AN: Now to briefly respond to my wonderful reviewers!

Romina78: Yeah, Lucas has some Zelos qualities, but he can be a bit dorky at times. I'll probably give Lucas even more memorable lines since he's the sarcastic one in this story. That nightmare side-effect was something I added randomly. Sounded cool (and plausible) at the time and it adds angst to the story. Light and dark aren't inherently good and evil as we saw with Tenebrae and with Mithos. The move she did at the park doesn't have a name, she was just discovering her power and it went out of control. But I can definitely see her doing that in the future. Thank you for all the food for thought! It's given me some cool ideas to add in the future.

Keko-the-Hybrid: Don't worry, everyone will make an appearance from the old party in the not-too-distant future (like next chapter). Thank you about Leona. For some reason, I always find myself writing older male characters, this is my first time going outside the box and it's kinda fun! As for the details about clothing, I completely understand your point. I've actually lessened the details in this chapter. I'd gotten complaints before from people who said I don't describe quite enough, but I suppose there's a balance there. Anyways, I hope this chapter is more to your liking. It's certainly much easier for me not to be as thorough with that. I have a lot of characters to introduce. And thank you for the review! Always looking to improve as a writer.

Chapter 5: Extravaganza-Part 2

It was as if Lucas had never seen a city before. The tall buildings, public transportation, the amount of people that always seemed to be around and, of course, the resort. As soon as she said that there existed an amusement park (which he admittedly knew about already), she knew it would be a place that they actually visited. She wasn't in the mood for going on rides, however. She had on her dress and she did not want to be forced to sit in small seats squishing in the material. "But we can just see it, at least, right?" Lucas had asked. It was as if she was babysitting an obnoxious child. Finally, she gave in. Others might have described her as cold, but she could not bear to deny someone something they were clearly interested in if it didn't cost her much to do it. Besides, a content Lucas was far easier to deal with than a discontent one.

She herself would probably not have fun "sightseeing" as he had called it, but watching his reaction to everything was mildly entertaining. He'd seemed so haughty before now he was…less so. Especially now that they were going to the one place Leona suspected he had wanted to go to from the outset.

She remembered the wide bridge they had to cross to go to the place. The very same one where she had nearly killed her father. Every time she crossed it which wasn't nearly as much as when she was younger, she was reminded of that time even more so if she was crossing it with her father. She wondered if Lucas noticed her mood change. He made no comment at first. She did put up a valiant effort to disguise it.

She could see the largest ride the clearest in the distance as they approached the park.

"You know," Lucas said glancing back since he walked a few paces in front of her, "We don't have to go if you're feeling that badly about your dress."

She'd been looking to the ground, but she looked up as he spoke. "It's not the dress. Let's just get this over with."

"Alright," he said holding the word out a little longer for emphasis. "Don't say I didn't give you a way out."

That was when the bridge began trembling and they both stopped in their tracks. They were the only ones on the bridge at that time. The mornings were slow for the amusement park. Something immediately caught her peripherals as a thin strip of black appeared on the railings near them. She determined it to be some kind of leg or hand as another one appeared and began to pull up a much larger body equally as inky black. The two of them began to back up as the insect like creature climbed over the side, its two pinchers clicking in the front. Then there was a second one. They appeared to be moving towards them. She looked to Lucas hoping that somehow he could make sense out of the situation. He pulled something out of his inside jacket pocket and it glinted in the sunlight; a small dagger.

"What are you doing?" Leona asked Lucas whose attention was on the two creatures before them. "Do you even know what these things are? Should we be attacking them?"

"I think it's pretty obvious that we need to take care of them."

"But—

"Can you fight?" he asked cutting across her.

"Yes…"

"Then back me up."

Leona couldn't believe what was happening even as it was occurring right before her eyes. She felt as if she was a passerby simply observing the scene. His dagger became a proper sword as he whipped his arm outward and he advanced towards the creature without further ado. He struck forth confidently and made the first creature fall back, he did the same with the second one as well. He was really doing it—he was attacking them and it did seem to be effective. What could she do with her dress on? She was ill-prepared for physical combat.

