Chapter three

The week leading up to the Hemmingway ball was entirely too uneventful for Luna's taste. Her etiquette lessons were going smoothly now that they had moved from posture. Her French lessons were a bit slow but only because she often confused the languages she already knew as it was. She often visited her family though there wasn't really much she could say to them. The seamstress visited to ask various questions and to make sure that she had everything down correctly. And of course Norrington visited her at home the same time as last week.

But now it was the night of the ball and a pressing urge haunted Luna as she sat in her own empty ballroom. Why didn't she just go? It's a simple ball. She wouldn't have to speak much. And she was a marvelous dancer. Well, at least she thought she was. And even if she happened to make a fool of herself, it was a masquerade. No one was to know it was her. Though, there was the problem of her strange hair. Surely she could find a way to fix that.

Still Luna fretted over it. The ball didn't start for another few hours so she still had time to talk herself into it if she really wanted to.

The string quartet in the corner played softly as James conversed with one Theodore Groves. For some reason he wasn't really paying attention. His mind was somewhere else wondering over things he should not, Luna, for instance, and her family.

Elizabeth was another, but more appropriate.

James didn't notice that Groves had stopped talking until the word "Wow," was breathed. He blinked and noticed that his company was staring at someone.

A woman, no doubt, James thought. He turned to glance at the poor woman that was to be, well, stalked for the remainder of the night only to have his breath caught in his throat. 'Wow' was entirely way too unattractive to use to describe the woman.

The dress is really what caught everyone's attention. The pale blue and pink silk shined beautifully in the flickering candle light. Her face was obstructed by a beautiful intricate looking butterfly mask which hid her sapphire eyes and half of her darkish brown hair which was pulled up in to large curls to rest on the top of her head.

This was all James could see from where he stood, but it was enough to tell him that he didn't know this woman, mask or not.

"I'm going to go meet her," Groves said.

"Pardon?" James asked turning back to his friend.

Groves rolled his eyes. "I said I'm going to go meet her. Don't worry, I'll introduce you."

It only took Groves about a half hour for him and the mysterious lady to make their way over to James who at the moment was speaking to another sailor about nothing in particular.

"Admiral, Lieutenant," Groves said by way of hello. "Let me introduce Miss Henrietta Jensen. Miss Jensen this is Admiral James Norrington and Lieutenant Harold Smith."

Miss Jensen curtsied. "Pleasure."

"The pleasure's all mine," James answered, as he took her hand and kissed it.

Henrietta hid her smiling blush behind her lace fan when his hand stayed a bit longer than was proper. The lieutenant caught this and smiled. Perhaps spending some time alone with a lady might leave his superior a bit distracted in the morning. He glanced around and spotted a server with a few champagne flutes.

"I think I spy some champagne with my name on it. If you'll excuse me?" Harold asked.

"Yes," Groves said. "I do believe you right. Oh and look! There's one for me. Perhaps you and Miss Jensen could share a dance while were gone?"

James' eyes widened and he frowned. This look was mirrored by Henrietta. "Not so subtle, are they?" she asked.

"Unfortunately not, Miss Jensen." The quartet began to play again and he held his hand out to her. "Would you?" he asked. "Like to dance, I mean."

Henrietta's blue eyes sparkled as she placed her hand in his. "I'd love to."

They danced for the entirety of the song that was played, neither of them able to rack up the courage to speak. All too soon, Henrietta was commandeered by another guest and James was forced to dance with another maiden. This happened thrice, though two of the women chatted his ear off. Once his fifth dance of the night ended he glanced around looking for the mysterious Miss Jensen. He caught her eye as she and her dance partner spun around. For a brief second as she passed through the moonlight, her eyes turned silver and her hair darkened. James blinked surely thinking he was seeing things and sure enough, the brown hair and sapphire eyes of Miss Henrietta Jensen was what was there.

Confidently, he walked the short distance and tapped the man on his shoulder. "Might I cut in?"

"Of course," the man said.

"Thank-you," Henrietta whispered once the man was out of earshot. "You saved me from the rest of the terrible story he was telling me."

"My pleasure, Miss Jensen," James stated.

"Please, call me Henrietta," she implored. "Everyone does."

"I'm afraid that's terribly improper for a young lady such as you to ask."

Henrietta frowned. "I was afraid you'd say that. My father always said the world was filled with too much propriety."

"And rightly so," James replied. "I do feel there are times that the rules of propriety should be loosened, if not lifted all together."

"But I wasn't expecting that." Henrietta turned her head to the side. "And what makes you say that, Admiral?"

"I have a close friend, not unlike you, who seems to be caught in the middle of decency and incivility." James smiled at the thought of said friend's behavior. "However, I don't think I could truly picture her on one side of the spectrum or the other."

Henrietta's smirk parroted James'. "You seem entranced by this seemingly impeccable woman."

James shook his head. "I wouldn't say impeccable, she has her faults. A lot of them actually."

"But you admit you're entranced."

"Nor would I say that. Although, she is a curious one."

"Oh?"

"Yes," he answered blatantly.

"How so?"

"I shan't gossip about her behind her back."

"But if you did so in front of her face, it wouldn't be gossip now would it?"

James smiled. "I suppose not."

The song ended and they returned to the table where they first met. Henrietta picked up the fan that she deposited earlier and began fanning herself.

"Would you like a glass of wine?" James asked as he pulled out a chair for Henrietta to sit.

"Yes," she said a bit too suddenly. "Please," she amended, "I'd love one."

James smiled. "I'll be right back."

Henrietta watched as he left and her plastered smiled left her face. When James returned to the table not even a few minutes later, she was gone. He frowned and scanned the room thinking that maybe she was courted into another dance. But the only glimpse of her was the back of her dress as she left the ball. He sighed heavily, sat down, and guzzled down his glass.

"So you managed to scare her off?" Groves asked as he sat down next to him.

James looked up and groaned. "I might have rambled on about another woman."

"So that's why she left," Groves jested.

James just rolled his eyes and swirled the remainder of his wine in the glass.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Luna cursed herself for even thinking about coming to the ball. Now that she was actually here, she cursed herself over again. Her current dance partner deposited her at a table and went in search of a glass of wine. She glanced about and saw James speaking with a sailor. Theodore she believed his name was. Her heart leapt and she tried to fan herself to stop the blush. In wasn't working.

Forgetting about the wine, she stood and left as quickly as her heels would let her, nearly running into a brunette girl who seemed to be doing the same.

As she sat alone in the carriage, she continued to fan her flaming cheeks as she gazed up at the sparkling night sky. The moon shone down on her, turning her pale dress and her bluish eyes into the same silver color. She's made such a mess of tonight, but at least she left before she made it even worse.

A/n: I thought I'd spotlight on Norrie for a bit.

Gothicluver13 asked me a really good question. No, this is not taking place while everyone is saving Jack. I hated to do it this way but Luna has to go on that journey and she also has to marry Beckett. So yeah.

To my dearest reviewers, I sincerely hate that I haven't been thanking you personally. It's because before I had my laptop fixed I could never reply because it HATED replying to them. I'm trying to get back into the habit of doing replying by it hasn't exactly been working out for me.

Henrietta's dress is actually really pretty. A link to her whole outfit can be found on my profile and Facebook page. And the link to that is also on my profile.

Of course we all know that I own no one but Luna, her family, Henrietta, and anyone under her charge that you don't recognize.

Love you guys!
Lyra Raine Sparrow!