"Presenting, his honorary lordship,Ambrose."
Ambrose winced behind his green lordship was strange enough without such grand fanfare. As he descended the steps into the ball room, Ambrose realized he missed just being Glitch.
Whispers broke out all around him, but he stared straight ahead, frantically searching the crowd on the Dias to spot he could just find her, the pair could slip off and have their own little party without all the Pomp and Circumstance. Even in the old days, he didn't care much for balls. And less for Masquerades. Its bad enough when people wont look you in the eyes when their eyes aren't hidden in the depths of a mask!
He reached the Dias and bowed regally to the queen and other people of state. Then took his seat beside Azkadellia.
"I don't suppose you know where DG is?" He muttered from the corner of his mouth.
"Hmm?" Azkadellia looked up for a moment and then back down. "Oh. She isn't coming."
"She isn't coming-" Ambrose repeated faintly. "But she was talking about it for ages and then-"
"Oh I told her not to come. Really you needn't get so worked up." Azkadellia sighed."She grew up on the other side. They don't know anything about dancing there. I told her, she wouldn't fit in she may as well stay in tonight."
"DG would fit in fine." Ambrose grinned wryly. "She'd redefine the entire ball if she had to but she would fit in."
Azkadellia smiled. "Why are you so interested in the movements of my sister?"
The room began to grow very warm or maybe it was just him.
" Shes my friend. I was hoping to see her."
"MMM. Your not asking about Cain or Raw,I notice."
"I-I-I-you don't have contact with Raw and Cain,so you wouldn't know. Therefore there would be no point in asking you." He supplied smoothly,though he felt rather ruffled. "No point in asking you.. no point in asking you... no point in.. " Ambrose pinched himself to get rid of the glitch
"Of course." Azkadellia mocked playfully. All through supper Ambrose kept his eyes down and ears open,listening for the announcement of DGs arrival. After supper came dancing, and still no sign of DG. Ambrose slowly began edging toward the door. While his blue-green coat didn't completely blend into the wall,it made him less conspicuous than the vibrant colors on all sides.
In retrospect,he should have buttoned the coat up,rather than wear it open,exposing his black buttoned vest and white shirt ,the peacock feather on his mask was a bit obvious. The only reason he chose the mask was the long thick velvet strap that would completely cover the zipper on his crown. Not that that stopped the whispers.
But at least people couldn't gawk at him for it.
Ambrose was nearly at the door when a loud crash resounded from the main entrance. All conversation stopped and every eye turned to watch the progress of a late arrival. A young woman with straight black hair tied into a loose elegant twist with a few trendils coming down.
Ambrose watched,mesmerized as she came down the walked with a graceful hesitant air. Her long lilac gown fluttered lightly with each step. Though hidden behind her light purple mask, Ambrose could tell her eyes had deadlocked onto his. She smiled radiantly at him and his breath caught.
Unconsciously he moved forward through the crowd. She never wavered in direction,but came right to him. They met in the middle of the dance floor.
"I think I know you" Ambrose murmured.
"I don't think I know me."
Was that rhetorical?
"Care to dance?" She offered her hand. Ambrose didn't know how to refuse her.
"Perhaps if you told me your name?" He asked as the music started up again.
"I don't belong to my name tonight,Lord Ambrose." She replied,ducking her head. "You can just call me Doll."
"Very well then,Doll." Ambrose smiled kindly.
She wrapped herself closer to him and Ambrose hoped Fervently that wherever DG was she wasn't waiting for him.
"Do you come to these often?" Doll asked after a while. "You re quite an accomplished dancer."
"Oh-h I uh I like to avoid them to be honest."
"But you came tonight."
"I was looking for a friend. But I don't think she came." A dark suspicion snuck over him then and his shoulders sagged. "Maybe shes avoiding me."
Doll pulled away to look at him.
"Why would she do that?"
Ambrose shrugged and bit his lip. "DG is very vibrant. Young. When I think about it, why would she bother with all this fuss just to see someone twice her age? Old like me." Ambrose pushed back one of the Lilacs from her face
"Your not so old." Doll smiled. "I think it s worth all the 'fuss' in the world,just to stand in the same room with you."
He gave a shy smile. She pulled him close again.
"That's nice of you, Doll"
They danced in silence for a while. All the time he tried to figure out where he knew her from.
The clock struck 11.
"Its almost time for the unmasking. I'm glad too, this mask is quite warm."
"Id like to keep mine on forever." Doll whispered frantically.
"Why?"
"So I don't have to be me. So we can dance together forever. Its like the play. As you like it."
"Shakespeare." He nodded.
"Have you read it?"
"No. Only Titus Andronicus." He replied.
"I feel like Rosalind." She smiled dreamily. " Free from my own shortcomings in my disguise. I feel like I'm free to tell you anything. Like Rosalind. She told Orlando how she felt about him."
"How did she feel about him?" Ambrose asked,genuinely interested.
Doll leaned in close and whispered
"I Love you Glitch."
Ambrose could swear his heart had stopped. Only one girl
ever called him Glitch.
"DG?"
He may have said it out loud, He was never really sure.
As the clock chimed midnight, she reached up and kissed him wildly, as though it had been the only thing she wanted to do all evening.
She pulled away and Ambrose grasped desperately to keep her close,but she fled the crowded room,faster than he could follow. He looked down at the purple silk still in his hands. One now wilted lilac clung to the mask. He left as quickly as he could and found DG sitting just inside the garden.
He crept up behind her and set the mask back over her eyes. A smile played on his lips as he bent close to her ear and breathed "I love you too, Doll."