Neither Magdalene nor Laura had any idea that there was a card hidden in
Eve’s sleeve, or that she had lost on purpose so that they wouldn’t be bored by the stories of a university student. The two young women simply smiled at each other – Laura a little more shyly than Magdalene – before they thanked her and turned to listen to her, their eyes wide.
The Theocratum, whatever it was, probably wasn’t a very nice organization if it didn’t allow people to have parties, Laura secretly thought. She didn’t say anything out loud though as she didn’t want to offend Eve who might have very different thoughts about Quacia.
Besides, her home sounded like a fascinating place, even if she didn’t understand everything (What did tyranny have to do with being pure, for example, and why did the Theocratum have a basalt arm? Was it the same as saying that someone ruled with an iron fist?).
When Eve finished the story by stating that the Ithecal had quartered the Duke of Lair’s body, Laura’s eyes widened, and she gulped. She was obviously shocked. Magdalene on the other hand was only quiet for a moment – she wasn’t as easily scared as her friend – before she wanted to know,
“Why did the Ithecal quarter the Duke of Lair’s body and send it all over the city? Were they just so mad at him that they tore his body into small pieces, or was it some sort of symbolistic gesture?”
Laura briefly glanced at her friend when she heard that question. She looked even more shocked than before, it that was at all possible. She wasn’t sure if it was very appropriate to ask such things!
When
Darius offered to dance with her, Laura’s eyes widened for a moment before she took his hand, very shyly, and followed him onto the dancefloor. Darius would discover that they were quite evenly matched as far as their dancing skills were concerned – Laura wasn’t a particularly good dancer. She seemed to relax when she began to move to the music though.
Magdalene for her part was quite happy when Eve reached out to take her hand and led her to the dance floor. Her dancing skills weren’t great either, but unlike her friend she was confident. There were few conventional things that could scare her or embarrass her!
“I would love to dance with you, Mister Morandi”, Lissa replied to
Woe and offered him her hand. In the meantime, Nyji raised an eyebrow when Woe asked him to look after Beans. He wasn’t aware of the Mortalborn’s stealth entendre, of course, so he simply looked at the dragonet, his eyes twinkling with amusement. When he begged for some food from
Perdita’s plate, but didn’t get any, the ancient biqaj simply fed the little creature himself.
Every once in a while, he also glanced at Perdita and watched her draw though. He didn’t say anything to her as he didn’t want to interrupt or distract her, but every once in a while, he smiled at her, calmly and reassuringly. Some people would consider just sitting there and watching to be boring; Nyji considered himself to be well-entertained though.
While Woe looked at Lissa during their dance, the therapist did make the mistake of watching her feet in order to make sure that she moved them correctly on a regular basis, before she abruptly looked at Woe again from out of her remaining eye that was a soft blue.
“You can visit whenever you have time”, she assured him when he asked about coming to the Spirit’s Rest Oasis and added, in a careful tone of voice,
“You asked Nyji if he had met your mage friends before. If you tell me their names, I can tell you if I know them”, she offered, figuring that she’d be able to do at least that much for him, although she would protect their privacy and not reveal anything about their treatment.
“Oh, congratulations on your upcoming wedding!” Raihi said and smiled brightly when
Elisabeth told her that she would be getting married in Ashan.
“Who is the lucky guy, if you don’t mind me asking? We really look forward to your letter”, she added, because they were.
“Congratulations!” Terrence agreed before he cast a loving glance at his wife. They had been married for a while now – they were both in their thirties n – but they were still very much in love. Hearing that Elisabeth would be getting married soon made him think of how they’d met.
“Creating hybrids is beyond my ability”, he admitted when Elisabeth suggested a hybrid between the Faldrass potato and another variety, and Raihi nodded in agreement. She didn’t possess the necessary skill either.
“Perhaps, we could work on that project together on when you visit though? Together we should be able to manage.”
Both Hales listened to Elisabeth attentively when she explained Rubrum Berries, and came up with different ideas for desserts. They looked quite impressed. When Elisabeth invited them to her wedding, they simply stared at her open-mouthed for a moment though, because that was unexpected, to be honest, and a great honor on top of it.
You didn’t get invited to a wedding of a new acquaintance every trial!
“We would love to come!” Raihi replied, and her husband who was more serious nodded, smiling.
“Do you already know if you’ll be having a traditional or a modern wedding? This is wonderful”, she gushed. It seemed as if the Hales were happy for Elisabeth.
“Masalla’ko’pono”, Raihi repeated very slowly, making sure that she got the pronunciation approximately right. When
Yina commented on her companion’s chunkiness, she laughed – she couldn’t help herself – before she asked,
“Do you think I’d be allowed to scratch him under his chin as well?” Provided that Yina agreed, she would go ahead.
The Hales danced somewhat slowly. They knew how to dance, but they didn’t dance well. They looked as if they were enjoying themselves and very much in love though. There were in fact a lot of people at the party that weren’t masterful dancers, but nobody seemed to care. This was about having fun and, perhaps, doing a little bit of good.
Heidi bleated and stuck her tongue out when
Oram turned his attention away from her and towards Aidan. The food that she had been served improved her mood greatly though, and when she had eaten it all – she was a fast eater – she lay down on the floor, content.
Aidan wanted to say something to Oram – since none of them would be dancing, they might as well continue their conversation that he had found quite entertaining so far – when he noticed that Elisabeth was walking over to them. And what more,
Yina had hopped on her shoulder. His eyes widened for a moment before he told the Chief Ranger in an amused tone of voice,
“I think you can ask them who exactly they are now.”
