A/N: Next installment… This one is very descriptive… Everything still seems a little TOO perfect, eh? Well, it's not… What fun would that be? You can't write anything longer than 3 chapters with a perfect character.. Oat least, I can't.
A week later
The room was filled with pleasant bustling and noise as Tia stepped in, carrying a package. Suddenly, all of her family was around her, asking questions and taking things from the package. She smiled wearily and sat on the chair nearest.
Her mother was gorgeous in a smoky-blue gown that highlighted her eyes, accented with green embroidery and emeralds. Around her neck was the necklace Numair had given her on her wedding day. She had pulled a pair of earbobs decorated with emeralds and two of Kitten's scales from the last time she outgrew her skin and had to shed some. Her father was decked in black breeches and a black open robe, but Daine had managed to make him wear a dark green shirt. Around his wrist was his locket, with which he could find and help any of them. He had extracted a black opal decorated with a single griffin feather from the package. Her sisters were also suitably gorgeous. Nera was decked in a dark purple gown with a long, sheer, silver tunic laced over top. She wore as little face paint as possible, but her natural beauty was plenty to serve her. She wore only a necklace of an amethyst decorated with two long, purple pegasus feathers. Lily was wearing a soft-red gown with orange gems on the hems and sleeves. She wore a bit of lip paint, but no more. Strangely, the reds and oranges set off her coppery hair instead of clashing with it. She wore a hair decoration ornamented with two golden-orange griffin feathers. Tia herself wore a black gown with gold embroidery and a gold long tunic overtop. Her ornament was a pair of golden earbobs made with centaur magic. Kendi was dressed in typical crimson and gold. Around her neck was a small glass vial containing unicorn blood. Tia shuddered as she saw that. Unicorn blood was powerful, but also very dark. Her sister claimed that she wore it only because she liked the way it looked with her uniform, but Tia couldn't believe that.
Nera fingered the amethyst charm and the Pegasus feathers. Her whole family had ordered special trinkets made from some gifts from a few immortals. Nera's was from a Pegasus friend of hers, Lotali. Nera didn't have much Wild Magic, but what little she did have allowed her to talk to equines, Immortal and mortal. Her mother's dragon scales were from Kitten, her father and Lily's griffin feathers were a thank-you gift from some griffins to thank Numair and Daine for saving one of their young during the Scanran War. Tia's earbobs had been made by a good friend of hers, Biltor Shiftplaces. He was a very strong centaur, and one that had extreme amounts of Wild and other magics. Nera privately suspected that he was a godling, like her mother, as he could also shift into a human, but only for short periods of time. Nera shivered as she saw Kendi's charm. All of the charms made them more powerful, but Kendi's was the most powerful and dangerous of them all, just like Kendi herself. Unicorn's blood was volatile and extremely powerful. No one was sure how she had gotten it, but they were not going to ask questions.
* * *
Two hours later
Lily was in absolute heaven. Her parents were off dancing, her sisters were elsewhere, and she was sitting with a bunch of her friends, glancing over at a young boy nearby. A young boy, who, if she was not mistaken, was glancing at her too.
* * *
Nera was chatting up one of her father's former students, now an advisor to the King. They often worked together, and he had asked her to the ball with him. She had agreed, hoping that this was going to become more than friendship.
* * *
Tia was dancing with Biltor, who had shifted to his human form for this part of the ball. In centaur form, he was a light green with dark green hooves, and tail. The human part was slightly tan with dark green eyes and ruffled black hair. When he shapeshifted, his torso was joined by long muscular legs in brown breeches. He was tall, but so was Tia. She was scandalously close to his body as they danced, and all of the centaurs and court attendees where looking shocked. They, however, were in their own world.
* * *
Meanwhile, Kendi was huddled in a back corner of the kitchen. She had claimed she was sick, as had Sinta. In reality, she was huddled on the floor trying to rid herself of the voices as she felt Sinta's strog arms encircle her, pulling her back. The last time, when Sinta hadn't been there... She shook, not wanting to remember it. The voices taunted her. She knew the only way to get rid of them was to drink the blood, but she hated it. She hated the bitter taste, the things it did to her, the way she knew her family worried abut her when she had to. Slowly, pushing the voices back, she uncorked the vial around her neck, tilted it to her lips, and let a touch of the liquid pass through. As soon as the drop landed on her tongue, she felt immeasurably better. The voices were gone, but she knew the real pain would come after. She stood up, dusted off her clothing and re-entered the ballroom, ready to act, once again, as if nothing was wrong.
* * *
The next morning
Kendi woke up and looked over. As usual, she was in someone else's bed. The unicorn blood always made her feel better for a few hours, but after that, it would flow through her bloodstream, completely controlling her. Usually the affects would wear away the next morning or late in the night. Sometimes, it wore off during very embarrassing times. This morning, she jumped out of bed, threw on her clothes and muttered a few words, suddenly finding herself in her room with Sinta sitting on the bed, waiting for her.
"Whose bed this time?"
"A lower noble's. He won't say anything, and neither will I. Thank the Goddess for my pregnancy charm."
She snapped her fingers, and a chain appeared on her neck. She had magicked the charm so that no one would see it, save when she wanted them to. She snapped her fingers again, and the charm disappeared. She took a quick bath, tossed on some clothes and ran out the door, arriving at the dining hall just in time. She and Sinta slid into their usual seats near the door. Kendi looked around and sighed. Time to face another day of strange stares and animosity.
* * *
A/N: Better, eh? Yup ^cackle^ Funness…. Oh, by the way, there are about three cusswords so far.. But a lot of sexual stuff… If you can't take it, don't read it…Let's be realistic, eh? I have less than some R movies I've seen… Anyway, I try not to go into that (can't do that now that there's no NC-17) but it is in there… And it ain't goin' away… got it? REVIEW!!!