In Which Meera's Sentiment Is Reciprocated

May 17, 1203

"Meera! You're stunning! I thought you'd gone mad when I heard you let your daughter pick your dress, but I see she inherited your good taste."

Lily beamed of a sincerity that would have been baffling in itself, but Meera struggled with the thought of her very presence. A second wedding didn't merit the fanfare of the first, so she'd opted to dress herself, even if she had let Laralita choose the dress and even if she had let her eldest soon-to-be stepdaughter do her hair. More than lack of ceremony, though, she'd simply had no suitable options. She had friends, yes, but she didn't want to subject them to her bittersweet preparations. Her two living sisters were much younger half-siblings with whom she wasn't particularly close, and both were at the university in Naroni besides. Arkon's sister was also in Naroni, and his mother was dead, and her own mother had died long before even her first wedding. There was no one for whom the burden would have been appropriate.

Especially her sister-in-law from her first marriage!

"I-- I didn't even think you'd come." The invitation had been made, of course--but given her father's parade of weddings, Meera had assumed a universal understanding that the family of any previous spouse had no obligation to appear. "I'm glad you did, though. Thank you."

"I never would have missed it, Meera. Conant would have wanted you to live your life, so why should I begrudge you for doing so?" Lily's sweet smile gave no hint of any more complex feeling beneath it. She didn't resembled her brother much, but Conant's honest grins and over-simple explanations had always been similar. "Farilon and Marsden are here too, and my sisters abroad send their regards."

"That's very gracious of you all."

"Nonsense! You're still our sister, and not just because Conant would insist that it's so--though, for the record, he would." Light still on her lips and song still in her eye, Lily opened her arms for a hug; a little hesitant, a little sheepish, maybe a little embarrassed, Meera awkwardly obliged. "Never fear to ask anything of any of us, all right? We're still family. We'll always be family."

"Of course. Don't think I don't hold you as such." But what a relief it was--and what a shock it was--to find that sentiment still reciprocated. "Thank you, sister."

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