…now!!

Chapter 29

            Venitia left her room and tried to silently tiptoe her way to Almira's room.  Once there, she went inside, still looking around suspiciously to see if anyone had seen her.

            "Oh, good, you are here, Venitia," she heard her mother say. Venitia waved with her back still turned. She was watching some ladies dressed up in gorgeous fairy dresses walk down the hall.  

            "Here, darling, you need to wear this, or else we will never be able to find you," Arwen said a little louder. She forced a ring onto Venitia finger. Venitia reluctantly snapped the door shut and turned around. Her mother gasped.

            "Darling! You look…you look…" Arwen stuttered.

            "Like you?" Venitia helped.

            Arwen smiled. She fingered Venitia's hair, and brushed away what suspiciously looked like a tear from under her mask.  Suddenly, she hugged Venitia tightly.

            "Mother," Venitia complained childishly, half sarcastic and half honest, "you'll muss my dress."

            "Oh, of course, I am sorry." Venitia looked behind her mother, and had to bite her lip very hard to keep from laughing.

            "Well, what do you think?" Almira asked haughtily. Venitia didn't trust herself to speak, for she feared what she might say. Or, indeed, she might just laugh.

            "Well?" Almira asked again.

            "Well, green always was your favorite color," Venitia said, but it had been a bad idea to open her mouth; she was now laughing very hard.

            Almira was dressed in an extremely tight green dress that had vines woven around it. Her mask looked like two leaves on each eye, but what was making Venny laugh so hard was the extremely large leaf that was sticking up at the back of her head.

            "Mother! Make her stop laughing at me!" Almira whined.

            "Venny, please stop laughing at your sister," Arwen said, although her eyes were laughing as well.

            Venitia eventually calmed down, brushing tears out of her eyes. A knock on the door startled them.

            "Are you three ready yet? We are going to be late!" came the impatient voice of her father.

            "Alright, we are coming," Arwen said.  She and Almira left, but Venitia said that she quick wanted to check her mask one more time; it felt tilted from all the laughter.

            She looked in Almira's mirror and saw that her mask was indeed completely tilted to one side.  She re-pinned it, and also pinned her hair more tightly. Taking a deep breath, and desperately trying not to laugh at the scattered leaves on the floor, she left.

            She walked a little hurriedly to the back steps that would lead outside. She reached them, and saw her father pacing back and forth at the bottom.

            "Alright, alright, I'm here, the party may officially begin," Venitia said jokingly. Her father looked up, and his face took on the same exact expression as her mother's had.

            She reached the bottom and twirled a bit for him.

            "I am an elvish princess, just like Mother," she announced, like a child announcing they had turned four years old. He smiled.

            "You look exactly like her," he said, and an odd mixture of pride and sadness came into his eyes.

            Venitia silently thought I wonder how many times I will be told that tonight, but just smiled broadly to her father.  He tutted suddenly, and said,

            "We are already late. I am going in with your mother, and I have the pleasant task of informing you that all the guests have already arrived and that you do not have to greet anyone."

            "Yes!" Venitia said excitedly. Her father gave her a warning look, and she put her fists, that she had thrust into the air, down at her sides. Her parents walked in to the sound of trumpets, and her sisters followed suit. Venitia, however, lingered in the hall, twirling her hair absentmindedly with her finger. Everyone seemed to have forgotten that this party was being held for her, as the orchestra had already started playing and the guests were already dancing.  The eldest princess stood for a moment at the open glass doors, watching the people dance. She didn't know why she didn't just go down, but she suddenly didn't feel like dancing or being polite all evening. The sun hadn't even begun to set yet; it was only four o'clock.  She sighed, and began to back away once more, but something caught her eye. A man with sandy brown hair was standing straight-backed, with his hands clasped behind his back. He paced back and forth at the bottom of the stairs. He wore a soldier's uniform, and a mask of course, but Venitia's heart gave a sudden leap. It couldn't be! Could it?

            With a sudden determination, she strode through the doors and hurried down the steps.  The man at the bottom noticed her, and his mouth fell open agape at her for a moment, before he realized it and shut it.  She was still walking down the endless stairs, until she was almost at the bottom.

            "Dono-?" she began to whisper to herself, but the man began to talk.

            "Your highness!"

            She stopped short, just two steps from the bottom. She looked at his face more closely.

            "Dorian?" she said.

            She thought he looked confused, but it was so quick she might have imagined it.

            "Yes! Why, didn't you recognize me?" he said with a smile.

            "Well, I haven't ever seen you without your helmet…or so clean shaven, as a matter of fact," she added.  He laughed.

            "Would you care to dance?" he asked, somewhat nervously.

            "Of course," she said, and he led her down to the dance floor.  They began to twirl, and a strange thought kept running through Venitia's mind…His hands seem so familiar… but she brushed it off.

            "You…you look lovely," he said sounding choked.

            "Thank you." She looked around. "I see none of the soldiers have dressed up," she said, rather disappointedly.

            "Yes, the general wouldn't let us," Dorian said.

