It had been two months since the initial discussion at Mount Royal and he was back in the palace.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Ranma muttered to himself. He was dressed in a tuxedo. Alfred and Benedict stood by him with Ama-chan who was not on his shoulder for once. The bride's party (Honor, Hamish, and Leah) were waiting in a nearby room without the bride.
Evidently Benedict had heard him because he smirked and said, "I can't believe you're doing this either."
Benedict was official the best man, if anyone asked. His sister Leah was official the bridesmaid and Honor was the matron. Alfred and Hamish were standing in for the fathers of the groom and the bride, respectively.
Honor's lawyer had drawn up a prenuptial agreement that Ranma had already signed in both his forms. It had been decided that his male side would keep the name Ranma Harrington. His female side would be called Ran Marie Harrington. The Crown had created a full set of records for her. His degrees were duplicated as well as his employment history. With the destruction of Yawata Crossing not many could dispute them. No one would actually guess the truth on their wildest guess even if they discovered the records were fabricated. His female side would join the Navy and would be active duty. His male side would also join and keep the same rank as she advanced up to a certain point, but would be officially squirreled away on some "black project." Ran Marie would also have been adopted by Claire, but since they were not supposed to be close blood relatives, they had been allowed to marry by a special Crown disposition. Ranma had elected to use the nanotechnology to disguise his male form's DNA, so he was marrying his second cousin by birth and his sister by adoption according to the official records.
Ranma had wanted a simple ceremony before a trustworthy judge, if an actual ceremony was required. He was getting that, mostly-but Honor and Allison had insisted that he (and she!) needed to dress up so that they could get at least one picture. They had claimed that it would be funny if he didn't have at least one. The picture would have to be doctored to have him appear in it twice, but Honor assured him that no one would be able to tell without very specialized equipment.
Ranma had put his foot down on having a Wedding March, or any of the normal accompaniments of a wedding. The only thing he had given in on were flowers and some modest decorations for the room it actually took place in.
A servant entered the room and said, "The Empress is here."
Ranma entered the room with Ama-chan and Alfred on either side of him and Benedict trailing behind him. The judge who would perform the ceremony was standing at the front. The Empress and the Prince Consort were seated in the room as well as the rest of those at the previous meeting and his remaining adopted relatives. The room also contained quite a few treecats. From the other side Hamish, Honor, and Leah walked in.
The judge said, "We are here to wed Ranma Harrington to Ran Marie Harrington. Are there any objections?" Benedict snickered beside Ranma, who elbowed him.
The judge turned to Ranma, "Ranma Harrington, do you take Ran Marie Harrington to be your legal and lawful wife."
"I do."
The judge nodded and Ranma left the room to go to the Bride's Dressing Room, which was a prepared woman's restroom, with Honor and Leah. He picked up a glass of water set aside on the sink and entered a stall. He stripped down and poured the water on his chest-he did not want his hair wet. She dressed in her undergarments and left the stall. Honor and Leah helped her get into her wedding dress, fix her hair, and apply a small amount of make up. The dress was fairly simple and at Ranma's insistence did not have a train.
The three of them walked back into the room with the judge and Ran took her place next to Hamish and Leah.
The judge said, "Ran Marie Harrington, do you take Ranma Harrington to be your legal and lawful husband?"
"I do."
"By the authority vested in me by the Star Empire of Manticore, I pronounce you husband and wife."
The "you may now kiss the bride" was conspicuously absent.
Ran signed the marriage certificate and posed for three pictures: one with all the guests, one with just the Harrington Clan, and one by herself. Then she went and changed in the restroom back to her male form and tuxedo. He signed the marriage certificate as a male and posed for several pictures by himself that could be superimposed on the pictures with his female form. The Empress and Prince Consort signed in the witness lines on the certificate.
The Empress congratulated Ranma.
He shook his head and said, "I still don't understand why all this was necessary."
She laughed and said, "Let your Aunt and female cousins have their fun. Besides the pictures will make it a better cover. Come by tomorrow at 2 in the afternoon and we can get you sworn in as Earl and Countess."
"Yes, Your Majesty," he said.
All the non-Harringtons left after a short bit. Ranma changed into something more comfortable than the tux and rejoined his extended family. Allen was heading back to Beowulf, his home planet, tomorrow and the clan didn't know when they would see him again.
Ran stood next to a body double for her male self in one of the anterooms adjacent to the meeting chamber for the House of Lords. Ama-chan was perched on her shoulder. Honor had paid for body sculpt for the double claiming that she had more money than she could spend and that she owed the Lords a good prank for them tossing her out years ago. Ran was in her female form because it was easier to get a double for her male body's type. She would be in charge of finding someone if she needed to do this again. The sound system in the anteroom let them know what the Speaker was saying.
"Our first order of business is to welcome the new Earl and Countess Harrington," the Speaker of the Lords said.
Ran and the body double walked to their seats which an usher had pointed out beforehand. The Lords liked their comfort, so there was enough room at their spot for two seats-even if it was not incredibly spacious.
"The Earl and Countess have decided to share the Peerage due to some personal special circumstances. The Crown and the Government have agreed to this, but do not want this to become a common occurrence, so they have set the following requirements: both the Earl and the Countess have voting rights, whichever is present exercises the voting rights, if they disagree, the vote counts as abstaining, the split of the Earldom is permanent while both live, divorce will not reverse the split, and the first heir of either will inherit the full Earldom once both are deceased. If any other Peer wishes to share the Peerage with a spouse, they must agree to the same contingencies."
A light on the desk of Stefan Young, Earl North Hollow, lit. Honor had warned Ran that the Conservative Association made North Hollow its Harrington stalking horse as punishment for his deceased brother's feud with Honor. His job was to question everything Honor said, since no one expected him to play nice with her anyway. This allowed the Conservatives to get a word in with little political consequences which they could easily expand on if they had something legitimate to say. Ran supposed that she got lumped in with Honor, being another Harrington.
"Earl North Hollow?" said the Speaker.
"One wonders why the Harrington Clan," said North Hollow, "has decided to grace us with yet another deviant practice. My understanding is that you are siblings?"
North Hollow must have had someone search for information on the new Earl and Countess. Ran looked at his aura. It looked bored rather than malicious confirming Ran's guess that he was just going through the motions. Ran pushed the attention button and waited for the Speaker to acknowledge her.
"It is true that we are adopted siblings," Ran said, "but we are not siblings by blood. This is one of the reasons we decided to share the Peerage. No one knows which of us was adopted first, since it was done at the same time. The Crown gave us a special disposition to marry since we are not violating any legitimate incest taboo." Ran was proud of herself for avoiding the supposed actual relationship with her other self.
No one had any other questions for the new Earl and Countess and no one issued a formal request to bar them from their seat. The Grantville Government and the Harrington name were too popular, currently, to oppose over something which everyone supposed would be a disadvantage.