Title: Locked, Barred, Guarded: A Story of Eries - Chapter 3
"Gavotte"
3rd of Red. Eries looked out the crystalline floor-to-ceiling windows. Okay, the coast was clear.
This room was cavernous, with parquet floors, which made it the perfect ballroom. She put her music box on a side table and opened it. It began to play a tune that for some reason put her in mind of the Mystic Moon.[1] She started humming along with it and doing a few steps.
[1. The music box tune is the Gavotte from Partita #1 in E Major by J.S. Bach, as transcribed by Rachmaninoff and as performed by the Turtle Island String Quartet and the Modern Mandolin Quartet in _The Bach Variations_.]
_Hn...This really isn't much fun without Sian..._ Her best friend, who shared her appreciation of this music, was away visiting relatives in Egzardia. She shrugged and kept on dancing. When the music wound down, she started it up again.
"May I?" said a very familiar voice, very softly. She'd been hearing it in her dreams most nights since he'd joined the palace guard. She whirled around to confirm her summat pointy ears weren't playing a cruel and unusual trick on her. _Ai-ya._ Standing in front of the door cleverly constructed to look exactly like just another wall panel, was _the_ Knight Caeli himself, Allen Crusade Schezar VIII. Puffed sleeves and all.
"Allen-san!" Her whisper was made sharp by surprise and embarrassment. "Looking for Marlene?"
He frowned. "Your sister had to meet with the Duke of Freid. He arrived suddenly today."
_Oh...Uh-oh._ "Well, what are you doing in here, then?" _Shouldn't you be off someplace counting the minutes til you see her again?_
"I heard the music, so I looked--"
"You were watching--"
"For a little while. May I offer my assistance, Eries-hime?"
She eyed him doubtfully. "You know this dance? I didn't think too many people around here were familiar with it."
"Ah. That is why you have no one to partner you?"
"My regular partner's away." Eries noted that he raised an eyebrow.
"Sian?"
Eries nodded. _What's it to you anyway? You have no right to look so disapproving like that._ "So do you know it or not?"
"No, I don't. But it doesn't look that difficult. What would I have to do?" He came closer.
Eries could feel flutterbys in her stomach doing some highly complicated maneuvers.
"Is it just me, or do you look more and more like those Fortona Temple statues? The ones that look like their thoughts are so deep no mere unenlightened mortal could possibly understand?" Allen observed, looking speculatively at her.
"Oh no, don't be feeling all special or anything, I'm like this to everyone." She feigned complete nonchalance. Good thing her "serene-highness face" was still on. She was afraid she'd begun having a anxiety attack since he appeared in the room. "Fine. Let's give it a try. And better keep your feet out of my way, I'll have to lead for now." She took his hand, utterly amazed that hers wasn't shaking from being _this_ close to him. _Thank the heavens for small mercies._
The music box had wound down by this time. But she didn't start it up again, instead she counted out the steps of the dance. "Alright, first you bow and I curtsey. Then it's one-two-three-four..." Carefully she showed him the basic steps, and when they had gotten them down, she started humming the music.
_Of course he catches on quick. Allen Schezar is incapable of doing anything badly!_ Eries lowered her eyes under the pretense of watching the movements of their feet, then looked up at him from under her lashes. _All this, and a sense of rhythm too!_ she thought resentfully.
She resented him being so pretty. She resented him being _the_ Knight Caeli. She resented the way he only had to open his mouth and every female at court would await with bated breath whatever it was he might say, even if it was merely some comment on the weather[2]. She resented the way he and Marlene were sneaking around together--and not doing it very well either, she added if she felt particularly acerbic. And yet despite all that, she had a thing for him that would not stop. Him! The guy her very much affianced older sister was seeing on the sly. The guy her little sister Millerna worshipped. How pathetic could this situation possibly get?
[2. Yep, i got that comment off of "Foolish Games" by Jewel, from _Pieces of You_.]
It wasn't as if there weren't any other nice young men around. But noooooo--she didn't want nice. She wanted _him_. Her glands apparently labored under the impression he was the only man in the world. And at the moment, her glands were having the time of her life while her mind was screaming bloody murder.
"What???" Allen stopped suddenly in mid-step and Eries nearly danced into him but caught herself just in time. "You were looking at me exactly like the guy who tried to run me through in the practice swordfights." Allen clasped her wrist and looked her in the eyes as if, through them, he could see into her thoughts.
She blinked, disengaged his hand from her arm. "I'm sorry, Allen-san, I guess this isn't working. Perhaps you should go see if Marlene's schedule has an opening now."
Allen quirked an eyebrow. "We were doing fine until you got that strange light in your eyes. Alright, I'm going. Thank you for the dance, Eries-hime." He took her hand, raised it to his lips and kissed the back of it gallantly.
"And I thank you, Allen-san, for your help." She dropped a curtsey.
He smiled his suave little smile and performed the corresponding bow. "Another time, perhaps?"
_Don't bet the family fortune on it, hotshot. I think I'd better keep my peace of mind._ But she only replied, "Perhaps."
He walked away, his chin-length hair bright in the dimly lit room. _Oh, well...At least my hair's still prettier than his..._ Eries consoled herself with that thought, and a silent, faintly hysterical giggle at the silliness of it all.
