Deltora Quest

The Proposal

Chapter 2- The Dance

Lief smirked as he saw Jasmine, being pulled to the large dance floor by Barda and Marilen. He sat at the high table, which was raised above all the other little tables floating around the hall. Half of Deltora was in the enormous hall, eating, drinking, laughing and rejoicing the defeat of the Shadow Lord. The hall was decorated with sliver and exotic flowers hung around the walls. Lief had to admit to himself it was almost like a gothic like heaven, very stylish and beautiful. But not as beautiful as the woman who he was spying on now. Jasmine had just finished dancing with Barda and was now dancing with her father and she looked happy, Lief loved to see her smile, and loved to hear her laugh.

Barda spotted his friend up on the high table and headed over to him, sitting down in the vacant chair next to Lief, he poured himself a glass of wine and turned to his younger friend.

"So how you going to crack it?" asked Barda, shifting his seat closer to Lief.

Lief rolled his eyes, he had been asked this question over a thousand times, by each of his friends and was getting pretty annoyed now, "I- I don't know, how did you do it Barda?!" he asked looking at his friend through his hands.

"Well, I took her to the side of things, you know so it wouldn't attract attention" he said simply, "But what do you know, once I proposed, she screamed and yelled in joy and alerted half of Deltora!"

"Yeah, I heard" said Lief smirking.

"So how you going to do it?"

Lief shook his head, "I guess, Ill just ask to see her out on the balcony, then I'll tell her."

"Ohhh" moaned Barda.

"What?"

"I wanted you at ask her in front of everyone, so I could see her reaction!" he wined, Lief only laughed a little dryly. He couldn't help but feel a little nervous, he knew as soon as it was time to propose, he would feel like heaving.

"How did you do it without throwing up?" asked Lief.

"Well, I knew she loved me as much as I loved her so, I really had nothing to worry about" the big man said, setting his wine glass aside, and sitting back in his chair, observing the dancing going on below him, "I have to admit though, it was a bit nerve racking and it was hard to say it perfectly, but it just came out from my mouth and I knew I had said the right words."

"What did you say exactly?"

"Humph,… what do you think I said, I said to her 'Will…You…Marry…Me', that's what you're supposed to say when proposing Lief" said Barda looking at his friend weirdly.

"Yeah, I know that but, didn't you say anything else to Lindal, you know, about how much you love her, and how she is the most important person in the world to you?"

"No, I just asked her to marry me, right then and there" Barda replied, "Why?"

Lief shook his head, "No reason, Barda your absurd!"

"No" snapped Barda playfully, "I'm just crazy."

Lief smirked as Barda stood up and pointed at the dance floor, "I'm going to go and dance with Lindal, she's going to have my ass for not dancing with her already, and if you actually pay attention you might see that Jasmine can dance really well, you might want to go and take you're future wife from her father, before any other man takes her first."

With that Barda strode off into the crowd looking for his own wife. Lief smiled as his attention was drawn to Jasmine again, she was still dancing with her father, the two of them were having a conversation which went unheard as the music, played by the band, started to play a slow ballet. Lief took this as an opportunity and stood form the table, gathering his nerves he walked over to the dancing daughter and father, and tapped Doom on the shoulder.

"May I?" he asked bowing slightly. Doom smiled faintly and stepped aside, Jasmine looked up at Lief as he took her in his arms. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he willingly let her slide her arm to rest on his shoulder as he lightly took her hand in his. The music started to play again to a livelier tune, and the couple moved as one around the dance floor, their garments swirling and billowing about them. They took no notice of the smiles and glances they were getting from everyone; they were only focused on each other, ignoring the rest of the world as they had this moment to themselves.


"Aren't they cute?" muttered Sharn, standing by Doom, Barda, Marilen, Lindal and Ranesh, as they all watched the dancing couple.

"So, how did he say he was going to crack it?" asked Marilen looking up at Barda.

"He said he was going to take her away from the crowd, you know make It private," Barda said, "But I'm going to make sure I see it!"

