Part two – Lace and blessings

When I got to my sister's office that day, I knocked on the door and waited for that London accent, not the old London accent of Cockney, but more multicultural that had started to become more common the last time I was there called out, "Enter."

Opening the door I saw her sitting at her desk, her black jacket hung on the coat rack her white top unbuttoned at the top button and she was looking hard at more reports, she took a moment to look up from them and said to me, "Good, you're on time today."

I snort in frustration at her before I say, "You requested that I don't run late."

"I can request to shoot fireballs out of my arse, that doesn't mean it'll happen though." She snipes back.

I fold my arms across my chest and say with a snide tone, "Use a match next time you have to fart."

She blinks her green eyes at me a couple of times and asks, "I don't get it?"

I sigh and roll my eyes as I say, "Humans expel methane when they do that, if they time it right with a match it looks like a fireball."

Her head tilts to the side and she asks, "Does that really work?"

I nod and take a seat across from her as I say, "From personal experience, yes."

"You've lead a strange life." She says to me as she leans back in her seat.

"You asked." I respond with a shrug.

She sighs and slides a document across to me and asks, "Any idea why I would find this in the files left behind by Elizabeth?"

I roll the document over and start to read it before my eyes go wide and I say to her, "It's a notification of intent to marry. It's a document that needs to be submitted back home for a wedding to take place."

"I know that much, but why did she have one on hand?" Sovereign asks.

I rub the back of my head and sigh out, "Because she was planning on strong-arming me into an arrangement with someone."

She nods and pulls the paper back across her desk and asks, "Did she?"

I sigh and smile a little before I say, "After threatening to put me out to stud, yes. In the end, she forced me into an engagement with Illustrious."

My sister's lips compress and her nostrils flare before she asks, "Do you want me to put an end to that?"

I put my hand up and shake my head as I say to her, "No, if anything Illustrious has become my island of calm. She tempers my worst instincts and helps me see the brighter side of things, honestly, I don't know what I'd do without her at this point."

"Be freer to pick and choose where you put your AP shell?" my sister says with a sideways look.

"But I don't want to do that I-" I was saying as she cut me off by saying, "And does she know you're fooling around on her?"

I blink a couple of times before I ask, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You being late after, you know." She says.

"I was with Illustrious! For god sakes, if I'm not on duty I'll be found by her side!" I all but yell getting to my feet.

"Huh." She said with a tone that suggested it was news to her.

I run my hands over my head as I snap at her, "And I was planning on coming in here to share the good news with you today, to try and build a damned bridge with you!"

She makes a dismissive gesture with one hand as she asks, "And what would it have been?"

"I got around to asking her for her hand this time, an honest ask without outside pressure, and she accepted." I say, unable to keep the happy tone out of my voice.

She nods and starts to look at a part of the paper as her head tilts to the other side and she starts to type on her computer, after a moment she says to me, "There might be an issue."

"What kind of an issue, we're not related and we're adults." I say, folding my arms across my chest.

She sighs and points to the line that requires us to both be more than eighteen without parental consent and I say to her, "And your point is?"

Sovereign shakes her head and turns the monitor, showing Illustrious' data file and she points to the age of the kansen body, seven years, I then point to the hull's age of past one hundred and fifty.

"That's the problem, which will it be? She looks old enough for this document, but which will they take? And you've got the same problem, only in reverse. Your body is older than your hull." She says to me, leaning back in her chair again.

I take a seat across from her again; I understood what she was getting at. Though His Majesty strong-armed parliament into granting us the rights and freedoms of a citizen of the United Kingdom, damn I didn't expect this kind of wrinkle. After a moment I ask, "Can I get a copy of my and Illustrious' files? I need to talk with Conqueror, Dominion, and my aunt George."

"Why?" she asks me as she hits the print key.

"George should be able to request a new form for the UK, she is kansen after all. Conqueror and Dominion should be able to get a hold of people in the government to find out how it needs to be filled out." I say to her, pausing before I add, "And worst case Dominion might be able to have some sway over His Majesty if needed."

"Good luck with that then." She says to me before tossing another folder at me and adding, "The tasks I need you to take care of today."

I open the folder and see a list of ships and I ask, "What do you need done?"

"I need you to evaluate them and see if we should keep them in port or should I transfer them out for museum duty." She says.

I do a quick scan of the names before I say, "Seems like you gave me mostly light cruisers to deal with."

She nods before saying, "I didn't think you'd be objective on the KGV sisters or Illustrious."

I feel my jaw tighten before I ask, "That's actually rather prudent."

After a moment, I guess where she was reading my body language she says, "Relax, I'd be a fool to send Illustrious away, she is our only carrier here, what I am debating is if one is enough. So part of my evaluation is to see what she thinks on that."

