Crown princess once again

Year 3009 of the Third Age, ten days after summer solstice, Edoras:

They had chosen to have the wedding on the day that once had been Elfhild's birthday when she still lived. Théodred wanted his late mother to be present, in some spiritual sense, which was understandable with her death at his birth. Elia herself had felt so overwhelmed by grief over the death of her own mother Aria, who had passed away only two months before her wedding to Rhaegar, that it had almost ruined all the earlier joy of how she planned to improve the lives of society's vulnerable when she became queen of Westeros.

On the last evening before the wedding day, Elia found herself in the bath house with her soon-to-be new female relatives for a relaxing bath and some general chatter.

"She would have loved Rhaenys and Aegon from the very start, that is for sure," Morwen replied when Elia asked how Théoden's late wife would have reacted on her son coming home with her family like he did four years ago, "and she would have found a bond with you about not being born with the most robust health. She was not exactly sickly, but a premature birth can still cause trouble for someone's health all life."

That Elia knew far too well. Both herself and her father Ihsan was a good example of that, with the asthma that haunted Ihsan ever since he were a infant. Elia had thankfully not the same problems despite being born one month too early, but she knew that staying in a damp place like Dragonstone for a longer time was out of question since otherwise she would get fever attacks and freezing even with dressing in several layers of clothing. Even in winter when it was snow and cold weather, the climate of Rohan was far better for her than Dragonstone because it was milder.

"Feeling nervous about the big day tomorrow?" Laywyn asked while helping Rhaenys to wash the black curls inherited from the Martell side of her family.

"Not as much as when I married the first time. Now I am familiar with my future husband and knows that he would never take a mistress out of the blue or for some hare-brained reason."

"Unless that mistress is the safety and population of Rohan!" Morwen added in with a laugh, which her daughter, granddaughter and granddaughter-in-law had to agree on. But Elia felt alright with that Théodred would have to focus on their kingdom and subjects in times of crisis, that was the duty of a King after all.

~X~X~X~X~X~X

For a bride in Rohan that would marry a second time after becoming a widow, there would be something on the ankle-long dress to mark her apart from a maiden who married for the first time. A first time bride would not have any decorations at all on the dress, generally the finest dress she owned to use not only as a wedding dress but also for other holidays during the year, apart from maybe a simple embroidery of a flower on the bodice and a different-coloured embroidery thread on the long sleeves.

In Elia's case, she had chosen to use colours of the orange and golden sign of House Martell and the white horse of Rohan to symbol her homeland and the kingdom she would become a part of though the marriage, embroidering threads dyed in those colour in a wedding embroidery from Dorne on the green wedding dress with the help of Morwen, Laywyn, Éowyn and some of the best seamstresses living in Edoras.

"It looks great with the contrast in colour between the decorations and the fabric to make the dress."

Perhaps by the fashion standards of the southern nobles in Westeros, the design of the dress would have been viewed as old fashioned, something that would have been better fitted from the eras before the Conquest, perhaps even marking Rohan as not being wealthy in comparison. But the Rohirrim kept this clothing style as a way to honor their ancestors, the life they had before Eorl the Young had gained this realm as a new homeland for his people.

Once dressed in the white linen underdress, Elia got help to dress up in the wedding dress. First a woven fabric belt in the colours of House Martell was fastened around her hips, followed by a golden belt. The amber pendant which marked her as Théodred's future wife was still around her neck, where it from the following morning would be joined in the gold chain by their wedding rings since it would be rather awkward for a husband to lose his ring during combat training or any other job where it could easily happen that a wedding ring slipped off the ring finger. By letting the wife wear both rings in the same chain as the betrothal pendant, the husband knew that she would keep the proof of their marriage safe.

"And this is something that should please my son to see again. The slender gold crown Elfhild wore on their wedding as his bride."

Carefully, Morwen picked up the crown from its place in a chest filled with various pieces of jewelry belonging to the queen consort of Rohan. Over the nearly five hundred years passed since the kingdom had been founded by Eorl the Young, it had became a pretty big collection because it was sixteen generations of jewelry collected in this chest Even if Elfhild had died before becoming queen of Rohan, her personal jewelry had still been placed there as a way to honor her memory.

"Perfect fit, I think you and my late sister-in-law must have been nearly the same size," Laywyn smiled with fondness at seeing how Elia for a moment was replaced by the joyful Elfhild on the morning of her wedding day.

"Éoywn, could you please find Rhaenys? I want her to have the wreath on her head when the ceremony begins soon."

The royal sister-daughter was finished with dressing anyway, so it was only good for her to feel useful.

Inside his own bedchamber, that he would share with Elia from that evening on, was Théodred also getting ready for the wedding ceremony. Dark red was the royal colour in Rohan, often with gold embroidery, so that was how his wedding tunic had been made. Most of his clothing to wear today was his finest anyway, but it was said to bring luck into marriage if both the bride and groom wore something new as part of their clothing during the wedding.

