My dumb ass really thought I'd save time and effort by going for the game files instead of screenshotting the arms. I did, but at what cost? Learning that ftx files are a thing, for one. Thanks to rufaswan on theVGresource. The coat of arms described is this fic's cover.
Alain's coronation was, perhaps, the happiest moment of Melisandre's life. Why wouldn't it be? Well, there was the notable lack of good things to compare to overall, but it marked an end to war, a restoration of normalcy…
And of course, the ascension of her fiancé to the throne of Cornia. Making her Queen consort, eventually. Royal dignity for House Meillet! Her ancestors must have dreamt of such a thing. From this point on, every Meillet would have the blood of kings in their veins.
No cadet branches, no other Meillets in the whole wide world. And as Colm had noted, with her marriage that would melt into the royal dynasty. Not a bad fate for a dynasty. But the thought that their name would only be found in the history books…
Well, the thought of such a future mattered less when she loved Alain in the here and now, but it was still tragic. What would become of the Milliets in the new future they were forging? In an age that might just be beyond war.
In the lead-up to the coronation, they began taking the country– if not the whole continent– off of a war footing. Soldiers performed civilian reconstruction to fulfill their duties to the crown or moved to police demesnes liberated from traitor nobles.
The people had suffered greatly, but the crown was in an advantageous position. Swathes of land returned to royal control, amicable relations with the neighbors (if the relation wasn't more similar to that of creditor and debtor), and almost universal public goodwill.
The economy wasn't even as shot as they feared! All those missions Alain sent the soldiers on to move goods around… by some marvel, he managed to turn a profit while conducting a war, and that was a truly remarkable feat of leadership. Melisandre had played her part in that, especially with her domain. She knew grain and textiles went out while processed wood and fish and herbs and furs came in, but it was a small part of a pan-Fevrith economic scheme.
Even before the sudden reappearance of Queen Ilenia, Melisandre was certain she'd be proud of her son. Melisandre was certainly proud of Alain, especially when that crown was laid upon his head. Still as proud as she was, she wouldn't let her wedding happen immediately after. No no no. She would not have it overshadowed by the coronation.
That did mean an unfortunate delay between the coronation and a proper… celebration of their union, made especially bad by the amount of work that needed to be done. Still, even the hardest labor was sweetened by the thought of no war to destroy its fruits, and there was a special joy in work that was going towards her wedding.
There was, of course, the dress. Deep, rich, Cornian blue with hints of cloth of gold as trim, a belt puckered with Drakenhold gems, Elheim amber, and Bastorias whale ivory, enhanced by detail work in Albion platinum. It was an obscene girlhood fantasy come true, if not for one minor detail left incomplete: what arms?
The design called her new coat of arms as decoration in several places. She could use her old one, the white swords crossed on a field of blue, but she was to be a married woman! That meant heraldry changes, usually something like an impalement or an inescutcheon, but the exact choice would probably depend on the official royal decision regarding the fate of the House Meillet more broadly.
It was almost like a meeting of in-laws. Colm and Melisandre on one side of the table, Alain and Ilenia on the other. The balance there felt quite lopsided….
Ilenia was analyzing Melisandre with warrior's eyes, simultaneously judging her as a servant of the crown and a spouse for her son. Technically, she no longer possessed royal privilege but acting like her opinion wouldn't color her son's or the old nobility's would be ludicrous. Melisandre hardened her resolve and didn't so much as quail under her gaze. If anyone deserved to be in this room, it was a scion of house Meillet!
The question on the table was just the fate of that very house. The Queen– who she really needed to stop thinking of with that title, it was going to be hers soon– began: "Your father was one of the finest vassals who ever served me, Lady Meillet."
"I'm pleased to hear it, my Qu- ah, ma'am. I'm proud to carry on my ancestor's tradition of service."
Ilenia's gaze was nearly as cutting as the blade she carried. "Like your service to Galerius." (To Ilenia, in a strange, roundabout sense.)
