Night of the fifth day of the second month, 214.
Old Hibera.
The same borrowed castle bedroom as the night before.
The first fashionings of wedding gown and undergarments were, sadly, too small and much too tight in all the wrong places. Since the skinny fae folk of Old Hibera know nothing of properly fitting their well-fattened cousins, Marian sent a hasty order through the portal to her own palace to summon her tailors, all of whom came bobbling-wobbling through merrily as directed.
She also made one peculiar request in this second attempt: leave the very front of the belly open and exposed to reveal the Mother's Light beginning to glow so well at her navel.
Thus did a dozen fairies, working in unison, create a second gown with all other necessary articles to be worn beneath it, with Marian's own tailors proudly bringing the new clothing to the Queen Mother.
The many, many layers of white fabric and the multiple undergarments are met with astonishment; for a woman who is slowly becoming used to dressing as a woman over these past few weeks, the complexity of the dress and other pieces--with their folds and lace and subtle ripples all around--is a joyful delight! Having the help of her four ladies-in-waiting for her attiring proves a wonderful experience with each new item wiggled and wormed into carefully, but in the end, in white bonnet, dress, slippers, and all else, with her pink wings lightly a-flap behind her back and her great tummy exposed at the front, Marian Ora Aengus stands by her borrowed bed, radiant of face and of pink light as her half-brother finally manages his first smile of the day from his place in a chair beside the Queen Mother.
"Well, Marian, it all fits. Now, I suppose you ought to remove it all so as not to damage it before the day of your wedding."
"Remove it? Presposterous! Orin! You are here, and we have carefully drawn up details of how to handle the joining of the kingdoms, and Oswald could be summoned easily enough! Why ought we not have the ceremony tonight?"
"Because, my dear sister, this is a royal wedding. There must be a veritable crowd of witnesses for it! A feast that only our Tubbian blessings in New Hibera can provide! A chance for me to write vows for the two of you to recite!"
Marian slumps a little, her belly flabbily pooching through the opening in her gown.
"Pooh. I suppose you're right."
"Perhaps tomorrow night, or. . . ooooh. The first of next week, if you might wait so long! After the morning's sermon at the Tubbian church, we make final preparations, and we host your wedding here at Oswald's courtyard."
The slumping queen wriggles back upright!
"That would be delightful, Orin! Delightful!"
A giggle sets her shivering and her wings flittering.
"What is it, Marian?"
"It's just. . . well. . . people say that the wedding day truly belongs to the bride, Orin." Another jelly-tummy-quivering burst of ripply laughter. "I finally can see what they mean by that, in just a few days!"
"Mmhmm! You can. Praise Tubbius!"