I relax before closing my folder as I say to her, "I best get started on this then, the maid corps is often overworked as it is."

Just as I get to the door she asks me, "Do you think we can talk them out of that? It seems a little demeaning to see kansen reduced to maids."

I sigh and shake my head as I say, "I've tried before. If I had to guess, I think they seem to like the work."

"It's strange, don't you think?" she asks me.

I laugh a little before I say back, "I try not to, it tends to get me into trouble when I do."

I see it for a second, a smirk on her face before she waves a dismissive gesture at me and I head off for my assigned tasks today.

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It was going on for twenty-hundred hours by the time I got back to the flat, once I was in I tossed the files for myself and Illustrious on the coffee table and flopped onto my back on the couch before I took out my phone and sent a text to my Aunt George about my request as well as a pair of texts to Conqueror and Dominion about what I needed them to do. I didn't expect to get an answer today; it was late or very early where they are now, depending on how you looked at the clock.

Still, I was thankful that most of the maid corps made the time to talk to me, but like usual Belfast had been indispensable in figuring things out after I had all the reports collected. She offered to look everything over and suggested sending Curacoa and Curlew home for retirement. Well, that should make Sovereign a bit happier and free up a little dock space. I run my hands down my face before I undo my shirt and sit up a little to look at the kitchenette. I really don't feel hungry right now, so I flop back down on the couch and flip on the TV for some mindless program, as it goes on I start to feel my eyelids get heavy and I let them shut.

I jolt awake sometime later, the TV is off along with the lights, but I notice a blanket is draped across me and I smile, Illustrious must've come home sometime later and saw me passed out on the couch. I sit up and turn on the light to see a sticky note left on the file folds, lifting it off I give it a read out loud, "I filled out my information, but I didn't know what to put for age."

I open the folder and see the marriage document half filled out with another sticky note on it telling me to look in the fridge for dinner. I close the folder and head into the kitchen and open the fridge to see a plate wrapped in plastic that had a couple of sausages on it along with some mash.

Once I've reheated my dinner I sit at the table and start to wonder about that document, I honestly hope they won't use the youngest age of us against us. I mean was in my twenties before all of this stuff happened to me, and her hull is more than old enough. But that might be the very problem; they will have to use a metric that will need to apply to all kansen. I sigh and run a hand over my head as I say, "It's out of my hands right now; I just need to sit tight and wait on the information."

I just put the first bite of dinner into my mouth when I feel some arms slide along my shoulders and a weight land on the top of my head before I hear her voice ask, "Are you going to come to bed?"

I smile and lean my head against her left arm as I say, "Once I've had something to eat."

She lets go of me and moves to sit across from me in just a tank top and her underwear and she asks me flat out, "So, any idea on how I should fill out my date of birth?"

I sigh and hang my head before I tell her, "I honestly have no idea, it all depends on how the government says we should fill it out. We both have the same issue, just in reverse."

"How so?" she asks with her head tilting to the side.

"For you, your hull is older than your body, for me, my body is older than my hull." I get out between bites, before adding, "Either way, both of us fail to meet the minimum age requirement in one way or another."

She leans back in her chair and strokes some hair before asking, "Why does it matter?"

I shrug before I say, "It's to do with the legal definition of an adult and being able to make life-affecting decisions."

Her brow knits together for a moment before she says, "So what you're saying is that the UK government feels we are old enough to risk our lives but we might not be old enough to understand that getting married is a life-altering event? Do they even understand that for us, till death do us part can be a really long time provided we take proper care of our hulls?"

I nod before I fill her in, "That's why I asked my Aunt George to request a new application. The one Elizabeth had on hand was written before kansen were recognized as a people by the government, so it might be out of date. I've also asked Conqueror and Dominion to probe different offices to see how it needs to be filled out, just to make sure that we dot all the I's and cross all the t's."

Illustrious frowns as she folds her arms under her bust and pouts out, "And here I was hoping for a wedding next spring."

I reach across the table to touch her arms as I say, "That could still happen. I just need to have a little faith in my family to get things done for me."

She stops pouting and smirks as she teases, "Now look who's talking about having faith."

I shrug and tease back, "I guess someone is having an effect on me."

After I put my fork down I look out the window and ask a different question, "What did you think of Sovereign's questions today?"

Illustrious is quiet for a moment and I hear her adjust how she's sitting before she says, "I told her that being our only carrier here is a lot of work and that I need to be in so many places at once." She pauses and I see out of the corner of my eye that she takes my fork and takes a bite of my dinner before she says, "And that I think it would be a good idea for us to have at least two more carrier types here."

I look back at her and raise an eyebrow before I say, "I bet you suggested Victorious and Formidable."

She smiles at me and says, "You know me so well."