"Aegon, wait, you will trip…"

A little too late. His soon-to-be stepson had tripped over whatever it was that he dragged along the floor, the colour hinting to it possibly being Elia's orange silk dress or the banner of Dorne that one day had been found unexpectedly among a huge pile of freshly cleaned laundry. Éomer was quick to pull up Aegon back to his feet, as Rhaenys also showed up:

"We found this in mama's clothing chest right now!"

When Éomer held it up for a better look, it revealed itself to be a cloak with the spear and sun of House Martell on it.

"She can wear it if it is not too warm in this weather, but we will not have that part of the Westerosi wedding ceremony where the groom places the cloak with the color of his family on her shoulders. I will not have Elia be reminded of her past marriage that way."

Rhaenys took that as a sign of that she could bring the cloak to her mother, and Aegon following after his sister. Seeing how Théodred was slightly distracted by his stepchildren, Théoden used that moment to place a golden crown on the head of his son.

"There, all done for the ceremony now."

It was time for the Prince of Rohan and his bride to meet in the great hall of Meduseld, to see how each one looked in the wedding clothing.

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Inside the Old Palace in Sunspear, the second wedding of Elia were celebrated as well, though in a more family-related manner.

"What a feast!" Obara expressed in surprise, her shocked face mirrored by at least one sister and cousin, when the younger generation was allowed inside the feast hall after that the servants had caught all of them, thoughtfully scrubbed them clean in a hot bath and then dressed in their finest clothing. When it was their grandfather giving such orders, it was no idea to protest.

Not only was the whole feast hall decorated with fresh flowers, there was old family relics from old times that was only shown during a wedding when a member of House Martell married. All the five important adults in the direct Martell family had already gathered, dressed in their finest clothes as well.

"Of course it is a feast when your aunt is getting married today, even if we can not be present there and enjoy it with her," Mellario responded, where she just had enjoyed a taste of apple cider in a gold goblet, preferring that to drink even now four months after finishing her pregnancy, as her youngest son Trystane tended to get a belly ache whatever he nursed from her after that she had drunk some wine. Beside her at the table, Ellaria was also drinking a non-alcoholic drink as she was pregnant again since two months ago.

"Come on, young ones. Let us enjoy this tasty food normally served on a wedding here in Dorne on behalf of your aunt, cousins and her new in-laws," Ihsan attracted his grandchildren with a smile, sitting in his normal seat at the table. Once everyone was seated and had some drink poured up in their glasses, the feast could begin.

"I want the lemon-scented rice!"

"Can I start with the hummus and flatbread?"

"Mansaf for me!" Arianne requested at seeing the lamb cooked in a sauce made of dried fermented yogurt, served with rice when the servants removed the silver lids that helped to keep the food dishes warm until served. Of course it was to be expected that some of the younger generation got carried away slightly, as this was food served only at important events and thus rarely was eaten even for House Martell as the ruling family of Dorne.

"Now, now, children, it is great that you want to taste all the good stuff but we will start with the panella."

Even if it was just the closest family gathered, it would prove to a enjoyable private wedding dinner, for sure.

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Back in Edoras, the wedding ceremony had just began. A bride and her groom would ride their own horses from the stone circle after first placing the wedding rings on the altar in the middle and say a shared prayer to the Valar to bless their marriage.

"Théodred pengel! Princesa Elia!"

It warmed her heart to hear the people of Edoras address her in her mother language, even if it was only one word taught though Éomer and Éowyn first teaching their peers some of the words she had taught them as their teacher and then spread to the families and other people they knew.

"Besorh," Théodred tenderly whispered the Rorhirric word for "beloved" in her ear as they walked up the steps to Meduseld, and there in front of the front doors, the golden rings were placed on their respective ring finger before she removed the betrothal pendant and let her husband place those on each side of the pendant on the chain. Then, as he fastened it again around her neck and they turned to face the crowd, it was shown that they were now husband and wife.

"Long live the Prince of Rohan! Long live the Princess of Rohan!"

For the second time in her life, Elia Martell had wed a crown prince and faced the fate of becoming a queen consort. But unlike last time, when she had married the Targaryen prince who had abandoned her and their children for a prophecy, she felt some form of hope about a more happy marriage.

Arda was a different world, and there was a shadow from the East threatening the Free People of Middle-earth, but in this very moment, she felt a sense of victory that she had never known before:

She had found a true knight in shining armour, in a moment when everything seemed lost, and escaped whatever fate that otherwise would have awaited her. Therefore, in a unspoken gratefulness for how they had met four years earlier, she gave Théodred a unexpected kiss on his lips that held far far more passion that what she ever had shown her first husband.

"Tía Laywyn!" Rhaenys protested from somewhere behind the wedding couple when Laywyn pretended to cover the eyes of her and Aegon as a joke when her nephew and niece-by-marriage kissed in a way that was anything but chaste. But the hands was quickly removed again, it had been a friendly attempt to make the two children remain still just a few moments more until the wedding ceremony was finished. Now they could dash up to their mother and stepfather for the first family hug as a real family.