Kiku sipped on his glass of champagne, sitting in one of the chairs of the balcony overlooking the ballroom.
King Gilbert was hosting a ball tonight, in honour of Prince Ludwig's 22nd birthday. The main floor below was filled with all the socialites and Ixaidellian nobility that could make it to Inasdiff for the party, all dressed in well-tailored suits and luxurious ball gowns. The King and Prince were both in the crowds, mingling with each group and finding young eligible ladies to dance with.
While Gilbert and Ludwig were normally the perpetrators of drama at events like these, Basch was the source of gossip this evening.
Kiku glanced to the middle of the floor, and was able to quickly spot where the Duke was still dancing with her. Basch was normally one of the last to step on the dance floor, known for a lack of interest in any of the women who seemed interested in dancing with him. And yet, it had now been well over an hour since he started dancing with this mysterious lady. The brunette wore a light blue ball gown of classic design, with the only accessories being long white gloves and a sparkling blue mask that hid her identity.
"Hello Kiku," a familiar voice greeted, "May I join you?"
Kiku looked over to see Arthur standing there with his own glass of champagne.
"Yes, of course," Kiku allowed, gesturing at the empty chair beside him.
"Thank you," Arthur acknowledged as he sat down.
Despite the short notice of Arthur's arrival in Ixaidel, Gilbert was still able to have a proper suit tailored for Arthur to wear to the ball. The dark blue suit looked very good on the man, enough for him to look as if he belonged amongst the nobility he spent the evening socializing with.
"Have you been able to identify anyone else from your realm yet?" Kiku asked.
"No I haven't, and it's the strangest thing," Arthur reported, "Out of all the people I've seen so far in this realm, it's only the four of you that I also know from my own world. Everyone else so far has been complete strangers, I do not recognize any of them."
"Perhaps that is an important detail for your situation," Kiku suggested, "Maybe you need to find the other people with counterparts in your world."
"That's what I suspect as well," Arthur approved, "I should find the other nations as people in this realm, and see what they know. Perhaps someone will be able to help me find my way home."
"Let's hope that does happen," Kiku said.
The song ended downstairs, and the dancers applauded the orchestra. The young lady started looking around nervously, before Basch pulled her back towards him and got her to dance with him for another song.
"Do you know who that lady is, the one dancing with Basch?" Arthur inquired, "There's a lot of gossip about them downstairs, nobody seems to know."
"I do not recognize her at all, and the mask hardly helps," Kiku discussed, "Her appearance does not resemble any of the ladies that usually attend these royal balls. She also has not interacted with anyone else, so there's no knowing what social circle she comes from. All we can say for sure is that Basch found something special about her."
"Is he as difficult to impress in this realm as he is in my own world?" Arthur asked.
"His birth spell of seeing people's intentions works well for some matters, but it makes it very difficult to find him a lady worth courting," Kiku elaborated, "Most of the ladies here are vain and selfish socialites who are more focused on themselves than anyone else, and Basch can see through all of that. The only way a lady could possibly impress him is to have a pure, virtuous heart full of goodness."
"That would certainly be a tall order," Arthur concurred, "What about Gilbert and Ludwig, any prospects for them?"
"We suspect that Gilbert might never marry," Kiku explained, "He enjoys the parties and socializing, of course, but he cannot find any woman he can deem worthy of marrying him. It's not just a matter of them being completely vain and ambitious though, like it is for Basch. For Gilbert, his own arrogance and narcissism is his downfall."
"I am not at all surprised by that," Arthur remarked, "Gilbert is a self-centered asshole in my world, believing he's too awesome for everything."
"We expect that Gilbert will eventually abdicate and let Ludwig take over as King of Ixaidel," Kiku continued, "As such, Ludwig has the pressure to choose a lady worthy of being a wife and queen. On top of that, Ludwig' birth spell is that he will ultimately be killed by the woman to whom he pledges his love."
"So if he marries the wrong woman, she could kill him and keep the crown for herself as his widow?" Arthur figured out, "Certainly a predicament he will want to avoid."
Before any of them could say anything else, the bells in the clock tower started ringing, denoting that it was now midnight. Kiku glanced back down at the ballroom, just in time to see the young woman in the blue ball gown break free from Basch's arms and run towards the doors at the back of the ballroom. Basch immediately followed her, clearly distressed that she was leaving him so soon.
"What's all that about?" Arthur observed, "Is she running away?"
"It looks like it," Kiku answered, "Maybe we should follow them."
Kiku and Arthur immediately rose from their seats, leaving their champagne glasses on the table and heading towards the doors of the balcony on the second level. Down below, Kiku can still see how the woman easily slipped past the crowds and went through the door, while Basch is getting stopped by everyone asking who the woman is.
Once they were through their own set of doors, Kiku stopped at the railing and looked down from the top of the stairs. The woman was running as fast as she could through the main hall to the front entrance, clearly determined to leave the palace before Basch could catch her. There were other groups of nobility socializing in the closer half of the quieter hall, but the woman was quickly able to loop around them.
"Quick, down the stairs," Arthur said.
Kiku followed Arthur towards the left, and they quickly descended the spiral staircase to the main floor. As they were approaching the bottom, Kiku broke his gaze from the woman for a moment to see Basch rushing out of the ballroom to follow her.
"To the entrance, Basch!" Kiku directed the confused Duke.
As soon his feet hit the ground floor, Kiku followed Arthur down the side of the room, bypassing the chattering huddles of courtiers entirely. The pair made it to the second half of the room just as Basch did, and were all able to see that the girl was three quarters of the way to the front entrance.
"Wait, come back, miss!" Basch called out, "Guards, don't let her leave!"
The two guards standing at the front door flinched in confusion at the demand, before moving away from the corners of the wall to intercept the woman's intended path. The woman quickly made her own move, ignoring the guards at the door and heading down towards the hallway at the far left corner. The left guard noticed what she was doing and followed as she rounded the corner and disappeared from sight.
Just as she left his line of vision, Kiku heard a surprised yelp from the girl, which was followed by a flash of blue light reflecting off the opposite wall. The guard immediately backed off, arm covering their head to protect themselves.
"What the hell was that?" Arthur exclaimed.
Kiku, Arthur and Basch all reached the corner of the hallway as the guard finally removed his arm from his head. Basch and Arthur were first to look down the hallway and freeze in their spots, prompting Kiku to slow down and avoid a collision. Once stopped, Kiku also looked down the hallway.
The girl was gone. Only her mask remained, laying on the ground.
"There was a man loitering there against the wall, dressed all in black," the guard reported, "When the girl came around the corner, he grabbed her hand and cast some sort of magic that concealed them in a flash of blue light."
"And now they're gone?" Arthur realized, "The man took the girl and just vanished?"
"There's nowhere else they could've hidden," the guard upheld, "Even the nearest servant passage is too far down the hall for them to escape."
Kiku glanced over to watch as Basch slowly picked up the mask.
"Who was she, Basch?" Kiku asked, "Do you know where we might find her?"
"I don't have a clue," Basch answered, in a bewildered tone that Kiku had never heard from him before, "She was so enchanting, I completely forgot to ask for her name."