"Good evening, Miss Giselle. You look absolutely stunning. The gown you have chosen sparkles like your personality and you wear it very well. I have been looking for you and your sister fastidiously this entire night. You two are an elusive pair to find, but by and by I came to notice your eye-catching gown. When the sparkle caught my eye I thought to myself, why that must be Giselle for no other woman would be as lovely. I do wish we had met with each other earlier for I would have much enjoyed passing the time at your side. Perhaps you could do me the honor of a dance. I was hoping that I would be able to find you for a dance or two before the ball is over and now I have found you. Please, say you will do me the honor of a dance; I would be a most happy man if you did. I imagine you to be a most spectacular dancer full of elegance and grace and it would be my honor to dance with you. I may not be as skilled a dancer as you but I will try not to step on your toes too much." Dewey finished in what I assumed was his form of a joke. Giselle just looked pained as she tried to keep the smile on her face.

Giselle picked at her dress and looked away from Dewey. When she returned her eyes to him she had an excuse prepared. "I wish I could dance with you, Dewitt, but I have just seen one of my dear friends and must go and speak with her before she leaves."

I knew very well that Giselle had no dear friends in Pharyss, but Dewey didn't. It did not deter him however and he wasn't going to let her get away that easily. "Perhaps I can go with you and meet your friend."

Giselle clenched her fist in annoyance. She probably wanted to punch him but had the good sense not to. "Maybe you can dance with Ebony while I am with my friend. I'm sure she would love to dance with you."

Rats. I thought that Giselle had not noticed that I was nearby. I did not miss the slump of Dewey's shoulders when Giselle yanked me forward. "No, no, I'm sure I couldn't take away your dance." I tried to pull away.

Giselle muttered some promise to me about what she would do if I took Dewey off her hands.

Dewey seemed to have remembered his manners and took my hand. "I suppose that if you must go see your dear companion that dancing with your sister will be a pleasant enough way to pass the time; although I will be waiting and watching for your return, Giselle. Now, Miss Ebony, I believe I know this dance and will gladly dance it with you."

I forced a smile as he led me into the dance. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. Hopefully he was just joking about stepping on feet. Maybe I could even get him to tell me if he knew where Christian was.

Dewey was a very stiff dancer and rigidly moved from step to step. His concentration on the dance did nothing to slow his mouth like I hoped it would. He still prattled on endlessly about how his night had been progressing so far. I did not even try to keep a fake smile on my face anymore. "I do hope you are enjoying yourself at my cousin's ball, Miss Ebony. I surely have found it to be quite exciting. Joslynn has done a wonderful job of making the ballroom look nice. I find the lack of colors quite interesting. I spoke to her the other day about it and told her that I thought color was an important part of a ball and her lack of such would appear lower class. She assured me that she knew what she was doing and besides it was too late to change anything anyway. I understand that it was short notice for any large changes to be made; I just wish she had consulted me sooner so I could give her my opinions. I suggested that for her wedding she use dark green and violet with a really bright yellow to draw the eye. This ball seemed to have come together well despite the lack of a good color scheme. Already I have danced with a number of delightful young women. I danced with one who came all the way from a town on the northern border. I even danced with a woman who spoke endlessly and I could barely get a word in edgewise. I cannot imagine someone talking so much and so tiresomely."

I had to hold a snort of laughter at his critique of someone who spoke as much as he did. His suggestions for the princess's wedding nearly made me misstep in the dance. Dewey was such a strange sort of person the like of which I had never seen. He continued to prattle on and on until the song ended and I insisted that I was tired from dancing and needed a rest. He thought it the perfect opportunity for him to dance with Giselle and went off to find her. She had probably disappeared while I was dancing with Dewey and was now hiding. I did not care where she was, Dewey left me to search for her and that was all that mattered.

Once Dewey had walked away another man approached me and asked for a dance. He was portly and beneath his mask I could tell he had a jolly smile. "Would you allow me the honor of a dance, miss?" He asked politely. I had no objections so I accepted and returned with him to the dance floor. I danced with him. He introduced himself as Squire Demy. Once my dance with him was over, another man asked to dance with me. It seemed that people had seen me dancing with Dewey and decided to keep me dancing. I did not mind; it was a ball and sore feet at the end were part of the fun. I danced with a lord from the western provinces who admired the dance steps I had learned from Gillian. Then there was an elderly knight who wanted to dance with me. His name was Sir Riley and he told the most wonderful stories about his days serving the king. I danced two dances with him because I enjoyed talking to him. I told him about how my brother Andrew was serving as a knight. He wished my brother the best of luck in his patrols at the end of the second dance. He had seen his daughter and wanted to dance with her so we parted ways and I told him that I would look for him at future balls.

Before anyone else could ask me to dance I retired to the room with the refreshments. Hopefully Duchess Frow was not in there to snatch my food away from me. The tables were less full than the first time I was in this room with all the people eating off of them. The cookies I had sampled earlier were all but gone. I selected a colorful candy from a bowl and was surprised when it changed flavors in my mouth. The dancing had made also me thirsty so a servant poured me a cup of the aromatic punch from one of the large crystal bowls. As I sipped, I looked around the room. I saw a few people I recognized from seeing them elsewhere throughout the ball. One was the boisterous man General Rydell and his companion Mr. Hooks. Thankfully, his son was nowhere to be seen. Already I had embarrassed myself twice in front of him tonight and did not want to try for a third time. I finished my punch and returned the cup to the servant before exiting the room.

I had to quickly dodge behind a group of people talking and slip into the ballroom for Duchess Frow and her gaggle of friends were coming down the red carpeted steps and I had already seen enough of them and wanted to enjoy the rest of the ball without their company. Perhaps I could find Christian and spend it with him. I began my search for the prince again and scanned the masses of people for the white half mask I had seen when he had entered. There were many men in white and it was frustrating for every time I thought I had found the prince, the man turned and showed that it was someone else. He was wearing a half mask but his hair was black or he wore a white vest but had a black mask. I was starting to think that I would go the entire ball and not see Prince Christian. I dreaded that perhaps something had made him retire early and I had missed him.