After dinner, Hilda went back to her room and quickly got dressed in her party outfit and jewelry. The outfit was essentially a very light armor of leather, but covered with enough well-stylized blue fabric that the bits of leather peeking out looked more like accents sewn into the fabric than the lining of the outfit. As jewelry, she wore only a silver sapphire necklace with a fortify health enchantment. She had considered instead wearing an amulet of Talos to make a statement, but the silver sapphire necklace was beautiful and went perfectly with her clothing.
Hilda's heart leapt as she heard a knock at her door. Calder opened it and then reported that Ulfric was ready to leave whenever she was. She shouldn't be so excited about this. Why was she so excited about this suddenly? She was only here as an extra bodyguard. But a bodyguard posing as a companion. Should she relish in the glory of her pretend-position, or keep detached? She stuffed a few daggers into her outfit as she pondered these questions. She felt under-dressed without her warhammer strapped to her back, but in favor of not looking too armed for a formal affair, she instead opted for daggers - one visible (dragonbone, of course), the others hidden - and planned to summon a bound battleaxe if any real trouble arose.
Stepping out into the hallway where Ulfric was waiting, Hilda smiled at him and declared, "I am ready." Was she imagining things, or was that more than just a quick glance that he gave her?
"Then let us depart." Ulfric declared. It seemed as though the Strong-Shields were still getting ready, judging by the anxious chatter about appearance floating through the hall. Arne was sitting in a seat near the doorway, and watched the four of them leave, but didn't say anything to them.
The darkening streets of Solitude spoke of a night of great anticipation and importance. There were individuals, couples, and groups all moving towards the Blue Palace, dressed in finery and speaking in hushed voices to those they were walking with. "Walk beside me, Dragonborn." Ulfric said to Hilda, who trailed behind him.
Hilda moved to walk beside Ulfric and glanced at him to see if there was something that he wanted. He didn't seem to want to converse, so she walked silently. She straightened her posture a bit. Regardless of whether or not she was going to embrace the part she was playing, she should at least appear worthy of this role. She was the Dragonborn, after all. Her inner dragon reminded her that she conquered, and deserved nothing less than to attend this party with the most important person here.
"What is going to happen at the party?" Hilda asked, breaking the silence.
"There will be food, drinking, and ample political and social posturing. I expect this party will be lacking in the boisterousness that most parties boast." Ulfric replied.
"In other words, it's going to be a real bore." Galmar replied.
"Am I allowed to make it more interesting?" Hilda questioned.
Ulfric chucked at that. "If you must do so, at least wait until the last night."
The rest of the walk, Hilda peppered the others with questions, making it quite obvious she was unaccustomed to attending such events.
When they walked into the Blue Palace and took in the scene, Hilda found herself impressed, despite her expectations to the contrary. Everything was so picturesque! The spread of food, the partygoers' apparel, the music. It looked like there were even some extra decorations about. Or maybe those had been there before, and Hilda just hadn't noticed them as she was running through on errands.
The group was quickly approached by other party attendees and pulled into conversation. Eventually, Hilda found herself on the other side of the room, talking to different people than her escort, but stubbornly remained within eyeshot, even when she was invited to move to a different area. She met so many new people that she would never remember all of their names, and she just hoped that this detail wouldn't be noticed at either of the remaining nights of the party. Within the first couple of hours, it felt like everyone at the party must have now made the acquaintance of the Dragonborn. She was asked the same questions repeatedly. She tried to ask interesting questions of the people that she was talking with, but she felt like she was receiving a lot of the same answers over and over again. Adventurers really did have a much more colorful life than nobles.
Ulfric appeared to be receiving a lot of attention as well. A good chunk of this attention came from near-scandalously-clad women. Hilda didn't realize that it was the fashion to wear so little at these types of events. Eventually, Hilda noticed that the women who were wearing such racy fashions were all collecting in one area - the area nearest to the future High King. Wonder if Signe's jealous, she mused to herself. In a lull between conversations, she began to consider how there would have been a time that she would have been jealous over all the attention he was receiving, especially given the type of women it was from - those who preferred the comforts of Imperial coin over Skyrim's freedom. But now, their games all just seemed trivial to her. She thought back to Miraak and her time on Solstheim, and suddenly the next couple of days seemed like they would be an eternity. And her ride back to Solstheim was gone. Her return journey might be very long if she couldn't find a dragon between here and there.
The drink table was emptier than it had been for most of the night, so Hilda took the opportunity to go refill her wine glass. While she was there, Galmar came over and filled two goblets.
"Enjoying yourself?" Galmar asked.
"I think I've met every person here, and forgotten all of their names except for a few." Hilda responded. Someone needs to write a book on who everyone is and what they do so that I can be studied up before tomorrow night."
"I bet young Strong-Shield would give you some private tutoring if you asked him nicely. If he's not too mad that Ulfric took you from him tonight, that is."
Hilda just snorted at that suggestion and changed the topic. She wanted nothing more to do with Arne. He was quite visually appealing, and could certainly put on the charm when he wanted to. But he was clearly only fishing for something - probably some conquest that involved him later name-dropping the title "Dragonborn".
"I guess your job's been pretty easy tonight." Hilda grinned. "I don't see anyone over there who's wearing enough fabric to conceal a weapon."
"Best night of work I've had in a good, long time," he replied jovially.
"Now I just need to figure out what I need to do to have a line of nearly-naked men parading past." Hilda responded.
"I'm sure you could have it if you asked." Galmar said.
"Who do I need to ask?"
"You could probably declare your wishes from that balcony over there," he said.
"That's never going to happen." Hilda said decisively. "I guess I will just have to endure being treated like a second-class citizen for the next two nights."
The rest of the party went smoothly. As people started trickling out of the palace and into the cold, dark night, Hilda, Ulfric, Galmar, and Calder soon followed.