Interlude - Ball

Archanea is 'fully' liberated after Diana was stupidly dramatic and reckless to make Nyna look better. Not that Nyna really needed to help, in my opinion. Then again, I don't know. I just know that this Horace guy surrendered and now there's going to be a stupid ball.

I've always hated balls. Everything was always too guarded during them, even the cities. You could never steal anything good.

"And… time for a break." Cain stepped back to dodge my weak flail of a swing and brought his practice sword to his side. I glowered at him and refused to relax. "Break now," he repeated, wiping the sweat off his face with his sleeve. "Ease up."

"I can keep going," I retorted, or tried to. The effect was marred by how heavily I was panting, though, and I knew it. My legs felt like jelly, and my arms felt like overcooked noodles. But I could still hold onto the practice sword, so I was going to continue being stubborn. "Let's go."

"Didn't you once tell me that just because you can keep going, it doesn't mean you should?" He smiled slightly and turned away. "Besides, you're just standing because you're pigheaded."

"Screw you." I growled a couple curses under my breath, first at him, and then at myself for being so damn lame. "Ugh… WAH!" I yelped as something hit my face, and I snatch it off, discovering it was a towel. Cain was already at the side of our training area. "Can't you give me a towel like a normal person?"

"You're the one who told me to treat you like I would a fellow recruit." Almost absently, he pulled off his shirt and toweled himself off. As always, I found myself focusing on the scars that crisscrossed his torso, all that remained of the terrible wounds from the disastrous battle with Gra. Then I looked away before he realized I was staring. "You're doing well, though. You've a talent for bladework."

"Tell that to my screaming muscles." I sighed and started patting the sweat off me. After a moment, though, I growled and took off my shirt too. "It's too damned hot here!" Archanea during this time of year was hot and humid, and damn it, today was the worst it had ever been. The sun wasn't even all that high in the sky yet! "Ugh!"

"...Please put your shirt back on." He pointedly looked up at the sky. "Please."

"If you can take yours off, then I can too." I grumbled, though my mood improved with no longer wearing a sweaty shirt. The breeze felt refreshing, even. "Even if you're scared of my breasts, I'm wearing a band. Besides…" I glanced around the practice yard, and pointed to where Diana and Hardin were sparring not too far away. "See? Diana's got her shirt off too." I knew she would. She always took it off at around this point. She and Hardin sparred twice every day, once in the early morning like now and once in the evening. Both of them seemed to enjoy it a lot. "Surprised she's wearing a breastband, though. Her boobs are small."

"Please put your shirt back on?"

"No way. It's far too damn hot!" I glowered at his back, before softening, remembering the praise. "But I'm really improving?"

"Yes, you are." He still looked away. I thought him silly for it. "Though, I'd say you'd need another year or so of training to be considered any sort of master. But you could probably take it on a battlefield and survive."

"Really?" I grinned, elated. I… I was improving. I was really improving! "That's… that's awesome!"

"You'll still need to train, though."

"Oh, you're not getting rid of me that easily. I plan on making you regret offering to get back at you."

"I doubt I could regret spending time with you." There was a long, awkward pause, and his face slowly reddened, matching his hair. "That came out weirder than I intended."

"O-oh…" My own face started to heat up, and I awkwardly looked down. "Yeah, um… that did sound… uh…"

"Right. I didn't mean… um…"

"It's fine. Fine. I know."

"Oh, okay, good."

"You two okay over there?" Diana concerned call made me jerk my head up. Both she and Hardin were giving us worried looks. "Did you overheat?" she asked, waving a bit to make sure she had our attention. When we both continued to stare blankly, startled, she glanced at Hardin. "Hardin, maybe we should all head in. The humidity is going to kill us."

"At the least, they need to, based on how red their faces are," Hardin agreed. He smiled slightly, the only hint that he was pleased with Diana finally dropping the title with him. "I can get them inside if you want to go ahead and get some cold water?"

"Yeah, I will. It would be a tragedy if they were too sick to attend the ball this evening." She smiled kindly at us. "I'll meet you inside!" She scampered off, and I shared a 'oh, gods, now what do we do?' look with Cain as Hardin came over to us. It wasn't as if we could really explain why we'd both started blushing. It would be far too awkward to explain.

Well, it wasn't bad to be fussed over, even if Hardin was a bit of a nag.

