Elend smoothed open the pages of his book and tried to find the last place he had been reading. The words swam in front of his face, strangely incomprehensible. His father's words echoed persistently in his ears.

Am I wasting my time then, after all? These men, who wrote of revolution and reform, they risked their lives to pass this knowledge down to future generations, trusting that someone would be able to put their ideas to use. I suppose I am not exactly the person they had imagined.

He glared down at the book, looking for an answer somewhere in the scrawled ink, but for once Dilisteni failed him. Frustrated, he slammed the pages closed and leaned forward against the iron railing, tucking the book back into his pocket. Scrubbing one hand over his eyes, he gazed down upon the great Venture banquet hall. Below moved hundreds of brightly coloured men and women, interspersed with the distinctive, red and white clad servants. The chatter of conversation was only a faded buzz, but he knew from long experience that were he to rejoin the lower floors, it would become much louder. It was still early, so the dance floor was empty, but many small groups had already formed. The servants were still greeting late comers at the door.

Elend watched them absently. Painted men and women, with not a thought to spare for anything outside of their hair and their clothes and the latest scandal. And my father would have me be one of them.

The balcony where he stood commanded a wide view of the entire floor, while its location - up high and overshadowed by the magnificent glass panelling in the ceiling - meant that most people did not notice it. Exactly for these reasons, it was Elend's favourite haunt. He was currently using it to avoid his father's latest schemes.

Lady Urbain sat at the large Venture table. This was the second event he had been forced to attend with her - after the first he had hoped she might refuse to see him ever again, but it appeared that the temptation of fortune and the reputation of the noble house of Venture proved stronger than Elend's personality. For his part, he had not expected to like her at all, but even so he had quickly decided she was the most boring person in existence. He doubted she had ever touched a book in her life.

A familiar face caught his eye - Shan Elariel, his one-time fiancée, surrounded by her gaggle of faithful followers, held court around her own table. He wondered if she had a target tonight. Shan's political aspirations held no appeal for Elend, and her particular brand of cruelty disgusted him. Even Lady Urbain's bland insipidity was preferable. He had been extremely thankful when her house had fallen out of favour, and his father had lost interest in a match between them.

Bored, Elend almost picked up his book again, but a late comer by the doorway caught his attention. The young woman who had just entered was clearly out of her depth, gazing around with the kind of wide-eyed awe that said this was her first time in the Venture ballroom - first time perhaps in any ballroom.

A country girl, Elend thought, and felt a flash of pity. She looked very young. Her hair was cut unfashionably short and her dress was a simple, ruffled light blue. Her servant, a Terrisman, followed after her just a little too closely, hovering behind her like a moth. The crowd swallowed them up as the girl moved further into the room, and he lost sight of her.

"El!"

Jastes' quick step sounded on the stairs behind him, and Elend turned away from the balcony.

"Come and eat with us, man. You can read later."

"I think my father expects me to eat with the Lady Urbain," he replied wryly.

"He's not going to be happier if you stay up here all night, rather than eating at my table." Jastes pointed out. "So there's really no point in starving yourself. Come on."

Elend laughed and followed him down from the balcony to the table where a group of their friends had gathered.

"I found him!" Jastes collapsed into an empty chair.

"Thank the Lord Ruler," someone replied. "Can we finally get some food?"

"You're a miracle worker, Lekal!" Telden exclaimed. "I thought you'd never be able to tear him away from his books."

"What care I for mere physical sustenance," Elend replied dramatically, seating himself beside Jastes, "when nourishment for the soul is all I require."

"I'd love to see you eat those pages," Jastes retorted to general laughter, "But the rest of us want actual food."

The servants began to bring over plates and lay them on the table. The smells of meat, bread and delicacies intermingled and wafted through the air, and for a few minutes all conversation ceased.

Elend picked up his fork and started eating. He glanced along the single tables, at the young women sitting there, and to his surprise he recognized one of them. She looked a lot more confident now, eating her meal with the delicacy expected of a proper court lady. The short hair suits her.

"Who's she?"

"Who?" Telden looked in the direction he indicated. "Oh her? A country house, I think. Renoux?"

"Yes. Valette Renoux." Jastes agreed. "Her uncle's a weapons dealer. He moved to Fellise recently - he's spoken to my father about some kind of deal."

"Did Lord Renoux not grace us with his presence?"

"He sends his niece in his place."

Telden laughed. "Do you like her, Elend? She's pretty enough, I suppose, but how uncultured! I guarantee you'd grow bored of her within the hour."

"I'm afraid I don't know her," Elend replied with dignity. "And I don't imagine that I shall. Did Jastes show you the new book I gave him, Telden?"

A chorus of groans met his attempt to change the topic of conversation.

"No, no, I won't discuss philosophy while we're eating," Telden complained. "Later, man, for the Lord Ruler's sake. Have some more wine, won't you?"

After the meal was over, Elend quickly became bored with the conversation. Telden had abandoned them for the dance floor, Jastes had been recalled to his own party by his mother, and the others refused to turn the discussion to more serious subjects, so Elend retreated back to the balcony again to read.

