Midwinter ball (chapter 6)

"Announcing Princess Katie of Disbury on the arm of Baron Thom of Trebond. Baroness Stephanie of Pitstock on the arm of her brother Sir Peter of Pitstock. The Shang Unicorn, Caitlyn, on the arms of her fellow immortals, Liam the Shang Dragon (previous best of the order) and Tobias the Shang Griffin. And last, but not least, the biggest mouthful of all, Countess Alanna of Trebond, the shang sphinx (best of the order), the most powerful opal mage since Rhapsody Birdsong 200years ago, swanflyer and second over-all Flareon Ying Fa of Tortall on the arm of Prince Pierre of Hampton, the heir to King Toby. Whoo! What a mouthful!" the herald said as the ladies and men came down the great stairs.

   When Alanna knelt in front of the king and queen she said, "Good evening your majesties I hope you are feeling well."

"Very well thank you, Sphinx, and what about you, I noticed you were limping down the stairs, are you okay?" The Queen asked.

"Yes I'm fine, only a few bruises and a little scratch that's all. The dragon is very fast with a sword but unfortunately not fast enough." Alanna said in reply.

The queen laughed and said, "You will never change Alanna but I still want you to go see Duke Baird to get those battle scars fixed. OK."

"Yes your majesty." Then Alanna and Pierre walked away to find their seats.

 When they found their seats Prince Pierre pulled out Alanna's chair and said "Here you are lady Alanna." And was rewarded with a black eye.

"Never call me "lady Alanna" again, you get that Pi? Good!" and she sat down.

She saw the queen staring at her across at her and she thought "I've seen those eyes somewhere before." Her eyes widened and she walked over to her brother, "Thom does the queen seem familiar to you?" she asked him.

"No, Whom does she look like?" he replied.

"Aunty 'Ralph'" said Alanna, "And that must mean the King is Uncle 'Liana. Don't you see, it was all a disguise, they were really checking up on the relationship between Tortall and Scaren?" She looked up at the royal table and saw the queen beckon to her and Thom. "Come on the queen wants us." She told Thom and walked up to their majesties, "Yes your majesty." She asked.

"So you finally figured it out Alanna. I guess I owe the king 3 gold nobles. Now getting to the point, Alanna I heard the herald say you are the Birdsong, Swanflyer and flareon Ying Fa of Tortall and our neighboring countries, is this true? Because it just so happens that my son is Tortall's Zapolos Xiaolang and my husband and I were wondering if you would like to perform with him." The queen asked Alanna.

"Sing with cousin Emily," Alanna replied, "Of course I'd love to. Thank you Aunty Ralph, I must go change." And she walked out of the ballroom to get changed and fix her scars.

"Changed? Why must she get changed, what she's wearing is fine." Thom asked completely baffled.

"Because, Baron Thom, she must get comfortable before she dances and those shoes are not the type to dance in." the queen replied, "Now you must get back to your duties."

When Alanna walked back into the ballroom everyone was seated and waiting for her, "Sorry to keep you all waiting." She announced, sat down and the feast began.

During the third course Thom contacted Prince Jon, "Jon your parents wish to speak with you. I suggest you not anger them."

Jon got up and excused himself, "Yes, mother, father, you wish to speak with me." Jon said.

"Jon do you remember cousin Bubbles and cousin Pop?" the king asked his son.

"Yes. Why?"

"Well cousin Bubbles' name is really Alanna of Trebond and cousin Pop is the one you call Thom." The queen said, " And it's Thom's birthday tomorrow and Alanna and I were wondering if you would do a little show for him, just the one or two musical numbers."

"Of course mum, anything for cousin Pop." Jon said enthusiastically, "When?"

"In half an hour." the king answered.

 "Half an hour. Excuse me I must go change." With that he ran back to the tables. "Alanna you remember the song we performed for Thom's birthday when he was 5, still your favorite song? Oh and by the way happy birthday, you didn't think I'd forget did you."

"Thanks Jon. You go change, I'll give the music to the orchestra, hurry." She clicked her fingers and the music appeared on the orchestra stands.

Jon hurried out of the room and went to get changed. 2 minutes later Alanna excused herself and went to the top entrance of the great stairs. Jon approached her 5 minutes later, "Are you ready?" he asked her. She nodded and he walked up to the herald and told him what was about to happen.

