"Alene Shellore and Cullen Hetterick…Lady and Lord Radovan!"
Balthier escorted Ashe into the opulent ballroom, the gentleman announcing their aliases in a booming voice behind them. Of course, none of the mingling guests even turned their heads at their entrance as the man moved on to introduce the next couple.
A crystal chandelier was the centerpiece of the room, reflecting light all over the vast ball room as it hung over the smooth parquet of the dance floor. Dozens of staff swarmed the floor with trays of delicacies and Bhujerban madhu of the best vintage. The large glass doors that lined the far wall were all flung open, offering a beautiful vantage point of the entire city-state from the stone balcony.
An orchestra played some elegant waltz while several couples whirled about on the dance floor. The room was full of pompous laughter, bragging, and derogatory language about people of lesser social standing. As he and Ashe drifted around the room in their first examination, he saw no sign of Langden Durio's carrot orange hair.
He guided the Princess to a spot near an enormous tapestry that depicted Sir Merritt engaged in a daring battle against a wyrm of some sort in the Tchita Uplands, an event that had never happened. From this vantage point, they could observe the entire room well enough. Only the balcony guests were concealed from them.
"The stench of gil in the air, that eau de arrogance so richly cultivated by these people," he muttered to her as they stood with smiles on their faces. "Enough to make me sick."
She grinned widely and waved for a man with a tray to come over. "No, Cullen, dear. Tell me how you really feel." The Princess took glasses of the sweet wine for both of them and thanked the servant.
"Being a little too nice to the staff here, darling," he chastised her as he scanned the crowd in search of that ignorant ginger cad. The music finally ceased, and Balthier watched Ashe get her first in-person glimpse of Sir Merritt Yanoule.
Though pictured majestic and handsome on the numerous portraits and tapestries that adorned the massive estate, Sir Merritt was not entirely striking. In fact, Balthier thought he resembled a toad. He had large bulging eyes, an enormous paunch and numerous imperfections of the skin, namely warts. But the man knew how to entertain, and he stood in front of the orchestra to address the crowd.
The sky pirate glanced sideways to see the Princess quickly masking a look of disgust as the man cleared his throat noisily, and a squeaky, unexpected voice emerged from it. "Honored guests! It brings me great pleasure to welcome you back to Bhujerba. Though there's some nasty business about a war afoot, let us not let it ruin this glorious fete."
The crowd applauded as though programmed to do so at all Sir Merritt's pauses. Ashe leaned over to whisper angrily. "Nasty business? Vayne's got that…colossal monstrosity hovering near my capital, and this oaf can just dismiss…"
Balthier grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly enough for her to hold her tongue. The crowd applauded something else Sir Merritt had said, and he basked in their approval. The rotund man finally held up his hand for silence, and he continued. "My friends, the best hour for magicite viewing is near at hand! At your leisure, please see one of my staff to arrange an escort down to the mines. Groups of six at least, if you will. If you have no need to spend your time in Lhusu, there will be plenty of entertainment here. Be well!"
There was more thunderous applause, and the man roused the orchestra into a frenzy and began dancing with some woman who looked like she had Behemoth dung for brains. "The walls have ears, my love," Balthier said to Ashe and finally released her hand.
"What if Alene has relatives in Rabanastre?" she muttered, her voice dripping with irritation. Balthier knew she was upset, for she hadn't even complained about him calling her "love." The Princess shook her head, and he waited patiently for her to regain her focus. "I haven't seen anyone with hair the color you described."
He downed the wine and placed the glass on a servant's tray as the young man passed by. "We have not gone to the balcony yet." He held an arm out to her. "Shall we?"
She accepted his arm again, and they wandered through the crowd. They both shrewdly scanned the dancing, mingling guests, but no one with a shock of that hideous colored hair was in sight. Balthier thought someone with that much of an emergency atop their head would stand out, but perhaps Durio had improved his ability to hide in the past few years.
But the balcony yielded no results either. The view of the city was stunning, but the sky pirate was beginning to get severely distressed about the well-being of his beloved airship. An inferior pilot like Durio was probably mistreating the Strahl as he stood there in the dark on the balcony, the insipid conversation grating against his eardrums.
