@bloonewb (He's adorable.)

The dance ended without more outburst, and the musicians immediately picked up the pace for the next dance. Jinayah was a little bit tired, so she curtsied to her partner and went for the food. Several sips of water later she was alright again, and cast her eyes toward the dance floor (and the door) to think about what to do next. She knew, in her heart, that she couldn't leave. So that meant more dancing.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the prince from Prozdy. The tall man was not hard to miss. It looked like he was practicing his steps. She wondered what kind of dancing they did in his country. From that angle, she could also see a few nobles from her own kingdom, smirking and shaking their heads at the display. She wouldn't have that - they did enough making fun of her behind closed doors.

Gracefully, she cut across the room to his side.

"Hello, Prince Vyarin. I don't think we've yet had a chance to interact." She curtsied in front of him, and looked rather cheery. "Do you need a practice partner?"

Watching her sisters interact with the Prince’s in question she stood with a sigh and decided to head to the last available one. Figuring whatever frustration he had with his sister had at least lessened she decided to attempt to remove the Prince from the situation. She approached him with her usual soft smile. “Excuse me, would you mind joining me on the dance floor?” She had expertly positioned herself between the Prince and his sister with her back to the female in question. She offered her hand to him in hopes he would accept the invitation to dance, if for no other reason than to get away from his sibling.






Gil gave Marabella a gentle smile glad she had accepted his request to dance. He led her to the floor to join the rest who had already been dancing. “You will have to forgive my clumsiness, this country’s dances are very forign to me. I will do my best not to step on your feet during this, I make no promises.” He chuckled a little as they started dancing, hoping joking about his short falling would make a genuine smile fall upon her lips. He could tell the sisters had been sporting generally fake smiles during this whole event. The same smile he had seen his mother sport when dealing with the more difficult chieftains of his country. He was indeed clumsy during the dance but he would indeed avoid stepping on her feet in the process.

@LostDestiny
Sarah was once more about to scold her brother when Annalise showed up. She was about to express her displeasure at the interruption, but Alexander spoke up first.

Alexander blinked. He had been caught off guard. He had frozen for a brief moment before he cleared his throat and nodded.
"Oh, um, sure, milady."
He took her hand. However, he could not help but glance at his sister as he followed the princess onto the dance floor.

Sarah was looking quite upset. She had her fan open and was covering her face. Her eyes were narrowed....and she was glaring.

@LostDestiny


Bella let Prince Gil lead her to the dance floor to join the others already dancing. At his words, a true smile did grace her lips followed by a small laugh, it was something she wasn’t really expecting to come to her. She had a feeling he had noticed her forced smile and was trying to get a genuine smile upon her lips. As they danced she took note of how he danced, seeing that he was clumsy, but not clumsy enough to where she worried about her feet or toes being stepped on. She had danced with far worse noblemen, who actually did step on her toes or feet. “For our dances being forign to you, you’re doing rather well.” she said warmly, a true smile still on her lips. “I think you may be thinking about it too hard. Just relax and feel the music.” she told him. Just being out on the dance floor and dancing was helping calm her and somewhat keeping her from thinking about what was bothering her at the moment. She needed to push them back and focus on what was going on in the now.

Vyarin stopped mid-step, one foot awkwardly hanging in the air. Eventually, gravity got the better of him, and he stumbled sideways into a table with a thump and the clattering of jumping plates. One of them, laden with fine delicacies, hung precariously off its edge. Vyarin took a few steps back from the table, as if it were a lit bombard, only to tap into another one behind him, fortunately far more gently. Were anyone even to sneeze at that table . . . He cleared his throat and turned to meet the sudden voice at his side.

The voice belonged to a slender woman, whose skin was the colour of earth. Vyarin had never met anyone like that before. He must admit now to himself that his world was rather small before he left home. He didn't catch all of her Apura-speak, but he did recognize his own name. She knew him before he knew her. Perhaps she had studied the guests who are to be hosted here? Certainly more than he had thought to study his hosts, at the very least. After a few seconds of piecing together his thoughts, he responded.