He was making headway with the first creature he had started on. There was a slashing move he had done thrice with his sword—Demon Fang—and the first creature seemed exceptionally wounded and for a moment stunned. Lucas ducked under the claws of the second creature and continued to evade attacks before he could find good footing once again and struck forth with yet another Demon Fang. He'd gotten so close to the second one that he decided on a different move that proved far more effective—Sonic Thrust. She only knew these names because he would say them before he actually executed the attacks. The broad sword cut deep into the creature's head and it wailed in obvious pain. It started flailing wildly and the first creature was moving once again. Lucas was forced on the defensive again. He had to dive out of the way when the first one spat out a stream of slimy, green liquid. He was very nearly a sitting duck as he scrambled back to his feet to dodge a downward claw strike from the second creature. She had to do something. She watched as he parried a few of the now frantic attacks from the creatures and he was still pushed back a few inches; she could tell it was difficult for him to hold his stance from his discontent grunts. Now he was striking out whenever he had the chance and she felt that he was becoming a bit desperate.

"Stand back!" Leona finally shouted.

She wanted him well out of the way before she attempted one of her light-based magic attacks. She saw him moving back quickly and she began on her move. She closed her eyes and ignored the outside environment. She gathered her energy all in one spot and raised one arm up when she had enough of it in one place.

"Lightning Rod!" she cried out.

One strike of lightning came down suddenly from the sky and struck both of the creatures at once as they were so close together and the ground shook with a violent rumble. She had some trouble keeping her balance, but she was successful in the end. The creatures seemed to be completely unmoving now and split in two—they were dead. Martel. Was that the result of her one attack?

"Maybe you should have started out with that," Lucas said first looking at the carnage and then back to Leona.

She was too surprised for words as she looked at Lucas wide-eyed. He immediately became concerned as he walked towards her.

"Is this your first time fighting?" he asked her.

She nodded slowly. He placed a calming hand on of her shoulder; she was startled by this and pulled away.

"Everything's alright. The danger's past." His sword had returned to its former length and he slipped it back into his inside pocket.

"But…what was that? I've lived here my whole life and I've never seen anything like it."

"That I cannot answer. Maybe they just stumbled across here. Who knows how monsters think?"

"Are you saying this is completely normal?"

"Monsters?" he asked.

"Is that what they were? You've seen something like this?"

"Actually, I've never seen anything like them before, but I've definitely fought my fair share of monsters. They did seem different…unnatural."

Leona began to see the other in a new light and she began to understand that the other lived in a different world than she. All those snide "princess" remarks made more sense…not that that excused his annoying teasing habits. It was hard for her to imagine a place dissimilar to the one she had been raised. Did the rest of the world live in constant peril? She was looking at the ravished creatures and wondered what they would do with them. Was it common practice just to leave them out in the open?"

"What should we do about…" she said as she indicated the creatures with her arm.

"Well…" he said slowly turning to them, "That's a good question. Maybe throw them off the side? I'm used to just seeing things like this in the wild. We just leave them and let nature take care of it. I suppose it would raise unnecessary alarm if we left things like this."

She didn't want to touch them…She imagined it would be messy work and she looked at Lucas expectantly. He gave her a wry smile.

"At your service, princess," he said with a dramatic bow.

But even as he began to approach them, the creatures began to dissipate all on their own. She'd never seen the like.

"What's happening?" Leona asked aloud.

All he could do was shrug. "I've never seen this before." He'd already stopped moving.

It wasn't long before the inky black creatures were turned into a swirly trail of black particulates. Leona thought that they would simply be taken by the wind or the environment around them, but then they began to behave oddly as if it were being drawn to something, in their case someone. She instinctively moved backwards slowly along with Lucas. Before they could turn and effectively start running, the particulates advanced upon them in record time, but they were not coming towards her she realized, but Lucas.

She watched in both interest and horror as the trail of black dust-like particles flowed into him not through him as she had half-expected. It happened so quickly and yet so slowly.

