Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda series or the Characters.
Hello, folks! Thanks again for reading! Where we last left off, Rusl, Isabelle and Adam told Link about their idea to have him and Isabelle go to "Le Bal de Paires" and talk to King Dubois. Link thought that Rusl was playing matchmaker, so he acted very strange and kissed Isabelle to "prove" that they were not a good match for each other. Awkward...well, what's going to happen next?
Note: Yes, I do realize this chapter is LONG, but it's because there was a lot of stuff to fit into this chapter. :DDDDD ENJOY! And please review! :)
Chapter 11: The Ball
After about 30 minutes of trying in vain to sleep, I looked at the clock and noticed that it was 2:00pm. I got up and went to go talk to Rusl. I went into the other hotel room only to find him and Adam in it. "Where's Isabelle?"
"Why do you want to know, so you can kiss her again? I didn't know you were such a two-timer!" Rusl laughed meanly.
"No!" I shouted as the redness began to show on my cheeks. "I was trying to prove a point to you, Rusl. I was trying to prove to you that it would be too awkward, as I do not know Isabelle very well, and I care for Zelda very much." Adam didn't say a word. "Well, do you guys know where she is? I'm just curious."
"She started to cough after you left and had to take the last dose she had of one of her medications, so she had to put on her cloak and go out to get a refill." Adam replied, looking down.
"What's wrong?" I asked, looking at Adam.
"I…it's nothing." He said, looking deep in thought.
"Okay." I said. I went to sit down with Rusl.
"…Why don't you just go to the stupid ball?" Adam looked at me.
"What?!" I said feeling thrown off-balance.
"You already kissed her." Adam replied absolutely. "It won't be a big deal, it's not like it's going to mean that you're going to date her. You're the one who made it awkward…"
"We were just going to have you two pretend that you were a couple in order to crash the party discreetly." Rusl said. "It would have looked more convincing if you two went together. You would have shown the king your badge, identifying yourself as a knight. Then you could have told him that you know the truth and that he will be arrested and/or forced to resign his crown and title if he didn't stop his actions. It would have been perfect. And Zelda coming in tomorrow would have made it even more convincing." He looked at me sternly. "You were so convinced that I was trying to set you up with Isabelle that your ego sank in and you tried to prove a point to us. Well the joke's on you, because that was never our intention, and now you just kissed a girl you never meant to kiss."
I slapped myself in the face. "I should have listened."
"Well?" said Adam. "Are you going to do it?"
"I…I'll do it." I said. "But only so we can talk to the king and get him to stop this shit."
"Good." Adam said with a smile.
"I will notify Isabelle." Rusl said. "We had made plans for her to meet up with one of her friends to go shopping for tonight."
"Shopping?" I asked.
"She is poor; doesn't have a ball gown." He answered.
"Right…" I said.
"Don't worry; you get to go shopping too." Rusl said with a snicker. "We have to find you a nice outfit fit for a noble!"
"Oh my god…" I slapped myself as they laughed. "I don't like shopping…"
Isabelle came back into the inn and came up to the room. When she saw me she didn't say anything to me. She looked at Rusl and Adam. "Hello." She smiled.
"Hello." Rusl said.
"Hi." Adam said.
"We're still going along with the plan." Rusl said to her.
"How?" She asked.
"I agreed to go." I said, shuffling my feet nervously.
"Okay." She said. She looked at Rusl. "How am I going to—?"
"Link and I will split the cost." Rusl replied. "If that's alright with him, that is…"
"That's fine." I said plainly. We both took out 2000 rupees from our wallets and handed her the money to spend on a gown.
"That should be plenty." Rusl said to Isabelle. "If there are any troubles, let us know."
"Thank you both." She smiled. "I appreciate it very much. We nodded and she left to go meet with a friend.