"Announcing Xiaolang and Ying Fa of Tortall, Prince Jonathon of Conte and Countess Alanna of Trebond with a birthday gift for squire Thom, the musical number I wanna be the only one." The herald said and Alanna walked down the stairs and the music started up.


Alanna: Yes I see you cryin'
 And I feel your broken heart
 I can feel you're hurting
 Still you chose to play the part
If you let me be
I'll be all you need, all you need

Jon comes down the stairs singing.

Wanna be the only one to hold you
Alanna: (Protect you from the rain)
I wanna be the only one to soothe you
Alanna: (Erase all the pain)
I wanna be the only one to love you, love you
Alanna: (Over again)
I wanna be the only one, the only one
Alanna: (The only one I am)

Jon: Now you deserve a mansion
Alanna: My lord you too
Jon: You can have the best of life
With all this I'll give you
A pure love that gold can't buy
If you take a chance
Alanna: (If you take a chance)
Jon: I'll be worth the chance, worth the chance

Alanna: I wanna be the only one to hold you
Jon: (Protect you from the rain)
Alanna: I wanna be the only one to soothe you
Jon: (Erase all the pain)
Alanna: I wanna be the only one to love you, love you
Jon: (Over again)
Alanna: I wanna be the only one, the only one
Jon: (The only one I am)

Jon: I wanna be the only one to hold you
Alanna: (Protect you from the rain)
Jon: I wanna be the only one to soothe you
Alanna: (Erase all the pain)
Jon: I wanna be the only one to love you, love you
Alanna: (Over again)
Jon: I wanna be the only one, the only one
Alanna: (The only one I am)

Jon: If you let me be
Alanna: If you let me be
Jon: I'll be all you need
Alanna: If you take a chance
If you take a chance
I'll be worth the chance
If you just love me
Both: You will gladly see
I'm all you need

Alanna: I wanna be the only one to hold you
Jon: (Protect you from the rain)
Alanna: I wanna be the only one to soothe you
Jon: (Erase all the pain)
Alanna: I wanna be the only one to love you, love you
Jon: (Over again)
Alanna: I wanna be the only one, the only one
Jon: (The only one I am)

Everyone in the room clapped and Jon & Alanna bowed, "We're not quite finished yet." Alanna waved her hand and the music on the orchestras stands changed from "wanna be the only one" to Summer Nights. " Stephie, Katie, Thom, Liana, Ralph, one more song for old times sake?" Alanna asked. They all nodded and the orchestra started the intro.

Jon: Summer loving had me a blast
Alanna: Summer loving happened so fast
Jon: I met a girl crazy for me
Alanna: Met a boy cute as can be
Both:  Summer days drifting away to oh oh the summer nights

Tell me more, tell me more
Did you get very far
Tell me more, tell me more
Like does he have a car

Jon: She swam by me she got a cramp
Alanna: He swam by me got my suit damp
Jon: I saved her life she nearly drown
Alanna: He showed off splashing around
Both: Summer sun something's begun but oh oh the summer nights

Tell me more, tell me more
Was it love at first sight?
Tell me more, tell me more
Did she put up a fight?

Jon: Took her bowling in the arcade
Alanna: We went strolling drank lemonade
Jon: We met up under the dock
Alanna: We stayed out till ten o'clock
Both: Summer fling don't mean a thing but oh oh the summer nights

Tell me more, tell me more
But you don't gotta brag
Tell me more, tell me more
Cause he sounds like a drag

Alanna: He was friendly holding my hand
Jon: She was friendly down in the sand
Alanna: He was sweet just turned eighteen
Jon: Well she was good you know what I mean
Both: Summer heat boy and girl meet but oh oh the summer nights

Tell me more, tell me more
How much dough did he spend?
Tell me more, tell me more
Could she get me a friend?

Alanna: It turned colder that's where it ends
Jon: So I told her we'd still be friends
Alanna: Then we made our true love vow
Jon: Wonder what she's doing now

Alanna: Summer dreams ripped at the seams but oh those summer nights
Both: Tell me more, tell me more

Alanna curtsied and limped off the stage, wincing from the pain in her leg as it healed.