"Lucas!" she found herself shouting. She admittedly didn't know the boy that well, but she had just spent a large chunk of the morning with him. It was enough for her to feel reasonably concerned for his well-being.

He shouted in pain and fell to his knees. She ran over to him then unsure of how she should respond to the situation. What did her father always do whenever she was in pain? She squatted down to his level and carefully set her knees on the ground before pulling him closer to her in an embrace. She couldn't heal him, she couldn't do anything useful, but she could do this. She felt him shivering under her touch and his breathing was hard and ragged. She hadn't the slightest clue what had just occurred, but she found that she didn't care. In that moment, she simply wanted to protect him.

She felt as if she had remained in that position for an eternity but in all actuality it had only been a few minutes. His breathing had returned to normal and he pulled away from her. He was standing again before she knew it; he turned away from her as if embarrassed—he probably was, she thought to herself. She climbed to her feet as well dusting off her precious dress.

"Are you okay?" Leona asked.

"I'm…fine," he said after a long pause. He hadn't bothered turning to speak to her properly.

"My mom's a healer. I bet she could fix whatever's wrong with you."

"There's nothing wrong with me," he said quickly.

Leona was caught off guard by this. "You can't be serious. Can you explain what just happened?"

"I can't, but I'm sure no one else could either…Let's just keep this between you and me."

Her eyes narrowed a little as she stared at his turned form. "I won't do it."

"Oh?" he replied finally turning to look at her. He appeared to be none the worse for wear. "You tell your mommy and daddy everything?" he said in teasing tones, but somehow this felt different from before. It lacked the playfulness.

She felt that if she said "yes" he'd view her differently. She didn't want anyone to think less of her. Was it wrong that she, in fact, always told her parents everything? She felt, at that moment, that it was. "Yes…"

He "humph"-ed at her. "Here we are on your thirteenth birthday celebrating in all truth your budding independence. I'm sure your parents more or less forced you to go mingle with the attendees and told you to go introduce yourself to me—am I right?" he asked.

She could only nod.

"They want you to have something separate from them. They want you to make your own decisions. They don't want to know every waking detail of your life. You've already taken the first step by agreeing to come show me around and now you have yet another decision to make."

"Another decision?" she asked.

"Whether you want your mother to know about this or not. I already told you that I'm fine—we don't have to make a big deal about it. Besides, this is your birthday. Do you really want to spend it having everyone worried about little ol' me?"

"Well…" she said with obvious uncertainty. She could tell that he really didn't want other people to know what happened, but she wondered why they had to be so secretive of the whole thing.

"Fine," he said crossing his arms. "I can't force you to do something you don't t want to do."

"Just…what's so bad about telling my mom. What's the real reason?"

"As if the other reasons were fake," he said sardonically. He walked ahead of her a little. "I hate it when people worry about me—it draws too much attention and people start to treat you differently. I don't want to be a burden."

"That's the first real reason you've given me," she said. "I don't get it, but I suppose it's something. You look fine, you seem fine, but the moment I see something out of the ordinary I'm going to get you some real help. And, of course, you'd tell me if anything else happens to you, right?"

"Of course," he said, but she could tell that his response was dripping with sarcasm.

It just meant that she would have to keep her eyes on him. Something told her, however, that that task would prove to be difficult.

"You can do light-based magic," he said out of the blue as they walked to the light rail.

Leona simply nodded her head. She had no idea what he was getting at.

"That's something your mom can do."

She nodded again.

"So what about healing?"

She frowned at this. "Unfortunately something that I've never been able to do."

"Are you sure?"

Leona gave him a confused look. "What kind of questions is that? I just said that I've not been able to."

"Hmmm…That is unfortunate."

Leona looked down at this. When he said it aloud, it made her feel far worse about this fact.

"If I had that kind of ability…Nevermind," he said just when she was becoming interested.

"This isn't about what happened before, is it?" Leona questioned the other.

"Enough about that already."

"How did it feel?" Leona pressed on.

"You just don't know when to quit." But that didn't answer her questions and she was sure that it would go on being unanswered.