"Yes. Is good," he replied in his broken Apura-tongue. "You . . . and I, to be like . . . them?" He pointed at the dancing crowd. "Is very apol-" No, that didn't sound right. 'Apologies' was the other one. ". . . Thank. For you. To help." First thing he will do when the fete ends is to reread all of his texts and dictionaries. Something ought to stick by tomorrow.

@bloonewb

Jin had to pause and think when she remembered that the prince could not speak her language. Fair enough; her own Prodzy wasn't the best. Language had never come easy to her. Perhaps pieced together, they could come to understanding. Swiftly, she slid the platter in danger back to a secure position, then joined Vyarin's side.

"Please - watch." She had to dig for words. Instead of saying more, she gestured at the dance floor, for him to watch the dancers more. Then she took his arm, and led him through the dance once, slowly. "You are -" She waved her slender brown hand, searching for the right words. "Good! But you need more-" What was Prodzy for experience, again? “You need more training.” Close enough.

"Again?" The round dance had reached the beginning again, and she started up, watching his feet this time. "Oh, there?" She lifted the edges of her dress, showing off one slim ankle. "This." She placed her steps as a man would. "Okay?" Then she smiled up at him, and it seemed more of a real one than the strained polite smile she'd been wearing all night. Even though she was likened to a silent stepping cat sometimes, dancing with others was not a natural occurrence for her. She would much rather spend her steps in the forest.

Annalise and Prince Alexander made it to the dance floor with little to no interruption. She could feel the glare from the Prince’s sister. She smiled at the Prince and glanced at his sister when they made a turn that allowed them to lock eyes. She only briefly returned the glare, almost daring the other female to make a move, and then her attention went back to the Prince she was dancing with. “Siblings can be such a royal pain, it's always best to remove oneself from the situation when things get heated, I have found.” Her gentle smile persisted as they danced. The nobles who were previously staring at the forign siblings arguing and either gone back to what they were doing, or were now gawking at the two of them dancing, the situation seemed to have cooled off for the most part. Besides the angry foreign Princess who was likely still glaring daggers at them.






Gil smiled at Marabella’s reaction to his statement. He was glad he had managed to get her to actually smile and even laugh. He nodded when she said he was thinking too hard about it. “I have been known to overthink simple things. My mother told me the same thing when she was teaching me these dances. I suppose I am too focused on not making a fool of myself and bringing my partner down with me.” He managed to get into a rhythm as he spoke, not thinking as hard as he was about the dance itself. It still wasn’t perfect, but it was decent. “In my country, dances are far less...structured, all about feeling the music. Not at all about following certain steps. The only form of structured dances we have are sword dances, if you mess up with those you risk getting stabbed.” He shrugged as if getting stabbed was no big deal. For the thick skinned Orcs it really wasn’t but Gil didn’t realize that wasn’t the case for other races. He forgot his kind was generally heartier than humans.

@LostDestiny
Prince Alexander did his best to dance. He managed a nod.
"Well...yes....I suppose so."
He could not help but glance back towards his sister.

Sarah still had her eyes narrowed. She turned away and walked off for a time.

Alexander saw that and sighed.
"I...apologize."
He looked at Annalise.
"..for the outburst you hurt, I mean. I...well...she had been pushing me around for so long, acting like a spoiled brat, and with all that pressure I was under....well...."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

everyone else:

Emily simply glanced around. She had quickly dressed and had gotten ready as quickly as possible for the ball earlier. Many a noble had asked her to dance. She declined most of the invitations so far. She could not help but sigh at times.
He turned a bit red.

Her speech was thickly accented, and her sentences as broken as his own, but something in Vyarin's mind clicked as she made those complicated steps in a circle around him. He was to mimic her, it seems. He nodded slowly, observing with his mind's eye how she had done it. Then, briskly and with the solid-footedness of a march, he copied her, whirling until he was almost dizzy.

"Is good, yes?" He asked, in his Apura. She spoke his language, and he would speak hers. Perhaps over time, they would even out with practice. "I to do . . . like you." He did it again, slower this time, lighter on the feet, like the other men would. It was amazingly light-footed this formation, nothing like the strong battle formations of Prozdy. Perhaps it descended from scouting and skirmishing manoeuvres? This land must revere forest rangers in much the same way that the many societies of the League revere heavily armoured foot-warriors. Understandable, perhaps, with the sheer volume of forest he had traveled through in the south. The green stretched for many hundreds of leagues without even a little snow or sand to separate them.

