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 Cardinal Sforza Travels Between Rome and Londinium Frequently
With a deep sigh, Caterina reached for her files. They had finally reached Londinium. Now she'd get to spend the next two days discussing dresses with Esther before flying back to Rome. It wasn't exactly something she was looking forward to. Still, she might be able to get this whole ordeal over with sooner rather than later. Caterina did not want to spend all her time until the wedding fussing over these dresses.
Someone from Esther's staff met her at the airfield and then got her settled in a suite a Buckingham Palace. Caterina took the time to change from her cardinal's robes and fix herself a cup of tea. She knew that the simple habit of a sister was not what she was supposed to wear in public, but there was only so much of the cardinal's robe she could stand. The thing was heavy, and the hat really was ridiculous. Besides, she doubted that Esther would mind the informality.
It was nearly an hour later when Esther appeared in her doorway.
"I'm sorry for the wait, Cardinal Sforza. I lost track of time."
Caterina rose to her feet. "Caterina, please, your majesty. And it was no bother."
"Esther." The young woman insisted firmly, gesturing for her to sit. "It would be nice to have at least one person who forgoes all the formalities."
"All right, Esther."
A maid brought in a tea service, setting it down on the table between the two women before excusing herself. Esther poured them both tea.
"What have you found for me, Caterina?"
"We're down to five dress shops. I've brought a number of samples from all of them. It would help if you could give me a better idea of what you want in the way of the dresses. Some of the shops have different specialties. It would also be a good idea to finally choose colors. That will narrow the field some."
Esther helped herself to a scone. "Colors I can do. The flower girls will be in pink, the bridesmaids in rose. You'll be in blush, and my dress will be white."
Caterina nodded. "All right. This is what I have for you."
Two days later, Caterina was exhausted, but they had managed to cross one of the dress shops off the list. Unfortunately, Caterina had a meeting back in Rome tomorrow, so the visits to the dress shops would have to wait. She would be free again in two days, but Esther had meetings through the rest of the week that she couldn't get out of. So, it would be next week before they could get together again.
At this point, the plan was for Caterina to fly to Londinium at the beginning of the week to go over things once more, and then they would make appointments with the dress shops and fly to Milan to check out the shops and dresses in person. At that point, Esther could make some decisions about the dresses, and they could put the orders in and arrange appointments for measurements and the such.
Things didn't exactly work out as planned. While Caterina and Esther made it to Milan, a minor crisis came up before they had seen more than one shop. Esther had to return straight to Londinium while Caterina soon found herself shuttling between Rome and Albion's capital. Three days later, the issues had been resolved, and Caterina was back in Londinium about to embark on her second trip to Milan with Esther. This time they also had representatives of each country's bridesmaids along as well.
This time they managed to get to Milan and start visiting the dress shops without any interruptions. No, instead of international crises, Caterina found herself keeping the peace with the three bridesmaids along for the trip. It was Esther's wedding, but it was hard to tell that with the way they fussed over the dresses. It probably also didn't help that most of these women had never met each other before. Caterina was beginning to dread what would happen when she had all the bridesmaids together.
"What about this one, Queen Esther?" Vanessa Walsh pointed out a dress that had far too many ruffles for Caterina's tastes.
"There is no way in hell I'm wearing that." Asthe spat.
Caterina felt a headache coming on. If it were up to her, this entire shop would be crossed off the list. It held too many bow, ruffles, and flounces. It seemed Esther agreed.
"Let's take a look at the other two shops on the list," Esther suggested. "I would like to see all my options before making any decisions."
She bit back a sigh at that. More than anything, Caterina wanted to take a break and have a snack. A half an hour with a nice cup of tea and no squabbles. However, she doubted she have a chance for that until they finished with all of the dress shops. By the end of the day, Esther had made decisions on all of the attendants' dresses. She still had yet to find a wedding dress, but they could make another trip for that. Caterina would need to schedule the rest of the bridesmaids for measurements and get the sizes for the flower girls. The mistress of the dress shop had said it would take about two months for the dresses to be made once she had those measurements.
Once Esther was safely on her way back to Londinium with Vanessa Walsh and Asthe had headed back to Byzantium, Caterina finally had a chance to eat something. She herself would have to be heading back to Rome this evening. Caterina had a meeting to go over the AX's budget for the year first thing in the morning. She would also have to see if she could find some more dress shops since Esther had yet to find a wedding dress that she liked. The main problem was that she wanted something with sleeves. Most of the dresses they had seen so far were either strapless or just had spaghetti straps or halter tops.
Caterina also figured she would need to start planning the bridal shower and the hen party soon as well. The bridal shower would the tricky one since Esther's guests would span three nations. Maybe she could arrange a shower in each place. That would keep the size of the showers a little more manageable. All of that could wait until tomorrow though.
She survived the four hours of the budget meeting and spent the rest of the day trying to find the rest of the day trying to find some more dress shops. What she got for her pains was a headache. Mid-afternoon found her canceling several appointments and curling up in her study with a cup of tea and a snack. Planning a wedding shouldn't be this hard when you weren't the bride.
"Lady Caterina?" Abel's head appeared in her doorway. "Are you busy? I can always come back later."
"Come in, Abel. I can make time for you."
He took in her position curled up in front of a fire. "Taking a break?"
"Weddings should not be this much of a hassle. If I ever end up married, I'm eloping." She sighed. "I didn't realize just how much work there was for the maid of honor, and I don't even know where to start with some of the planning."
Abel settled in the chair across from her. "What's the problem?"
"I have no idea what to do about the hen party? I mean," Caterina bit her lip and blushed, "I haven't exactly had much more experience when it comes to romance than Esther has. Actually, Esther probably has had more. I don't think I could pull off male strippers or a bar crawl. Those are the traditional hen party activities. Well, those and risqué gifts."
"I don't think Esther would enjoy that either." Abel smiled. "The point of a hen party is really just to have some silliness and stress relief before the ceremony. Probably any sort of activity that's fun and frivolous would work. If you're really stuck, I have a feeling that Seth would probably be willing to help."
She bit her lip. That could either turn out well or badly. Abel's sister was very well intentioned, but she was also something of meddler. Especially when she thought it would benefit the parties involved. Still, it was an idea.
"What can I help you with, Abel? I doubt you came to hear me fret about my duties as maid of honor."
Abel smiled. "I wanted to see how you were doing. You haven't been around much lately. I'm still getting used to some of the changes around here. I've been a little surprise that there haven't been more assignments given the recent treaty."
"We've been fairly lucky, and I've had people working on finding any problems long before the actual treaty signing. Most of what you've been called out to take care has been the ones that surprised us." Caterina sighed. "Thankfully, the Contra Mundi pretty much died out after the battle in Londinium. They've popped up a few times while you were gone, but the organization has clearly been falling apart. The last time they tried anything was when I was in Byzantium."
Abel's eyes narrowed. "What exactly happened in Byzantium? Everyone had been very vague about your visit there. It was just a year ago, right?"
"Yes." She bit her lip. "It's a long story, Abel, and I have to find Esther a wedding dress. Could you take a rain check for now?"
He frowned a little but let the subject drop. "As long as you don't make me help with the dress hunting."
"Just be grateful you're not the best man," Caterina shot back. "I promise I'll give you the full story later."