Isabelle's POV
I walked down the streets in my cloak. I would find Analielle and go shopping for a gown. I couldn't believe I was going to do this! Especially after Link awkwardly kissed me…I mean, he's dating a princess and he kisses a poor girl like me? None of that makes sense! Okay, enough ranting, Isabelle! He is a weird foreigner…you cannot change that! "C'est la vie." I muttered to myself. I knew that this afternoon would be a perfect time to spend some time with Analielle because she had the day off from her owners today. I saw her walking out of her house and shouted her name.
She turned around from walking in the opposite direction and ran to me. "Isabelle!" She gave me a hug. "C'est un plaisir de vous voir! (It's a pleasure to see you!)"
"C'est un plaisir de vous voir, aussi! (It's a pleasure to see you, too!)" I stopped hugging her. "Je me demandais si vous voulez faire du shopping avec moi? (I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping with me?)"
She nodded happily. "Oui! Sonne comme fun! (Yes! Sounds like fun!)" She and I walked around town for a little while when she noticed an expensive boutique that sold ball gowns. "Regardez, c'est le riche snobs!" She spat at the ground in disgust. "Il ne faut pas aller là-bas, nous ne pouvons pas le permettre de toute façon! (Look, it's the rich snobs store! Let's not go in there, we can't afford it anyway!)"
"En fait Analielle, c'est là que je voulais aller. (Actually, Analielle, that's where I wanted to go.)"
She looked at me like I was crazy. "Fille, avez-vous perdu votre esprit? Depuis quand avez-vous acquis un tas de roupies? (Girl, have you lost your mind? Since when have you acquired a bunch of rupees?)" I held out my rupee bag and had her look. When she saw the amount of rupees I had, she was flabbergasted. "Vous avez 4.000 roupies?! (You have 4,000 rupees?!)" I nodded. She looked at me. "Comment? Y at-il un homme riche qui est frappé sur vous? (How? Is there a rich man that's smitten on you?)"
I slapped myself in the face. "Pourquoi vous pensez toujours qu'il a à faire avec les hommes m'aimer? (Why do you always think it has to do with men liking me?)"
"Je le savais!" She giggled happily. "Je vous ai toujours dit que tu es belle et un homme verrez qu'un jour et vous balayer outre de vos pieds! Maintenant, ne me croyez pas? Qui est le beau mec? (I knew it! I always told you that you're beautiful and a man will see that someday and sweep you off your feet! Now do you believe me? Who's the handsome guy?)" She nudged my shoulder.
I blushed madly and took a deep breath. "Croyez-moi que ce n'est pas le cas. (Trust me that is not the case.)"
After making her swear to secrecy, I proceeded to tell her what had been happening in my life. Everything that is, except for that stupid ego-fueled, crap-tastic kiss! That would have opened a huge can of worms with Analielle! Despite trying to hide that questionable fact, she still interrogated me… "Qu'est-ce que ce gars-là Lien pensent de vous? (What does this Link guy think of you?)"
"Rien. Il est datant quelqu'un d'autre. Une princesse." I said with my mouth twitching. "Alors ferme ta gueule! (Nothing. He is dating someone else. A princess. So shut your mouth!)"
"Ne soyez pas tellement sur la défensive!" She giggled. "Donc, vous faites semblant d'aller à une date avec lui pour renverser le roi Dubois? (Don't get so defensive! So you are pretending to go on a date with him to overthrow King Dubois?)"
"Oui. (Yes.)" I said.
"Okay." She said in a thick French accent. "Allons vous trouver une robe de bal! (Let's go find you a ball gown!)"
We went into the store and tried on a lot of ball gowns. They were too big, too small, or just way too over the top for me. That is, until we tried on the last one! Figures! It fit perfectly! Now hopefully I'll look like I fit in with those rich crazy people…When we paid for the dress she took me to her house and did my hair and make-up. She straightened my hair with two hot irons that were heated using the fireplace. My hair was parted in the center, and she braided my hair all the way from the forehead to the back and put the excess in an elegant bun. I admired the finished look in the mirror. I hesitated as she put on the foundation of the make-up. "Ce n'est pas vraiment nécessaire...(This isn't really necessary…)" I sighed.
