Dodge watched as guests flitted about the ballroom, talking and laughing, mingling with other people whom he assumed were nobles, or at least higher up on the social latter than he was. Suddenly, the orchestra music swelled, and a couple moved to the dance floor.
Dodge nearly fell over with realization when he saw who it was.
Princess Alyss Heart, dancing with a man, (who, Dodge noted with some satisfaction, was rather clumsy). Both wore a mask, though Alyss' was more or less a plain piece of paper. In Dodge's opinion, however, she was still beautiful.
The dance ended, and the couple parted, the man placing his mask down on a nearby table. Caught up in the moment, Dodge grabbed the man's mask off the table and placed it over his own face, before approaching Alyss for the first time in thirteen years.
She seemed surprised to see him, but then again she thought he was the man, (whom she called Leopold), back already for another dance. Dodge led her to the dance floor, and together, they whirled gracefully around the room.
Alyss seemed to catch on that he wasn't Leopold, and removed his mask, laughing at what she thought was a joke by one of Leopold's friends. Dodge kept his right cheek turned away from her, but when he did eventually turn it, she gasped, and stepped away, dropping the mask.