Chapter Six: Celebrate Good Times
Their return to the castle was greeted with much fanfare. The king was so grateful for his daughters return that he ordered a celebration where the six of them would be publicly honored for their deeds. Tor was especially excited because Princess Sara declared that he would from that day forth be her knight. So the talented young swordsman would now be Sir Tor Zakon, Knight of Princess Sara.
Thol on the other hand was not looking forward to the celebration. He detested any situations involving large crowds. Nevertheless, Melira managed to talk him into attending. He decided to order more sightly clothes for the event due to the fact that his usual traveling robes were almost in tatters. The king has also given him a ceremonial wizard staff for the occasion, so he was pretty much set.
He did end up yelling at the orderly and chased him out of his room with a lightning spell hot on his heels for trying to take away his mask. "Stupid fool," he muttered to himself after he was alone again.
He and his friends were to meet in the lobby just outside of the ceremonial grounds. Thol was the second one there.
Keza, looking ridiculous in the black suit he was wearing, stood up to greet him. "Well, at least one of us looks right in all these fancy clothes," he said as he approached Thol.
"Of course I look right. I am a magician after all," he said.
"Touché," he replied simply.
The pair of them sat down and waited for the others. Valon was next to come. He was dressed relatively the same as before, just with more expensive clothing. "Must be nice not having to strain your creative thought when dressing for special occasions," Thol commented.
"Perhaps. Nice robes. How long did it take you to design them?" the red mage asked.
"Six hours actually. The first few drafts were horrendous," Thol replied.
"Impressive," was all he said, then he too sat down.
More time passed as Valon and Keza discussed various things. Goro entered a few minutes later dressed in formal monkish clothing. He sat next to Thol and commented on his robes. Thol repaid the compliment with one of his own and asked if he had seen the other two. Goro shook his head.
It was around ten minutes later when Melira entered. All four of them stopped what they were saying and stared at her. She was dressed in robes that appeared to be made of pure silver and wore a circlet that was definitely made out of silver. Without her hood, her long red hair could be clearly seen. All in all, she was stunning.
"I think my heart just stopped," Thol said quietly, not realizing what he had said. Goro chuckled at his friends comment.
"Melira," Keza said, the first one to recover their wits. "You look beautiful."
"Indeed. Truly awe inspiring," Valon added from where he sat.
She smiled shyly and blushed at all the praise she was getting. "Thanks. You all look great too," she said. She walked over and took a seat right on the other side of Thol. She looked at him and asked "What do you think?"
He continued to stare at her for a few more seconds and said "Wow."
She giggled. "Thanks. I see you changed your robes as well. They suit you."
"Of course they do. I designed them," he said, trying to regain some semblance of coherency.
"They're very nice," she said. She looked at his mask then. "You told me to ask you later. Is now a good time?" she asked, reaching for his mask again.
He felt too dizzy to refuse. "My eyes. Look at them," he said.
She did and for the first time she realized that they were absolutely void of color, just black orbs. "Why are they like that?" she asked, confused.
"My mask has a special enchantment on it to prevent people form seeing what they really look like."
"Why don't you want people to see them?"
"They frighten people."
"Why?"
"I don't know. Even my parents can't look into them. I've looked at my own reflection, but I don't see what it is everyone is afraid of. All I see are my eyes, as oddly colored as they are."
"Oh, you poor soul," she said, her eyes brimming over with tears. She understood why he was the way he was now.
"Easy now," he said, baffled as to why she had begun crying. "It's nothing to get upset over. I can deal with it."
"But it must have been terrible for you growing up," she said. She managed to keep herself from crying any further. After a few minutes, she asked "Will you show me?"
Thol looked away. "No. I can't," he said.
There was a pain in his voice that she didn't understand. "But, why not?" she asked.
"I…" he said pausing from reluctance. "I'm afraid they may scare you away from me as well," he said.
"Thol, your eyes won't scare me. I promise you that," she said softly.
"No. I just can't. I'm sorry," Thol said. He stood up and walked away from her then.
Melira was going to get up and go after him, but Tor entered the room then.
Tor was dressed in what Thol thought was the most ridiculous suit of armor he had ever seen. He assumed it was supposed to make him look heroic, which it did, but in a real battle it would do more harm then good.
"The king summons us, my friends. It is time," Tor said.
"Good. I want to get out of this monkey suit as soon as possible," Keza said.
They all followed Tor to where they would be sitting for the ceremony and were greeted with the loudest cheer that any of them had ever heard when they stepped out into the light.
"Holy! That's a lot of people!" Goro said as he looked over the crowd.
They sat down and the ceremony officially got underway. The king introduced them one at a time and they each stepped forward to be recognized. Keza was announced first. He got a rather normal reaction. He was followed by Valon, who also received a normal reaction. Thol went next. His reaction was a mix of awe and fear, as he had suspected. Apparently the effects that his eyes had on people weren't totally contained by his mask. Melira went next and caused quite a stir in the crowd as it was evident by all the wolf whistles and cat calls. She blushed at the crowd's reaction and quickly stepped back beside the others. She cast a quick glance at Thol where he stood looking off to the side.
Goro was announced immediately after her and got an above average reaction due to his popularity in the city. That still didn't compare to the reaction Tor got when he stepped forward. Word had spread quickly that he going to be the princess' knight.
After a seemingly never ending sequence of speeches by various members of the royal family and other high placed nobles, Tor was officially knighted and then a great feast was set out for those in attendance. Music started playing for people to dance to later as they all settled to eat.
