I feel kind of silly, posting this just one day after I posted the other chapter, but shrugs I felt like it.
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After the first incident with the duke, Aleia didn't see him much. She was busy with fittings for her dress, learning to dance, and learning etiquette. She learned the difference between desert forks, relish forks, salad forks, and dinner forks. She learned that soup is to be spooned away from yourself instead of towards, and silverware is to be placed in the four o'clock position when you are finished. She learned every ballroom dance to perfection and even the right way to wave during the procession.
On the day of the ball, she was dressed and ready to go. Her hair was part down in curls, and part up in an intricate braiding system. She had a diamond circlet pinned to her head, and she had a matching necklace. Her dress was tightly sewn around her. It had off-shoulder sleeves and many bustles to make her skirt pouf out.
Aleia was now staying in her own room. She had her own personal maid, Rosa, to assist her instead of several maids all crowding around her at once. Rosa seemed like a nice girl, rather quiet, but helpful just the same.
A knock sounded on the door. Aleia opened it. It was one of the butlers "It is time, your majesty."
Aleia nodded and was led to the gates of the palace. The king and queen were just arriving as well, and their horses were saddled and waiting for them.
"Daughter, you look beautiful," King Ardahn said. "And I ask of you, to grant me the first dance at the ball tonight."
Aleia blinked. That was a drastic change from the other day. At least it's a good one, she thought. "Certainly, Father. I would be happy to dance with you," she answered him.
The queen smiled. "The ball will be so much fun!" she said, almost squealing.
Duke Conrad Kevar arrived then. He was to ride behind them, close to the guards. He looked Aleia up and down in a manner that made her most uncomfortable.
"Duke Kevar," she nodded to him, rejecting his earlier request to be called Conrad or Duke Conrad.
"You look lovely, your highness," he said, emphasizing the your highness.
Aleia turned away from him to the horses. Her parents were already mounting theirs. The one she was to ride on was a beautiful white mare. As she prepared to get up onto the saddle she realized that it had a sidesaddle on it. She didn't know how to ride sidesaddle, much less with a full, poufy skirt.
Aleia glanced around nervously. She didn't even know how to sit sidesaddle. She should have paid more attention when the queen was mounting her horse, but she hadn't thought of it then. She motioned to one of the stable boys.
"Your highness?"
"I—I don't think I can mount the horse with this skirt. Could you help me?"
The boy nodded and quickly put his hands around her waist, lifting her easily into the saddle.
"Thank you," she said, smiling at him. She felt like she was going to fall off of the horses. How in the world did women ride like that?
"Sure thing—your highness."
Aleia hoped her horse would know to follow the others. She had no idea how to command it; it would take all of her energy just to avoid falling off. The procession soon started. Luckily, they didn't move very fast, so Aleia didn't tumble off of the horse. She remembered that she was supposed to smile and wave, so with one hand she clutched the horse's mane and with the other she waved.
The people all seemed nice, cheering and smiling at her. She felt very welcomed and appreciated as a princess, though she wondered if her face had gone completely white with fear. They went down the main street, then made a large loop and came back on the same one.
When they got back to the palace, Aleia fell, more than stepped, down from the horse. When she hit the ground, she tripped over her skirt and fell hard on the ground.
"Darling, are you alright?" the queen asked.
Aleia could hear the duke snickering behind her. "I'm fine," she said, quickly getting back to her feet. Her knee hurt, but she ignored it.
They then went to the large dining room to wait for the other courtiers to arrive. The room was glowing with the many candles on the huge chandeliers. In the adjoining ballroom, the musicians were already there, waiting to play.
The courtiers began arriving, a few at a time. Aleia talked to most of them. They were polite, but not overly kind to her. When Aleia went to talk to the queen for a minute, she heard some of them talking about her.
"She was raised as a peasant? What was she? A blacksmith's daughter? A shepherdess? Maybe she should go back there, she doesn't really fit in here. Did you see the way she rode her horse, stiff as a rail! She probably didn't even know how to ride, except bareback like a barbarian!" they were saying about her.
Aleia pursed her lips and looked at the ground.
"Don't pay attention to them, Darling," the queen said. "They're just fools who need to amuse themselves with other peoples business."
Aleia sighed. "I know, but...still, its hard not to listen to them."
The queen smiled. "Just act like the princess you were always meant to be, and they'll see that they shouldn't have gossiped about you because there was nothing bad to say."
Soon the feast began, and it went quite well. Aleia used all the right silverware, and didn't spill anything. Everything went exactly as it was supposed to. Afterwards, they all paraded into the ballroom.
The first dance was a waltz, which Aleia danced with her father.
"Are you enjoying the evening's festivities?"
Aleia sighed. "Well...I suppose so. Some of the courtiers were being...rude though."
"Which ones? I'll have them banished!"
Aleia laughed. "That would be ridiculous, Father. And I suppose I can understand why they might not like me. I'm just some lowly peasant girl and then I get to be a princess all of the sudden."
King Ardahn frowned. "No one should be being rude to my daughter. You are their princess, after all, and princesses should be treated with respect. I hope your evening will not be ruined by this, Daughter."
"No, it isn't," Aleia said, wondering why the king was suddenly being so kind to her.
The dance was over quickly, then she was asked to dance with some count, then a duke, and so on. When Aleia finally got a minute to herself, she realized that she knew where each of the spies would be hiding, guarding the royal family. It made her feel rather odd, and she wanted to look and see if she could see them. She knew, though, that she really shouldn't. Then others might look and it could give them away. She missed being a spy.
In her musings, she didn't notice when a finely dressed lady was walking nearby and she ran straight into her.
"Pay attention!" the lady said.
"I'm sorry," Aleia said, when another man ran into her other side. She now almost had the feeling they had done it on purpose. She started to walk in the other direction, towards the musicians. Duke Kevar was standing over there, and she realized too late that he meant to humiliate her.
He stuck his foot out at just the right time, causing her to trip and fall over, knocking down several of the musician's stands. The music stopped. The dancing stopped. Everyone stared at Aleia.
"I—I'm sorry," she said, getting up and trying to help the musicians by picking up their music, only succeeding in dropping it again. She looked around desperately.
"My goodness, she can't even walk without making a mistake," Aleia could hear someone whisper. The statement was followed by muffled giggles. That was too much. Aleia picked up her skirt and ran out of the ballroom.
Outside, hot tears rolled down Aleia's face. Her chest hurt from the run with the corset on and she couldn't breathe. She tried to calm herself down. She was a spy, she was tougher than this. She shouldn't be crying about a few clumsy incidents and careless words from courtiers. She was extremely tempted to go to her chambers and go to sleep, but she knew she couldn't. If she didn't go back in there, the courtiers had won. She would be their fool of a princess, not fit to rule. If she wanted their respect, she had to go back.
Aleia caught her breath and shut her eyes, squeezing out the remaining tears. She quickly wiped them away and smoothed down her hair. She walked back to the ballroom.
"Darling, are you alright?" the queen was at Aleia's side nearly the moment she entered the ballroom.
"I'm fine, Mother."
The music had started again and people were dancing. Many of them looked at Aleia, then turned away, embarrassed when she met their eyes with her head held high. For the rest of the night, no one spoke an unkind word to her.
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Classic ballroom embarrassment, I know, it's cliche, I don't care. And it has nothing to do with the plot either, character building maybe? I don't know, anyways next chapter will be exciting, so don't stop reading it if you don't think it's going anywhere. I'll put up the next chapter either tomorrow or the next day.
