The masked felon seemed to gain a confidence boost the moment he'd seen the noble's look of desperation.
Ironically Marie just looked really annoyed during the whole situation. Her mother had made sure she had a good sense of self defense and had her learn the art of fencing as well as martial arts. She never really saw the point to all of the training since her focus was on academia and music. From the finest Finishing School in England to the finest University in France, she really didn't like the idea of learning to fight and found it quite tacky, tiresome, and useless…that was until this very moment. It was strange, her mother seemed to know people in foreign lands, hence her Master from the Far East, then again it could've been so due to the amount of traveling she had done with her father- come to think of it Marie never really had asked about the exact details for she was always in the rush to leave home.
It then occurred to her that all these thoughts did take a decent amount of time and all this masked man had done was talk. Eyes lit on his facial features the moment he had finally asked for a horse, and for some reason they had pulled her stallion out. This was the last straw! No way was she to allow her birthday present to be taken away after three years of waiting. Stepping on his left foot to secure his post, struck his gut with her elbow with such strength that it seemed his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. With that out of the way she turned round and placed two hands behind his head and struck his nose with her knee. For once her mother had been right about something, a knee to the face certainly did do a fast and clean job-the poor man fell flat on his face and hadn't moved since.
Elizabeth gasped and ran over, comically kneeling at the side of the fallen checking his pulse, "you killed him!"
"What!?" A look of horror was planted.
"That blow to the knee did the trick all right, his neck was twisted as he fell on his nose."
"Not funny mother.."
Elizabeth stood up beaming, looks like all those hours with Master Shu Lin did work out after all. "Take him away" she demanded as two guards carried the fellow out.
Sonia pushed her way through the crowd and ran to Marie's side. "That..was…AMAZING! Do you think you could teach me that?"
Chuckling nodded, "Sure! If you're not afraid of getting hurt that is." she joked playfully.
Elizabeth had a grave look on her face for some reason, perhaps it was because her life had been in danger? Perhaps her mother would feel a lot better later? It then struck Marie that she still hadn't presented her present yet. Taking her mother's cold hand tucked her inside and sat atop the grand piano that lingered in the far corner.
Taking a seat sat up and looked lovingly to her right where Elizabeth stood, "This is for you mother," With that she began playing Beethoven's Fifth, and just as she reached the climax she branched off so suddenly, that it practically awoke those who fell asleep in the back-after all her party was filled with youth who often didn't see the point of classical music as cultured as they were. Besides the place needed to liven up anyway. "Three..Two..One.." Striking the lower chords began a cheery jig that stroke up a volley of claps in rhythm with her base chords. Sonia jumped in with her violin keying in the house band.
Elizabeth was in awe, Madame Luisa had informed her about the new piece her daughter had created, but never had she imagined it was this complex! After the introduction, Marie broke out in song, she'd never heard her sing before, and if she had it was always a note off- that was before she took up the flute anyway. Upon second glance her mind began to wonder, the lyrics seemed lost but the very image of Marie seemed so nostalgic her eyes were glazed with tears. William was supposed to be here, where was he? Did something happen? No matter what had occurred-no matter what event had arisen, her mind always drifted to her beloved. She hadn't received any letter within the last five months, had he forgotten her? Her heart grew heavy, her daughter was trying so hard to please her, from the training she forced upon Marie, to the strict boarding schools she had sent her away to, all the tutors, all the waiting…She had practically closed Marie away from the real world. Extending their land so Marie could have enough space to roam without straying too far, accepting a nanny to keep a watchful eye.. What was she afraid of?
Taking a deep breath looked at the grown beauty before her, Marie had gone a long way, and no matter how much they fought and argued Marie always pulled through no matter how she disliked an idea or an action, she'd still do it to please her. Dropping her gaze to the ground also knew that a day would come Marie would be looking for answers about her father. What struck her as strange however was that she hadn't even brought the topic up for the past two years. In either case the very thing that plagued her at the moment was not William, but Michael, the young nobleman who she'd arranged to have her daughter's hand. Unfortunately, she had already heard before hand of Marie's surprise, and in doing so had already planned the very scene in which Michael would propose. Looking up catching Marie's eyes smiled lovingly, she had to protect her, she had to secure her… Just in case something happened… she had decided long ago to go after Will-should he not make it to the Debut- everything was arranged for tonight..Elizabeth really prayed it wouldn't come to this..but alas..it had.