come down to money, yes, but its tied into titles and lands. We can't give them all titles, and we can't give them all lands in their own name, but we should be able to make sure they all receive revenues from those things. I hope they'll all want to support each other on their own, but rivalries can happen despite our best efforts. I don't want to leave anyone worse off for not being able to claim nobility."

Vedran nodded, glad that Ardith knew more about these things than he did. "We should, hopefully, have lots of time to sort it out."

"I'm hoping I don't have to wait too long to adopt," Aleyn said. "I mean, I think it'll have to be after Nachtur - until then, things are just too up in the air - but shortly after that, if possible? Assuming I have a place to bring them that's suitable, anyway."

"Oh - I meant more that.... hopefully any concerns about inheritance will be a ways off yet. I assumed you'd be taking them as soon as things were settled enough. Have you talked to the matrons there about actually adopting Saiya and Mhireen yet?"

"Not formally," Aleyn said. "I guess I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up until I knew more what was happening. But I will, now that I'm confident I'll be able to take them and provide properly for them. It would be nice if either or both of you wanted to come meet them before they come home, too - I try to go down there to see the kids whenever I have some spare time, and you'd be welcome to come with me," he added with a smile.

"That sounds great, Aleyn. I'd love to," Ardith replied. "Maybe we should make a day of it? Vedran, you could bring Macen and we could go...oh, to the zoo, or just one of the parks or something."

Vedran smiled. "That would be lovely. I know Macen will never get bored of the zoo, but we could see what the other kids think? We'd have to set it up in advance with the matrons, anyway. I'm sure they'd be more willing to let us take just the two once you talk to them, Aleyn."

"I'm sure that would be a lot of fun," Aleyn agreed. "I'll talk to the matrons as soon as I can, then. It should be good practice, I guess, for taking the three of them places." He paused for a moment. "Although I guess eventually it will be more than three..."

Ardith blushed, her scales allowing a bit of the coloration change to show through.

"Well, ah, I don't think we'll need to worry about that for a while yet."

Vedran blushed as well. "N-no. Not right away but... we will."

Aleyn nodded. "I'm sorry, I know it's a difficult thing to talk about. I was mostly just thinking in terms of these contracts... about what all we need to include in them, to make sure our kids - all of them - are okay, protected, whatever they need. I know Vedran said we can probably amend the contracts later if we need to, but I don't know how complicated that would be... So, planning ahead to cover things now seems like a good idea, even if the actual kids themselves take a little while to show up," he added with a bit of a smile. "Also, can I just mention how happy it makes me to say 'our kids'?"

Vedran nodded, smiling at the both of them - both of his fiancés - and squeezed Ardith's hand. "I like the sound it. But it does bring up something else I had thought about... Which is whether, maybe ...after Ardith and I have..a kid, or kids... whether Aleyn and I might want to consider the same." He looked to Aleyn, "I know we sort of mentioned it, but I thought we should all talk about it."

Ardith smiled at Aleyn's last statement, nodding. Her expression grew more pensive when Vedran spoke.

"I'm definitely not against the idea, and it seems like a good one in theory at least. Just, and I feel bad this is a consideration, but its a significant expense, for anyone. It seems like something we'll need to plan for well ahead of time. Though I guess a child should be that anyway."

Aleyn looked worried. "How much?"

"Somewhere in the range of 5000 gold..." He smiled sympathetically at Aleyn's shocked look. "But I guess it is another good reason to talk about it now, even if it is something that might happen years down the road."