Even Ashe noticed his heightened stress levels, and she placed a comforting hand on his forearm. And it appeared that it was Ashe herself showing concern, not Lady Radovan. "Maybe we would be more effective if we split up? I will ask around if anyone is trying to sell an airship. Do you think that would work?"
He liked her thinking. "That sounds like a plan. Why don't you take the east half of the ball room, I'll take the west. We reconvene in this spot after…five more dances."
She smiled and was about to walk away, but her face took on a very strange look. He wondered if he had something in his teeth, but she suddenly reached up and grabbed his face. Ashe planted a big, sloppy kiss on him and leaned back approvingly. "For luck, darling," she said sweetly and trotted off merrily to the ball room.
The sky pirate must have been standing there in shock for a good long while when some fool elbowed him in the side. "Renata and I…we've lost that spark," the fool remarked.
He turned to find that damned Erfe Malanga grinning at him. "I'm sorry?" Balthier inquired quickly, trying to regain his composure. He supposed that Ashe had decided to fight back after he had stolen a kiss earlier, and he hoped that there would be more fighting as the night went on.
"You can just tell how much in love you two are. What I would give to have a lovely young wife like your little number," he oozed in a sleazy manner. His own wife was nowhere in sight, and the true hideousness of Erfe's character was on full display.
Balthier could still taste the Princess on his lips, and he had trouble responding angrily to Erfe's tone regarding Lady Radovan. By now, a pompous fop would have challenged the man to a duel. If not for his current commentary, then for the hand brushing against Ashe's backside earlier that day. But the sky pirate could not tear himself away from watching the Princess glide through the crowds in the ball room, and he marveled at how effortlessly she was insinuating herself in people's conversations. He could not help beaming in pride at his beautiful protégé.
Malanga then proceeded to make an unsavory and entirely unprintable comment about his phony spouse's upper body assets, and it prodded Balthier to snap back into character. He turned to grip the beastly fool by the shoulders, using every bit of force he had to squeeze the man through his disturbingly pink waistcoat. The sky pirate looked the man straight in the eye, and Malanga visibly shrank back. "Now, my good man, I would thank you not to speak of my wife in such a foolish manner," he warned through gritted teeth.
Erfe's eyes began to water at Balthier's grip. "I must have lost my mind a moment," the foolish man winced in pain.
"It seems as such," the sky pirate uttered, "Your verbal defecation is an insult not only to my lovely wife, but to my pride and honor as well." Balthier was beginning to wonder if it was really Lord Radovan speaking through him…or some possessiveness he was starting to feel towards the woman he had now had the pleasure of kissing twice that evening.
The man sighed as Balthier finally released him, and he rubbed his shoulders tenderly. "I apologize for my coarseness. I am not used to being in the company of men who actually love their spouses."
He didn't have time to ponder the man's words as the Princess was walking towards him, an elderly couple in tow. She seemed full to bursting with what could only be a lead to the Strahl, and Erfe Malanga hurried away before he said anything else about Lady Radovan's chest in Balthier's earshot…or Ashe's for that matter.
Ashe bounded up and linked her arm with his, leaning up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek in greeting. "Darling, I want to introduce Sir Wayon and Lady Elita Deschanel. This is my 'leading man', Balthi…"
"Cullen Heras Hetterick, Lord Radovan," Balthier rushed out quickly before Ashe made a very embarrassing blunder in her excitement. He shook the old man's hand and kissed the hand of the old woman. They didn't seem to notice Ashe's near slip, and the Princess held him tighter to thank him for saving her.
Sir Wayon smiled gently at them. "Your wife was inquiring about airships, but she said you were the one to really chat with when it comes to mechanics." Maybe this man knew the owner of the Racer in addition to information about the Strahl? Balthier almost crossed his fingers for luck.
But instead he nodded. "Well, Alene and I lead such busy lives. We just have to find a second ship. Isn't that right?"
Ashe smiled, and he wrapped an arm about her shoulders. Balthier was beginning to wonder how much of this was really an act any more. "Absolutely. Cullen is always flying back and forth for his business ventures. I can't spend my whole life waiting for an air cab."