Even though most of his concentration was on his book, from time to time he would glance down at the ballroom and he would find himself watching the country girl - Lady Valette Renoux - where she sat by herself, hands folded primly in her lap.

He counted three young men who went over to ask her to dance, but to his surprise she refused them all. Very shy, then.

In the center of the ballroom, Shan Elariel was dancing with Tanden. Elend stopped watching after that.

As the evening wore on, he became more and more engrossed in his book. The pages slipped by quickly, until he went to take a sip from his wine glass and found it empty. The only problem with the balcony, he thought ruefully, is the servants don't come by here.

He went back down the stairs. At the bottom he paused and glanced around, looking for the nearest servant. He beckoned over a young skaa who immediately scurried away to fetch a wine decanter. Elend found a convenient pillar to prop himself against while he waited for her return. He took out his book for a moment, but the light really was so bad that he closed it again straight away.

"Why, my lord Venture!" A young, female voice cried breathily beside him. Elend turned reluctantly. Her face was familiar - he had spoken to her before, but she was not one of the girls his father had arranged to accompany him to various balls. Small mercies. "It has been such an age since we last spoke. I declare, I quite thought you had forgotten me."

If every courtier put their mind to literacy instead of political manipulation, Elend thought as he caught sight of the servant returning with relief, the world would be a much better place.

He eyed the girl with muted distaste. She had made it almost impossible for him to leave without being rude. The gentlemanly thing to do in this situation was ask her to dance.

Elend had long practice in not being a gentleman. He accepted the wine cup from the servant with a word of gratitude, and offered his best, bland smile to the lady.

"Well, I am afraid you are perfectly right, my lady. Your memory quite exceeds my own. I must apologise. Please do excuse me."

His foot was on the bottom stair before she could gather her wits enough to respond.

But when he returned to the balcony, he was disturbed to find that someone else had beaten him there. The silhouette of a young woman was framed against the iron railing as she stood staring up at the painted glass windows. Elend looked at her in resignation, wondering if she had come up there deliberately and how rude he would have to be to make her go away again.

"Now, see, here's the problem with going to refill your cup of wine."

The girl jumped and spun around; he had startled her then. Perhaps she hadn't been waiting for him after all. And then he recognized her short hair, and the light blue dress. Had she noticed him watching her?

"The problem is, you return to find that your favourite spot has been stolen by a pretty girl. Now, a gentleman would move on to another place, leaving the lady to her contemplations. However, this is the best spot on the balcony - it's the only place close enough to a lantern to have good reading light."

She blushed and dropped her eyes, and he felt bad for suspecting her motives. She was smaller in person than he had expected. "I'm sorry, my lord."

"Ah, see, now I feel guilty. All for a cup of wine. Look, there's plenty of room for two people here - just scoot over a bit."

She hesitated, and for a moment he thought she would flee back down to the ballroom. But then she moved to the side enough for him to step under the lantern light. He nodded his thanks and pulled the book out of his pocket, quickly finding his place again. It was a particularly engrossing chapter, concerning the correlation of intelligence to working conditions in the skaa population, and he was just getting to the conclusion when the girl's curious voice pulled him out of it.

"Do you always read at balls?"

He glanced up, surprised that she had enough courage to speak to him. "Whenever I can get away with it."

"Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of coming? Why attend if you're just going to avoid socializing?"

"You're up here too." From what he'd seen, she hadn't done much socializing either.

"I just wanted to get a good view of the hall."

"Oh? And why did you refuse all three men who asked you to dance?" Damn. If she hadn't noticed him watching her, there was no need to give away that information.

She scowled. He smiled as innocently as he could, hoping she wouldn't notice the slip.

"There were four. And I refused them because I don't know how to dance very well," she replied with a huff.

Honesty. How refreshing. Unconsciously, he lowered the book he was still holding. "You know, you're a lot less timid than you look."

"Timid? I'm not the one staring at his book when there's a young lady standing by him, never having properly introduced himself."

Elend almost laughed. Does she really not know who I am?

"Now, see, you sound like my father. Far better looking, but just as grumpy."

She glared at him again. It was a new experience for Elend; young women did not generally try to attract his attention by glaring at him, especially on first introduction. Or before first introduction, in this case. She held his gaze imperiously, silently demanding a response, and eventually he rolled his eyes and gave in.

"Very well. Let me be a gentleman, then." He offered her his best courtly bow. "I am Lord Elend. Lady Valette Renoux, might I have the pleasure of sharing this balcony with you whilst I read?"

Satisfied, Lady Renoux crossed her arms and retreated to what Elend recognized from long experience as studied contemplation. Hoping she had had enough of his awkward manners, he raised his book again. But before he could even find his place, she interrupted him.

"You still haven't told me why you would rather read than participate."

Usually at this point he would have resorted to outright rudeness to drive away anyone so unwilling to take a hint. But he felt a strange reluctance to end the conversation.

"Well, see, I'm not exactly the best dancer either."

"Ah."

The look on her face filled him with a sudden desire to defend himself, and Elend raised a finger to cut her off. "But that's only part of it. You may not realize this yet, but it's not that hard to get over-partied. Once you attend five or six hundred of these balls, they start to feel a bit repetitive."

