Disclaimer: I do not know Gail Carson Levine nor am I Gail Carson Levine. Many of the settings and some of the characters used in this story are hers.

A/N: Wow, can we all say long time no update? Lol, sorry, but things got a lot busier than I expected. I CANNOT believe that I start school next week. I might as well go and jump off a cliff. Seriously. Well, ok, so I'm not seriously, but still. Anyway, this unfortunately is a short chapter and I will try to get the next one up quicker. I even wrote the summary for it already! And if I can get it right, then it'll be A LOT better than this one. Really.

Ok ok, well go read. :)

P.s. Much thanks to Alqualyne for editing this chapter! You rock!

Aria's Melody

Chapter Nine: The Old Ballroom

Aria stared at the half-touched food on her gold plate before looking up and meeting Frederick's eyes. He gave a grimace before shooting her an apologetic look.

She gave a small smile back, telling him silently that she understood what he was trying to say and agreed.

They were at a long, ornately decorated table, which they were currently only using half of. King Randall sat at the very end, engaged in a conversation with Lord Maxmilien, whose obsequiousness towards the king was giving Aria a difficult time trying to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Her father could be too much of a sycophant sometimes.

The table was piled with more food than needed for a whole ballroom full of ogres, much less four people. Aria had to literally tilt her head past the large platter of turkey to see Frederick diagonally across from her.

As she poked dully at the lump of stewed potatoes on her plate, Aria snuck a glance at the king through the towers of food. His face was pallid and gaunt, resembling nothing like the handsome, constantly laughing king three years ago, when the queen was still alive. Aria could now slightly understand why Frederick had been so reluctant to talk to his own father. But still…

There was a lull in the conversation as Lord Maxmilien finished his discussion with the king about trade with Kyrria.

Frederick cleared his throat and stood up. "Father, Lord Maxmilien, Lady Aria, if I may be excused? I'd like to get a breath of fresh air in the garden. Unless—" The prince paused. "Unless the lady would like to join me?"

Frederick had directed his gaze now on Aria, and she shifted a little uncomfortably at his unexpected invitation. She would love to leave this tedious and gloomy meal, but she didn't want to give Frederick the wrong idea if she agreed. But before she could accept or decline, her father spoke, obviously already having made the decision for her.

"Why, that sounds like a wonderful idea. I'm sure my daughter would be delighted to accompany you." The lord turned to Aria and smiled brightly.

Aria sighed. She'd missed her father while he'd been away, but there were some things about him that she'd never miss, even if he were gone for fifty years.

"Of course." Aria stood up, and after giving curtsies to King Randall and her father, she accepted the hand that Frederick offered and left the large dining room with him.

The two entered the quiet hall of the castle, and after Aria had gently dropped his hand, the prince turned to look at her as they began strolling towards the door at the end of the hallway.

"Sorry about the dinner…I'm sure you disliked it as much as I did."

"It was alright," Aria said lightly, trying not to appear as though she was ungrateful for it. She'd hoped the king would mention something about the laws to her father during the meal, but the only thing both men had talked about was trade. Maybe she was being a little selfish, Aria realized, thinking only of the things she cared about most at the moment.

"Thank you allowing my father and I enjoy dinner with you and King Randall," she decided to add.

"Our pleasure."

Aria wrinkled her nose a little. Our pleasure? Couldn't he ever say something a little more relaxed for once?

They soon arrived at the bottom of the stairs that led to the exterior first-floor hallway of the palace. The outer side of the hall was completely comprised of arches and columns that bordered upon the large garden outside. Beautifully designed torches were affixed to each column, casting warm glows on the stone floor.

The two stepped outside, and Aria glanced up at the sky. The night had begun to descend, and the stars were already twinkling in the dark blue-pink of summer dusk.

Her glance fell on a lone figure with blonde hair under the branches of a small cherry tree in the garden, her back to them and looking as though she was gazing up at the wall of the palace of which she was facing.

Frowning, Aria thought it was Jessalyn before looking closer and realizing it wasn't. "Emily!" she called, smiling as she walked up to her friend with Frederick.

Emily turned, breaking her gaze from whatever she'd been staring at. "Aria!" she exclaimed, hugging her friend before turning to Aria's companion. Emily gave a start. "Prince Frederick!"

She gave a curtsy and shot Aria a quizzical look.

Frederick gave a nod. "Good evening Emily."

"Good evening," she replied with obvious surprise at finding both Aria and the prince together.

Aria cleared her throat, eager to change the subject. "So what were you looking so intently at a moment ago?"

Emily looked blank for a moment, as though the whole idea of Aria and Frederick mutually together without any sign of discord had totally wiped out all her previous thoughts. Then she brightened, remembering. "Oh! I was out here in the garden, and I couldn't help noticing how the lights in those windows on the second and third floor keep flickering, as though someone keeps passing back and forth. Well, someone probably is, because I saw a shadow earlier too."

Both Frederick and Aria looked curiously up at the direction Emily was pointing to, and sure enough, there was a flicker of light. A minute and a quickly moving shadow later, there was another flicker of light, as though someone, or something, was passing by the torches.

"That's odd," Frederick mused out loud. "I'm sure that section of the palace is hardly ever in use. It used to be where all the balls and entertainment affairs were held, but after the new ballroom was built, this section of the palace was never used anymore. At least I don't think it is…"

Aria frowned for a moment, before turning to the prince eagerly. "Do you think we could go see it? Maybe find out what's causing all this?"