"Err . . . Now you?" He asked. She had graciously shown him his role, but this sort of thing, by his reckoning, did require a partner to act out. "Thank for you to show me . . . 'walking' of the man. Now you 'walking' of . . ." he drew a complete blank then on the right word to use. ". . . The not-man? Apologies. I am of the forgetting."

Prince Droka Yew was a late arrival to the festivities. It couldn't be avoided. The sudden death of Prince Droke had demanded that he had needed to spend some time to pay his respects to his deceased kin, even if the funeral would take time to organize and the affairs of state demanded that he wasn't in the kingdom to attend in person. It was likely for the best really; The nobility of Tushina might have long adapted to the often fast changing and dangerous nature of politics, but when the tide shifted in a major way some of the fish tended to be caught out of the water and it was likely for the best that the chance for them to do something... impulsive was limited.

The later arrival meant that the half elven prince had arrived during... what appeared to be some kind of dancing section of the festivities. Droka had decided to don the military attire of his people to reflect the fact that the Yew family was, in essence as well as practice, military leaders. Selecting a formal white, silken officer shirt that was emboldened by its silver embroidery, it contrasted well with both his pale skin and the black pants he had decided to don to match it. On his hip hung his royal yatagan, the sheath clearly designed with prestige in mind but the weapon itself functional and well crafted to serve in combat if required. While some might have questioned the prince of Tushina being armed at a civilian event, the weapon was apart of the uniform and to neglect it would have been akin to walking in with his shirt off and his chest bare.

While others danced and feasted, Droka seemed to find a place against one of the walls in order to gaze over the room without having to worry about covering his back.

Jin had to giggle softly as she was basically called a ‘not man’ by Vyarin. It was not a derisive laugh to mock him, more of an amused one. “Woman.” She corrected gently. “Do not worry. We dance now.” Her Prodzy probably sounded awful to him.

Waiting for the right beat of the music, she moved seamlessly into dancing. She gestured for Vyarin to follow with the steps he had just practiced. Hopefully he understood. She didn’t want them to go to the dance floor just yet – she did not want the organized chaos to throw the Prince off his steps. Especially without being able to fully see, just like Annalise. One left where a right was supposed to be could throw off the whole line. She had seen it happen before, and had the sore toes and ruined slippers to prove it.

It was very sweet to see him trying so hard. He was doing remarkably well for a first timer. She knew from her reading that Prodzy was a bit of a harsh and warlike country. She wondered, if her father chose them to be married, if he could possibly understand her strange proclivities. But with her limited language, she wasn’t sure how to bring it up.

Still, there was no harm in trying. As she moved through the dance, she spoke again. “Do you… um…” There was no Prodzy word for archery popping up in her head though she knew they had one, so she briefly mimicked the proper stance for a bow and arrow, and let off an invisible shot. "Now I am the forget." And she laughed.

Princess Emily sighed. She glanced around for a time. She had finally agreed to dance with a couple of the nobles, but that was all. Her mind was, in truth, focused elsewhere, if she were to be honest about it. She was thinking about her father, and that extra announcement he was to make. She also kept thinking about those princes. Which one would choose her? She had no idea, and she was anxious at the thought of that.

She took a deep breath. She walked around. She tried to act like she was simply exploring the ballroom. However, she was actually trying to leave and head outside. She was trying to be subtle about it though.

She did not really care for formal affairs like this. She simply wished to enjoy some fresh air by the garden pond. That, to her, was an enjoyable time. She wished she could simply do that instead.

"Woman. Yes," Vyarin muttered. He remembered it now. The way they are said in Apura are so different from each other, the words for man and woman. The poetry of this land must be difficult indeed. The mysterious lady led him to a somewhat private corner of the ballroom, at least as private as such a crowded and active space could be, and led him through the steps of the march. It wasn't easy, that much could be said, but eventually certain patterns began to click. It was like a puzzle of sorts, in a certain manner of speaking. The steps had to fit in with the music. His host, fortunately, was an able teacher. Although, were this to continue, he ought to have the decency to learn her name, which to his shame he had forgotten to ask.

