A/N: Time for the ball babbbyyyy, and guess who shows up, ayyyyeeee! Please like and review!
The rest of the week was filled with similar meals, Daine and occasionally Sarra sneaking away to the woods to let off some steam or run with their wolves, Adam occasionally tagging along. Wednesday Ava, Adams twin arrived. Lady Ava was beautiful and looked every bit the noble lady she should be, but when Adam showed up to shoot with the girls and Ava was trailing him, Daine got to see the real woman. Lady Ava was just as impressed as her brother had been with Daine's skill, and although she wasn't gifted at any weapons she was a good cheerleader for them while they showed off their skills. Lady Ava was a gifted horsewoman like her sister-in-law but had a great amount of appreciation for the skills the girls demonstrated. To be expected she did let out a small scream when Banshee and Eclipse came bounding over to them. Adam was amazed by them being he didn't get the chance to meet them the day before and he spent the time fawning over them.
The guests kept coming, until finally with the last arrivals, they were ready for a formal ball. All of the guests and their attendants were invited to a party, starting with a formal dinner and then moving to a dance where everyone could have fun, except that is Daine. The entire week Daine knew that it would be another in a long line of tests, that she would have to prove herself in more than one way to a long list of people, most specifically, Lady Mirabelle, and hopefully, Daine could get away with being a wallflower, or at least trailing Sarra.
xxx
Jess came to help Daine get ready nearly 3 hours before she was expected at dinner. The time when she was usually running through the woods, being herself, getting to let loose all her pent-up energy of being cooped up with all the noble stiffs was cut off because of this. Jess coaxed Daine into a heavily scented bath, washing her from tip to toe, conditioning her hair, rinsing her off, and then wrapping a warm robe around her. Daine sat at her vanity, and let Jess work her magic. Jess styled Daines hair in an intricate style, twisting a series of braids onto the top of her head, letting half hang down her back, she then took a hot rod she had let heat next to the fire and curled the remaining hair, Jess finished off her hair with small silver pins that sparkled beautifully. Jess dusted a pale silver color across Daine's eyelids, gave her cheeks and lips a rosy color, and finally darkening and lengthening her long lashes, framing her blue-grey eyes beautifully. Jess helped Daine into a lovely dress, it was a breath of navy fabric, the sleeves hanging off her shoulders, with silver accents of flowers flowing up from the hem, the bodice was shaped like a corset, making the layers required in the heat less than normal, the back laced up with a beautiful silver ribbon. Daine looked at herself in the mirror and was amazed by the girl – young woman – looking back at her, the dress made what limited curves Daine possessed more distinct, her eyes were bright, and her body had filled out in the months since stumbling into Addy and Geralds campsite. The bell calling everyone down to dinner sounded surprising Daine it had taken so long to get ready, taking a deep breath, Daine padded down the stairs in her soft silver shoes, calming herself for what would be a night of new faces, snide remarks, and plastering an interested but pretty smile on her face. Daine walked into the dining hall and saw it had been transformed into a vision of twinkling mage lights, streamers, and instead of the one long table they normally had, there was a collection of circular tables spread throughout the room. There was an army of servants running around leading people to their tables which Daine had spent hours listening to Lady Juliana and Mirabelle toil away over who could sit next to each other, and who sitting next to each other would cause more drama than it was worth. Daine walked in and stopped at the door, waiting to be seated, Daine admired the finery of everyone, Sarra was seated, and much to Daines excitement, she was talking to Sam and a smaller version of him. There were more guests than just the family that had been staying in the manor, which Daine knew would be the case but hearing about it and seeing it were two completely different things and Daine was stunned to see the number of people who were already sitting at the tables. One of the servants came up to Daine and directed her to the seat next to Sarra. Daine was greeted by her cousins very enthusiastically, Sam even making her twirl for them so they could admire her dress, Daine blushed furiously but was flattered nonetheless.
Lady Juliana finally joined them heading to the head table where the Marchioness and her husband along with some other older distinguished people were sitting. Adding to Daine's surprise Lord Thomas was with the lady. Daine realized that she might have been naïvely optimistic to think that they would truly hold off on finding an arranged marriage for her until she was at least a few years older, but with the realization that many of the tables had families or seemingly single males, and with the heads of the family here, Daine was seeing an inevitable future with one of these men or boys in the room.
xxx
Throughout the dinner Daine looked around the room, listening to the Beneklan children rattle off about their lives since they were last all together. Daine learned that the younger boy was Fredric, or Freddy as his siblings called him, who was currently a page at the palace, and going into his last year before becoming a squire, and depending on who his knight master was, this was possibly the last chance they would all be together for at least a few years. Daine was pleased to simply sit and listen while watching the people around them. Much to the table's horror and then amusement, during the meal, a small mouse had crawled into her lap and was eating from her hand. Daine tried to keep the small animal hidden from her dining partners, but it started chittering when Daine didn't feed it quick enough.