Thol only ate a little of the amazingly tasteful meal and sat with a drink in his hand scowling at anyone who happened to look his way. He was angry at the people's reaction to him and figured that he might as well give them a reason to be afraid. He looked over to see Tor dancing with his princess and smiled inwardly. He had his lower mask off so he wasn't about to let people know what he was thinking.
Goro was off to the side giving some of the nobles some practical advice to whatever problems they told him. Thol mused about how proud his master would have been to see him now.
He looked around to see if he could spot Keza, but he was no where in sight. I don't even want to know where he is right now. It's probably not good, he thought, increasing his scowl at the though of the nimble thief.
To no surprise to him, Valon was speaking with the king and queen, no doubt telling them more about the prophecy. He really didn't know what to think of the white-haired man who had called him The Silver One. He understood the reference. It was his eye color. The thing he didn't understand is why he had been chosen as one of the Light Warriors.
He shrugged and looked around some more. He looked over to where Melira had been sitting and saw that she wasn't there. Probably off dancing with the townsfolk, he thought. She's not like you after all, Thol. She probably still likes to have fun. "Shut up," he said quietly. He tried looking around for her, but he couldn't see her. He shrugged and took another sip of his drink.
Quickly becoming bored of sitting there glaring at people, he got up and walked over to the balcony. He noticed that people gave him a wide birth. Walking to the edge, gazed up at the stars and sighed. He hated to admit it, even to himself, but he was lonely.
He had no idea how long he stood there, but he never expected to here the voice behind him.
"What are you doing out here all by yourself, Thol?"
Melira, he thought. He knew her voice well enough by now. He turned around to look at her. She smiled slightly when she could see his face, what wasn't covered by the mask that is. "Nobody wants me in there and besides, I like looking at the stars. At least they aren't afraid of me," he replied. She walked up beside him and gazed up at the night sky herself.
"Yes, the stars are nice, but don't believe that they don't want you in there, Thol. They just don't know you yet."
He just stood there and stared at her for a moment. "What are you doing out here?" he asked suddenly.
She glanced at his sideways. "Looking at the stars, silly," she said with a playful smile.
"I mean what are you doing out here with me? Shouldn't you be off in there breaking hearts or something?"
She laughed at his choice of words. She turned to face him and said, "I already know most of the people in there. There aren't too many hearts in there that I haven't broken, as you say, and besides, I was looking for you."
"Why?" he asked.
"Um… I was wondering if you'd like to dance with me?" she said, looking down at her feet shyly.
All these normal people running around in there and she wants to dance with me? I don't get it, he thought. "I'd love to," he said, not quite believing he was saying it.
She smiled widely and grabbed his hand. "Great! Come on! The next song is about to start," she said, dragging him back into the room.
Oh great. What did I get myself into? he though as she lead him, to his discomfort, to the very center of the room. Oh well. Might as well make the most of it. "How well can you dance?" he asked her suddenly.
"Good enough. Why?"
"Because, if I'm going to make a fool of myself, I might as well do it with style. Follow my lead," he said as the music started up again.
What is he up to? Melira asked herself. He started off fairly simple, but when the music picked up, his steps started getting more and more complicated. Wait a minute! I know this dance! she thought as she started to dance along with him.
Thol actually smiled slightly when he became aware that she was familiar with the dance as well. He was impressed. Not too many people knew this one.
The other people around them soon stopped their own dancing to watch the two of them. It was a very impressive display and the two of them worked perfectly together.
"What's going on over there?" the king asked as he noticed that everyone had stopped dancing.
Tor looked over and saw the two of them in the center of the crowd and almost choked on his drink. Thol was the last person he'd expect to see dancing, let alone well enough that the entire dance floor would stop and watch them. "It seems like my two comrades are putting the rest of our dancing skills to shame," Tor said in an amazed voice.
As the song came to and end, the crowd clapped and cheered loudly. Thol winced inwardly at being the center of attention, but at least they weren't cringing away from him in fear. To his surprise, it was Melira who rushed them off the dance floor, blushing furiously with her eyes downcast shyly.
When they had escaped the mob of people and where back at their seats, Thol turned to her. "I'm impressed. That particular dance is rather obscure," he said.
"I'm impressed as well. Where did you learn to dance like that?" she asked.
"My mother. She is the greatest dancer in Crescent Lake, believe it or not."
"I can imagine if you can dance like that," she said, smiling at him.
The rest of the night went by entirely too fast for Thol's liking. Melira had stayed with him the whole time and wasn't exactly thrilled when the party began to wind down. The party being over, he walked with her to her room, his own being just down the hall a bit.
"Thank you, Thol," she said as she turned to him. "I had more fun tonight then I've had in a long time."
"It was probably just the atmosphere. I'm known to be notoriously boring," Thol replied.
She smiled at him. "Oh Thol, you can be so hopeless at times."
Thol didn't quite understand what she was getting at. He furrowed his brow in thought, trying to figure out what she meant by that.
When he didn't say anything for about half a minute, she broke the silence. "Well, goodnight Thol. See you in the morning."
"Good night," he replied.
She smiled at him again and went into her room.
As the door closed, Thol almost said 'Wait,' but the word died on his lips. What exactly do you expect from her? A kiss? Don't be ridiculous, he told himself. He placed his hand on the now closed door momentarily before walking off to his own room, his mind a whirl of confused thoughts and feelings. . . .
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