"Have you two began planning your wedding?" North asked.
Aqua felt as if her stomach dropped out beneath her. He was asking as simply as if he were discussing the weather. She shot Jack a panicked look. There had been a lot of things she and Jack had discussed. Their wedding was not one of them. She wasn't entirely sure why it had been put off. Little did she know, Jack was specifically not discussing their impending marriage for her comfort.
"I'll be honest, Father. No." Jack's reply was blunt if not apologetic. "A lot has happened that wedding planning was…sort of tossed aside."
"That will not do," North said. "We have to have a date set."
Aqua squirmed in her seat. She still wasn't entirely comfortable having breakfasts with the royal family just yet, even less so with her future father-in-law talking about the wedding bells. However, the wedding was the whole reason she was even in their kingdom in the first place. Or enjoying half of the new things that she was.
"We'll set a date," Aqua said quietly.
"I take it you know good wedding planners?" Jack asked. There was a shadow of desperation in his words.
North stroked his chin, invisible beneath his snow white beard. A gleam caught in his eyes as he smiled. Between the amused grin that lit up Elsa's face, the way Riku was now coughing in his drink and the sheer panic in Jack's eyes, Aqua was now afraid of whomever Jack was talking about. She looked wide eyed between the entire family with trepidation in her heart.
"Oh no." Jack muttered. "Anyone but Count Gloucester."
"Who's Count Glouscester?" Aqua asked.
"He is a good family friend," North said. "And you can have no better planner than him."
She bit her tongue to prevent herself from asking what was wrong with the man if everyone seemed to have such mixed reactions to him. She was not nearly comfortable enough with the King to go demanding things like that. Then again, she was incapable of making the same request of her own father. So she just silently looked down at her plate, no longer hungry now that the topic was their marriage.
"He planned a spring ball that was the talk of Guardia for months," Elsa said, spreading a dollop of chocolate-pomegranate curd onto her scone. "He has very pompous tastes, but somehow finds a compromise to not make it so…flashy."
Jack rolled his eyes. "He also brags about wooing countless women. Though he had yet to pick a worthy countess."
"Wasn't the Margrave's daughter catching his eye?" Elsa asked.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Riku shrugged. "She's too shy to tell him off. If he bothers her we should intervene."
Aqua paled. They wanted that man to plan the wedding? She couldn't protest. It wasn't like she had any connections in the Guardia kingdom aside from Aerith. And she wasn't entirely sure the woman would ever want to see her again because her father had tried to murder her. Zack insisted all was water under the bridge, but… she was never quite certain around others. Not like Jack and his siblings were.
"We can gossip about him later," North stated. "We shall write to him. He is the only Guardian noble with credentials to plan a royal wedding."
"Can't we just hire Tooth?" Jack asked. "She's just as detail oriented, and not as arrogant, and her trip here wouldn't be as long. Heck, why not have them work together?"
"Because they can't grasp the meaning of 'agree to disagree'" Elsa said simply. "The last time they both planned something, the process took longer than it should have. Lots of bickering about small details."
North waved his hand and a servant who had been waiting in the wings nodded and went to get paper and quill to write the letter to send off to the Count. It seemed their wedding planner had been decided. Aqua gave a meek smile and sipped gingerly on her tea. Her plate was left abandoned as the writing utensils were brought to the King.
Jack wasn't the worst man she could have married. There had been plenty of her father's friends who had all vied for the spot of the Princess' beau. She had done her best to avoid them at the few balls she had been allowed to attend simply because they made her uncomfortable. Jack went out of his way to make sure she was always at ease, still, marriage was a permanent thing.
"Is there a date you would like?" Aqua asked her future spouse.
Jack set down his cup. A clump of sugar has yet to dissolve in his tea. His brow was furrowed. After collecting yet another clump of sugar, he stirred quickly, making the cube spiral madly before answering.
"How about three days from now?" he said. "It'll give him time to travel here with his goods. That way we won't have to have him make two trips."
North nodded. He dipped the black and white feather quill into the inkwell. "For someone who does not care for the count, you are showing maturity in restraint." This compliment made Jack's face turn beet red.
Meanwhile, Aqua was knocked completely speechless. Three days and she would marry Jack? She set her tea cup down, perhaps a little too quickly as the glass chinked against the saucer. She hastily hid her trembling hands beneath the table. Why was she so scared of the idea now? He had never even raised a hand to her. Let alone raised his voice. But the idea didn't so much as fill her with dread as it did with nerves.
"There's so much to plan," she said, "Can it be done in three days?"
"Oh, no no, I meant meeting with the planner." Jack held up his hands. His red cheeks were softening. "For the actual wedding, well, we can discuss that with the Count. I didn't mean to overwhelm you there, Aqua."
"I…"
She turned away. Once again, Jack was ever so insightful on what she was thinking and feeling. It left her feeling rather open and vulnerable because there were times she couldn't tell what he was thinking. He seemed to hide so much behind an easy going smile.
"Y-Yes, that sounds fair," she stammered out.
"Elsa, you would like to help with the attire, yes?" North asked.