Lady Elita grabbed Ashe's hand. "Oh, heavens no! They let anyone pilot those ships. Why, just the other day there was some…lizard flying the cab I was in. Can you believe that? They let those filthy creatures fly Humes about!"
Balthier withheld the urge to chastise the woman's bigotry, but just as he was about to inquire about the Strahl and Durio, there was a loud crashing noise out in the gardens. Dozens of wealthy busybodies rushed over to the balcony, blocking a path for Balthier or Ashe to sneak through and see what was happening.
"They think to crash the ball?" one onlooker scoffed in amusement, and the gathered crowd laughed boisterously. Ashe looked to him then, her eyes asking him if it was Durio. He shook his head. If Durio was on the guest list, even as Balthier Bunansa, he would not be considered a party crasher. No, it was probably just a few Bhujerban rascal children trying to beg for scraps from the kitchens.
Sir Wayon chuckled. "How charming. I am surprised they made it all the way to the gardens, jolly good show. I hope Sir Merritt gives them some gil for their efforts." Ashe and Balthier laughed to play along, and eventually the crowd abandoned the balcony as the party crashers, whoever they were, seemed to have been captured.
The sky pirate brought the conversation back to airships. "If I understood my beautiful wife's face upon her return to me, that means that you are either selling an airship…or you know someone who is, Sir Wayon."
The man grinned broadly. "Afraid that my days of airship speculating are long gone. But there was a young man here earlier this evening that was positively itching to unload some vessel."
Lady Elita interrupted, latching onto Ashe once again. "Oh, he was so uncouth! He must have been to a very lax boarding akademy. And that hair!"
Balthier gave Ashe a quick nod as Sir Wayon waved for his wife to calm down. "Now now, Elita! He was just a very eager young man. I could probably teach him a thing or two about selling property, but that is neither here nor there. I asked the boy if he was any relation of the Bunansas in Tsenoble…" Balthier held in a wince at the mention of his family homestead, and Ashe squeezed his hand without taking her face away from the Deschanels. "But he looked at me like I was speaking another language. He seemed to hurry off soon after."
His wife agreed. "He did scurry away, the little sprite! Probably going off to the mines to beat the crowds. It does get a bit hectic down there closer to midnight."
That was their cue to retreat. Balthier bowed graciously to the older man and kissed the talkative old woman's hand once more. "I am probably as eager to acquire a ship as that young man is to sell it! Thank you kindly for your assistance."
The woman looked at them in shock. "You're going alone? But there are such dreadful fiends. I would never go without an escort!"
Ashe looked into his eyes and smiled. "I think we'll manage. My Cullen is a gifted fighter."
Balthier found himself gazing back at her, and he had to force himself to look away. "Her Cullen also wants that airship badly enough to withstand any fiend that comes his way! If you'll excuse us…"
The Deschanels said their goodbyes, Lady Elita going so far as to ask Ashe to come to their moon viewing party the following month. For her part, the Princess agreed very kindly to check her schedule. Balthier gave her hand a tug, and he pulled her in the direction of the exit.
The two of them were giddy with the news about Durio, the Bhujerban madhu probably catching up to them as well. They reached the side entrance of the mansion, as a trail directly downhill from the estate would lead right to the Lhusu Mines entrance. The guard looked at them curiously when they declined an escort, but he allowed them to pass. Little did the guard know that Lord and Lady Radovan had spent the past several months battling ever stronger fiends. The bats would be a cake walk.
As soon as they were in the clear, Ashe threw her arms around him excitedly. "I cannot believe how much fun that was!" It appeared that the madhu had really affected the Princess more than he had originally thought as she was very affectionate, not releasing him as they wandered the path down to the mines.
"Ease up, Ashe. We're clear of the estate now. No need to continue this trifling act," he said flippantly, trying to gauge her reaction. She instantly released him and settled into step beside him, a fairly hurt look on her face. He had to hold in his laughter. "I'm just kidding. You may continue showering me with affection."
She was annoyed with him, and she reverted to her cold, unfeeling, "we must do this because I will be Queen, and I said so" mode. "So how will this work? We corner him in the mine and demand he take us to the Strahl?"
"That's not entirely what I had in mind…"
The Princess turned to look at him, and he could tell that once again she was not going to be ecstatic about his plan.