Dinner came to a close with Lady Juliana and Lord Thomas calmly standing and leading them all to the open doors that led to the beautifully decorated ballroom. The decorations matched that in the dining room, had tables and couches lining the walls, the tables with snack foods and drinks, and the servants walking around with trays of more food and drink. Everyone filed in and gravitated to different parts of the room based on their nature, some straight to the dance floor once the music began, some lingering around the tables and couches, and some off in the corners against the wall. Daine followed Sarra to a group of young ladies ranging from before convent age to those who must have been attending or graduated from. Sam and his brother joined the group of male counterparts and were greeted much more enthusiastically, with smiles and back-slapping, the boys yelling their greetings. When Daine and Sarra were greeted it was polite smiles, delicately placed hands on arms, brief hugs, or a light near kiss on the cheek.
"Ladies this is Veralidaine of Beneklan, my cousin." Daine curtsied to the group. "Daine these are the girls," Sarra giggled and leaned over to her and in a stage whisper said, "they can introduce themselves because frankly, I want to hear all about how everyone has been." The group giggled and swung into the latest gossip, kindly they pointed the people out subtly to Daine so she could follow along. There was the simple gossip of who wore what, the fashions that were out of date or were coming into style, the new designers, and what had been happening in their lives and the capital. They moved onto the more juicer gossip, who was sleeping with who, the impeding betrothals, who the new people were at court, where those missing were, and whatever else they all knew about the attendees.
Daine listened to the gossip and chatter, watching as boys came to ask the more forward girls to dance. Eventually, boys sought her out, making her blush but she had been told that a lady must accept so she went and danced with the boys, she had been grilled on dances and thankfully didn't step on anyone's feet. As the night wore on, Daine returned to the group when able, but all this time she felt eyes on her. The males watched her like a hawk, trailing hungry eyes over her where ever she went, mothers and matriarchs giving her assessing looks, sympathetic glances from Lady Juliana, and the glares from Lady Mirabelle, all had Daine feeling very self-conscious. But there was one pair of eyes that Daine could feel standing out from the rest, they weren't judging, or hunting, when Daine finally worked up the courage to meet the eyes that had been following her throughout the night. Dark brown eyes belonging to the tallest man Daine had ever seen, were staring at her, it what must have been a poor attempt at being inconspicuous. The look in the strange man's eyes was one Daine was unfamiliar with, it wasn't one of disgust or hunger or even something in between. The man was tall and thin, he wore his long black hair in a horsetail at the base of his neck and was wearing a black robe type outercoat, he wasn't as glittered as other attendees, just a few glittering pieces on his hands and around his neck, and then a single dangly earbob. Daine was intrigued by him, he was different than the others there, he was older than her, in his late 20s or near that, and talked with just about everyone, not just hanging with one group, all the while he kept glancing at Daine as if he was watching over her or could simply not fight to look at her from time to time. Daine kept her eyes on him from under her lashes, trying to give the illusion of interest in the conversations around her, but truly just hoping that they didn't try and bring her into the discussion because she would be completely lost if they tried.
xxx
The night went on much the same, with Daine trying to discreetly watch the strange man as he commanded the room. Daine watched as women went up to him, asking him to dance, flirting unabashedly, he was a professional flirter, bouncing his comments from woman to woman, making each feel special even as they stood in a group talking to him, his eyes still kept dashing to her. Daine watched a range of people try and talk to him, from the lonely wives, young eligible women, young men, and confusingly the academics who seemed the most interested in him even though from what Daine could tell, the strange tall man was just another foreign flirt. Daine watched in silent horror as Lady Mirabelle and her nephew walked over to the man, he was in for an interrogation but from Daines perspective, he looked completely at ease. The strange man bowed politely to the pair, he had a lazy smile but as Daine watched the interaction she could see that there was a change in his composure, she could see his jaw clenching as Lord Thomas and his Great Aunt spoke, he responded casually, sipping calmly from his glass. Before Daine could observe anything substantial, her attention was drawn back to the group of girls when one of them started asking her about how she felt about the guys she had met that night, and how she felt about the family's future plans for her.
Daine answered their questions as honestly as she could while remaining to give the appearance of a good noble young lady, she didn't like any specific boy over the rest, she was nervous about the future, she was enjoying staying with the Beneklans, etcetera etcetera. The rest of the night she spent speaking with the girls, dancing occasionally with one of the boys, then returning to the group to answer a series of questions about how she felt about her latest partner. On the night went into the early hours of the morning, where the questions got more and more personal, which Sarra occasionally stepped in to intercept, the girls all giggling when some sort of exceptionally juicy gossip was shared. During a lull in the conversation, Daine glanced around to see if the strange man was still there, and realized that most people were beginning to turn in, and the stranger was no longer in attendance. Daine smiled at the girls and excused herself, citing fatigue from all the excitement, the other girls agreed that it was getting late and all began the process of bidding each other and the others in attendance that they knew good night. Many of the girls went to find their parents and families, Daine and Sarra found theirs, and again pleading exhaustion, they were sent to bed.