Author's note: I do not own Trinity Blood or its characters. This is set five years after the end of the anime.
In Which There Is a Rehearsal and a Dinner
Caterina bit her lip. This was not going to be an easy night. Hopefully, there would not be any major diplomatic incidents, but with this crew, you never knew. Caterina took a deep breath and waded into the fray. They needed to get everyone through the rehearsal alive and in one piece. Truthfully, Caterina was more concerned about that than getting through the wedding tomorrow. Time to get to work.
Rounding up all the bridesmaids was a lot of work. It was like herding cats. Not to mention she also had to collect the flower girls, ring bearers, and the pages. Caterina wanted to get through the service as quickly as possible. Once they were done with the rehearsal, then everyone could relax until they got to the actual service. Once she got everyone together, Caterina had the pleasant task of getting everyone organized for the procession. Esther would be last, of course, escorted by Abel. First would be the flower girls followed by the ring bearers with the rings and then the ones with the crowns. The bridesmaids would follow them, and it would be her turn, and finally Esther's. But first she had to get everyone lined up and partnered with their escort.
That alone nearly took twenty minutes. Thankfully, most of the decisions about the order of the bridesmaids and escorts had already been decided. It was just a matter of getting people to the right places and to pay attention. It took two attempts before they actually all made it down the aisle. Thankfully, they didn't have to go through the full content of the service. They just went through abbreviated versions of the music and readings to give everyone of an idea of how things will go.
And even that took longer than it should have. There was a fuss over who needed to stand where and what the signals for movement were. The recessional turned out to be incredibly tricky. Part of that was they didn't get to simply leave in reverse order that they had arrived in. Once they got all that figured out, Mirka made them run through the procession and recession three more times just to make sure everyone knew what they were doing. The bridesmaids got grumpier with each repetition, and Caterina couldn't blame them. Even she was sick of this.
It was an unmitigated relief when they were finally released to go to dinner. Everyone was starving, and people had already been grumpy because of it. Caterina decided she was better off waiting till everyone else had served themselves from the buffet before attempting to get her own food. She would rather not be trampled to death. It was an informal dinner thankfully. Caterina didn't that anyone here was really up to a formal event after the grueling rehearsal. Once she managed to get some food, she did her best to find a seat out of the way. She just wasn't up to dealing with a complex discussion right now.
Abel ended up joining her at her table. He offered her a warm smile.
"Tired?"
"Exhausted, but the nights not over yet." She sighed. "We have to be up early tomorrow, and everyone will need their rest, including Esther."
"It's almost over," he offered.
"True."
Abel squeezed her hand. "You'll survive. Besides, you promised me a dance at the reception."
She held onto his hand as they watched Esther and Ion sitting together, and she couldn't help but think it was all worth it.