"You look stunning!" Shukura gushed.
"No hon, you look stunning!" Maibe complimented.
"It is only because you made my makeup so beautiful!"
"Shush. With your complexion you do not need any!"
Shukura blushed again. "Well thank you Maibe."
Someone else spoke. "Alright, I am finished. Do I look alright?"
Both girls turned to reveal Teana completely decked out in preparation for the ball. Her dress was very long reaching the floor and was a water shade of blue colors and with two thick straps at the top. The embroidery was gold and the dress made her eyes stand out especially well. The embroidery encased her neckline and featured some around her waist area. She had a gold snake crown on to compliment it. Maibe had already done her eye make beforehand. Her eyes were outlined by black kohl and her eyelashes extended with mascara. Teana's eye shadow was a two-toned blue and her cheeks showcased a soft pink hue. On her lips was a light pink coat of paint.
The girls were speechless for a second. Then Maibe spoke up. "You will be the belle of the ball! No man will be able to take their eyes off you today, especially Atem!"
"Oh, you exaggerate too much! Really?"
"Mhmm. But remember, Jono is mine. Just would like to remind you." Maibe looked to Shukura. "Oh and Shukura would prefer that she be able to keep Hondo as well, at least for tonight's event." Maibe smiled. "You are free to take anyone else."
"You both look gorgeous as well." Teana earnestly complimented. Before they could reply a knock was heard at the door.
"Princess?"
"I will get it." Shukura opened the door.
"High Priest Seto?" Shukura was surprised to see him.
"Ah, yes...um. Is Princess Teana ready?" He smiled shyly. "Both you ladies look wonderful." He complimented.
Shukura and Maibe smiled mumbling a thank you and stepped aside to reveal Teana. Seto stood there breathless.
"Prin... cess." He stuttered."You look magnificent."
"Oh Seto." She blushed. "You are too much."
"Will you save me a dance, Princess?"
"For you? Of course Seto." She chuckled.
"Oh my. I almost forgot what my reason to be here was." He shook his head. "The Prince shall meet you beneath the staircase. He should be there momentarily. I shall return now." He bowed.
"Thank you Seto." He nodded and left.
Teana walked along to the staircase. 'I hope I do not do anything ridiculous in front of everyone.' She worried. She looked down upon the floor below as she grasped the railing. 'Hmm. I suppose Atem is not here yet. Oh well.' She proceeded to walk towards the steps, descending to the floor below.
Atem rushed to the where the staircase was. 'I hope Teana has not been waiting too long for me. I know I am late.' From afar he noticed the area was empty. He breathed a sigh of relief. Teana probably did not arrive yet. As he reached the staircase's base he looked up.
There stood Teana in her flowing water color dress displaying different shades of blue. Like Seto was, he stood their breathless. Teana looked like a Princess. She was a Princess. But she looked like the most magical, beautiful, stunning, mesmerizing, lovely princess from any fairytale known to man. She looked amazing. Atem accidentally let a soft gasp out of his mouth.
Teana heard his gasp, although she did not recognize the noise. "Atem!" She smiled from the first steps of the staircase at the top. "Oh there you are!" She quickly descended down the staircase, one hand slightly lifting the bottom of her gown up, so she would not trip on it and the other briefly sliding her hand down the railing of the staircase as she reached the bottom.
Atem didn't notice it in this manner. He saw a beautiful angel adorned and clothed in a long, flowing multi-shaded blue dress descending from above the staircase. Her dress swishing as she descended down. Her eyes stood out like sapphires twinkling. Sapphires that could possibly contain an essence of the water from the Nile itself. This angel, had luscious brown locks of hair cascading down to below to her back that swooshed up as she came down. Her face was gleaming, painted with color complimenting her own natural beauty. Once again Atem thought back to when he saw Teana drenched in the pond. 'Part siren.' He thought.
Teana smiled and her eyes met Atem's gaze. There was silence, Teana expected Atem to say something, but he just stood there gazing and gawking at her. 'Is he pouting too?' Teana thought astonished.
Teana was not oblivious to his stare now, but she did not understand the meaning behind it nor the expression on his face."Atem? Is there something on my face? Did Maibe put too much coloring to my cheeks? I..."