Leona finally dropped the topic when the other became closemouthed about it. The secrecy made no sense at all to her. Maybe there was something else he wasn't telling or maybe it was as he said—he hated people worrying about him. Yet another fact that she couldn't make sense of. This was why she avoided people, she realized. They didn't always make logical choices and she would be left wondering why that was so.

They didn't have a long to wait for the light rail and when they did get on, Lucas insisted on sitting near the window. The way he would gaze out the window as if it were the most wondrous thing he'd ever seen, it reminded her of a wide-eyed dog with its tongue sticking out; a comparison that made her giggle. It drew a glance from him, but she waved him off and he shrugged with disinterest.

"How did you get here by yourself?" Leona asked as they neared their destination.

He still gazed out the window. "I walked."

"What?" Leona said with surprise. "You just…"

"Walked," he repeated. "You know, putting one foot in front of the other."

Leona rolled her eyes, but then stopped herself—when had she started doing such things? "I'm saying—that's quite a long distance."

"Is it? How would you know anyway if you have no clue where I live?"

That was a good point, she thought drearily to herself, but she assumed he must have lived far because of how different he was. "Well, then, how is the rest of your family getting here?"

"Linus has his own means of getting here. My parents will probably take the girls with them and Ludovic, well, he'll have to walk or wait for my parents to make a second trip. Knowing him, he'll probably just wait."

Leona realized then that they must have had a limited means for transportation if his parents were completely fine with him coming all the way here on his own. How old was he anyway? And was this a normal thing? She wondered how it might feel like if her parents informed her that she'd have to find her own way to some faraway place. It would certainly be unsettling.

"So there's Linus, Ludovic, you…and two other sisters who probably have 'L' names."

"Look who's talking Leona."

Leona realized that this was perhaps the first time he'd said her name and for some reason she could not pinpoint it brought a slight blush to her face.

"That's just a coincidence," she argued back. "Besides, Mom said Dad had wanted to name me Fiona instead, but he lost a coin toss."

"I see, so it was all left to chance. My parents weren't nearly as indecisive. They'd decided for some crazy reason to name all the boys with 'L' names and all the girls with 'C' names. Now we can all stumble over each other's names for all eternity."

"So your sisters are named…?"

"Cecil and Cathe," he finished.

"Oh," she said a little surprised, "Those are pretty."

"You don't have to say it like that. I think for the most part as far as names goes that it could it have been far worse. Although they should have named me Ludovic and the other Lucas…"

"No way," Leona said at once which drew another glance from him. She supposed she'd been too excited. "I mean, you're definitely Lucas not that other weird sounding name."

"Ludovic means 'famous warrior' and he definitely isn't one, that pushover."

"You don't like him?" Leona inquired.

"There's no reason not to like him, but you'd be hard pressed to hold any sort of conversation with him. He keeps to himself and he's distressingly shy. Don't put the poor boy under a spotlight, he's liable to crumble into a million pieces."

Leona sat back in her seat trying to picture the boy he'd just described along with his older music-loving Linus and his two mysterious sisters with beautiful names. It was impossible for her really, but she imagined home life was not nearly as quiet as hers.

"Must be nice having other kids to play with all the time," Leona said.

"It has its moments," he said after a pause, "But it must be even nicer to have your personal time—to do exactly what you want, when you want."

"It…has its moments. Well, really, I rather like it. Sometimes I get a little lonely, but…"

"Then invite your friends over—it's guaranteed not to become some overcrowded mess of a gathering like it would at my home."

"Well…I don't…" she began slowly

"Say no more," he said before she could finish. She was expecting him to start up his teasing once again, but he was oddly silent on a rather good opportunity. "Some people just don't like being around a whole lot of other people. I'm sure you aren't exactly thrilled to go back to your own birthday party."

She shook her head, but realized that he was not looking at her. "Not really…But I do appreciate the effort everyone's taking to come to it. I guess I should be more thankful. And my parents, they can't wait to see everyone…"

"That's different. You're parents, my parents. It's just different."

"What do you mean?" she asked intrigued.

"They all went through something together, something that will always keep them bonded. It's like…another family. So that would make us family too."