~next chapter: "Intermezzo"~
"Gavotte"
3rd of Red. Eries looked out the crystalline floor-to-ceiling windows. Okay, the coast was clear.
This room was cavernous, with parquet floors, which made it the perfect ballroom. She put her music box on a side table and opened it. It began to play a tune that for some reason put her in mind of the Mystic Moon.[1] She started humming along with it and doing a few steps.
[1. The music box tune is the Gavotte from Partita #1 in E Major by J.S. Bach, as transcribed by Rachmaninoff and as performed by the Turtle Island String Quartet and the Modern Mandolin Quartet in _The Bach Variations_.]
_Hn...This really isn't much fun without Sian..._ Her best friend, who shared her appreciation of this music, was away visiting relatives in Egzardia. She shrugged and kept on dancing. When the music wound down, she started it up again.
"May I?" said a very familiar voice, very softly. She'd been hearing it in her dreams most nights since he'd joined the palace guard. She whirled around to confirm her summat pointy ears weren't playing a cruel and unusual trick on her. _Ai-ya._ Standing in front of the door cleverly constructed to look exactly like just another wall panel, was _the_ Knight Caeli himself, Allen Crusade Schezar VIII. Puffed sleeves and all.
"Allen-san!" Her whisper was made sharp by surprise and embarrassment. "Looking for Marlene?"
He frowned. "Your sister had to meet with the Duke of Freid. He arrived suddenly today."
_Oh...Uh-oh._ "Well, what are you doing in here, then?" _Shouldn't you be off someplace counting the minutes til you see her again?_
"I heard the music, so I looked--"
"You were watching--"
"For a little while. May I offer my assistance, Eries-hime?"
She eyed him doubtfully. "You know this dance? I didn't think too many people around here were familiar with it."
"Ah. That is why you have no one to partner you?"
"My regular partner's away." Eries noted that he raised an eyebrow.
"Sian?"
Eries nodded. _What's it to you anyway? You have no right to look so disapproving like that._ "So do you know it or not?"
"No, I don't. But it doesn't look that difficult. What would I have to do?" He came closer.
Eries could feel flutterbys in her stomach doing some highly complicated maneuvers.
"Is it just me, or do you look more and more like those Fortona Temple statues? The ones that look like their thoughts are so deep no mere unenlightened mortal could possibly understand?" Allen observed, looking speculatively at her.
"Oh no, don't be feeling all special or anything, I'm like this to everyone." She feigned complete nonchalance. Good thing her "serene-highness face" was still on. She was afraid she'd begun having a anxiety attack since he appeared in the room. "Fine. Let's give it a try. And better keep your feet out of my way, I'll have to lead for now." She took his hand, utterly amazed that hers wasn't shaking from being _this_ close to him. _Thank the heavens for small mercies._
The music box had wound down by this time. But she didn't start it up again, instead she counted out the steps of the dance. "Alright, first you bow and I curtsey. Then it's one-two-three-four..." Carefully she showed him the basic steps, and when they had gotten them down, she started humming the music.
_Of course he catches on quick. Allen Schezar is incapable of doing anything badly!_ Eries lowered her eyes under the pretense of watching the movements of their feet, then looked up at him from under her lashes. _All this, and a sense of rhythm too!_ she thought resentfully.
She resented him being so pretty. She resented him being _the_ Knight Caeli. She resented the way he only had to open his mouth and every female at court would await with bated breath whatever it was he might say, even if it was merely some comment on the weather[2]. She resented the way he and Marlene were sneaking around together--and not doing it very well either, she added if she felt particularly acerbic. And yet despite all that, she had a thing for him that would not stop. Him! The guy her very much affianced older sister was seeing on the sly. The guy her little sister Millerna worshipped. How pathetic could this situation possibly get?
[2. Yep, i got that comment off of "Foolish Games" by Jewel, from _Pieces of You_.]
It wasn't as if there weren't any other nice young men around. But noooooo--she didn't want nice. She wanted _him_. Her glands apparently labored under the impression he was the only man in the world. And at the moment, her glands were having the time of her life while her mind was screaming bloody murder.
"What???" Allen stopped suddenly in mid-step and Eries nearly danced into him but caught herself just in time. "You were looking at me exactly like the guy who tried to run me through in the practice swordfights." Allen clasped her wrist and looked her in the eyes as if, through them, he could see into her thoughts.
She blinked, disengaged his hand from her arm. "I'm sorry, Allen-san, I guess this isn't working. Perhaps you should go see if Marlene's schedule has an opening now."
Allen quirked an eyebrow. "We were doing fine until you got that strange light in your eyes. Alright, I'm going. Thank you for the dance, Eries-hime." He took her hand, raised it to his lips and kissed the back of it gallantly.
"And I thank you, Allen-san, for your help." She dropped a curtsey.
He smiled his suave little smile and performed the corresponding bow. "Another time, perhaps?"
_Don't bet the family fortune on it, hotshot. I think I'd better keep my peace of mind._ But she only replied, "Perhaps."
He walked away, his chin-length hair bright in the dimly lit room. _Oh, well...At least my hair's still prettier than his..._ Eries consoled herself with that thought, and a silent, faintly hysterical giggle at the silliness of it all.
~next chapter: "Intermezzo"~