There was a marked change in the atmosphere in Valtheim, eighteen months earlier the mood at Serenity's coronation had been bittersweet due to the circumstances that had surrounded her ascension to the throne but today the backdrop was joyous, the crowds had been gathering since the previous day along 'Lighthouse Avenue' the main road from the gates of the Marble Palace, past the Lighthouse roundabout and down into the centre of Valtheim itself, it was famously a mile between the Palace and the home of the Senate in Liberty Hall but the distance between the Palace and the Temple of the Brave was longer than that. This was planned to be every bit the celebration that was expected, all the pomp and pageantry, all the uniforms, medals and everything else. For the international guests arriving on the day the responsibility of meeting them at the airport fell to a familiar face -
Roslyn Williams, the former Royal Liaison Officer which in simple terms meant she'd done a lot of the admin work for the Achkaerinese Royal Family and had managed a few visits during her time in the role, these days she was one of the country's younger Senators but with her replacement still learning the ropes she'd been happy to put the metaphorical old hat on one last time. Her job was fairly simple in this instance, meet the guests, greet them and get them into the waiting cars headed to the Temple.
First up was Mktvartvelo, Roslyn smiled as she saw Ketevan and her husband make their way towards her "Brzdmtsveli." Roslyn said, hoping she'd gotten the pronunciation right, it had always been a title she'd had a problem or two getting right, "Mr Chiaureli welcome to Achkaerin, we're glad you could make it. If you'll go with this steward we'll get you transported to the Temple." as if on cue a smartly dressed man walked up from behind Roslyn and proceeded to escort the pair a waiting car.
Next was the Rokkenjiman's, in essence the family of the bride though given the parentage of one of the Anselmo's they likely stood on both sides of the aisle. "Your Majesty." Roslyn said addressing Asuna first "Your Highness's, honoured guests." she smiled "It's great to see you today. If you'll go with this steward you'll be taken to the Temple." Roslyn had just enough time after the Rokkenjiman's had been escorted away to send a message confirming Kikyo's presence before Akasha was walking up to her and not alone "Your Majesty." Roslyn said "Welcome to Achkaerin, if you'll please go with this steward they'll see you transported to the Temple."
When she spotted the Morelander's Roslyn took a deep breath, East Moreland was a valued ally no was the most valued ally Achkaerin had, and the reasons for that were obvious enough, when push came to shove the two nations weren't in the habit of leaving each other in the lurch. "Your Majesties." she said addressing both David and Stasya "Welcome to Achkaerin, if you'll please follow this steward they'll take you a car that will take you to the Temple." she handed the Morelander Royals over to one of the stewards and turned her attention back for whomever was next.
The Temple of the Brave was one of the most visited buildings in Achkaerin, it's name derived from the name given to Achkaerinese military personnel - 'the Brave', the temple was a functioning place of worship that was non denominational in nature, its grounds contained the memorial gardens where those lost in conflicts were remembered, while inside the Temple itself sat the current book of remembrance, the book in which the most recent Achkaerinese losses were recorded - the previous books were kept in the Temple's archive which was a building separate from the Temple itself. Waiting for the cars to arrive was
Peter Azurewind, the former Emperor and his wife
Renee, the nature of the day's choreography included various processions of the Royals from the Palace to the temple and theirs had been the first carriage to leave entirely to be at the Temple to meet the international guests. Peter stood wearing a suit while Renee wore an elegant purple dress. They watched as the cars carrying those from the airport as well as an additional one that had brought the Fusanese guests pulled up and one by one the various groups made their way up and into the entrance way of the Temple.
"Welcome." Peter said "Welcome to the Temple of the Brave, I know it seems a little odd having a wedding here of all places but there's a very good reason for it. Empress Serenity is a Namist and Princess Euphemia is a Rosari so we don't want to cause trouble for either of them by requiring one to take part in a ceremony not affiliated with their faith. The Temple of the Brave..." by this point they were inside the large central worship space, the stone arches stood impressive around them, the seating laid out either side of a large, central aisle with smaller aisles to the left and the right with the altar at the far end under a newly fitted stained glass window. "... Is a place of worship for all faiths, today however is a first for the place in terms of what is going to happen which is first will be Serenity and Euphemia's wedding ceremony which will then lead into Euphemia's coronation as Elemental Queen after which we'll all head back to the Marble Palace for the reception. We have some time until the wedding ceremony begins so if you wish to look around, socialise and so on please do feel free to do so, we have got people on standby to assist you. I hope you enjoy todays festivities."
