audacity || aemond targaryen

chapter 3: planning

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IN THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED, maelina fell into a steady routine. after having breakfast in her room, she would spent the first part of the day with the queen or helaena, sometimes even both, planning the wedding. it had been decided to hold it in the spring, so they still had a few weeks for preparations. so far they had covered the flowers, the food and the seating arrangements of the houses for the feasts.

maelina's afternoons were spent in the quiet company of aemond. they'd walk through the palace or the gardens, and most of the time, neither of them said a word to the other. perhaps a snarky remark or comment here and there, but no real conversations ever emerged and whem they did talk, it quickly escalated imto shoutimg matches ober all matters. though they technically followed her orders, alicent was slowly going mad with the lack of proper communication between the betrothed couple, that they had already managed to keep up for a whole week.

on this particular day, queen alicent had arranged a meeting with the royal tailor, to start on maelina's wedding dress and cloak. for this reason, after the young lady had just finished getting dressed, the doors to her chambers were opened and a collection of fabrics of all different colours, stacks of paper with designs and boxes of jewlery were carried into her room and placed on the tables and her bed. her full-length mirror was positioned in the middle of the room, along with a small stool for her to stand on. this entourage was followed by the entrance of the queen, princess helaena and the tailor who barely left time for maelina to realise what was happening before guiding her towards the stool, helaena taking a seat on one of the armchairs closest to her. queen alicent ordered all of the maids to leave, only the three nobels and the tailor remaining. the queen was already browsing through the fabric patches, sorting them into piles.

"do you already have ideas for your wedding gown, my lady?", the tailor asked maelina. he was an old man, dressed in  shrill, bright colours and heavily accessorised, to the point that it almost hurt the lady to look at his flashy appearance.

"i was considering having two dresses made, one for the ceremony itself and one for the feast afterwards." maelina finally managed to regain her composure and the man nodded.

"it isn't unusual for a bride to have two dresses, especially not in the case of a royal wedding. i would however advise for the wedding dress to be white or ivory." alicent turned around swiftly.

"perhaps a white dress with purple and silver detailing? we could have a matching cloak made." maelina turned to the queen, not having expected this suggestion.

"my family colours, of course..", she mumbled, surprised that alicent would have thought of such a thing if she herself had forgotten about it. the queen smiled at the girl.

"indeed. the cloak will have your family's sigil on it as well. now, what do we think of green for the reception dress?"

"your grace, would red or black not be a more suitable choice, seeing as it is a union with the targaryen family?" it seemed as if the tailor had mustered up a lot of courage to ask this.

"i would have to agree.", maelina chimed in saving the man from alicent's intense stare, "perhaps an ivory dress, more subtle than white, with red, black and purple detailing? to show the unity of the houses." queen alicent nodded, after a few seconds of silent deliberation.

"we shall have aemond's clothes made in a similar manner. now we must choose the actual shades." this process took longer than maelina would have ever expected. helaena sat quietly by the side, ate grapes and watched, only chiming in occasionally with her own opinions. sometimes she'd throw grapes at maelina and the girl would try to catch them with her mouth. in the meantime, they had decided on a dark purple cloak, with a grey inside and the sigil in a silver colour on the back. her jewlery would also be held in silver. the dresses would have the colours that they had decided on earlier and they were discussing the design of the two gowns, as well as a headpiece to accompany her braided hair. the thought of having another entire day wasted with trying out hairstyles bored maelina immensely. never would she have thought that the planning of a wedding would include so many aspects.