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 the Attendants Are Chosen and the Dress Hunting Begins

Caterina let out a little sigh and did her best not to fidget. She had plenty of experience sitting through long meetings, but being on her fifth day of wedding plans was wearing on her. Even most Vatican events weren't this mind numbing. It was an important event though, and Caterina hoped this treaty would finally bring about a lasting peace, so she did her best to appear interested in all the little details of the wedding. By tomorrow she would be back in Rome, and life could get back to normal.

Well, as normal as her life ever got. Caterina would admit that she was not a normal young woman. Still it would be nice to go back to normal diplomatic duties. Hopefully, the signing of this treaty would cut down on the work for her AX agents. Things had been tense lately, and without Abel her people were under strength. And it didn't help that the security around her was beginning to drive her crazy. Ever since the assassination attempt in Byzantium, Caterina had hardly been allowed to go to the bathroom without a guard. Her conversation with Abel was one of the few times when she hadn't had security hovering lately.

Abel. Her lips twitched into a smile as she observed on of her oldest friends doodling on a notepad and attempting to pay attention. It was good to have him back. Abel was one of the few people she trusted unconditionally. He had known her for so long, and he was safe for her to let her guard down around and simply be Caterina instead of Cardinal Sforza. However, it also meant that she needed to tell him about the assassination attempt and its consequences. Seth had saved her life that night, but the no one besides the two of them knew just what that had taken. She needed to tell Abel before he figured it out on his own. It wasn't exactly something she wanted to be public knowledge, but she trusted him.

"Now then, I think we've finally reached a decision on the attendants. There will be twelve each for the bride and groom, four people from each of the powers in the alliance. While we're stilling working on some of the specifics of exactly who will represent the Empire other than Viscountess Asran, the Vatican participants have been decided upon. Fathers Wordsworth, Havel, de Watteau, and de Asturias will act as groomsmen while Cardinal Sforza and Sisters Kate, Agnes, and Integra will be bridesmaids." Mirka consulted the notebook that all of the plans so far had gone in to. "There is still some debate about the groomsmen from Albion though it has been decided that Virgil Walsh and Tseng Xiao will represent the Methuselah of the island among the groomsmen. The bridesmaids will be Vanessa Walsh and Seras Victoria for the Methuselah and Colonel Spencer and Elena Amherst for the humans."

Caterina blinked. They were making her a bridesmaid? That was rather unexpected. She and Esther weren't that close and surely there was someone more qualified for the job. Still, it was rather nice to be asked. And the decisions on the attendants meant that they could finally go home. The rest of the preparation could mostly be managed long distance.

Mirka consulted her notes once again. "There has yet to be a decision on the best man, but Queen Esther has requested that Cardinal Sforza act as the maid of honor. I believe that is everything so far, but I'll be in touch with everyone involved. The major things that we need to get started on are the dress selection. Once we have that figured out we can set the color scheme and get fittings arranged. As the maid of honor, Cardinal Sforza will be in charge of that. Please have the rest of the bridesmaids coordinate with her."

Feeling more than a little stunned, Caterina stayed in her chair as the meeting broke up, fighting the urge to slump in exhaustion. She didn't know anything about being a maid of honor. And she didn't know anything about fashion really. Caterina considered herself to have good taste, but being in charge of finding the wardrobe for all of the bridesmaids and helping the bride find her own dress was out of her depth. At least she knew that Milan would have decent offerings for the project. Caterina bit back a sigh. When was she going to find the time to find dresses amidst the rest of her work?

"Lady Caterina?" Sister Kate had appeared at her side. "It's time to go."

She rose from her seat. "Of course."

Abel joined her as she headed out of the room. "Are you all right?"

Caterina smiled. "Do you know anything about going shopping with a group of people? And I don't even like shopping. When I was little, Mother would take me out with her, and the first thing that happened when we got to the shops was that I would ask for a snack since I was hungry and tired."

He laughed. "You'll do fine, Lady Caterina. Think of it as a just another negotiation to win. You've gotten Francesco to agree with you before. What could be harder?"

She patted his shoulder. "You clearly have never been dress shopping. Would you make sure everyone is ready to go? I need to see if Esther has an idea of what she wants in her dress."

It was easy enough to catch up with the young Queen of Albion.

"I hope you don't mind being my maid of honor, Cardinal Sforza." Esther smiled at her. "I just couldn't think of anyone else who would be better suited for the job. I know you'll do a wonderful job."

Caterina kept her doubts to herself. "I wanted to ask if you had anything in mind for the dresses. That way I could get started on some of the research for them."