"No." That came out more strongly than he would have liked. Teana blinked with her lips pouted out as she was interrupted. Atem quickly smiled trying to redeem himself from his outburst.
"You look absolutely...I cannot think of any words at the moment. Beautiful, amazing, marvelous, stunning, gorgeous." He paused. "You look... perfect. Your really are a Princess, a most exotic, attractive one, that is. You could not possibly ever look any more beautiful than you do now, and if you can...than my eyes just might pop out of my face." He said chuckling.
"Oh Atem." She gasped. Now she was the one who was speechless.
Atem stepped forward cupping Teana's necklace. "And you are wearing the necklace I gave you." He said smiling lovingly. "This makes me very happy." Teana couldn't think of anything else to say, she was totally in awe of all the wonderful things Atem was saying to her. She could have sworn her cheeks were flaming red by now.
"Shall we?" Atem put out his elbow smiling at her, still trying to take in her beauty. Teana looked at him in an almost loving way and tilted her head while she gave him the warmest smile back.
"We shall." Teana said as she grinned now finally speaking and linking his arm with her own.
Teana had to admit, everything was going pretty well for her. The people seemed to be genuinely welcoming to her at the ball and everyone was overjoyed when Pharaoh Aknamkanon announced their engagement to the public. The way he announced it was a little embarrassing for her though.
**FLASHBACK**
Pharaoh Aknamkanon stood atop of the crowd on the huge balcony that was a part of the palace. He had finished greeting the crowd and commencing the festivities of the important holiday. He then told the people he had an important announcement to make.
"As you all know my son is to take on the thrown one day to become Pharaoh. As Pharaoh, he must also produce an heir to carry on the royal bloodline and therefore... I am overjoyed to announce the engagement of my son Prince Atem to Princess Teana of Nubia whom will help carry out this goal. "
Teana was blushing red as he spoke those words.
"So I introduce, Princess Teana, the future wife and Queen of Atem."
With that, Atem escorted Teana out to the balcony and in front of the screaming crowd. They were genuinely pleased for the most part with the news. Teana did notice a couple of sorrowful, tear-eyed girls among the crowd though. She tried to not let it bother her and she shrugged it off.
She also vaguely heard comments and questions as to why the Nubian Princess was so pale-skinned. She supposed that it did mystify many people. She wondered what Atem thought.
**FLASHBACK ENDS**
"Would you like to dance Princess?" Atem gave out his hand.
"Oh!" She laughed. "How could I refuse the Prince?" She joked while putting her hand to her upper chest.
Atem laughed with her as she joined their hands and Atem led her to the floor to dance. Teana put one hand on his shoulder while Atem put one hand around her waist. They joined their other opposite hands and began to dance.
"Everyone is watching." She whispered.
"So they are." He calmly replied. "Does it bother you?"
"Kind of."
"Did they not stare in Nubia?"
"Well... of course they did. Every time I danced with a man, they stared wondering if he would be the one to marry the Princess." She paused. "But this is different. I actually am dancing with my betrothed, in a foreign land not to mention, everyone is judging me now!" She admitted.
Atem smiled and shook his head. He twirled Teana around. "Then woo them with your dancing skills!" He urged remembering Teana's mention of her love of dance.
Teana made a face and tried concentrating on her dancing. Atem was a wonderful dancing partner. It was nice to be with someone who could genuinely dance well. Some of the princes she danced with were trained in dancing, but they were stiff, statue-like if you must. They danced well, but with no emotion.
Atem had never had such an amazing dance partner before. Teana was swaying so elegantly along the music. Every little unexpected twist he put in their dance, such as twirling her now and then she took on with grace and elegance. He could tell that more people were starring now. Teana, he noticed seemed to have become completely engrossed in the dance and became unaware at the increases glares of the people.
Atem danced like he had never before, and when the dance ended he heard clapping engulf the ballroom. Teana was surprised by the clapping and held on to Atem's arm tightly unsure as to how to react.
"We thank you and appreciate your happiness and well wishes concerning my betrothal to the Princess. We can already see how suitable my beloved is in the art of dance, I am sure she will make a suitable bride, queen and mother foremost as well."
"Please join us in our festivities. I am sure there are many other young ladies who would enjoy dancing just as much." Atem continued.