Leona's eyebrows scrunched at this. "But we didn't grow up together."

"Apparently, you don't need to. I bet if they had the means, they'd do this sort of thing with every single one of our birthdays…and that would be quite a lot. This day is about you, sure, but it's definitely an unofficial family reunion. That alone makes it all worthwhile."

"That's something my parents would never say, but…I think you're right."

"I know you live in Altamira here all by yourself and you like your personal time, but you wouldn't mind it if I visited sometimes, right?"

Leona was caught off guard by this. She wondered what had brought this on. "I don't see…why not. But it won't be every day, will it?"

"It takes at least two to three days to get here—I doubt I'd be able to pull that off anyway."

"Oh," she said realizing that she'd been right in assuming that he lived far off. "It's a wonder you kept your clothes looking nice."

"I changed when I got here. It would not have been a pretty sight otherwise," he said with a laugh.

It didn't take too much longer to return to the general area where her birthday party was being held and it seemed as they entered the building once again, that a lot more people had arrived and the music on the side stage had started up again. This time the music was orchestral again, but very danceable and many people were out on the dancefloor. It wasn't anything too jarring, just traditional ballroom music that she'd been trained long ago to dance to properly. She tagged along with Lucas who for once she was glad he was around. If there was someone she should know, he would certainly let her know.

There were kids her age as well, many of them and she knew none of them. The bolder ones would stop her and introduce themselves, but she suspected that it might have been worse had she not been walking alongside Lucas. She half wanted to simply tell them all that she was dating Lucas and that they should all just leave her alone, but that was a move far too bold for her. Besides, she didn't want to give the other the wrong idea.

"C'mon, let's move to a less populated area," Lucas said with a raised voice when he looked back at her.

Leona could only nod. Thanks to her height, she could see where he was leading them through the crowd. She remembered there had been tables for people to sit at around the corners of the room and this was where she was being taken. Only a few people were actually sitting down. It seemed the majority of the attendees had the same idea in mind. At the very least, she could take a breather from the closeness of people.

"You alright?" Lucas asked.

Leona was a little confused by his concern. Did she look unwell? "Oh, I'm fine. I just don't like such big crowds." Something in her expression must have given away her uneasiness.

"I noticed. You said this is your first time going to something like this. Maybe you'll get used to it," he suggested.

Leona severely doubted this notion, but she gave the other a brief smile. That was when her eye caught a woman sitting down a little ways from them; she was looking her way. Then the woman waved politely as if she might know her. Leona wondered if this was someone she should know. Leona waved back as well out of courtesy. An eyebrow raised on Lucas' face when he turned to see where she was looking.

"You know her?" Lucas asked.

Leona shook her head. "I thought you did."

"No, but you've already gotten her hopes up, better go say hi."

The lady had long ebony hair and kind hazel eyes. She smiled courteously. Leona noted that she sat alone at the table. Perhaps she'd come alone to the party. She was quite a beautiful woman, Leona had to admit with her milky white skin and her petite features. When she was close enough, she also noticed slightly pointed ears—she must have been a half-elf.

Leona was at a loss as to what to say to her, but Lucas thankfully picked up the slack—if she could call it that. He wasn't much better.

"Wh-Why hello, madam. A pleasure to meet you," Lucas managed to get out.

Leona wondered what was wrong with the other—he'd never stumbled over his words before.

"The pleasure is all mines." The woman wasn't even looking at Lucas, however. "You're Leona, right? The woman of the hour, or day to be more precise."

"Yes, that would be me."

"Come, sit with me for a bit. Humor an old woman."

Leona looked to Lucas for guidance, but he was incredibly unhelpful. He was giving the woman almost the same kind of gaze that he'd given the jazz band a few hours back; odd. Finally, she decided to simply take a seat and Lucas took the last one which was situated in between them at the round table.

"My name is Clarion and I was hoping I'd run into you here. I'm sure many other people would say the same, but I have urgent business with you."

"With me?" Leona asked mystified.

"A prophecy which you must be informed of."