"You have very pretty hair, Caeda," Diana murmured as she brushed out Caeda's hair and twisted it up in some elaborate bun. "You do need to hold your head still, though."

"Sorry!" Caeda laughed, doing her best to stop fidgeting. "Thanks for volunteering to help me, though."

"It's no trouble." Diana continued working on her hair, and I watched from my own chair. We were in Caeda's room, getting ready for the ball to celebrate Archanea's liberation. Diana had taken charge of Caeda and me both, helping us pick out clothes and even perfumes. I thought it was far too much trouble, but I had to admit that I already looked prettier than I ever thought I could look, just by wearing the fancy dress, a hastily hemmed old dress from Nyna, much like what Caeda wore.

"Still…" Caeda giggled. "You're really good at this. You're more suited to be a lady in waiting than a mercenary, if I may be so bold."

"You think so?" Diana looked a little confused, before smiling sadly. "I suppose if I'd stayed with my birth family, I would've become one. Or had them." She fell silent, carefully checking through the makeup she had set up on the table by Caeda. "Now that I think about it, though… I used to do this with my older sister."

"Your sister?" Caeda looked curious, and I was startled. I'd… always assumed Diana was just… you know… born a mercenary or something? I didn't even know. "You have one?"

"If we're talking my birth family, I had two. I'm thinking of my 'elder-eldest' one, Rosalind." Diana picked a shade and moved in front of Caeda to carefully apply some sort of light-pink to her lips. "She'd always been so distant, but no matter how silly my ideas were, she always listened closely. Even when it came to fashion, and she had to dress to impress suitors. I actually studied to make sure she looked as best as she could." She laughed softly, with a trace of bitterness, as she pulled away. "Huh. I hadn't thought about that in years. I'd almost forgotten."

"Ogma says he's forgotten a lot of his past." Caeda held still as Diana dabbed her mouth with a cloth, for some reason. "Something about the job?"

"Ogma's probably lying like I am and just keeping quiet. Like me." She frowned a little, tilting her head. "You said 'no' to eyeliner, right?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. I've tried it before and it just made me queasy having a pencil so close to my eye."

"It's fine. I just wanted to double-check. Are you good with eyeshadow?"

"Oh, sure!" Caeda closed her eyes and Diana picked through the makeup. "You're doing Kris next, right?"

"I am." Diana smiled warmly at me. "Go ahead and think about what makeup you might like."

"I still don't get the point of it," I pointed out dryly. I felt like a strange little doll, and wasn't sure how much I liked that. "Can I get away with none?"

"If you want," Diana replied. She shrugged slightly as she applied the eyeshadow to Caeda's face, a silver-white color. "I do think some lip color will be good, though."

"...Okay." I didn't get the fuss with appearances. It wasn't like anyone would be looking at me anyway, and Caeda was beautiful as is. "But only that. And something simple for my hair."

"Sounds good." She hummed a little, clearly having fun, and I tried to figure out why this was fun. I felt almost uncomfortable, and then felt awkward because I was the only one feeling off. "Will you want it to stand out or be subtle?"

"Subtle. Please." I shifted in my chair, and then thought of something. "Wait, who is going to do you all up?"

"Hmm? Oh, I'm not attending the ball." She stepped away from Caeda with a smile, though it fell as Caeda and I gave her incredulous looks. "What?"

"I… thought you'd be there as Nyna's guard," Caeda began slowly. She frowned a little. "She's attending, right?"

"Of course she is," Diana replied with a shrug. "Midia's going to be her guard, though. I'll be patrolling outside with Ogma and Navarre, since this would be a good time for assassins to try and strike."

"Doesn't she need two?"

"Jeorge is her escort." She said the words lightly, and I frowned. It was 'too light' for… ugh, I didn't get them. Then again, I didn't get relationships in general, except as a means to tease people. But at least Marth and Caeda were adorable with the blushing. These two just went too fast or too slow with no in-between. "So, she'll be perfectly fine."

"Jeorge and not… say… Duke Hardin?"

"...That's..." Diana's smile fell, and a conflicted look crossed her face. I knew that look. It was similar to the one she'd had when I'd asked about Camus.

From that alone, I could take a guess. "Hardin's got feelings for Nyna, doesn't he?" I asked. Caeda squeaked, and Diana's expression blanked. I'd taken her by surprise. "But Nyna doesn't like him like that. I bet that's why you even kept the title up for so long, isn't it?"