Relief washed over Aqua. Elsa had helped her with an entirely new wardrobe once she moved to Guardia. Replacing those garish monstrosities that Aqua's father had sent. Perhaps enjoying herself a bit too much as she destroyed them. Or repurposed them. Aqua wasn't entirely sure what came of her past wardrobe. Only that Elsa had swept in with all the grace and poise of a monarch to eliminate the eye sore.
Elsa's blue eyes gleamed with delight. "It would be my pleasure."
"Thank you."
With Elsa's help, Aqua was certain that she wouldn't look awful when she walked down the aisle. Any of her father's friends would have given her dresses not to her liking. Either too frivolous or something to make her look incompetent and out of style. Or to display her like some trophy that they had won. The Frost family would never do that to her. Only after staying with them as long as she had did she realize they would never hurt her.
"We might want to debut her to our society," Riku said. "She'll need to make noble allies in our kingdom."
North wrinkled his nose. He disliked the idea of having other nobles in the palace, but Aqua had been attending her lessons to Guardia history, culture and magic diligently. His advisors who had undertaken the task said she excelled in what she did.
"It would be wise."
"I've never hosted other nobles before," Aqua squeaked out. "I don't think I'm ready for something like that."
"Nonsense! Elsa is with you!" North said.
Elsa turned red and ducked her eyes down. "Perhaps one thing at a time for now?" The grip on her teacup tensed. Frost began to crystallize along the blue and white china pattern. Some sections grew fuzzy as the frost sections overlapped.
"Elsa's not the best socializer," Jack whispered to Aqua. "If she had her way, she'd be taking tea with characters from her books."
"As much as you dislike it, sooner or later, you have to get to know the other noblewomen," Riku said.
"There will be a ball for the wedding," North said.
Aqua nodded. She had expected as much. Her father adored hosting balls, mostly because he could spend lavishly. The food portions were normally so miniscule she would be hungry after. One of the nicer maids would sneak her something extra and have it waiting in her room, ready for her. And her dresses were normally uncomfortable, but with Elsa in her corner, she didn't have a fear of that. But then came dancing. Surely, she would be expected to dance with Jack but what about other nobles?
"What about a rehearsal dinner?" Jack asked. "Our relatives will…"
North raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps these are questions to address to Count Glouscester. He is the one assisting in wedding planning, not I."
Jack sighed. "Fair point."
"Relatives? You mean… your family is even larger than this?" Aqua asked in shock.
Her family had just been her, her father, her brother and at once point her mother. She knew no more than that. However, her father had seized the throne through bloody means and it had likely ended in the demise of anyone who stood in his way. A secret past that was kept hidden from the children, though, it was likely Vanitas would follow in his father's footsteps.
Jack nodded. "My father is…one of four siblings. From there, it trickles down."
"Oh…" Was Aqua's shaky response.
That meant titled nobles that she had to try not to offend. She would likely have to ask Master Merlin or Ombric about the Frost family line to avoid family feuds at the wedding. She supposed that it was easier on her side because she had no one to invite. Her father would never come and she wasn't entirely sure if Vanitas would either. He hadn't even responded to any of the letters she sent. A part of her was jealous because they seemed to have such a large loving family.
"If you want, we can give you a tiny family tree. It won't be too painful."
After Jack made this suggestion, Elsa scoffed. "A family tree drawn by you? You can't even draw a line on a map."
"Low blow, sister dear."
"Elsa or I can make you a cheat sheet," Riku assured Aqua, "Our penmanship is the most legible."
Even North had the decency to look shamefaced and decided to hide his retort by draining his mug. Aqua had seen a few of Jack's documents. While it wasn't the neatest writing, it was something that was distinctly his. She could read it at least.
"I'd appreciate any help!" she told the family.
"Since I'm working on wardrobe, I'll assign you with the family tree," Elsa said pointedly to Riku.
Riku nodded. "I'll get on that."
Aqua picked around at her plate, not hungry like she was before. The thought of her impending marriage now weighed on her. Before, she could just forget about it because her days were filled with so many new things. Her marriage was the whole reason Jack brought her to his Kingdom in the first place. She looked up at him from behind her lashes.
Aqua's defenses around her heart quivered in the wake of the kindnesses Jack had showered her with since the moment she arrived in his Kingdom. Riku, not so much, but Elsa had become a dear friend to her. Jack had wanted his people to feel safe and happy in their beds at night, and to do that, he would take their minds off it by making an ally of the enemy. By neutralizing the threat, even if it meant sacrificing his happiness. But could they be happy together? Did she have that right?
"Thank you very much everyone," she told them.
She would have to be prepared for the future regardless of whether or not she was ready for it. And she had a feeling, it wouldn't be so bad. The blush that crossed her cheeks made it so she couldn't look up from her plate. The very thought of spending more time with him made her feel nearly giddy and guilty at the same time. In Verona, she had numbed herself to everything around her, going through the motions of a good and loyal daughter. In Guardia, she was encouraged to feel and express those emotions, even if they were negative. She was allowed to be as joyous as a child in play or to wallow in her anger and sadness. She was valid here. Her opinions meant something.