July 27, 2004
Dear Treany,
I have decided two weddings in three days, and one a royal wedding, is too many weddings. Although I think Keish had a harder time of it than I did, because Gretel was living with her and so she got to be involved in all of the planning and decisions. Clara figured I was already busy enough without helping with her wedding plans, so she only invited me over a few times. Then she said I wasn’t at all helpful because I just thought all of the options were beautiful and didn’t know which I liked better or why. I suppose you feel the same way when you help me pick out dresses.
Prince Tulson says that his wedding is going to be a trend-setter in high society because he is the first person to ever have reflections made at a wedding. We had to start the reflection-making early because Clara wanted to set one reflection on each of the reception tables. Since you can only make one reflection at a time and they wanted dozens of pictures, this meant two days of standing or sitting as still as possible for as long as possible. Aegolius even put our heads in clamps for a lot of the pictures because it’s so hard to stay perfectly still, even though it’s technically only for a minute at a time, but with so many people in a group, it was longer while Aegolius and Prince Tulson walked around adjusting people’s poses.
We took turns in small groups so that some people could rest and stretch. Prince Tulson’s nieces and nephews would shout out the sixty second countdown for us. They loved watching the reflections being made, but they hated having their own made and several were ruined when a little one screamed or wriggled too much. I’ve had reflections made before, but never more than one at a time. It’s very tedious and by the end of it, Clara admitted it had been a bad idea, but Prince Tulson was still ecstatic. Everyone else was stiff and tired and “contemplating a serious act of treason” as I heard the Duke of Tolbrick mutter to his wife.
I think Aegolius stayed up all night developing the daguerreotypes so we could see them the next day. Everyone was grateful to him for doing this because it helped us to feel more enthusiastic about the second day of reflection making. The reflections are beautiful. Prince Tulson has enlisted the royal portrait maker to color them. Aegolius’s niece Tish instructed him in how to color the plates. Tish has been working with Keish in Adya but Aegolius sent for her the week before the wedding. Crown Prince Dedric said that he had finally found something he hated more than the army’s morning exercise drills (which King Trunsle require all of his sons to participate in).
It was such a relief at the end of the second day when it was over.
We finally made it to the actual wedding day and it was beautiful. True to her desire, Clara wore her mother’s wedding dress. The white satin was shone like new—I found out the effect was made with magic. It was a simple dress with small pieces of homemade lace around the neck and over the short sleeves. Her only jewelry was a solitaire diamond necklace from Prince Tulson and the simplest of the royal tiaras. Clara’s cousin Deborah told me that they tried some of the more elaborate crown jewels, but they looked gaudy with the dress, so they changed their minds. The bridesmaid dresses were equally simple in cut, but they had been hand-dyed with a subtle swirl of pale blue and cream that darkened a bit along the hem and sleeves. Deborah says that it’s a new technique from the master dressmaker Micha Donal in Rousha. There wasn’t any lace on the dresses at all. Clara curled her hair into hundreds of little ringlets and left it fall free down her back. Deborah and I wore our hair in buns with a silver cap and tiny crystal flowers on our earlobes. We also had matching necklaces. The court magician attached them for Deborah and then taught me the spell so I could use it myself. I will bring my dress and jewelry to show you the next time I come to Odsreq.
Prince Tulson wore a white tuxedo with a pale blue rose in the lapel. The groomsmen wore suits of wheaten color with white carnations.
All of the flowers were in pastel colors. The arrangement on each table contained a tiny colored daguerreotype and the pale flowers helped to bring out the subtle colors painted on by the artist. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Queen Elspeth said it was the most beautiful of all her sons’ weddings.
The ceremony was very long with much said about loyalty to home and country and the importance of family. I started to nod off toward the end, which wasn’t good because I was standing at the front where everyone could see me. However, the Crown Prince’s little daughter Devika brought the ceremony to an end by crying out: “You’re just supposed to say ‘Happily ever after’ so we can eat the cake!” We were all in agreement by that point and the priest gave the final words of the ceremony.
The cake was layered with strawberries, cream, and yellow roses, making it the brightest decoration in the reception room among all the pastel decorations. We all filed past to admire it first. Devika threw a bit of a temper tantrum when she found out that we had to eat dinner first, but she calmed down when someone gave her a couple of the sugared violets from the dessert table.
