"Oh my dear, you're a vision!" Annette gushed when Venitia put on the gown.  Venitia turned and looked in the mirror.  It was true, the gown was more beautiful than anything she had ever seen.

            The exact same blue of her eyes, the strapless dress narrowed to a point at her waist and then flowed down past her feet. Beads that reflected the light covered the torso in an intricate design.

            "Here, Venitia.  These were mine, but I feel they belong to you," Arwen said.  She placed a necklace of stunning blue stones around her daughter's neck. Venny gasped.

            "They're beautiful," she said.

            "You are beautiful," a man's voice said. "Sorry, but may I join the girl's party?" Aragorn said.

            The three women laughed as the king walked in.  He simply smiled, unable to say anything as he looked at his grown up daughter.  "We will meet you in the ballroom.  I'll let you off of welcoming duty tonight," he said with a laugh as he led his wife out of the room.

            "I had better go check on your sister," Annette said, and also left.

            Venitia took deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror.

            A knock came at the door.

            "My lady?" Brannon's voice came.

            "Come in," Venitia answered.

            "I have a message for you," he said. He handed her a note. "You look dazzling tonight, my lady," he said as he bowed back out of the room.

            "Thank you," she said. She opened the note:

            I will be waiting.

            Your secret admirer

Venitia smiled slyly to herself as she took one last look.  With a confident nod, she swept out of the room.

***

            "Your highness," followed her wherever she went.  Descending the huge stairs into the white crystal ballroom, she kept a smile on her face and her head at the ready for a nod whenever someone approached her.  At the bottom of the long staircase, waiting for her, was Teagan.

            Looking quite handsome in a blue that reflected his eyes, he smiled his perfect smile as she came closer and closer.  He kissed her hand and said, "Would you care to dance, my lady?"

            She smiled and nodded and let him lead her to the floor. They started a waltz.  They didn't talk, and Venitia kept having to check herself for craning her neck to see if Donovan had arrived. 

            After being handed off to many different partners, she was led back to Teagan and the waltz ended.

            "Excuse me, I want to check on my sister," Venitia lied. Teagan nodded and she headed off.  She was just thinking that Donovan was not coming when she saw him coming down the stairs in an olive green.  For some reason, she panicked and hid behind a plant.

            "Oh, your highness, there you are," a drawling voice said.  Venny turned around to see Tamanna standing behind her in a gown of the pinkest pink. 

            "You simply must introduce me to that handsome trainer of yours," Tamanna said in her arrogant voice.

            Without thinking, Venitia nodded and started to lead the way.  Donovan was looking around and finally saw Ven coming toward him with Tamanna right behind her.

            "Donovan, this Tamanna, Lady Emilia's daughter.  Tamanna, this is Donovan," Venitia said.

            Donovan abruptly stopped staring at Venitia and looked at the other woman.  Tamanna coyly held her hand up for him to kiss, which he did.

            "So, you're a soldier, are you Donovan?" said Tamanna flirtatiously. Venitia put a look of disgust on her face, positive that Donovan would not buy into this.

            To her great surprise, Donovan smiled back at Tamanna and said, "Why, yes I am.  And what place could bring such a beautiful creature as you?"

            Revolted beyond belief, Venitia turned on her heel and left.  Fuming, she ran into Legolas, the only elf in the whole room, which was quite obvious.

            "Hold on there, my dear.  Why do you look so angry?" he said.

            She only rolled her eyes.  He looked past to where she had come from, and saw Tamanna laughing flirtatiously with Donovan.

            "Ah," he said. "I know I should probably not even suggest this, but why don't you go over there with Teagan and make things even?" The elf winked at her and gave her a push.

            She boldly walked to Teagan, who was patiently waiting by a fountain. Waiting! she thought. "I will be waiting"! That's what the note said!  She put a huge smile on her face as she neared him.

            "Would you like to dance again?" she asked.

            They danced for nearly an hour, with Venitia stealing looks at Tamanna and Donovan every so often. At around ten o'clock, Teagan said, "Would like some fresh air?"

            Venitia realized she was very hot, and nodded profusely.

            They walked outside into one of the many gardens.  They sat for a while before Teagan said, "Venitia, I must confess something."

            Here it comes, she thought.

            He cleared his throat. "Venitia, you are the most beautiful woman who walks this earth. I leave tomorrow morn, and it breaks my heart to do so.  I just…I wanted to know if you would wear this for me, to remember me until I return."

            He handed her a pendant of silver in the shape of a leaf.  She was speechless.  She looked up into his eyes and started to lean in…

            A girl's laughter filled the air.  It seemed to come from right next to them.  They looked at each other questioningly and got up to investigate.

            They found Tamanna had pinned Donovan to wall and they were passionately kissing.  Venitia gasped, and Teagan looked shocked.

            "Tamanna! Have you no respect?" he cried.

            They stopped immediately.  Donovan looked more embarrassed than even when he had walked in on Venitia getting changed once.  But Tamanna merely smiled.

            "Oh, brother.  You were about to do the same exact thing," she scoffed.

            "I was not!" he cried. "I wasn't," he said to Venitia.

            She nodded but kept her attention on Donovan whose eyes were looking back in hers.  She was not jealous; worse, she was disappointed.  She had thought that he had some principles and had at least cared for her.

            She mumbled an "excuse me" while Tamanna and Teagan broke out in a full-fledged fight.  She started walking fast toward the other side of the garden and sat down on a bench.  She sat staring at the water in the fountain when she noticed someone was behind her.

            "I thought I knew you better than this," she said.

            "So did I," his heavy voice came. She noticed his voice was just as full of disappointment as hers.

            "But…why?"

            "It was the strangest thing…I don't know what it was.  Something overcame me, something I couldn't fight…" he trailed off.

            "Donovan?"

            "Yes, Venitia."

            "Can we agree to be friends again?"

            "But…what about tonight? I thought you'd be…"

            "So did I but…I'm not.  I've just decided to take a lesson from my past, that's all.  Take my time with things.  Give things a chance," she said.

            He nodded.  He offered his arm and they walked back inside.

*What do you think? Dumb? Should she be cynical or not? I didn't want it to move too fast or else the story would be short and that's dumb. Please review!