"Allons donc! (Nonsense!)" She said as she put a brush into some pink powder and sweeped it on my cheeks. I sneezed. "Que Dieu vous bénisse! (Bless you!)" She chuckled. She put nude-colorred eye shadow over my entire eyelid and a brown eye shadow over the crease. When she finished my make-up the nude and brown colors were very light on my eyes, not overpowering. She had me look in a mirror and I put my hand to my mouth in surprise. "Vous avez l'air très agréable! (You look lovely!)" She gleamed at me. I looked at the clock and realized that it was 4:30. I gulped. I'm supposed to meet Link at the gate at 5:00…I got up and asked her to help me put on the dress. "Attendez une minute! (Wait a minute!)" She came over to me and put a light pink lip-gloss on my lips. She helped me put on the dress and had me stand in front of the floor-length mirror. I looked at my hair and make-up, and then finally at my floor-length ball gown. It was strapless, poofy, white, and was adorned with enough blue sparkles to fill a craft room! (Girly factor! :) The dress also had a dark blue sash at my waist tied in a big bow in the back. I wore dark blue gloves to match that went almost up to my elbows. Analielle grabbed a blue flower out of a vase, trimmed it, and put it in my hair. "Terminé! (Finished!)" She smiled smugly. "Vous êtes mademoiselle Isabelle, la beauté en blanc et bleu! (You are mademoiselle Isabelle, the beauty in white and blue!)"
I grinned as I slipped on my blue dress shoes. "Merci, Analielle. (Thanks, Analielle.)" I put on my cloak and grabbed my satchel; which had my medication in it just in case, and tried to walk out the door. She stopped me and took my satchel. "Vous devriez être bien. Par ailleurs, la dame d'un noble ne porte pas un cartable pas cher. Vous pouvez porter votre manteau pour la sécurité, mais vraiment? Ne prenez pas votre sacoche. (You should be fine. Besides, the lady of a noble doesn't carry a cheap satchel. You can wear your cloak for safety, but really? Don't take your satchel.)" I didn't argue with her. I left my satchel with her and left. She's right, I shouldn't have an issue. It's only a couple of hours. I came up to the gate that guarded the castle a few minutes later and saw Link. He was wearing a very fancy brown tunic with white stockings, shiny black boots, and a shiny black belt to match. This tunic was definitely different. It was much more expensive, and I don't think he'd really use it as a swordsman. He didn't wear a hat, and looked quite admirable. I blushed but he didn't see due to my cloak.
Link's POV
"Well," I said in my head as I saw Isabelle walking over in her cloak. "Get ready for one of the more awkward moments of your life…" I sighed and said hello.
"Hello." She replied.
We walked a distance from one another, not saying a word. I saw some other nobles with their ladies waiting in a long line at the door. GREAT! A lot of them were kissing or holding hands which made my skin crawl. I then noticed that Isabelle was the only one still wearing a cloak or jacket. "I can take your cloak for you." I said while blushing. She looked at me, but I could barely see her face. She nodded as she looked down at the ground. "I'm not doing it to be chivalrous; you just look funny as the only one still wearing a cloak."
"I didn't think you were trying to be chivalrous, I knew you were just trying to be kind." She whispered.
I blushed again. "Okay, just so we're clear."
"As crystal." She replied, looking in front of her. She put down her hood to reveal her hair in an elegant braided bun and undid the buttons on her cloak. I saw her beautiful floor-length dress and stood there with my mouth wide open. She looked at me with mystification. "Are you trying to catch flies?" I closed my mouth silently and she giggled. I took her cloak from her gloved hands and wrapped it around my arm to hold it. We waited in line for only about 10 minutes, and then each pair in front of us started holding hands and walking in. I looked behind me at the pairs holding hands behind us. I stood there trying to delay the inevitable for as long as I could as we advanced up the line. As we got inside into a main hall, where the line was still inching forward, I began to hear a man announce the pairings one by one. I tossed Isabelle's cloak to the left side of the hall to grab later and grabbed my knight's badge out of my pocket in mimicry of the men in front of me, but I still tried not to hold her hand. She didn't look at me. She just waited patiently.