The crowd returned to what they were doing before, with some couples beginning to dance.
"I assume the Princess would like a break from dancing?" Atem questioned.
"Oh yes!" Teana dragged Atem to the side of the room.
"They loved you!" Atem assured her.
"I hope so."
"They were also mystified... by your amazing dancing skills." He added pointedly.
"Haha. Yes! That, and how the Nubian Princess acquired such a light complexion." She chuckled.
Atem remained silent trying to keep in poker face. Teana noticed this. "It is quite alright Atem. I am sure you are just as mystified as they are, especially considering you have met my father. But tell me, do you remember meeting my mother?"
"Ah, no I do not." He admitted.
"My mother is of Roman nobility and royalty. She was the second cousin to the princes of Rome, one of whom would become Emperor. I acquired most of my physical characteristics from her, including her eye color, hair texture and my lighter complexion. Most people do not think I look that much like my father, but we do have some physical characteristics in common. People also say I got his perseverance from him too, and also the mischievous streak." She grinned.
"Ah, mischievous eh? And you were the one accusing me of me being mischievous!"
Teana giggled putting her hand to her mouth. "Perhaps." She replied grinning.
"Well I suppose you are curious to where I got my looks from as well, huh?" Atem asked.
"Naturally." Teana replied. She flicked one of Atem's bangs. "Especially as to this crazy hair you have acquired!"
"Ah, yes well that."
"It seems we have something else in common. I take much after my mother as well. She had amethyst eyes similarly to me. She had wild blond and magenta hair in addition to bangs much like mine. She seemed to have acquired much of the less common genes in the Egyptian gene pool. I guess that was one of things that caught my father's eye."
Atem continued. "My hair is a conjunction of my father's black hair with my mother's blond and reddish-magenta hair. My parents actually both have somewhat crazy hair. That is why my father prefers to wear his headdress most of the time. My mother also had a black one she liked to wear to keep her crazy hair tamed. "
Atem shrugged. "As you can see, I acquired my mother's purple eyes. My parents both had a similar complexion so that does not really matter. I just do not prefer wearing a headdress. I think my hair makes me look quite regal!" He laughed.
Teana rolled her eyes. "Of course it does, but that is some gene pool you have!" She chuckled.
"I suppose." He laughed. Teana wondered for a second if she and Atem were to have a child... what would the outcome would be?
"So how did your parents end up together?" She asked.
"Oh, they fell in love. My mother was a noble's daughter, and my father ended up getting lucky because he was permitted to marry her."
"That sounds wonderful."
"And your parents?" He inquired.
"It was arranged. But it did not matter in the end, they fell in love."
The couple was silent for a moment.
"Do you think that could happen to us?" Atem whispered moving in closer. Suddenly the whole mood of the conversation changed...
Teana did not know how to respond. Teana stared into his eyes. Those sharp... crimson-amethyst eyes. Atem stared back perhaps even more emotion and focus into Teana's own two cerulean-blue eyes.
Teana tried to answer and opened her mouth to do so, but she did not catch the fact that Atem had moved closer and was leaning more and more into her, closing the gap between their two faces.
Teana opened her eyes wide in a bit of shock, but Atem didn't notice. All he noticed was Teana's soft pink lips and how inviting they looked. His opportunity was interrupted last time and he wasn't about to let it escape this time.
And then a voice was heard. "Princess!"
Hehe. Cliffy! This is my first real cliffhanger. Oh come on, it's not even that big of a cliffhanger! The next chapter will be updated much faster..erm just encourage me to update as fast as you can with your reviews ;) lol. I hope you guys noticed the pouting thing. If you remember Tea and Yami's date episode from the anime you'll remember Yami had a pouting, awed expression when seeing Tea dance against Johnny Stepps. :D
***In addition, I appreciate all of my my loyal reviewers, some of which are guests. I really appreciate that guys. I just wanted to suggest that you can make a Fanfiction account if you would like. That way you'll be notified right away if a story is undated even before it goes on the FF storyfeed. You don't have to write stories to have an account, you can just use it to read and keep track of them. :)
*Special thanks to Akai22878 for beta-ing this for me. :)
Please Review!
~Startistica