Chapter 93: The Wedding Planner

I found Leli in her room when I knocked, and she let me in. "So? How fare you and Alistair?"

"Leli ... I have to run to a meeting with the Arl, but I need a really big favour." I struggled to keep a sad-looking frown on my face,

Her forehead wrinkled in a concerned expression. "Anything, my friend. What would you have of me?"

I looked up at her from under my lashes, still fighting a grin. "Do you think you could help me plan a wedding in only two days?"

She hesitated for a moment, and when my grin broke through she squealed and hugged me enthusiastically.

She started babbling about the details, mostly to herself as far as I could tell. I told her we wanted to use the Chantry in the village, but had no other real plans.

"Do you trust me, Sierra?"

"Of course, Leli, why?"

"Please, let me do this. For you both. I will plan everything. You will love it, I promise. Don't lift a finger, yes?"

"Okay, but ... are you sure? That's a lot of work."

"Nonsense. It will be perfect. I will come get you when you need to meet with Revered Mother Hannah. Now go, go – I have work to do, and you must meet with Arl Eamon."

I left her frantically writing lists for herself and headed down to Eamon's study. I was the last to arrive: Duncan; Aedan; Alistair; Teagan; Theron; a mage I remembered from the game, the emissary Pether, with the grizzled templar we'd seen the night before; Caron, the Dalish emissary; and Gorim, as the stand-in dwarven emissary had all beat me there. There was another man I didn't recognise, and he was introduced as Terrence. A group of former werewolves had apparently taken Aedan's advice, roughly armed themselves, and presented themselves at Redcliffe wishing to aid us against the Blight, and Terrence was their emissary. I wondered if he was the same werewolf who was the emissary in game if you sided with them against the Dalish, but it seemed rude to ask.

I noticed Eamon had a brief, satisfied, smug grin when Alistair and I arrived separately, but it was quickly quashed when, as there were no seats left available, I sat in Alistair's lap instead. I had to look away to stop myself from giggling madly.

We talked Blight business first; Duncan had apparently had word that Riordan would be joining us within a few days, and between the Dalish, the former werewolves, Riordan, and a handful of mages and templars, Duncan set out patrol routes for each group to follow so we would have early warning if the horde moved. With everything that had changed since I'd come to Thedas, we had no idea how long we had until the Archdemon revealed itself. We hoped to buy the dwarves a month or two to train and mobilise. Caron, Terrence, and Pether assured us that they could have messages sent out right away to begin the patrols.

Once that was done, the elf, the mage, and the templar left, with Gorim following behind; the rest of us got comfortable to talk about the Landsmeet.

Eamon asked me to recap the events of the game, which I did. I tried to be sensitive to Theron's feelings, but I had to admit that I couldn't be sure if rescuing Anora from Howe was a trap. I explained my thinking – it was possible that Anora hoped that Howe and the Wardens would fight each other, leaving the survivor weak enough to have to make a deal with her. Theron flinched, but he didn't disagree that it was a possibility. We thought the unrest in the Alienage should be much less an issue, given the supplies and warning we'd smuggled to Valendrian; secretly I wondered if Anora had known her father planned to sell elves to slavers, in which case she might still give us a tip about problems in the Alienage.

Eamon decided he would send messages to any of the nobles he felt would be friendly to our cause – which was most of them, after the tales of Loghain abandoning the army in Ostagar had spread from those who'd escaped – and that we would march towards Denerim in a week. In the meantime, we would need to meet with the various emissaries, try to get everyone geared up as well as possible, and be ready to move.

And get married. I giggled softly at the thought, earning myself a dirty glare from Eamon.

We all left Eamon in his study, and at a significant glance from me, everyone followed Alistair and I silently into the library, where all of the rest of our companions waited. Alistair took my hand, and we both turned to the group.

"Sierra and I would like to," he gulped, looked over at me for reassurance, and then continued, "formally invite all of you to our wedding. The day after tomorrow, if at all possible."