Then Lucas gave a short laugh. "What are you going on about?" Leona glanced over at him; he seemed to have regained his senses. "Did someone put you up to this?"

"No," she said giving him a full-fledged smile which, Leona noted, caused him to turn a light shade of red. "I am being very serious. It is a short one, though: The seed that saved the world will destroy it."

Both Leona and Lucas were silent for a moment. It was Lucas that spoke first.

"That makes no sense at all. Are you talking about the tree of mana?"

She grinned. "Prophecies are rarely clear, but I've known of this since I was first able to read. My entire mission in life was to repeat it to you, Leona, child of Raine Sage. Naturally, I've had time to decipher its meaning. In time, you will have to embark on a journey to save this world. You will know when the time comes."

Leona hardly believed the words coming out of the woman's mouth. "A journey? All by myself?"

"Of course not. It would be impossible by yourself. Like all great things in life, you would need the help of your friends."

Well then the world is doomed if it's depended on my vast selection of "friends", she thought to herself sardonically. "You see," Leona began slowly. "I don't have any friends."

Clarion seemed amused by this and then looked towards Lucas. "Then who is this young man to you?"

"Oh, Lucas? He's just an acquaintance."

"An acquaintance?" he asked a little surprised.

This caused a good spirited laugh from Clarion and Leona was left wondering if she'd missed something. It wasn't as if she knew Lucas that well to start telling complete strangers that they were friends. Surely that was too strong of a word.

"You invite acquaintances to come over to your house," Lucas asked incredulously.

Leona remembered his odd question when they were on the light rail. "I didn't invite you. You asked and I didn't see any reason to deny your request."

Leona wondered why he turned a darker shade of red and turned to look anywhere besides her face—he was acting quite strangely, she decided. Maybe he was embarrassed for some reason.

"Same difference," he finally said back to her

This drew another laugh from Clarion who seemed to be entertained by their display. Leona found that there was nothing remotely funny about the entire exchange.

"You have a lot yet to learn, Leona," Clarion said with a smile. "You're not ready yet, but you will be soon. As for your acquaintance Lucas, you are right to be worried about him."

Leona stared at her as if she was speaking foreign language. How would this woman know about the fact that she was still worried about him after their encounter with the strange creatures?

"Can you help him?" Leona blurted out before she could stop herself.

Clarion shook her head. "There are a lot of things that I know, but I am unable to help directly, a frustrating fact, I know. Keep an eye on him. That is all I can say."

"Hey, I'm right here," Lucas said with a frown. "And unless you're going to tell me that I'm going to drop dead in the next few minutes, I'll be fine."

"Let's hope it stays that way," the woman said mysteriously.

The woman gave her little peace of mind, but there was nothing she could do for it. She wished she had more information about all of this. Then again, was she really considering the words of this strange woman? Oddly enough, however, the woman appeared trustworthy. Leona could find no reason to dismiss her words. She wondered if she should tell her parents. Then again, she didn't want to worry them over something that could very well be wrong. Her parents were the kind to investigate and make sure what she was saying wasn't true before letting the matter rest especially something like this. As farfetched as it sounded, Leona suspected her parents would be overly concerned. These were the same people who had helped to save the world; it came with the territory.

Clarion stood up and then so did they. She said her farewell and disappeared into the growing crowd. She wondered if the woman was the type to join into the dance, but something told her that the half-elf probably promptly left the building—that is if it was the case that she had come solely to give her that message.

"I wouldn't take her seriously," Lucas said shaking his head. "The world is made up of all types. The crazy ones keep it interesting."

Leona didn't know what to say back to this and simply nodded at the other. Now she had to figure out what she should do next. Ask Lucas to dance with her? The music was playing and everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves out there. Very few were sitting down. Not to mention the moment was about to turn into an awkward silence. She was looking at Lucas now about to form the words and he seemed about to say something as well.

"Oh, would you look at the two love birds!" a man's jovial voice interrupted them.