Valette did not look impressed. "You'd probably learn to dance better if you practiced."

"You're not going to let me get back to my book, are you?" Elend asked, with a tug of reluctant amusement.

"I wasn't intending to."

"Well, then. Do you want to go dance instead?"

She paused, the expression frozen on her face. Elend grinned, knowing he'd caught her out.

"That's a no, I presume? Good - I thought I should offer, since we've established that I'm a gentleman. However, I doubt the couples below would appreciate us trampling their toes."

"Agreed. What were you reading?"

"Dilisteni. Trials of Monument. Heard of it?"

Elend looked at her keenly, wondering if she would recognize either name, but she shook her head. What was I expecting? Not five people in this room would know the name.

"Ah well. Not many have. So, what do you think of your first experience at court?" He leaned over the railing to clear his thoughts, falling back onto socially accepted conversation.

Valette didn't seem to notice. "It's very… overwhelming."

He laughed, trying not to let too much bitterness colour the sound. "Say what you will about House Venture - they know how to throw a party."

Evidently he wasn't successful. "You don't like House Venture, then?"

"Not particularly, no." A sudden wave of anger swelled up in him, spilling over into words. "They're an ostentatious lot, even for high nobility. They can't just have a party, they have to throw the best party. Nevermind that they run their servants ragged setting it up, then beat the poor things in retribution when the hall isn't perfectly clean the very next morning."

She stared at him, her head tilted in surprise and her eyes shadowed by something that he couldn't read, and Elend flushed as he realized he'd just exposed the inner workings of his own house to a complete stranger. He could already hear his father's scolding.

"But, well, nevermind that." He scanned the floor below them for an excuse to end the conversation, and latched on to the first one he saw. "I think your Terrisman is looking for you."

Luckily for him, it worked. Better than it should have - any Luthadel noble would have commanded their servant to climb to the balcony and attend them. Valette reacted as if she were a child caught out past her bedtime.

"I've got to go," she said, hurrying towards the stairs.

Elend waved half-heartedly after her. "Ah, well then. Back to reading it is."

Relieved to be left alone with his thoughts, Elend buried himself back into the pages of Monument without seeing a word. No matter how outrageous his behavior, he had never been quite so careless before. Nevermind that the information he'd given her was completely useless - who cared how House Venture treated their skaa - but the precedent was unbelievable. It will be all over the city by tomorrow, he thought grimly. What a perfect bit of gossip for a new, young socialite to spread.

But still, his eyes were drawn up from his book and down to the ballroom below, where a small figure in a blue dress was following the tall figure of her Terrisman servant. He thought she looked back at him, but she was soon lost in the crowd as the early leavers flooded out the main door.

Hours later, when all the great houses had finally left, Elend finally judged it safe to retire to his own rooms. If he was fast enough, he would be able to avoid his father completely. Right now he was not in the mood for the imminent scolding.

In the corridor outside the ballroom, one of the skaa servants stopped him. "My lord, the candles are burnt low. Should they be replaced?"

"How should I know?" He asked impatiently, eager to get away before Straff finished saying whatever final farewells he had.

"But, my lord..."

"Ask my father," he snapped, striding quickly toward the stairs, but it was too late. The door opened behind him and Lord Venture's stern voice called out.

"Elend! A moment, if you please."

Elend scowled, but there was no escape now. He turned back toward the ballroom door. His father ushered him into the study across the hall and closed the door behind them.

"I told you to attend on Lady Urbain this evening." Straff's face was forbidding. "Once again, you deliberately disobeyed me. Lord Urbain has asked if I am reconsidering our arrangement."

"Don't worry, father," Elend answered with as much false calm as he could. "I'm sure there will be some new scandal within the week, and this whole affair will be forgotten."

He had spoken mostly in jest, but the look his father gave him was more considering than angry.

"As it happens, I discovered some concerning information about the state of House Urbain's finances recently."

I suppose keeping a kandra has its benefits. "So can I assume that I won't be seeing Lady Urbain again?"

"Hmmm. I do wish you would get over this childish nonsense, boy. What kind of heir is so pathetic he can't even ask a woman to dance?"

Elend felt a sudden flash of anger, and for once he had the perfect retort to his father's words.

"Ah, but you see, I did ask a woman to dance tonight."

"Is that so?" Lord Venture had already turned away, his attention focussed on the documents lying on his desk.

"She refused."

His father looked up sharply. "What? Which woman was this?".

"Why, the Lady Valette Renoux, of course." Elend could barely conceal his grin; his father's face was darkening rapidly with fury.

"You asked some nameless girl from an unknown country house to dance with you?" Lord Venture thundered. "Are you insane, boy? Does this house, your family, mean nothing to you?"

"She's hardly nameless," Elend objected. "I just told you her name, it's…"

"You will not see this girl again," his father interrupted as if he had not been speaking. "I can only be thankful that she had the sense to refuse your foolish advances…"

Elend spluttered. "Advances.!"

"It's a bit late to defend your actions now, boy. You will reflect on whether your behavior is really befitting the heir of a great house of Luthadel before I speak to you next. Now, get out of my sight."