Once Peter had finished speaking the various groups of guests were left somewhat to their own devices for a few moments until one by one they were approached by one of the locals. In the case of Ketevan and her husband this was
Kenneth Bauer, the head of Achkaerin's Football Association and Viscount of Djana-Ville, he led Ketevan and Vazha down one of the aisles to the seats that had been set aside for them. "These are your seats Brzdmtsveli he indicated the two that were reserved for them "Not a sporting occasion but just as joyous and it definitely beats being stuck in meetings about refereeing consistency." he smiled "How was your journey getting here?"
The Rokkenjiman group was perhaps the trickiest to handle over the course of the day, getting them from the airport to the Temple was easy enough but now came the carefully planned element of matters to separate Kikyo from the rest, to make it look like a flight share that had seen her arrive with the Anselmo's and nothing more than that. Responsibility for the Rokkenjiman's had gone, to no one's great surprise, to
Nettie Taylor, the one time Rokkenjiman Premier had found a new lease of life in Valtheim "Ms Hase." Nettie said addressing Kikyo first "May I introduce you to
Pippa Lonsdale" she indicated a young blonde haired girl maybe just a couple of years older than Kikyo "She's Achkaerin's Youth President." that was the cover established, as Pippa took Kikyo off to one side Nettie led the remainder of the Rokkenjiman's down the aisle and pointed out their seats which were situated right next to the Mktvartvelian's the message didn't need saying but it was clear enough
sort it out. There was also one other surprise as sat in the midst of the Rokkenjiman seats was
Sasuke "You didn't think we wouldn't invite him did you?" Nettie said with a slight giggle.
Pippa had taken Kikyo off and was eagerly showing her around the different parts of the sanctuary, it might have seemed odd given that Pippa's father was leader of the Republican Party but like her father Pippa knew all she had was a dissenting voice and that said she didn't object to the existence of the Monarchy just the power it wielded in affairs of state. "So rumour has it that our Empress turned your Youth Diet into a collaborative effort." Pippa said.
Akasha and Nasser found themselves in the company of
Constance Silvermist, she showed the pair where their seats were "You will be right here." Constance said indicating the seats which were situated just behind the Rokkenjiman's "I understand Setri's growing reasonably well these days, not bad all things considered."
King David likely wouldn't have been surprised to see an Ayanami given the job of showing him and Stasya where their seats were, given that the two families were distantly related, but
Rosa was less familiar with the Morelander King than the rest of the family was. She was also pretty much freshly off the plane from Bakkermaya for the wedding, after greeting the King and Queen she led them down the aisle towards their seats "You might recognise someone." Rosa said, knowing the Morelander King's liking of lesser known bits of historic trivia, indicating the newly fitted stained glass window - it was of a woman wearing chainmail armor and carrying a shield and sword, it was Anezaki Ayanami, raised a Namist, then Queen of East Moreland and then died in battle for a nation that was at the time Christian. "Your seats are here." she continued pointing them out.
By comparison to the others it might have seemed out of place for Eijiro and Mayumi to be shown through by
Hannah Nikaido but given it was the Fusanese this made sense, Hannah was Prince Simon's partner in the skies, she flew his wing so given that Simon had other responsibilities on the day she'd been asked to do this. Her dark blue dress uniform and medal were on show as she pointed out the seats to the Fusanese Royals and then took a breath "Simon says he'll see you later, he's a little annoyed that he can't be doing this though personally I think he's more worried that you might get to hear the story of how I saved his life."
OOC- Anyone can still turn up if they want to just assume you've been there all along
Topic: One Wedding, One Coronation, No Funerals (Open RP) (Read 405 times)