After Nua's elevation to Nobility

What a night tonight was. I've forgotten how much I loved doing that. Elves, we live so long that human lifespans are but an eyeblink. And yet somehow these barely there beings who come and go in the span of a handful of years, come to mean so much to us. Raymond was in my life for not even a year, and yet I would destroy not one empire, but three and build one of my own just to get him back.

I danced when I was a little girl in my village, I remember that. I wonder how many of the ones I danced with when I was barely knee high, are still alive today? How many are anything like me? When I was taken north to the twisted world of humans, I didn't dance again for a century, not until Aalon. I remember when, during a gathering that had me hidden in his room so that a 'lesser being' like me wouldn't taint his father's gathering, he came upstairs.

He opened the door to his room and found me in a chair in the corner holding my mutilated ears tight against my head so I wouldn't hear that beautiful music. My eyes were closed, my ears were closed, but he came and opened them both.

He took my hand and helped me to my feet, and as if it was the most natural thing in the world, he danced with me above the party. Humans… such strange creatures. Brief as they are, their passions run hot, as if their lives are short because they take elven passions that are spread over centuries and compress them to a handful of years.

After Aalon's betrayal, I didn't dance again after that for another hundred and fifty years, not until him. Raymond. My Raymond, the first good human I'd met in many of their generations. Just like with Aalon, we'd danced alone in his room. There was no party, he just happened to be humming a tune I knew, and I hummed it with him without even thinking about it. Then he started to sing it, and I did too… and then… if I hadn't known that Aalon was still alive, I'd have thought he was that stupid boy reborn again. He just came over, took my hand, put a hand on my waist so I wouldn't be self conscious, and he danced with me to music we both made with nothing but our little humming.

I'll never forget the feel of our feet sliding over the floor of his office, in those scant minutes, I forgot that there was a war. I forgot that he was a human and a Cardinal, I forgot that he'd ever been a monster. Then it was over, we finished the song, and he sat back down, and he never said a word. But I think he knew what that moment meant to me. I wonder if it meant the same to him.

I thought I'd get to ask him, but I didn't.

Now here I am again… I haven't danced in fourteen years or more, but tonight was my official induction into the ranks of the nobility. Prince Rasgen made me a Duchessa, and the finest musicians in the city played for my many guests… and I danced again.

I took the hand of another human male, and our feet passed over the floor of a home that… was mine, all mine. It turns out, I hadn't forgotten a thing. I showed him some of the dancing of my homeland, it turned out to be something of a bullseye in their eyes. The nobles found our many spins and pirouettes to be fascinating, and Rasgen proved as good a dancer as Raymond did, he picked up the rhythm like it was nothing. If he'd focused on war, perhaps he might have been a great warrior.

Of course, I didn't dance with the Prince alone, I swept my feet over much of the dance floor with a number of other nobles, before finally leaving. I took Kaiji's hand, led her to a private room, and danced with her to the sound of music below. I had become Aalon, I had become Raymond, doing something intimate with a slave that was typically done only with a peer. Yet I can't be sorry for it. Kaiji of course, was scandalized, her blushing face looked a little odd given how purple it was, but she complied with my wishes. More importantly, she enjoyed it, and when it was done, I put a finger to her lips and said, "I will never speak of this if you do not. You deserved a reward that I knew you would not accept, this couldn't have happened tonight, without all of your hard work. You deserved a chance to celebrate with me." I left her after that, and it was a good rest of the night.

Part of me still feels a little bit guilty… but I'm a good owner, I'll look after them all, that's how it is here, I'll take care of them, love them, provide for them. It's only natural that they should serve me. I'll bring down the vile ones, and take everything for myself, there will be one mistress, and she will not forget that our bond has two knots. They are mine, and I am theirs, and when all is said and done, the day I am crowned empress, I will take the hand of my most devoted slave, and dance again… and if anyone should say it is unseemly, I will remind them that as their Empress 'I' decide what is seemly. All will bend to my will, or break to become a stepping stone in my path. When Raymond rises, he will understand… I know he will. He must, then I can dance with him again.