I take the last bite of dinner before I take my dishes to the sink, once I have them in there I walk back over to her and help her stand before I lift her into a bridal carry and ask, "Bed?"

She smiles while locking her arms around my neck as she says, "Bed."

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When I got into the office the next day with my folder from my assigned tasks from yesterday, I found Sovereign already hard at work. But something was off, I could see that her clothes were wrinkled, she had to-go teacups piled around her and bags under her eyes. I sigh inwardly and put my right hand down on the file she was looking at, causing her to look up at me and I could see she was exhausted. She looks at me and her eyes narrow a little as she snaps, "Oi! What do you think you're doing?"

"Forcing my little sister to take a break," I say in a commanding tone before I add, "You're no good to the fleet if you're exhausted."

"I am no-" she started to protest as I point to the piled-up cups and she sighs and hangs her head before saying, "fine, maybe I am."

"Illustrious suggested that maybe you should go shopping with her today so that you two could get to know one another properly, I for one agree with her." I pause before taking a slightly less hard stance and tone before I add, "You're going to need friends here, you'll find it easier to lead if those under you actually like you, or at the very least you have someone that can be your advocate."

Sovereign gets out from behind her desk and puts on her jacket as she asks, "Fine, but why Illustrious?"

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose before I say to her, "You mean aside from the fact that she is going to be your sister-in-law? She's a good and sweet person that helps even a monster like me, see the bright side of things."

Sovereign rolls her eyes and sighs out, "Fine."

Once she leaves the office I call Illustrious, once she picks up I let her know, "Sovereign is on her way to you, can you suggest maybe going shopping together? I kind of told her you suggested it to me already."

I hear Illustrious sigh before she says, "You're awful sometimes, but I'll forgive that little white lie since it's for a good cause to get her out from under all that paperwork."

I smile and rub the back of my head as I say to her, "Thanks, love you by the way."

She laughs before saying back, "Love you too." With that, the line went dead and I sat behind Sovereign's desk for a bit and started to go over the documents for her.

XXXX

After slogging away at all the needed documents for hours I headed for my flat, stretching in the process just as I hear my phone make noise. I stop and take it out to see that I've got both a text and an e-mail from my Aunt George. I open the text first and read it out loud to myself, "I managed to get a look at the printed version of the paper you wanted, and I got a digital version that I e-mailed to you, does this mean I can expect an invite to a wedding soon?"

I quickly go to the e-mail and look at the document, the first thing I noticed was that it was for kansen to kansen, the second thing I noticed was that it asked for our pennant numbers rather than our date of birth. That actually makes a lot of sense and gives them a way around the issue of our hulls and bodies. I slip my phone back into my pocket and I can't help but grin, oh this is good news!

I hurry home to my flat to share the good news with Illustrious.

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When I open the door, I hear laughter, Illustrious' own and some in a London accent and a voice I've been getting to know lately Sovereign. I take a deep breath and close the door behind me and go to the living room, I'm expecting to see tea and biscuits and yet, that's not what I find. I find the two of them sitting with bags of crisps beside them and beers in their hands.

When they notice me, they stop laughing and Sovereign looks at me over the back of the couch with a raised eyebrow as she slurs out, "Did that really happen?"

"Did what really happen?" I ask her back.

"That one of those blasted foxes strip you naked and you had to have your hide saved by one of the Iron Blood." She says with a smirk.

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose and nod slowly before I ask, "Did she tell you about falling over when she tried to pick something up?"

"No!" came the voice of my sister as I sense her attention turning to Illustrious.

"You're just awful." Came the voice of my island of clam, even if she was offended by it, there was still some levity to her tone.

"Anyway, I got some good news today." I say as I take out my phone and bring up the document and hand it over to Illustrious as I add, "They don't want age for kansen to kansen unions, just our pennant numbers."

Sovereign gets off the couch and walks over to see what Illustrious is looking at, she blinks a couple of times before saying, "You also need the permission of your flagship."

Both myself and Illustrious look at Sovereign as she takes the phone from Illustrious and types in her name and pennant number before handing it back as she says with a lewd gesture, "Done, now I'm going home and you two can do whatever it is you do at night."

Illustrious looked a little mortified and all I could do was hang my head and laugh. Once Sovereign was gone, I turn to Illustrious and say to her, "I wish I recorded that, I think she was drunk."

Illustrious sipped from her can before saying, "She only had two cans."

"Only two?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

I started to walk over to her, just as I get close Illustrious stands up and wobbles a little before falling forward and saying, "Maybe I had a little more than two."

With a laugh, I help her up and to our room as I say, "Let's get you to bed."

Illustrious leans over and playfully nips my ear as she suggests, "You coming too?"

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A/N: Next up, the long waited wedding chapter!