{-Noa-}

  A little bit of excitement might have been a good thing. But there was definitely such a thing as too much excitement, and Lyrei was most definitely that. Once she stopped being half-offended that it was necessary to begin with, of course.

  “So! What are we going to do first? Balancing books on our head? Drinking tea with our pinky sticking out? What all of those spoons and forks next to plates are for? Oh, oh! Waltzing! I never had an actual person tell me how to do that! And Seldir never agreed to be my partner either!”

  Seldir, perhaps the overall exact opposite of her, remarked, “I don’t think you want me as a partner. Especially not when there’s stuff to knock over.”

  “Dancing’s gotta be like swordplay, though, right? And you’re amazing at that!”

  “Maybe for some people, but the way I do things, that’s more of just a passing comparison. Trust me.”

  Noa took a deep breath to try to settle the lingering sense of dread. They aren’t ready for this… “We’ll, uh, get to all of that. Eventually. At least Lyrei will have to, anyway. Seldir can probably pass as one of the guards, so he doesn’t have as much to worry about…”

  “Fine by me,” Seldir mumbled.

  “What’s the first lesson, then?” Lyrei prompted.

  “It’s simple, really!” Noa clapped his hands together, trying to maintain as much of his composure as possible. “We’re going to talk about how to, uh, talk to nobles! And not annoy them. Because I don’t think I need to tell you exactly how bad annoying them is going to be. Especially when you’re more or less the guests of a guest.”

  Seldir shrugged. “Don’t worry too much about it. It’s not going to be a big deal if something happens.”

  “So says the guy that has no stakes in this.”

  “Neither do you. King Dain didn’t invite us to this for some grand diplomatic purpose. You weren’t this nervous while we were meeting any of the royals, I didn’t think you’d be this worried now.”

  “I don’t know. I think there’s just something about being around so many other nobles, maybe? Probably doesn’t help that Ilatenes doesn’t really do balls, so I’ve only ever been on them for diplomatic stuff. And most nobles wouldn’t know—and probably shouldn’t, honestly—the whole ‘five heroes sent by the goddesses to defeat a great evil’ thing, so that’s not an excuse or explanation for anything…”

  Lyrei tilted her head. “Hey, there’s no need to worry about all of that! Even if it might not be the ideal circumstances, we’re still kind of here to have fun, right? Enjoy it! And I swear I’ll listen to what you’ll tell me, too. Become the fancy noblewoman I was always meant to be, or something like that.”

  Noa found himself relaxing a little—which was interesting, because he really hadn’t thought he was that nervous to begin with. Then he nodded. “Alright. I wasn’t kidding with the first lesson, though. It’s something you both need to make sure you understand if you’re going to be going anywhere near nobles during the ball.”

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  “Well, I already know that ‘ignoring them and walking away’ isn’t an option,” Seldir said. “So I’m guessing it’s something more along the lines of ‘pretend to be interested in whatever they’re talking about,’ right?”

  “Something like that, yeah. Something you want to make sure that you remember is that nobles take everything personally. Maybe it’s not super bad here compared to Astiri, but it’s definitely more than back home, and it’s something you always have to be aware of. So! Let’s do a little test.” He thought of a good example, then continued. “Pretend that I’m a kinda prominent noble—let’s say someone who controls a town around here. And I walk up to you and start talking about, I don’t know, horses and hunting or something. How do you think you should approach that?”

  “Oh! I know some things about horses. I could probably hold a conversation with them until they go away,” Lyrei said. “And if they wanted to talk about something else instead, I’d probably be able to think of something to say to it. Something natural! And that’s good, right, as long as I don’t outright ask them to leave?”

  Noa nodded. “Yeah, that should be able to take care of most of them. If you don’t know what to say, you can more or less get away with just nodding or saying ‘mhm’ every now and again and they’ll leave on their own.”

  “I can think of some good excuse if they don’t leave, though,” Seldir decided. “Even if I’ll pass as a guard, I’ll be sticking with you. Someone’s got to keep you somewhat grounded.”

  She let out a soft hmph. “So you don’t trust me to take care of myself, then?”

  “I know you. You get excited, and then you run off somewhere. If someone doesn’t keep an eye on you, who knows where you’ll end up wandering to. I take my job seriously, you know.” He glanced over at Noa. “And I’ll do the same for you, if you want it. You’re allowed to just relax with your friends if you don’t want to deal with other nobles.”

  Noa managed a smile. “Thanks. I think… that’ll be nice.”

  …

  Seldir left almost as soon as he no longer had to, though he couldn’t really be blamed for that. He mumbled something about talking with some knights, but Noa wasn’t all that worried about it. Slowly, Noa got more comfortable with the whole situation; it started to feel more like something they just had to do, but not necessarily one that was forced on them. They’d make it something good.

  “What do you think?” Lyrei prompted, twirling around. “Am I doing it right?”

  He managed a chuckle. “Pretty sure you’re doing it better than I ever did, anyway. I was never able to do anything gracefully with a skirt that puffy and balancing something. But you’re pretty good at all of it, once you knew what you were doing.”

  She reached up and took the book off her head. “So are we done for this part? I still want to try dancing. Gotta be ready for when someone wants a dance, right?”

  “I, uh, think you might have better luck asking King Dain or maybe Rennyn with help on that.”

  “Are you just as bad at it as Seldir is?”

  He shrugged. “It’s more like I don’t really know how to lead…”

  “Right, I guess that’s not something you would know, huh..? I’ll see if King Dain will show me, then. I’m definitely not going to pass on the opportunity to dance at a fancy ball like this!”

  She was also the first one to notice the door opening, and to see who was on the other side. “Oh! Rennyn, Kaylin! Does that mean you’re all done with whatever King Dain wanted to talk to you about? What was it? And do you think he’ll be able to help me with something?”

  Rennyn more or less completely ignored them, in favor of just sitting down in one of the chairs in the corner. That left Kaylin to answer Lyrei’s list of questions on her own.

  “What King Dain told us… doesn’t really apply to the three of you. I won’t make you worry more than you have to—just know that it’s something Rennyn and I are going to figure out,” Kaylin said. “As for what he’s doing now… you might be able to talk with him. He mentioned needing to get things prepared for the ball.”