"Where were you?" Max asked.
"Some stuff came up." Sarah replied simply. Thinking back to her encounter with Prince Logan and the boy who had mistaken her for somebody else.
Max said, "Well come here. It's already 6:30. We need to find our table and sit down." Max led her over to the dining area where tables were set. They saw a tag saying table 2 and found their seats. They sat down and Sarah whispered to Max, "When are the servant's coming out? Were supposed to be looking for ones with the purple wristband, remember?"
"We need to leave after the meal is over, eyes will be on us and my family. If we leave people will get suspicious and start to ask questions." Max replied.
Sarah nodded her head to show she understood. Over the PA system a voice said, "Please, everyone find your way to a seat. If you were a special invitee of the royal family, please find your assigned table where you will find our assigned seat."
Sarah looked around their table. There were actually only 8 seats there. Instead of the rounded tables that everyone else had, they were seated at a long, rectangle table. As they sat in status order, Sarah was of course last. The King and Queen also sat at their table except it was slightly detached and raised, they sat by themselves but also isolated from the rest of the table. They also had elaborate thrones to boot. Prince Henry sat in the chair closest to the king followed by prince Logan, Max's dad, Max and then Sarah. Technically, Max should have switched spots with his dad but to make Sarah feel more comfortable he was allowed to sit after him.
The food was served, tender, moist fish was set before Sarah. Many side dishes were there too. She was glad that one of the activities that Max and Sarah had chosen was 'how to eat like a proper lady' because without it, Sarah would have looked like a fool trying to figure out what spoon or fork needed to be used.
They waited for all of the food to be served and then waited for the Queen to take the first bite before they allowed themselves to indulge in the delicacies. It was delicious. Sarah was barely able to stop herself from devouring her food quickly. She held back for the sake of Max's image.
After the food had been eaten, it was time for dancing. The king and Queen lead the first dance. Then they were joined in by Prince Logan and Prince Henry who both had girls to dance with that Sarah didn't recognize. The next dance Jenny and Mr. Fredrickson joined in. Max danced with another girl because Sarah didn't feel comfortable dancing in front of such a large crowd. Plus, she didn't know how to formally dance to begin with. The girl dancing with Max seemed thrilled, Max on the other hand looked miserable. Each time that they passed by Sarah, Max would make a gagging face at her to show it. Sarah covered her hand to hide her smirk.
When the song was over, a new song began to play. The people began to join in with the dancing, tables were being cleared away one by one so there was more room for people to dance. Max walked up to Sarah and pointed to a waitress. "Look, the servers are out now. We should begin our search."
Sarah nodded her head in agreement and took Max's arm. They walked around the ballroom, trying to find a server. Suddenly, Sarah remembered something. "Max! We have to separate! We are supposed to find our own guides to the room, remember?"
"Right, but we should walk around together. People might approach us if we were separated and I don't really want to talk to any more people today."
"Alright. How about this; whoever sees the purple wristband first, that will be their guide and will leave the other person behind to go and talk to them." Sarah suggested.
"Ok, that sounds fair." Max replied as he scanned his eyes around the room.
Sarah thought back to when they had first entered the palace. There had been a maid who had on a purple wristband. What was her name again? Right! Maid Lacy! If she could find maid Lacy, surely that would be easier than looking at a bunch of wrists.
All of a sudden, Sarah spotted a butler carrying around a tray of drinks. He held the tray in his right hand, a purple wristband sat on his wrist. Sarah bounced up and down excitedly and said "Found one before you did!"
"What where?" Max said.
"Over there!" Sarah slightly nodded her head in the direction of the butler. He was still holding the tray up high with little martini glasses sitting on top. "Yea but do you remember the code we have to tell them?" Max asked.
"Yep! I studied it the other night. It would be terrible to not remember it now." Sarah replied.
"Ok, go. I'll keep looking." Max answered.
"Yes sir! See you soon." Sarah said back as she gave him an army salute and headed towards the butler. "Hey! Hey! Mr. Butler dude!" Sarah called after the butler as he began to move to another spot. The butler turned around to see who was calling after him and saw a little Redheaded girl chasing after him in a gorgeous purple dress. "Hello miss, what can I do for you?" He asked when she finally caught up.
Sarah was slightly out of breath when she said, "Your-you're purple… what is it even called? Bracelet? Whatever. Your purple wrist thingy. Wait- i'm supposed to tell you a password, right?" She asked, jumbling up her words.
When the butler had been given the assignment, a response for this question was not covered so he just kept his mouth shut. Sarah regained her composure and thought back to what the letter had said.