The day ended and we all stood from our seats. Marge was helped up by Dewey and Hector. "I do so love tournaments," she proclaimed. "Watching those men batter away at each other with all you young people has made me feel young again. Victoria, Ebony, it was a pleasure meeting you both. You two should find me at the next ball and we shall talk again. Bring your other sister with you as well. My son would love to see her, wouldn't you, dear?"

Dewey launched into just how much he would love to see Giselle again with gusto. "My mother is a true treasure. She knows just how I feel. It is very considerate of you to think of me. Yes, Victoria, you must bring Miss Giselle to see me at the ball. We can tell her what fun she missed today so she won't feel completely desolate at having been ill and going home early. She can also meet mother. I'm sure the two will be fast friends. I sense that they are kindred spirits deep down and will become bosom companions. Then again, my mother can get along with anyone she meets and pleases everywhere she goes. I do so wish Giselle had been able to talk to her more. Perhaps, mother, we can invite Giselle to lunch sometime soon. She is such a pleasant girl and would agree in an instant, I am almost certain. We could go to that little bistro in the south end that you love so much. You were telling me before we arrived in Pharyss that you were longing to go there again. Mother loves the Tiny Teacup. It is decided. Victoria, when you return to the inn you should tell Giselle that we have invited her to lunch as soon as she is well enough to accept. I do hope she is feeling better soon for it is only a few days time until the second ball. How quickly the time passes when you are having a wonderful time!"

Marge patted her son's hand. "Darling, perhaps you judge this Miss Giselle too soon. Surely no woman could be as wonderful as you say. You wouldn't want her to feel inadequate to your suppositions."

I wondered if Marge knew how right she was in her assessment of Giselle. I believed Dewey to only see a beautiful face and ignore all the flaws hidden behind it. Nevertheless he was quick to defend her. "Of course not mother, Giselle is as kind and gentle a woman as I have ever met."

"Well, if she is anything like Victoria, then you have to watch out. This one is sneaky; she is always talking in circles and it confuses me most annoyingly." Hector joked. He knocked his shoulder playfully into Victoria's as he walked by. She smiled. Victoria had been out of character today, but only in the best of ways. She wasn't catty or aloof and joked with Sir Brockton and Hector easily. I had never seen her so laid back and friendly. I hoped that it was not just another act put on to impress the prince and that she truly was changing. Maybe the royal family was going to be a good influence on her.

We all parted ways at the entrance to the arena. The royal family disappeared into the crowd as we walked to where our carriage was waiting. Victoria did not say a word on the way back to the inn, so perhaps the royal family wasn't rubbing off on her that much. Her silence left me time to think about what Marge had said about fear. 'Fear is a part of life and it is something to be faced and overcome. You must never be afraid to put your best foot forward no matter what is coming your way. If you do not then you may miss out on some wonderful things.' The mishap with Kol had scared me but it had also been exciting. It would be a story to tell and all who hear it would be in awe. Andrew would definitely be impressed at what his little sister got up to before he arrived in Pharyss. It wasn't Kol's fault that we had been trapped; he had been the one to save us. That tattoo on his chest was a mystery. The image had been tickling the back of my brain ever so slightly and I had been trying to ignore it. I was always a sucker for a good mystery and Kol was as mysterious as they come. There were two vastly different sides to him and I wanted to know exactly who he was. I couldn't deny the constant whispered questions floating in my mind. Questions I knew I had to answer no matter my fear. Maybe Marge was right and by hiding away from the potential danger I was missing something wonderful and exciting.

Tomorrow was the day he said he would be waiting for me in the square. It wouldn't be too dangerous if we stayed in the upper city where it was crowded with people. I would be careful. One day, that's all I needed; then I would never have to see him again. Just one day, I reasoned, to see if he was the dangerous man from the alley or the playful thief from the streets. It was decided, I would go to that same square tomorrow and if he was there my curiosity would be sated and if he wasn't then it wasn't worth my time. I didn't realize, but I had nodded sharply when I came to my decision which earned me strange look from Victoria. I didn't explain for we had arrived at the inn and Victoria had exited the carriage almost before it had stopped moving. She must have wanted to talk to Giselle about her day or escape my presence.

It was late and the sun had just slipped beneath the horizon when I entered our room. Victoria had already taken off her dusty shoes and was removing her stockings when I closed the door. Giselle was already in her night clothes and sitting beside her sister on the three sided chair. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Tori. I am surprised that you have taken to that hideously dressed woman so easily." Giselle was saying.

"She's not all that bad, Elle," Victoria sighed. She looked worn out from her day laughing with the prince. "She even kept that Dewey from talking us all to death."

Giselle looked shocked that such a feat could be accomplished. "But he never stops talking! That boy could talk until the end of the world and still complain of having no one to listen to him. He could talk so much the fish would drown themselves and the mountains would crumble just to block out the noise. Tell me, Tori, did he seem to swell up at the amount of talking he wasn't doing? I imagine his face must have been very red with all the words he was no doubt holding in. If what you say is true, he must have almost died from not talking."

Victoria laughed at her sister's descriptions of Dewey and even I smiled a bit at her colorful picture of him. Giselle caught my grin and sharply turned to narrow her eyes at me. She was obviously not over the fact that I had spent two days with Christian and she hadn't. I doubted very much that she would ever completely get over it – one more thing to add to her long list of things she did not like about me. "And how was your day, Ebony?" She spat my name viciously.

I raised my eyebrows at her threatening behavior. If anything would get Giselle riled up was if a man she liked paid attention to any other girl. I just never thought I would be the other girl. Just to annoy her, I smiled sweetly and told her what a wonderful time I had with the prince.

"Do you honestly think he likes you? You're dumber than I thought. It doesn't matter anyway because tomorrow my sister and I are going out shopping with our friends. Do you have friends, Ebony? I don't remember seeing you acquainting yourself with anyone new other than that crazy old woman. You are such an obsessive trollop to just spend all your time plotting on how to ensnare the prince. I feel sorry for him that he even talks to you. You can't hide your scandalous ways for long, you know." Giselle griped. Her tone reeked of jealousy, even though she tried to sound pitying. "Come on, Tori. We should leave Ebony to her schemes."

I held my head high and watched the two of them flounce off to their rooms. I was done letting Giselle intimidate me. She was wrong and her only purpose was to make me doubt my friendship with the prince. It wasn't me who was plotting and scheming and she knew it. I hoped she wouldn't get any ideas in her head of ways to undermine me, but without Victoria she lacked the gumption to actually go through with anything. It had always been Victoria coming up with mean things to do and planning revenge on people they didn't like. Giselle had always been in the background assisting her sister. Victoria hadn't been her usual nasty self now that she was occupied with the prince. I went to bed and didn't worry any more about Giselle and her vendetta against me. Tomorrow I would be embarking on another adventure into Pharyss; I just hoped it wouldn't be as dangerous as the previous one.

New chapter (finally)! Yay! My goal is to spend all tomorrow writing so I can finally get to the part of the story that I have been waiting to write because it is so tantalizingly close now. It's only like four chapters away if I really rush things.

Well, okay, maybe that wouldn't be the best thing to reach it tomorrow because it seems I will be working A LOT next week and may not have much time for writing and a whole week away when I just got the the good part may drive me insane.

I don't know, I might face the insanity just so I can write what I've been waiting for even if it does take a few days.

Indecision.