I danced every dance, despite the number of feet I tread on and the fact that, as maid-of-honor, I wasn’t allowed to dance with anyone more than once. Imato, Sean, Mendel, and Jace all took a turn so that I wouldn’t always have to dance with strangers, but it was such a relief when everything was over.
Aegolius and Tish pulled small groups of people into a separate room for reflections throughout the evening, but they left me alone. I couldn’t decide if I was relieved or not, since it would have gotten me out of at least one dance.
I arrived home exhausted and half asleep. Uncle Winthrop put one arm around me to help me up the stairs to our apartment. I rarely stay up past nine on a normal night and the reception lasted until three o’clock in the morning. I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow and didn’t wake up until nine.
Imato and Gretel’s wedding two days later was not nearly so extravagant, but it was just as beautiful, full of bright colors and elaborate embroidery and beadwork. Gretel’s gown was in the traditional Néahm style, brilliant red-orange with gold beadwork throughout. I’m including a sketch of it. She wore several gold bracelets on each arm with different patterns and a matching necklace and real pierced earrings (which are common in Néahm I’m told). She looked like a beautiful exotic bird and so happy that I expected her to take flight at any moment. She curled her black hair into ringlets of the same style that Clara chose, but her hair is dark, so the effect was much more dramatic.
Keish and I wore matching dresses in blue and gold embroidery, a floral pattern. The bodice was gold on blue, the top layer of the skirt blue on gold, and the under layer of the skirt gold on blue. A gold wrap with blue embroidery lay across our shoulders. We wore our hair up with gold and blue ribbons woven throughout. I’m enclosing sketches so you can see the design.
Imato wore a wedding costume of entirely gold fabric with narrow red-orange trim and some embroidery on the front of the tunic. Of course he had to wear his armor for the knighting, but he said many times throughout the night how glad he was that he could change into a Néahm groom’s outfit for the rest of the day.
The day started in the morning with Imato’s knighting. This, of course, took place at the palace with the King himself officiating. I think he was still a bit worn out from
“Now,” he continued, in a soft voice that still managed to carry throughout the room, “it is not the custom of our people to attach sentiment to weapons. We do not name our blades or endow them with symbolic meaning. They are tools to be used in time of need, and it is the privilege of a knight on his retirement to send his sword back to the refiner to be made into something of better value. However, a son who has proven himself worthy of his father’s name, may be knighted with his father’s sword and carry it in battle one year, after which it must be returned to his father or destroyed as we one day hope to destroy all weapons. Imato Quin Etautca, you have earned this privilege, and so I knight you. May you follow in the courageous footsteps of your father.”
He touched the sword briefly to each of Imato’s shoulders.
“Arise, Sir Imato Quin Etautca,” said the king.
Imato stood. He was crying.
It was hard to move from the knighting to the wedding. I think perhaps they should have been on separate days after all. We had only a couple of hours to change into our wedding costumes. Nysa used magic to get our hair into place and then we hurried to the chapel for the ceremony.
The priest kept his words brief, possibly because he could see Devika swinging her legs on one of the back chairs and watching him restlessly. The King’s family insisted on sitting at the back for the wedding, so that family could take the closer seats. Duke Tulson and Duchess Clara were not in attendance, being on their wedding trip, but Queen Elspeth came up after the ceremony and gave me a hug “from Lady Clara,” and congratulated me on making it through the week. I smiled weakly and noted the spell we were going to perform. Fascinated, she drew me aside to hear my account of Liop’s abduction. I was grateful because it got me out of most of the dancing. Later I wondered if Lady Clara had instructed her to do exactly that for me. The only people I danced with were Imato, Sean, and our second cousin Master Beagan Brio.
The tables were decorated with exotic flowers in red and blue with crystal bowl and fire newts for accents. The only excitement was toward the end of the evening when some of the children knocked over a table while chasing each other. Liop and all the children then scattered about catching the fire newts and restoring them to their bowls.
At the end of the reception we cut the cake as is traditional in Rousha, but then after that we broke the “wedding platter” as is traditional in Néahm. The wedding platter is a large circular disk made of candy rather like toffee. The bride and groom shatter it against a brass globe and give pieces to all the guests. It was delicious.
I finally went to bed a little after midnight, collapsing with my bridesmaid dress still on. Nysa removed it in my sleep. I slept until nine again and woke up feeling like I had seen enough weddings to last the rest of my life.
I wish you could have come to the weddings, Treany. You would have loved them. I hope you and your family are all well and that we can get together again soon.
Love,
Arri
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