Lucas' teeth gritted at the very sound of the man and Leona was immediately interested as to who this person was that could elicit such a strong emotion from Lucas. A very handsome red headed man dressed in an elaborate highbrow attire smiled at them as if he knew them well. This must have been someone she should know, but for once she didn't need to be told this. Though her memory of him was hazy, he had left enough of an impression on her to recognize him.

"Perfect timing as always. What the heck are you doing here anyway? Isn't this too early for you, Mr. Fashionably Late?" Lucas asked with a frown.

"Now, is that anyway to speak to your godfather?" he asked teasingly. "Someone needs to chaperone you little squirts."

"What did you call me?" Lucas asked clearly upset.

Leona remembered him now as she continued to hear his voice—Zelos Wilder. A man who, she confessed, had always been easy on the eyes. A man who was so drastically different from her father that she wondered how they could have become friends in the first place. He had a winning smile and he'd always treated her with the utmost respect. She wondered why that was so when he treated most other people differently. Maybe it was because she only interacted with him on her birthdays and that was his unspoken present.

"May I have this dance with you, Lady Leona," Zelos was soon asking her.

An odd feeling came over her as he looked at her kindly with those aquamarine eyes of his. She realized that she was quite pleased that he had asked and readily accepted his offer without giving a second thought to poor Lucas. She was soon whisked away to the dance floor.

Of course he was a superb dancer. She liked that he was a few inches taller than her; it made her feel less self-conscious about her height.

"I can't imagine this function has been very easy for you," Zelos said as he twirled her about.

How does he know? "It hasn't been," she admitted, "I'm still trying to get used to it all."

"Well, if you ask me, I think you're doing excellent. A beautiful woman like you has nothing to fear in the eyes of the public." Leona was surprised and pleased at how easily he could say such things to her.

He called me a woman. "Oh…you're far too kind, sir."

"Sir?" he said with a slight frown, "For the love of Martel, just call me Zelos, alright?"

"Of course, sir—I mean, Zelos."

Had she always called him Zelos, she wondered? The name sounded odd on her tongue. She felt as if she was doing something taboo as she spoke his name freely. Being respectful to her elders was pretty much second nature to her by then.

Zelos chuckled. "I feel like a broken record sometimes. I'm already startin' to repeat myself."

"Oh, it's not you at all. I just…forget things that I don't deem important. It's a bad habit of mine."

"Now you sound like Raine," he said with a grin.

"Is that a bad thing?" she wondered out loud.

"Not at all," he said quickly. "I think it's amusing personally."

"I do hope I can stay the same height as my mother. I'm already far too tall for my age."

"Now who put that idea into your head?" Zelos asked as they continued to glide easily across the floor. "The taller, the lovelier. Then you can weed out all the low-confidence guys."

And just like that she felt ten times better about herself. Such things seemed to come easy to the man who held her hands firmly in his. She thought she could have danced with him all night and he could continue to compliment her, but soon the song ended and Zelos brought her back to where she'd been previously. She noticed that Lucas was nowhere to be found by then—she was all alone.

"I hope you have an enjoyable evening. Your parents have something planned for you in the smaller room in an hour's time. Now if you excuse me, I think it's time I saved my wife from these thirsty looking men."

She wanted him to stay by her side, but there was no non-awkward way of doing this and she didn't want to follow him like a lost puppy so she simply said her goodbyes to the interesting man and watched him just like Clarion disappear into the crowd.

She wondered why so many people liked to stand and crowd around the dancefloor if they weren't dancing themselves, but she supposed that she should probably join them. She did have an entire hour to kill. If only her parents had let her know what was happening today, she'd feel less in the dark about the whole affair. Why did everyone else know, but her? Had it simply slipped their minds?

She clasped her hands behind her back and smiled politely at the nearby women. Somebody please save me…

AN: Alright, everyone, my plan is to have a new chapter each week. I've drafted the entire outline for this story so I have direction as to where this is going and even an ending to this. Of course, I'm always willing to change details as the story progresses if reviewers give me better ideas or want to see more of someone or certain characters. Wish me luck. I really want to stay on schedule! I'm off at work on Thursdays and Fridays so that's probably when I'll be doing the most writing and uploading.