"Oh." Esther bit her lip. "I want pastels for the attendants' dresses, but I'm not sure about the color. White or ivory for me. Long dresses for everyone. I want something with sleeves, but the bridesmaids' dresses don't need them. Oh, and I'd prefer it if your dress was a little different than the rest of the bridesmaids'."

At least she had an idea of what to look for. Hopefully, Sister Kate would be able to give her a hand with the dress selection. Thankfully, Milan was known for its fashion, and Caterina could hopefully both run the dress search for her estate their and still get her own work done.

The rest of her day was spent gathering all of her people and preparing for their departure. They finally got into the air just before sunset, and Caterina found herself dropping into sleep shortly after that. The flight provided a chance for her to catch up on her sleep. She hadn't realized just how exhausted she was until she woke the next morning in her own bed. Someone must have carried her in from the Iron Maiden.

The morning also brought duties to fulfill. Caterina resisted the urge to pull the covers over her had and go back to sleep. With a sigh, she rolled out of bed. Time to get started. Hopefully, Sister Kate could put together a list of dressmakers for her to start with while Caterina dealt with the day's affairs. She would also need to get a full debriefing from Abel on the events of the past five years on his part. Father Havel could take care of briefing Abel on what had happened here.

By the time she was dressed, Caterina found tea and breakfast laid out in her sitting room along with a stack of reports. With a sigh, she sat down and began her morning routine. She was halfway through all the reports by the time she was done eating. Sister Kate appeared with out Caterina needing to call.

"You have two appointments this afternoon, Lady Caterina. Father Havel is currently briefing Father Nightroad on the activities and events of the past year. Is there anything else you need?"

"Could you compile of list of dressmakers in Milan that specialize in wedding and formal gowns?"

"Of course, your eminence."

She took the rest of the reports to her office to finish. Her meetings to day were with minor officials and shouldn't take too long. That would mean she could spend most of the afternoon hearing what Abel had been doing for the past five years. Caterina had no doubt that would be a long conversation, and one they would want to keep private. She turned to the paperwork with a sigh. It was tedious but routine.

Later that afternoon, she and Abel sat in the secluded garden that was Caterina's favorite sanctuary. She knew Abel well enough to know that there had been things in the past five years that haunted him that he would need to get off his chest. It was near sunset when they he finished. Tears had been shed and some demons laid to rest. They returned in time to eat dinner in the commissary with the rest of the agents. Caterina had not had a chance to discuss her assassination attempt, but she could do that later. Tonight had been Abel's turn to talk. Caterina went to bed feeling satisfied with the days work.

The next morning, though, Caterina was feeling rather intimidated by the length of the list of dressmakers that Sister Kate had come up with. There were at least seventeen names on the list. With a sigh, she reached for the phone. If she made the calls now, perhaps she could work a trip to Milan into the next week's schedule. She wanted to be able to send some patterns of dresses to Esther by the end of the month. The sooner they could get this ordeal over with the better.

Caterina spent the next few weeks wading through paperwork and checking out dressmakers. A number were struck off the list due to rudeness while others were removed due to lack of selection or inability to deal with the size of the order that would need to be placed. She had sent Esther some sketches from several of the shops, and she was scheduled to visit Londinium in a few weeks to discuss things with the young queen. Hopefully, they could cut the list down to just one or two shops then and arranges visits for the following month. That would still leave plenty of time for the dresses to be made and for fittings and adjustments.

Her trip to Milan had been both enlightening and frustrating. Word had gotten out that she was in charge of the wedding attire for Queen Esther of Albion, and Caterina had nearly every dressmaker in the region at her door. Thankfully, Sister Kate and Father Havel managed most of them, but she had still spent far too much time talking about clothes with people. Caterina hoped that Esther would make a quick decision. She was getting very sick of looking at pictures of dresses.

When her trip to Londinium finally rolled around, the cardinal had managed to limit the field to five shops. She had dress samples from all of them as well as lists of the shops specialties when it came to design and fabric as well as color and fabric swatches. Even if they could only decide upon colors at this meeting, it would put them one step closer to having this while mess dealt with. Caterina hoped that the rest of her duties as the maid of honor would be a little less stressful. She doubted that Esther would be a monster bride, and though she had her doubts about figuring out the bachelorette party, Caterina was fairly sure she could muddle through it. If worst came to worst, she could ask Seth for advice on that. She had the feeling that Abel's sister would be more than happy to help out.

Caterina checked her calendar. There was another five months before the wedding. She let out a sigh. They still had a long way to go.