"What?" asked Doom, shaking his head.

"You'll see," Barda replied with a small grin.

"You're impossible Barda, but I wouldn't mind catching her reaction" Marilen added.

Barda only smirked, he then turned to Lindal and held out his hand, "Care to dance, watching my two best friends just makes me jealous" he said sarcastically. Lindal rolled her eyes at him and smiled, taking his arm as he led them out onto the dance floor.

Jasmine spotted Barda and Lindal making their way to the dance floor and smirked.

"What?" asked Lief, Jasmine nodded her head in the direction of the older couple, Lief smiled.

"They're already on their first child!" Lief exclaimed, looking back down at Jasmine.

"How long until she gives birth?" she asked.

"Humm, I think she said in a couple of months or something," Lief replied, "How many more do you think they'll have?"

"I don't know, I would guess another three" she said as the music begun to slow down.

"Three! I think they would at least have another five, the way they're going already" Lief said grinning. The music played by the wonderful band had definitely started to slow down. Lief got an idea, slowly he slid both his arms around Jasmine's slim waist hugging her to him, catching on Jasmine brought her own arms to rest around his neck, pressing herself against him, and leaning her head onto Lief's chest. Lief didn't notice it but he was smiling through out the whole thing. He had never felt more alive and…happy. The Shadow Lord was gone and Deltora was free, and he finally had the woman of his dreams in his arms. Things couldn't have been more pleasant.

"You look beautiful Jasmine" muttered Lief, "Have I told you that?"

She chuckled and hugged him closer, smiling into the crook of his neck, "Yes, several times, and you look so cute in your suit."

Lief grinned, "Are you implying that I cannot look stunningly handsome in a suit!" he asked pretending to be shocked.

"Maybe" she said mischievously.

"You wait until tomorrow, I'm going to come when your asleep and tickle you, until you beg for mercy, since I know how much you hate it!" his hands found their way to her ribs, where he softly dug his hands into the fabric. Jasmine buried her face into his shirt, trying not to laugh.

"Stop it... Lief…Stop it!!" she hissed softly, so only he could hear it.

Lief smirked at her weakness and stopped, vowing to get her back in the early hours of the morning, even though he would get severe bodily bruises for it. He sighed and brought his mind back to earth, he had to ask her. The couple kept dancing and stayed comfortable in each others arms cherishing these few moments, and so were very disappointed when the music stopped. Lief bowed to Jasmine and she took his arm as he led them off the dance floor.

When they were off the floor, Lief turned to Jasmine, "Uh…Jasmine?" he asked.

"Yes Lief?" she asked looking up at him.

"Could…Could I talk to you out on the balcony?" he asked, trying and succeeding to keep his voice calm.

She looked confused but agreed and headed to the humungous, double doors, which were made out of glass. Lief put his hand in his pocket and felt the elegant, tiny box, which contained his future. Sighing nervously he headed after her, glaring at all the young men that were glancing and staring at Jasmine as she stepped out onto the balcony. Reaching the double doors Lief stood out in the cold night air, he shivered and turned to close the door for some privacy. Looking through the glass, he could see Barda, Sharn, Doom, Marilen, Lindal, and Ranesh all standing in a group a few meters away from the double glass doors.

They were straining their eyes to get a look at the two figures out on the balcony. They spotted him looking at them, and smiled innocently, Barda and Marilen gave him the thumbs up, while Lindal was on the verge of jumping around on the spot, her hands clasped over her rounded stomach. Doom and Sharn were grinning encouragingly and Ranesh was smiling almost clapping with joy. Lief looked at them weirdly and suddenly felt very nervous, his body became heavy for him to move and he was getting a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. Nervously, he gently shut the door, giving his friends a small smile through the glass he turned around to look at Jasmine.


A:N/ Thankx for all those reviews and I hope you like this story. I have a very strong suspicion I am going to fail my Scicnce exam, but who really cares, I fall asleep during those lessons anyway. And its not like I actually like Science, English is more my thing.

Don't forget to tell me what you think! R & R!