Everyone cheered and lined up for hugs and handshakes, much to both Alistair's and my embarrassment. I was nervous when Aedan approached me, but he swept me into a bear hug and his congratulations seemed sincere. At the same time, I noticed Zev lean in and whisper something to Alistair which made him blanch and nod seriously, and I guessed my almost-brother-in-law had just delivered a threat to his health if he hurt me. I couldn't help the giggle that escaped me, and Alistair shot me a dirty look as I snickered.

Leliana, after hugs, grabbed Wynne, Solona, and Morrigan and began dragging the three mages out of the room, twittering about shopping; Aedan grabbed Alistair and Theron, and they wandered out discussing politics and the Landsmeet. I snagged Duncan as the rest of the companions wandered away, and he turned to look at me curiously.

"Yes, Sierra?"

"Can I ask you a favour, Duncan?"

"Of course, my dear. Anything."

"I was wondering ... on Earth, in most weddings, the groom stands at the front, and the bride is escorted down the aisle by her father, who 'gives her away', as it were. The thing is, my father is dead, and I'd never even met him, so..."

I looked down, shuffling awkwardly, and waited; Duncan didn't reply. After a pregnant pause, I sighed.

"I'm sorry. It's not really the tradition here, I imagine; I shouldn't have asked. Don't wor-"

Duncan cut me off, putting his hand on my shoulder. I glanced up to see him smiling broadly at me, eyes suspiciously bright. "I'm honoured you would ask me. I would love to."

I grinned and hugged Duncan again, kissing his cheek as he harrumphed in embarrassment.

The next two days were a bit of a blur. Eamon was busy writing letters, leaving the rest of us alone, thankfully; Leliana rushed around doing Maker-knew-what, and I honestly didn't have it in me to ask. I didn't want her to think I didn't trust her.

Mother Hannah was more than happy to agree to marry us, especially when Theron spoke to her and admitted who he was and that he approved. I thought she might have been willing to do almost anything in return for the hope displayed on her face when she found out the King still lived, but agreed easily to keep the secret.

We planned the wedding for late in the afternoon, the day after next, and Leli assured me everything was set. We were to have a small reception in the Redcliffe tavern afterwards. Alistair and I both had fittings – what she thought she could accomplish in a little over a day, I wasn't sure, and I assured her that one of the dresses I already owned would be more than sufficient for the task, but she would hear nothing of it.

I spent the first night wrapped in Alistair's ardent embrace, shouting his name to the skies. The second night, my last night as an unmarried woman, was different.

After supper, Aedan and Theron came to claim Alistair and drag him away from the supper table. The other men in our party, even including Sten, followed, hooting and making jokes and lewd comments; it occurred to me to wonder if Redcliffe had a brothel. I went to object, but Aedan shot me a reassuring wink. Sighing, I sat back down.

"If he isn't sober by tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to kill you, brother."

Aedan just laughed.

Once the men were gone, Wynne, Leli, Morrigan, and Solona were left. I was briefly worried Leliana had planned some sort of embarrassing bachelorette party, but she had other plans. The five of us spent the evening drinking wine, telling stories, and laughing ourselves sick in the library. I had a pleasant buzz on, but not enough to give me a hangover come morning. We went back to Wynne's room and spent time doing each other's nails and braiding each other's hair; all it needed was a good pillow fight to be the most cliché sleepover of all time.

Each of the girls presented me with a piece of slinky lingerie, much to my embarrassment. I blushed crimson, to their delight. Even Morrigan joined in, telling stories of particularly hapless men she'd met in her travels, senseless in the face of her scantily-clad body. Solona told entirely implausible stories of Circle Tower love triangles and clandestine affairs, and we all laughed when Wynne tried to deny such a thing could happen. Leli regaled us with dramatic love stories from history. And of course, somehow we ended up talking about shoes ... at length.

At Leliana's insistence, I shared her room; she'd decided to take seriously the Earth superstition about a groom seeing his bride on their wedding day. She woke me early, subjecting me to a long bath with various bath salts, a complete facial and manicure, and spent an eternity battling with my hair. She had tamed my curls to pile on my head, tendrils dropping down to frame my face. Somewhere in there, she also got herself ready.