She was making a motion with her hands, in the lull of the music. Vyarin nodded, the mime appearing very familiar. It was a sort of pulling motion, perhaps like pulling dough into strips for traditional Yevtiaka? No, he had seen the bakers of the city work the dough every year on the Yevtiaka Festival, and it certainly didn't look much like that. It reminded him more of something else. "Longbowman!" he finally concluded, exclaiming in Prozdy, a bit louder than he would have liked. It was a near-perfect imitation of the famed longbowmen of Oloyeva, straight-backed and intimidating they were in their heavy armour. "Longbowman?" Is that what she was looking for? "Bow? Arrow? Archery?" He didn't know what word she was looking for, precisely. He switched to his limited Apura, trying to explain himself. "Is looking the same to . . ." Archers, he wanted to say archers. "Man of Oloyeva. He make the . . . err . . ." He copied her bow mime, making a whistle in imitation of the sound of an arrow whizzing away. "Oloyeva is land of father-brother. Brother-father? Father of me, brother of he." His uncle is what he meant to say. "Oloyeva make the . . . many. Many of many!" He did the bow mime again for effect.

Jin's eyes lit up as she was understood. "Yes, archery!" She nearly shouted it in Prodzy, the word finally having popped into her head with all his gesturing. "I very like archery!" Father would just die if he knew how much of a mess she was making with the language. His Prodzy was elegant. A little formal, probably, but that was his way.

"Oloyeva make bows!" So he had someone in the family who made bows. This was good news. Although she was still working out the whole 'father-brother' thing. "Do you... to enjoy archery?" Hopefully he would say yes. That would give them something real to talk about. Talk as much as they could manage with the language barrier, anyway.

@LostDestiny

Bella smiled warmly at Gil saying he over thought the simplest things and that his mother told him the same. She had also been known to overthink things and would have to stop herself. She watched him as he stopped thinking so hard about the dance and got into a rhythm as he spoke. As they danced, she continued to listen as he spoke about dances in his country, and how they were all about feeling the music. The thought of that made her smile more, though when he mentioned getting stabbed by making a wrong move during a sword dance, she winced a little even at his shrug. She had to admit to herself, though, she would enjoy seeing one. “Some of our dances are less structured. I like those a lot better.” she smiled. “I’ve never seen a sword dance, but I’d love to sometime.” she spoke warmly. She looked around the ballroom at everyone dancing, seeing everyone was doing the same steps, then looked back up at Gil. “If you would like to, we could deviate from everyone and feel our way through the music.”

“You don’t owe me an apology. I understand having siblings. I have four of them.” She seemed to glance around the room looking for each of her sisters. Bella had found herself with the Half-Orc, Emily was actively avoiding the nobles who wanted to dance with her, and she had seen Jin wander off with the Prodzy Prince, which for some reason upset her, not that she would show it. “Sometimes, they just drive you crazy. Even without trying.” She gave him a gentle smile as they danced. If she was honest she was beginning to get tired though she hid it well.






His smile only grew wider when Marabella said she would like to see the sword dances. “They are certainly a sight to be seen. They are used as a right of passages for some of the tribes, when young boys become men. They can also be used as courting competitions, or simply as a form of entertainment. My brothers and I all participated in one when we turned 16. I am sure, no matter what happens eventually you will see one.” He was beaming with happiness that she seemed to show an interest in his country’s traditions or at least that one in particular. However when she mentioned stepping out of the line of what everyone else was doing he shrunk back a bit. He had never been one to intentionally stand out. Though he attempted to play it off in a way that didn’t make her think he was a coward and forced a chuckle. “I can barely keep up with these steps. I am not sure deviating would be a very good idea. Besides, the dances of my country are much more...savage, or maybe, primal, than I think these nobles are prepared for.” He seemed to hate using the word savage to describe his country’s ancient dances but it was unfortunately the only word he would think of.