Melisandre gulped, and Alain jumped to her defense. "Mother, she was just doing her best to survive and preserve her house…"
"I've heard all about it, Alain. Jose informed me of Melisandre in great detail." Melisandre liked to think she had won Josef over, but… Ilenia continued: "However, I cannot dispute the King's judgment or the earnest desire of his heart. If Alain trusted you with the Ring of the Maiden…"
She wasn't quite shaken up enough to let out a sigh of relief, but it was an unpleasant reminder that she had turned coat. When the liberation came, she joined them, but for a while she was a cog in the imperial machine. Even if she was refused the fighting she wanted so desperately, she lifted a sword for the Zenoiran usurper.
House Meillet would pay the Kingdom back a thousandfold for the indiscretions she had committed. Alain had accepted her as Queen, but she would never dream of shirking the work that would earn her a proper place at his side. Still, would she do so as a Meillet by name?
"Thank you, ma'am. I swear to you, there's no one in this world I love more than Alain. Anyone can tell you that."
"I've heard." She deadpanned.
Colm spoke up: "Your royal highness, I must ask: will the lands of House Meillet become a part of the royal demesne?" He had the right to ask, considering he was the one doing management on the ground.
"It would be a simple solution," Ilenia admitted, before glancing at Alain. "Does the King have any thoughts?"
"It would follow established rules of succession," Alain said. "but I fear the crown would own too much land directly to care for our subjects properly."
That was very Alain, wasn't it? Oppose growing his own, royal power because it might decrease the common man's standard of living.
"And you have new nobility in mind?" Ilenia promoted her son.
"Yes. Even from Cornia alone, many liberation soldiers more than earned fiefs for their service. Like Tatiana."
Ilenia nobly held a sigh back. "The one who threatened to kill you?"
"Yes," Alain admitted, "but she is one of this country's finest medical minds. Imagine the suffering we could prevent if she had the resources of a fief to work with."
Melisandre gulped. "Not Chouvre?" There was repaying an ally and then there was placing the aid of an abhorred and feared lord back in control of his title.
"No," Alain reassured them. "Actually, I was thinking…"
Ilenia cleared her throat. "Alain, well I would like to hear more of your plans for governance, Colm needs to return to his duties of stewardship with haste. Perhaps we could return to the subject of House Meillet?"
"Of course, Mother. Regarding the matter of House Meillet, I was considering a solution…" Alain pulled a piece of paper from a pile and showed it to them. Melisandre's heart skipped a beat. There was a title, and there was a rough sketch of a coat of arms. She thought she recognized Nina's calligraphy?
House Cornia-Meillet
It was her coat of arms impaled with Alain's. Alain's arms took dexter– that is, right from the shield holder's perspective– while Melisandre's arms were sinister. Which meant on the bearer's left, not that they were evil or anything. Worthy of less dignity than the royal arms? Of course, but not sinister sinister.
Courtesy had also been employed, so Alain's unicorn pointed to the center instead of dexter. It had a happy implication, like that he had turned to just look at her. On top of that, all of history would look upon the royal house and see the name Meillet. It was… perhaps some of her ancestors had dreamt of royal marriage, but placing the Meillet swords alongside the Cornian unicorn, combining the house with their ruling dynasty?
"My thought was that the Meillet demesne might make a good appanage…" An appanage… an appanage meant an appointment or land given to a second son for his maintenance. That meant sons. Sons plural. She felt a stupid, giddy smile spreading across her face.
(Ilenia had to hold back a chuckle as she watched her eventual daughter-in-law's reaction. Maybe this was part of the appeal her son saw in the girl? Bold and brash in her affections, but so terribly flustered when surprised? Even better, she was politically savvy and her sons would keep a swath of Cornian land under the control of a cadet branch. It was tidy, one of the more advantageous internal marriages Alain could have managed, but Ilenia had a feeling that his choice of spouse wasn't made for such political reasons.
They were also terribly cute together. That helped.)
I'd be willing to share the coat of arms images and my method if y'all are interested.