Emily looked at Frederick silently, too polite to join in Aria's plea, but hopeful that the prince would say yes.

After a brief second of consideration, Frederick nodded, and began crossing the garden, leading the girls to the old ballroom.

* * *

Terence quickly began his climb back up the dusty marble stairs again, his breathing quick and heart pounding. He smiled as he reached the top landing. The stair rail here wasn't quite as steep or twisty as his favorite one at home, but it was good enough, providing Terence the silence and privacy to slide and think at the same time.

He'd found the stairs when he was exploring the palace by himself one night, trying to find the perfect place to slide. Terence had come across the large room with the smooth, graceful banisters just when he was about to give up and go back to his room. He suspected the place used to be a ballroom, with shiny, marble flooring that was now covered in dust from years of disuse. The grand staircase led up to the second floor balcony that looked down on the ballroom below.

It was, for him, the perfect place.

Today, he'd immediately sought out the room after his boring dinner with the Count of Vappid. Another eleven months of dull dinners, and I'll be back in Kyrria, he thought to himself. Ayortha, though, wasn't quite as bad as he'd expected it to be. True, many of the nobles weren't too intent on talking, such as the Count of Vappid, but the other half conversed well enough, and most of the people his age seemed to talk just fine.

Especially that girl who'd managed to practically talk his ear off today. Jessalyn was her name, Terence recalled, the girl from Tallkes, the kingdom to the south of Ayortha whose name caused Terence to conjure up more thoughts of darkness than sunlight.

After interrupting his and Aria's, er, conversation, Jessalyn, although beautiful, had annoyingly managed to pull Terence away and blabbed a lot about herself, before touching lightly on other topics, which were just as uninteresting.

Actually, now that Terence thought about it, she did ask a lot of questions, especially about Frederick. But Terence hadn't been much help in providing answers, considering he hardly ever spent any productive time with the Ayorthaian prince. Sure, they often ate meals together and politely discussed political affairs, but the two were far from friends. Frederick always seemed a little distant, and possibly even cold, no matter how hard Terence tried to be warm and friendly.

Terence was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't even hear the sound of a door open and close and footsteps at the bottom of the stairs until he'd flown down the railing and looked up.

His eyes widened as he landed smoothly on the ground. Aria, Frederick, and a girl Terence didn't recognize stared back at him, his surprise mirrored on their own faces.

"Terence?" Aria came forward, smiling slightly, and Frederick and the girl next to him followed cautiously.

"Aria?" Terence looked behind her. "Prince Frederick. And…"

"Emily," the blonde girl supplied a little shyly. "Nice to meet you, Your Majesty."

"Terence," he corrected, bowing.

"Emily noticed light flickering and a shadow moving suspiciously in the windows here," Aria said, smiling as she pointed at the windows on the first and second floors of the ballroom, "and we all wondered what it could be. Imagine our surprise when instead of an evil culprit at work, we find, well, something much better."

Terence smiled, feeling his cheeks turn pink. "Well, you all must be wondering what I was doing then." He paused, his cheeks feeling a little warmer than before. "I was—"

"Sliding, right?"

Everyone turned to stare at Frederick. It was the first time he'd spoken since they'd found Terence in the old ballroom.

"I…used to do it too," Frederick admitted a little sheepishly when the others continued to stare. He nodded at the staircase before them. "On those stairs. With…my mother and father."

Aria felt her heart soften at the sad look on Frederick's face. She suddenly regretted her harsh words too often directed at him. Not only had his mother's death probably really affected him, but now King Randall seemed to have completely changed for the worst.

"I'm sorry," Emily whispered, unconsciously putting a hand over Frederick's. Both Emily and the Ayorthaian prince stared at her hand for a moment, startled at her gesture.

Aria and Terence glanced at one another for a moment, and the Kyrrian prince awkwardly cleared his throat. "Would you all like to join me for some sliding, then?"

They all turned to Frederick, as though only his answer mattered.

The prince of Ayortha gave a small smile, the first smile Aria seemed to remember seeing. Although little, it seemed to light up his whole face, and Aria could suddenly see another side of Frederick she had doubted existed. "Why not?"

Terence grinned and turned to race up the stairs, the rest following.

"Who would've thought?" Emily whispered to Aria as they followed the two boys. "Sliding down banisters?"

Aria shrugged, laughing. "Must be a royal thing."

Emily laughed too as they ran up to join Terence and Frederick at the top. "Must be," she agreed.

~~~~~~

A/N: OMG! Guess what! I started a livejournal! Isn't that exciting? Do any of u guys have one? Cuz if u do, tell me ur usernames so I can add u guys onto my list. It's taking forever for me to make it awesome tho, especially with my slow computer. Urgh.

Anyway, if this chapter was a total disappointment, I greatly apologize and will try to make the next one much better. R/R!

Oh and about Catching Cael--I haven't abandoned that or anything, I'm working on the next chapter right now. But AM is first priority. OH! And check out my fictionpress story! It's a romance tho, so I dunno if u guys will like it or not. And there is some cursing and stuff, so don't read it unless u feel comfortable with it. www.fictionpress.com/~whimsicality. Ttyl!