“By the way, is the lady a friend of yours?” he wanted to know and gestured towards Elisabeth. She was quite pretty, he decided. Maybe, she was actually Oram’s girlfriend?
When Elisabeth introduced herself and her companion, he inclined his head.
“Well met, Elisabeth. I’m Aidan, and this here is Heidi, His Grace’s favourite pet”, he said and pointed at the black and white goat.
“I used to be His Grace’s roommate back in Scalvoris Town, and I’m a veterinarian and a linguist”, he explained, since Elisabeth had said what she did.
“It seems as if ours is going to be the table where nobody dances”, he remarked and gestured towards the tables around them that had become empty for the most part.
“Unless you came here in order to ask Oram or me if we’d be willing to dance?” he wanted to know and raised an eyebrow, sounding quite amused and cheerful as he wondered if the presence of the pretty lady would change Oram’s mind in regard to dancing.
Heidi for her part didn’t say anything, and she definitely didn’t dance. Being a good, she didn’t know how to dance, and she didn’t care about dancing either. Her stomach was full, and she was tired now.
“I don’t know how to dance either”, Marvin admitted to
Alyssia and grinned, as if that was something to be proud of rather than a potential source of embarrassment.
“And you don’t have to worry about stepping on my feet too much. They are quite well-padded, so I likely won’t feel a thing”, he continued and removed one of his shoes in order to show her one of his furry feet.
A moment later, he looked around in order to check if anybody had watched him and slipped the shoe back on.
“So, how about we give it a try?” he asked, his whiskers twitching. He would ultimately leave it up to Alyssia if she wanted to dance or not though. If she refused, he would keep her company at the table and chat with her, but no matter what happened, he would suddenly excuse himself halfway through the music and tell Alyssia in a tone of voice that was half apologetic and half conspiratorial,
“I have to prepare His Grace’s surprise now.”
The Surprise
Devin played one song after the other, with obvious joy, even though his fingers stared to hurt slightly towards the end. Occasionally, during a break, he looked up and watched the people around him dance and have fun though and smiled all over his face.
He felt as if was on top of the world and as if it could hardly get any better. This was who he had always been meant to be, he decided, not the little boy in Lowtown who dreamt of wealth and fame, and not the wannabe conman.
He was finally living his best life, and what more, he was making the world a little more beautiful and a little less unpleasant and painful and giving everybody gifts while doing so!
The last song that the son of Zanik and the band played – Devin announced that it would be the last song of course so that his guests would not be caught unaware and disappointed - was a kind of slow waltz, a dance song that was interrupted by occasional lighter notes that were supposed to remind the listener of the stars that were shimmering in the sky. At least, it started like a slow waltz. Towards the end, it got faster, and it ended with a veritable bang.
The musicians put their instruments away, stood and bowed, and so did Baron Devin himself!
“I promised you another exciting thing before this evening is over, a surprise. The time for that has finally come”, he announced in a firm and clear tone of voice so that even the people at the other end of the ballroom would have no trouble understand him.
“I ask you all to please follow me outside now. If you have pets, leave them here, please. Servants will take care of them while we are gone. They may not appreciate my surprise as much as you hopefully will”, he added, having come to the decision that he owed his guests some sort of explanation as to why their pets should stay inside, despite the fact that he wanted to keep his surprise a total secret until the big moment had arrived.
The people that decided to come with Devin would eventually find themselves right in front of the manor door. A servant, a young blonde biqaj woman, stood there, holding a big wooden box that was filled with …
… earmuffs.
She offered every guest a pair of white fluffy earmuffs that looked kind of like snowballs (to match the theme of the party) and explained that it would be a little loud soon and that they’d better put the earmuffs on if they had sensitive ears. She refused to explain why it would be loud though, no matter how much anybody asked her to tell them!
Devin himself didn’t take any earmuffs, knowing that he’d be able to handle the noise. He simply turned around and addressed whoever had decided to follow him outside once more.
“While we were still dancing – or playing music, in my case – Marvin, our chief engineer, arranged everything. Due to the nature of the final surprise of the evening, I considered it better to let an experienced scientist take care of it”, he explained.
It was just than that people would see a faint shimmer somewhere in the distance, a signal of sorts.
“It seems as if Marvin is ready”, Devin proclaimed and turned around once more.
“Please raise your heads and look at the sky – NOW!” he exclaimed, just as the
fireworksBought, not home-made, for safety reasons. started, and the sky was suddenly covered with shimmering lights, in white and silver and golden, and red. There was one firework after the other one. For a moment, the sky was brighter than it was during the trial, and then, all of a sudden, it was quiet and dark again – except for the lights from the windows of the manor behind them.
Nyji and Lissa, Magdalene and Laura, Aidan and all the other guests stood there and watched, and Terrence Hale put an arm around his beloved wife. When the fireworks was over, he spontaneously kissed her. Laura briefly froze, and her hands went to her ears, in spite of the fact that she was wearing ear muffs, but then she simple stared open-mouthed.
After the fireworks, the guests were free to go inside and dance some more – the band would play a little more if anybody requested it. There would also be drinks and more snacks. They could also stay outside if they wanted to though, go for a walk while the snow fell and have snowball fights, if they happened to feel particularly mischievous or childlike. Eventually, the festivities would come to an end for good though. People could either choose to head home or to their guestrooms. Wherever they went, Devin thanked them for attending his party and wished them a good night and all the luck in the world though.
I will post again in approximately two weeks. Unless something unexpected happens, this will be the final round.