            "Why ever not?"

            "Who knows? He kept rambling on about it not being professional, or some such nonsense."

            "But that is the whole point of a masquerade. To get dressed up!"

            "I know, but even if you told him I doubt he would listen. He was rather aggressive about it."

            They fell into silence, the sun still shining in the sky.  The sound of people chattering and laughing was washed out by the music. Venitia eagerly looked at everyone; there were birds, fairies, and horses. Some people had put extraordinary effort into their costumes. 

            The music ended and everyone stopped dancing to clap. Dorian said he would find them some drinks, and then strode away. Venitia, who didn't recognize anyone due to their masks, was beginning to rather enjoy not having to be polite to everyone just because she was the princess. This way, no one recognized her, either, so she just floated through the crowd.  She found a seat on a bench nearby, and the voices of some children nearby caught her attention.

            "I won five times yesterday! That means you owe me…three pink marbles," a little girl was saying.

            "No, I don't, I only owe you two!" came a little boy's voice.

            "She doesn't get anything! I won once, so I get three marbles," another boy said.

            Venitia noticed four children bickering on the dance floor. One was a girl, and the other three were boys, and they all had masks on.

            "But Agrata, that's not fair!" the third boy said.

            "Of course it is," Agrata said in a snobby voice. "I'm the best."

            Venitia smiled to herself.  "Hello!" she called to them. They stopped fighting immediately and looked at her.

            She paused. "Remember me?"

            They still looked confused. She beckoned for them to come closer, and then shifted her eyes around suspiciously. Then, quickly, she lifted up her mask, then put it down again.

            "Venny!" Agrata said. "Why haven't you come to play marbles with us? I'm getting bored with beating them all the time."  

            Venitia smiled. "I'm sorry, Agrata, but I've been really busy," she tried to explain.

            "We need someone to join in our misery," Emory said. Venitia laughed.

            "It's true! She beats us so much now, that she's been asking for pay!" Warrick said.

            "She makes us pay her one marble for every two games she wins!" Kyros complained.

            "Well, it's getting so boring," Agrata said. "I needed some motivation."

            Venitia was laughing very hard on the inside, but she kept a serious exterior.

            "Tell you what," she said to them. They leaned in so they were in a huddle. "Are you all coming to the ball tomorrow?" she whispered.

            "Yes," they all whispered back.

            "How about we play a game or two in the morning?" she asked.

            They all smiled happily.

            "Same spot?" Agrata said, very serious.

            "Same spot," Venitia confirmed. "Now show me if you've been working on those dancing skills!"  They ran back out to the dance floor, all fights forgotten. Venitia saw Dorian peering over the crowd, trying to find her, with two drinks in his hand.

            "Dorian!" she called, waving her hand. He caught sight of her, and edged his way through the crowd.

            "Sorry, I should have stayed where I was," Venitia apologized.

            "That's alright," he said, somewhat out of breath. He handed her a drink, which she took gratefully. The crowded dance floor was getting hot, and she felt like her dress was sticking to her skin.

            "This is going to be a long night," she murmured.

***

            The night, indeed, was very long. Having the ball start as early as four o'clock was not the most ingenious idea. Instead of going home earlier than usual, people just stayed as late as they usually did for balls. Venitia was required to stay until the end, and by ten o'clock, Dorian practically had to hold her to keep her standing. 

            "I don't usually become this tired so early," she tried to explain.

            "I reali-"

            "I mean, it is just that no one will go home!" she said, raising her voice at the last part.

            "Alright, I think you need to sit down," Dorian said, trying to smile nicely at the people whom Venny had yelled at.

            "No! If I sit down, I will no doubt fall asleep! I'll just stay like this," she said, leaning on his shoulder, her back slumped.

            "Very princess-like," he commented.

            "Aha! No one knows that I'm the princess, though!" she said thickly.

            Dorian just chuckled. He attempted to make it look like they were dancing, but Venitia was so limp, he gave up.

            By quarter to eleven, there were still throngs of people in the courtyard.  Venitia was half-asleep.

            "You remind me of someone," she said sleepily.

            "I do?" Dorian said, and if Venitia hadn't known better, she would have thought he was nervous.

            "Yes, but I can't figure out who! Well, tonight when I first saw you I thought you were – well, never mind."

            He sighed. Then he lifted his head.

            "Venitia, look," he said.

            Venitia reluctantly lifted her head from its comfortable position on his shoulder, to see her father peering through the crowd.  Since she was too tired to call out, she simply raised her arm and waved. The ring her mother had made her wear sparkled in the moonlight.

            "Venitia! There you are," her father said, squeezing his way to them.  "Thank you, Dorian, for not letting her sit down."

            Dorian just smiled; he couldn't bow because Venitia still had her full weight on him.

            "Venitia, why don't you go to bed? You look terrible," the king said.

            Normally, Venitia would have made a comment, but instead she hugged her father tightly. Murmuring a good night to Dorian, who responded, "Good night, Venitia," she staggered to her room, tore off her mask, and went straight to sleep.