"...You are far too clever, Kris," Diana sighed. She smiled slightly. "You're right. He does. He knows that they are unrequited, though. I already warned him. But they do still linger, as feelings are wont to do, and so, it would be a cruel thing in my opinion."

"Well, yeah. It's like getting his hopes up, and the higher the hopes, the more crushing the fall." You learned that quick as a thief. Caution saved your life. "Why not Marth, though?"

"Well, then he'd have to dance first with Nyna and not Caeda." Diana suddenly grinned, and Caeda squeaked again, this time for different reasons. She even turned red. "This is why I chose against putting rogue on you, by the way. I'm sure you'll be blushing enough anyway."

"That she will!" I laughed and winked when Caeda sent me a withering look. "I'll make sure of it!"

"Marvelous." Diana held out her hand to me and waved me over. "Come on. Let's get your hair brushed."

"Fiiiiiine." I made my tone as whiny as possible as I stood up and traded seats with Caeda. "Simple."

"I know." She picked up the brush and carefully started brushing my hair out. I felt myself relaxing automatically, remembering how Grandfather would brush my hair when he was still alive. If I closed my eyes, I could almost imagine being back there. "Is a bun okay?"

"Yeah." Of course, I wasn't back there. I wasn't back in that little house I called 'home'. But the feeling of nostalgia was almost overwhelming. Maybe… maybe my mother had done the same thing too. "Nothing fancy. I'm not a fancy girl."

"Thankfully, this ball won't be very fancy." The idea of a ball in general sounded fancy to me, but hell if I actually knew. "By the way, do you two know the etiquette of Archanean balls?"

"Do we know the what?"

"Oh dear." Diana then, while still fussing over my appearance, began rattling off all sorts of rules that made my head spin. I half-thought she was making it up, except… well, that didn't seem like her at all.

Balls were serious business apparently. Gods, help us all.

The room was stuffy. The music was loud. There was too much perfume. The only saving grace was that Diana had made sure I wore a dress of 'lighter' materials and that she'd kept everything simple. I never wanted to attend another ball again.

"No, I don't want to dance," I replied to another person I didn't recognize. I felt a little bad, since they asked politely, but based on what I remembered from Diana's spiel on manners, they were supposed to ask politely, and I was sick and tired of having to refuse people. I didn't understand why so many people were asking me. I just wanted to stay in the shadows in peace, damn it!

Quiet footsteps near made me stiffen, and I whirled, ready to just chew out the next person to ask me for a dance. All the words and annoyance fled, though, when I realized that the person… was Marth. It was Marth, holding two wine glasses and shifting his weight from one foot to the next awkwardly. I glanced to the side, wondering if I could find a good escape. Unfortunately, though, the answer was 'no' unless I wanted to chance causing a massive scene, which I automatically recoiled from. To much of my safety had once been caught up in not bringing attention to myself. I couldn't break that habit now, when I was on the brink of a panic.

"I… thought I might find you in the shadows here…" he whispered. He hesitantly held out a wine glass, the fuller of the two, and I took it slowly, not quite looking at him. "I… um…" He sipped his drink. "Can… we talk, please?"

"I… I guess," I mumbled, looking to the ground. I couldn't escape, and I couldn't refuse. I wished I could run, but… "About what?"

"What you said, last time." He took another sip from his drink. "I… have a response this time."

"Oh." I nursed my drink, noticing by the slightly bitter taste that it was watered down wine. "...So…?"

"So… um…" He took yet another sip, bringing his glass to almost empty. "...To me…" He paused, and I waited for him to gather his thoughts. "I'm not 'the prince' around you. You and Caeda… are the only ones who do not treat me as a prince. I'm just Marth. You tease me relentlessly. You support me without a thought. You point out when I am being an idiot, and remind me of important things. So few… question me, especially now."

"But Merric…"

"Is my childhood friend, and a great support. But he still calls me 'Prince', and he does not question me. You do." He paused again, and I could only stare and almost drop my glass. He drained his with one more gulp. "It makes me feel safe letting you see my worries. I know you'll give me your honest opinion, no matter what, and yet, do what you can to reassure me. You…" He tried to smile, but there was a lot of pain in his eyes. "I've never thought you useless. How could I? Did you forget? You are the one who saved my life. If not for you, I never would've gotten this far, because I never would've made it out of Altea. I wouldn't have made it out of the castle."

