inactive

Alejo let himself be pulled along and joined her in dance. He noticed her enthusiasm and asked "I take it you enjoy these kind of things?" He looked around the room discretely and noticed that several people were standing on the sidelines. He supposed it made sense. Even though the invited Gracelings were still heads of their respective duties few even approached the amount of time he had spent around the King and the various Nobles.

"You do so at your own risk," Efos replied in a joke warning, laughing lightly. Falling silent, the poor girl was having a hard time trying to find something to say. Why was that? This was no different than any other time she had spoken to him, except music was playing and she didn't look like a human punching bag and he was, well, actually talking to her. "You don't seem too upset that I broke my promise," she teased, referencing her promise to remain in the barracks for the rest of the night.

Tristan shrugged, "Why would I be? You don't have to sit in a room by yourself, and I don't have to stand here alone." He said simply. Then he turned towards her, a curious expression taking over his face. "Now, how exactly did you manage to get an invite, and an excuse from rest?" He asked. He hadn't questioned it till now, but her presence was quite unexplained.

Alejo responded "I see, that explains how talented you are." He gave a subtle smile and responded "Why thank you. I simply practice every once in a while. I often have to accompany our King to various balls and feasts so I decided to learn court etiquette to avoid embarrassing our King if the need ever arrived to do something such as this."

Kenna laughed, "I'm sure you are! Does your grace have something to do with healing?" She asked. Graces had always fascinated her.

"How wonderful!" Hava said, dreaming about all the exciting things he must get to see. "Where is your favorite place you have ever been with the king?" She asked. She had always wanted to travel, and she slightly envied Alejo's ability to do so.

"Sounds like a good deal!" He said with a laugh. Then, Tristan gave the girl a surprised look, "I better make it worth it? Is that so?" He asked challengingly, a mischevious look in his eyes. He glanced around the room, and when he saw that no one was looking, he picked Efos up by her waist and spun her around. It was only once, but he figured it was the closest they could get to dancing for now. He grinned at her as he set her down, waiting for her reaction.

Jackson glared at her. He knew she was messing with him deliberately, and it was definitely working. He let them dance a few minutes more before heading towards them, weaving in between the dancers and lightly tapping Vertiver on the shoulder. "Mind if I steal your partner?" He asked, giving him a smile.

Obviously let Vertiver answer the question and let them finish their conversation first I'm just too lazy to copy this and wait to post it)

Hava's eyes widened, "The ocean? Oh, I bet it was beautiful..." she said wistfully, trying to imagine what such a place would be like. Middluns was a landlocked country, so as long as she remained here, she would never get to experience things like the ocean. "Did you get to swim?" She asked, unsure if one swims in the ocean. There was a lake near the castle that sometimes the castle staff snuck off to to go swimming--she had only ever been twice herself--but it had been such fun! And she imagined that the ocean was much like a large lake, perfect for swimming.

(( whoops sorry golem, I didn't see your post! I'll edit mine ))

When she punched him, Tristan froze. Had he made a mistake? "Oh! I'm sorry...I just, um. I thought..." In all honesty, he didn't know what he thought. He supposed he thought that she looked like a lady who deserved to be able to dance. But perhaps he had overstepped his bounds. "I'm sorry my lady--er, Efos. That was over the line." And he looked back out to the dance floor, afraid to look at her in case she was truly mad at him.

Alejo looked at her and replied "I did not. Our King was simply on a diplomatic visit." He thought back on the visit to try and remember more clearly the events of the trip. "We mainly toured a port city. We had been visiting a shipyard near the end of the day when I saw the ocean up close. I can recall seeing people swimming however. It amazes that people could even consider swimming in water they could not drink."

Efos eyes widened as he slipped up, calling her 'my lady'. Was that the only reason he had done that? Because she looked almost beautiful? Would he do the same if she was in uniform, or in grubby clothes, or if all her scars, bumps, and bruises were exposed? Yes, of course she had wanted him to do that, but had he wanted to? With the Efos in her red dress, maybe, but with the Efos who looked like herself? Feeling her eyes and throat start to sting, she looked for an exit. Oh, Lord, just to walk to the other side of the hall would leave her exhausted. She didn't even think she could make it to the barracks. "Excuse me," she stuttered, exiting out of the closest door, not caring where it took her. She didn't make it far before she had to stop, gasping for breath and she sat on the floor of a breezeway.

(Its hard writing someone who can't deal with her emotions bc I keep getting secondhand embarrassment!!!)

Hava laughed at his observation. "Well wouldn't that be better though?" She asked, a thought forming in her mind. "If we only swam in water we couldn't drink, then the water we can drink would be much cleaner," She said decidedly. It was a silly thought, but in her mind, it did make some sense. At least more sense than what he had said.

Kenna batted her eyelashes at him, "Is that so, your highness?" She asked, pulling herself a little closer to him than the average dance partner would. Then she whispered in his ear, "I'm looking forward to our meeting later." In all honesty, she wanted the night to be done with so that she could find out just what he had planned.

Alejo gave subtle smile and replied "Perhaps so." Looking around he noticed Vetiver standing off to the side. It seemed his partner had went to dance with Prince Jackson. He had decided he should speak to the guards and said "It looks like Vetiver is without soneone to dance. Perhaps you would like to join him?"

Hava followed his gaze to where Vetiver stood, and her heart began to beat a little faster. "Oh, Vetiver! Yes, I'll go talk to him." She said, giving him a curtsy goodbye then making her way over to her fellow medic. "Hello Vetiver!" She said happily. "How are you enjoying this evening?"