The man directly behind us finally started speaking French to Isabelle. "Pourquoi est votre date de ne pas tenir votre main? (Why is your date not holding your hand?)"
"Il est timide. (He's shy.)" Isabelle answered while turning around.
"Sait-il que c'est la coutume? (Does he know that it's the custom?)" The woman accompanying the man questioned.
"O-oui." Isabelle said nervously. She whispered in my ear. "It's custom to hold hands when being announced, that's why they're all doing it. We do have to look like we're dating…" she sighed.
My hands were tremulous as I grabbed her right hand with my left. The man and woman behind us talked inaudibly in each other's ears. The heat rose to my cheeks and showed brilliantly as I held her hand and waited. Thankfully we were at the front of the line about a minute later. I handed the announcer my badge. "Your lady?" He asked, seeing from my badge that I spoke English.
"Isabelle." I said with a gulp.
He handed back the badge and bellowed, "Sir Link and Miss Isabelle" loud enough that all in the ballroom could hear as we walked down the steps hand in hand as we had watched those before us do. When we got to the bottom I saw that the people were dancing. In order to look natural I took Isabelle to the dance floor and we started to waltz. The piano began to play and a beautiful smile came upon Isabelle's face. "I know this song!" She exclaimed.
"You do?" I asked her.
"Yes. It's in a piano songbook that I have back at home." She replied. She stopped dancing with me. "Your tempo's too slow and robotic, though. Listen."
I listened and realized I was off beat. "You're right."
She put one of my hands on her waist and the other in her hand and led the waltz. "This song is meant to be like a fluid motion." She said matter-of-factly.
We danced for a couple of minutes, and then I spoke to her. "T-the man is supposed to lead." I said shyly as the song ended.
She stopped. "Sorry…I got lost in the song. My mom used to play it all the time…" She looked down, looking like she thought she did something wrong.
"I-it's okay!" I said as she looked at me with those angel eyes of hers. I reddened. "You didn't do anything wrong." I put my hand on her arm to reassure her.
She smiled in relief. "Okay. I just didn't want to blow our cover." She whispered.
"You didn't." I said, realizing that my hand was still awkwardly on her arm. I removed my hand. "I-I'm…sorry…"
"For what?"
"You know…umm…" I rubbed the back of my neck. "My hand was still on your arm…"
"Oh, I didn't notice." She said with a smile. "No worries!" She looked around at the people in the room and inquired to me, "Should we go speak to Dubois?"
"Yeah." I said as we held hands to look natural; everyone was doing it still, and walked around the room to find King Dubois.
Isabelle cleared her throat once and then a couple more times. She gently rubbed the front of her neck in worry and finally let go of my hand. "I have to go." She said as she began to walk away from me.
I started to reach for her hand. "Wait…why?"
She shook her head, "I have to leave" and began to run.
I started to run after her. People gasped as her leaving made a bit of a scene. I chased her down the hall. She grabbed her cloak and continued to dash out the door. She kept running but didn't put her cloak on. I sped up and got closer to her, but she sped up and tried to get away from me again. "Why is she running from me?" I thought to myself. I saw from a distance that she was putting her cloak up to her mouth. She fell on her knees and I came up to her. She was coughing violently, and I now knew why she ran. "Isabelle? Are you alright?" I asked, putting my hand on her back and kneeling down next to her. She looked at me and removed the cloak from her face to speak, but blood was trickling from her lips. "Oh my god!" I shouted. She continued to cough and more blood came out of her mouth. Her hands fell limp and I held the cloak up to her mouth to not only catch the blood, but to keep her from falling over. She lost consciousness and I panicked. I picked her up to take her to the inn in hopes to find her medication.