"Marth…"

"So, please. If you ever feel useless or worthless or whatever, please tell me instead of just sitting on it? I want to support you as you support me. You're incredibly important to me."

"Marth…" My throat closed up, and I knew I was about to cry again, this time, from sheer relief. I had to distract myself, and well, there was one way I loved doing that. "That sounded like a confession of love."

"It is?" He paused, and I waited a full three heartbeats before his face went red. "W-wait, no, not romantic! Not romantic!" I burst into laughter, and he started flailing. "Damn it, Kris! You know how I meant it!"

"You're too easy, pretty boy!" I grinned and, after a moment, he smiled back. "...So, I do… have place here."

"Always."

"...I'm still going to train."

"Go ahead." Marth's smile grew. "Cain's been telling me about how well you're doing. It makes me want to try harder so that you don't leave me behind."

"Join us. Hardin and Diana already spar in the morning nearby. We can drag Abel and make it an even number or something."

"Yes, that sounds good." He laughed softly. "I'm already looking forward to it."

"Be careful. I'll disarm you fast if you underestimate me." I grinned at the mental image, but it dropped in a hurry when I saw another guy trying to approach. This time, I just glowered, and he stiffened before walking quickly away. "Answer me something. Why do I keep getting invites? I keep refusing, but no one takes the hint."

"Oh, it's just politeness. It's the duty of gentlemen to ensure that all ladies are enjoying the ball, and manners demand that they ask wallflowers for a dance." He shrugged. "Normally, I think the hostess or host or whatever would politely ask gentleman to dance with wallflowers, but I can't see Princess Nyna doing that to you. So, I think it's habit."

"That… oh, Diana might've warned me about that." I shrugged and then, noticing Caeda not far away, not-so-subtly pushed him towards her. "Go. Ask her."

"I-I've already danced with her!"

"Do it again."

"It's improper!"

"So? Is there really anyone else you want to dance with?" I grinned as he struggled to come up with an answer. "Go on. This is supposed to be a celebration, right? What's the point of celebrating if you can't dance a few times with your crush?"

"I…" He started to say more, but then paused and, to my intense amusement and surprise, he stole my wineglass, downed it in a gulp, and headed over for Caeda. A couple moments later, I saw the two of them stepping onto the dance floor together, both blushing madly, but smiling gently and sweetly at each other. It was almost enough to make my teeth ache, but I had to smile anyway. It was fun, watching them.

"Oh, there you are." Cain suddenly approached then, smiling slightly when I squeaked. "And here I thought you had escaped or something," he teased, adeptly ignoring my glower. "Enjoying the wall?"

"If I were that lucky, I might just sing," I deadpanned. He snickered. "No, I'm here, for some reason."

"I can see that." He studied me a moment, and then bowed slightly. "Well, might I have the pleasure of a dance?"

"...I don't know how."

"I figured that."

"I'll step on your toes."

"You can't do much more damage than a fight." He grinned, eyes dancing with hidden laughter. "Of course, if you're scared…"

"...Damn it, why does that keep on working?" I supposed it was simply because I didn't like him not thinking well of me. "Fine, but we're going to screw the other people up. I seriously don't know how to dance."

"We'll keep to the edges." He offered me his hand, and I hesitantly took it. "Here. I'll show you the steps."

"How do you know any…" I trailed off as I remembered a conversation that felt like lifetimes ago. "Is this just a noble born thing?"

"I had to have this memorized by age five." He placed my free hand on his shoulder and rested his free hand on the small of my back. "Okay, you step like this…"

He very patiently taught me the steps for the dance, a waltz or whatever, reminding me of the first days of my sword lessons. He honestly was a really good teacher, for all that he charged ahead in the middle of a fight. It was a little surprising, actually. More surprising, though, was the… odd feeling I got from having him stand so close for so long. I didn't blush or anything, but I felt like I had butterflies in my stomach, and my hand and back felt strangely warm even after he'd let go of me. It wasn't a bad feeling. It was… just odd.

I'd ignore it for now. It could just be the ball, after all.

Author's Notes: And here we are with Marth and Kris finally reconciling! Yay! And have a little bit more of Diana's backstory. Any 'ball etiquette' mentioned here is based more off of Victorian manners, though I'll be the first to admit that I didn't do that much research.

Next Chapter - Intermission, Royals of Ruins