Work Text:
Elda gave Claudia a clutch made of her own molted feathers as a wedding gift.
"Oh Elda," Claudia sighed, holding the gift up to better admire it. The lovely golden purse seemed to shine with a light all its own. "You didn't have to."
"Do you not like it?" Elda asked, looking this way and that while pawing anxiously at the ground.
"I love it! But it will put all the rest of my wardrobe to shame."
Elda perked up at that. "I could have Callette make you another!"
Claudia giggled. That certainly explained the craftsmanship.
"She really likes you, you know?" Elda added, beaming as only a griffin might. "She wants to have you model some of her dresses."
"Do I not wear this one well?" Claudia retorted, setting the clutch to the side before giving an experimental twirl. The motion gave the whole gown in iridescent tint, before the edges of the train settled and its normal platinum sheen returned.
Elda chittered at that. "Truly the Imperium's finest." Then she surged forward and nipped at Claudia's coif.
"Hey!"
"Much better," the griffin preened.
"I'll have you know the stylist spent three hours on that..." Claudia grumbled.
"But look, look," Elda gestured to the mirror, "Your hair is so much happier now."
Claudia had to admit this was true. Her locks were twisting and turning with glee. Whether this was due to the sudden emancipation or the close contact with magic from the Marshes, she couldn't say. She filed the information off, to be experimented with at a later time.
"Stop that," Elda said. Despite the fact that she was three months younger than Claudia, there was a grouchiness to her tone that spoke of age. Courtesy of her own older sisters, no doubt.
"What?"
"You're thinking of work. Stop that."
"Am not."
"Look," Elda started, cleverly changing the subject, "After the ceremony, Kit wants us all to do the griffin dance."
"The griffin dance."
"Yes. And now that you're a member of the family, you'll have to do it too."
"In this dress?" Claudia spluttered.
"I'll help you!" Elda chirped, "And Blade will too." She crossed the space between them in a heartbeat, rising onto her haunches to loom over her friend, and held out her claws. "Come on, let's practice!"
"Elda, the ceremony is in half an hour — "
"Come on, come on!" the griffin insisted. Her lion's tail swooshed side to side.
"Very well," Claudia sighed, lifting her hands to gingerly grab ahold of Elda's talons. "I warn you though, I've two left feet."
A squawking pitch of laughter. "Mum always said I had four!"
And then the two of them were off. Now, from what Claudia had seen of the griffin dance, it generally involved no less than four participants and it was more of a tug-of-war than a dance. Since it was just the two of them, Elda didn't bother pushing or pulling, instead skipping circles with Claudia around the dressing table.
There wasn't a melody in earshot but Claudia found herself humming along all the same.
"That's it!" Elda beamed.
Claudia's hair rose up, trying to rival the mass of Elda's wings. It was a good effort, but hopeless from the start. Elda laughed at the sight, tilting her beak upwards to direct Claudia's attention. When Claudia saw it, she couldn't help it, she let go of Elda's talons and sank to the floor, shaking with mirth.
"It sort of looks like Policant's shoes," Elda remarked, which only made Claudia laugh harder.
"Look here," Elda tutted, "Now you've embarrassed it!"
Sure enough, Claudia's errant locks were trying to rearrange themselves in their former bun.
"Stop it, oh stop it," Claudia gently pushed the now-tangled mess of errant locks from her face. "Oh Elda," she said from her spot on the floor, "Give me a claw up, will you?"
Elda obliged and Claudia pulled herself upright. She had a surprisingly wide range of motion, considering the amount of mass the dress took up. It came with the magic.
"Stop that," Elda said again.
"I'm not thinking of work," Claudia insisted.
"Really?" Elda turned her head to the side, fixing her with her famed piercing gaze.
Claudia should have been well used to it, but humours must have been askance, what with the anticipation and all. She squirmed for a moment and then said: "Alright fine. I was thinking of a dress with teleportation bits."
"You mean the dress would vanish?" Elda asked.
"No," Claudia coloured at the thought, "That is... if it had a really wide hem, the bits of the hem could squeeze their way through, say, a narrow door."
"Interesting," Elda agreed. "But would there be a spell embedded in the fabric?"
"The wearer could also be in direct control," Claudia shrugged.
"But then what's to stop them from wearing a dress that fits through doorways? At least for when they need to get through one?"
"The wishes of a beloved older brother, advice from a trusted friend..." Claudia fluttered her lashes. "The possibilities are endless."
"What cheek you have," Elda giggled, "And here I'd been celebrating the thought of a nice older sister!"
"That's Lydda, isn't it?"
"But she's on another continent! That's even farther than Shona!"
"Claudia!" Olga called from the ground floor, "Are you ready?"
Claudia gave Elda a deadpan look. "I don't know," she said. "Am I ready?"
"Blade is going to faint at the sight of you," Elda promised, reaching out to playfully nip the other witch's nose. "Come on, come on, up you go!"
And so Claudia was herded upstairs. The dining room was to serve as the ceremony chamber and it was filled to the nines with every flower, tree, and shrub Querida could translocate from the marshes. Said former High Chancellor of the University was seated next to Callette. She dipped her head at Elda and even gave a ghost of a smile at the bride.
"How is she?" Olga whispered, as she and Elda took up Claudia's train in the march to the altar.
"She liked my gift!"
Olga rolled her eyes. If she had a free hand, she would have tweaked Elda's ear. "So she wasn't nervous?"
Elda didn't get to respond because the dining room wasn't that big, even cleared of the table, which meant the walk wasn't very long. Blade was standing at the end of it and Kit and Titus were next to him. He didn't faint, but he did turn red and go a little weak at the knees, which warmed Elda's heart, knowing her matchless older brother could be nervous too.
*
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(coda)
"Well," Claudia said, after the vows, the rings, the cake, the dancing, the griffin dance — after the party had dwindled down, in short. She was still dressed in her platinum gown, though the edges were lined with her new siblings' feathers. "That's that I suppose." She snapped her fingers and a quill and paper dropped into her lap.
"Oh no," Olga moaned, "Elda, didn't you promise you would keep her from working for one day?"
"But it's not work, see," Claudia held up her sketch. It was rough around the corners but clearly of a griffin in a dress.
"It is so work!" Elda protested.
"No, this is brilliant," Olga clapped her hands together as Elda gave a squawk of alarm. "Don't worry Elda," She patted Elda's crest, "Flury won't know what hit him!"