@LostDestiny
Prince Alexander blinked. He was surprised. He was sure a lot of princesses, royalty in general to be honest, were alike. He had no reason to think any different this whole time. But, now? It appeared that he did.
"Truly?"
He had almost stuttered for a moment. Then, he saw where she had been looking for a moment. He took a breath.
"Are you worried? or possibly jealous? You need not smile if you are not feeling any reason to, not with me."
He was a kind soul fairly often. This was a time it was certainly showing. He continued to dance with her. He was a bit tired from everything, and was secretly wishing for it all to be over. Although, he was afraid to say it out loud, as he did not wish to offend or anything.

Archery? Well, Vyarin had to give it some thought. Sure, he understood its purpose, that much was well drilled into his mind. Yet, to actually wield one was another matter. He had been taught, of course. His tutor had taken it to heart that the young Vyarin could hit a target from twenty paces in a pinch. Yet this lady seemed rather enraptured by the idea of them. Perhaps Apura too had a strong archery tradition? It made sense to his mind, on some level. What was he to say?

"'Archery,'" he began. The word he didn't know in Apura-tongue, so he continued to use the Prozdy term. "I to know it. Yet not good. I ask you to help me? To make good in the . . . ahh . . . 'archery', yes?" That was about as well as he thought he could handle it. To be quite honest, it would be good to have some more practice in the craft. Strenuous activity was far more to his taste than this court life, and besides, it would be nice to share an activity with a local. Maybe even a friend, if the diplomatic relations here don't fall through. He blinked with his one good eye, recalling with a touch of annoyance playing across his face. The eye thing, right. He wouldn't be able to tell if his target were at ten paces or a hundred.

"I . . . not to see good. You help me there also, yes?" He said smiling a bit, hopefully conveying that it was but a light-hearted joke.

@bloonewb

Jin nodded happily, as Vyarin asked for assistance. "Yes, I will help." Of course she would. If any of her sisters had shown interest, she gladly would have taught them too. "Oh, your... eye... I am forgetting." She genuinely had - sometimes men had injuries of battle, even practice battles, or hunting accidents. She had learned to overlook them, working with men. Just as they had learned to overlook her breasts, for the most part. "I will help again!" There had to be some kind of way to assist, even though Prince Vyarin would likely never be a good shot. Maybe a bigger target perhaps?

She realized she was probably taking up too much of his time. This was supposed to be a ball, after all. If Father saw, he'd probably try to pair them. The Prodzy prince was pleasant, certainly, but she was not ready for that. (Also, was it her imagination, or had she caught A Look from Annalise earlier?)

"Please be excused of me." She curtsied properly as soon as there was a brief break in the music, and left Vyarin's side. One day, she'd visit Prodzy, and maybe come back with a nice customized longbow.

Scanning her eyes around the ballroom, she noticed a newcomer. It was hard not to notice him; his ears were tipped and his hair was frost white. If her memory served, this was the prince they had been missing.

She approached him and curtsied again. "Good evening." Her eyes took everything in, from the uniform, to the sword, to the distant expression. "...If you are who I think you are, you are quite late."

@Bright_Ops

@Mistress Dizzy

Droka had noticed the woman that was approaching him rather easily. To be fair it wasn't like she had been going to any actual length to try and hide her interest or her approach. He didn't ignore her either, but it wasn't until she had curtsied that he offered her his full attention and a respectful bow in return.

"Good evening to you as well. You are correct in that I am rather late to the festivities." He answered easily enough in her native tongue of Apura; His mother had insisted that he learned it in respect for her culture, even if it was only used at home or when speaking to humans travelers from her homeland. "Unfortunately there was a rather unavoidable change of plans on our part. You see my elder half brother was meant to be in attendance instead, but in his vainglorious pride he decided to get himself killed in a duel just as the carriage was packed. Had to delay the trip by several hours so that I could properly pay my respects to him before coming." For someone talking about the sudden, untimely death of a sibling Droka didn't seem that broken up by it. In fact he seemed to be rather relaxed.

"Then again he dedicated his whole life to be an inconvenience to everyone around him, it seems only fitting that his death do the same. Prince Droka of Tushina." He introduced himself easily enough, offering another small bow as he did so before requesting "And who's company might I be enjoying?"