Sophie felt overwhelmed at the sight of the human castle. It was much broader and intimidating than the starlite castle, but it lacked in height. Even the two towers on either side of the castle were not half as tall as her castle.
The cause of Sophie's worry was not the castle itself, but the fact the she had never before been to a human ball. She had never even had a proper conversation with a human before.
As Sophie landed outside the castle walls, she remembered the other balls that she had been to. She had had her fair share of the starlite balls. Most of the balls she had attended were the ones where Sia had accompanied her. And even if she was to go to a ball unaccompanied, she would find some friends and acquaintances.
Sophie had walked past the outer gate of the castle while immersed in her thoughts and found herself among a horde of people rushing to get inside. She realized that the night was too cold for the humans.
Not wanting to seem out of place, she rushed in with the crowd. Sophie braced herself for the night, reminding herself that she knew at least one person inside.
The fact that her acquaintance with the host was limited to only two meetings failed to raise her spirits "Both of which resulted in me saving his life," she reminded herself.
Sophie looked around, trying to capture the logic of the slow dances and the soft music. Splendidly dressed bodies with unknown faces surrounded her. Somehow the place felt too crowded.
To her relief, the dark almond eyes spotted her almost immediately. Neal smiled at the sight before him. He knew he would spend the next day making another portrait of her. She smiled when she saw him. Neal moved towards her with a speed he hoped wasn't too swift.
As the prince came closer, Sophie realized how different he looked after proper grooming. The first time she had seen him, he was camped for battle on a mountain. The next time he had just gotten out of bed and had walked barefoot to the top of a waterfall.
At the moment, he reminded her of a dark starry night. His dark hair glistened in the artificial lights, the golden buttons on his dark blue coat shined, and his dark eyes held a sparkle that Sophie could not comprehend. It was the first time that Neal looked like a prince, and Sophie acknowledged that he was a very graceful one.
"Care to dance?" he extended his gloved hand.
"My pleasure, Your Highness." She gave him her hand which he kissed and then escorted her to the middle of the dance floor.
Once the dance started there wasn't much for her to do but float. It was a slow dance and they danced in a traditional position. Neal was moving her like a puppeteer manipulating the strings of his puppet. And he was enjoying it.
Sophie could not help but compare the castle to her home. The castle's hall was much larger than the hall at the starlite castle. Still it was packed. Sophie was glad for it as it meant little movement for the couples and no group dance. She didn't have it in her to talk to the humans. Seeing them was overwhelming enough.
Neal was the centre of attention and he kept his office by smiling and nodding in every direction. Sophie noticed many people watching the dance from the upper floor. She had seen some of them dancing earlier.
"Dinner's on the first floor," Neal said. He had followed her gaze and thought that she was hungry. "I thought it would leave more room for dancing. Of course the empress had other plans. She doubled the guest list." Neal chuckled lightly.
"I'm sure all the guests are delighted by her plan," Sophie said in a formal tone. The prince was mistaken if he thought he could get even a single word out of Sophie that painted anyone in a bad colour.
"Not all. Some of them would have enjoyed being invited more if their 'inferior' friends were not invited."
Sophie did not think it fit to comment on the matter. But Neal wasn't one to keep the silence.
"I should congratulate you on getting the Starcrest."
"Thank you, Your Highness." Sophie found herself too self conscious to talk. She wanted to blame Sia for it but knew it to be her own anxiety.
"Sia talks a great deal about you. Even Dai does." Neal knew exactly what to say to get Sophie to talk. "But he mostly complains about how the king favours you girls above him."
"It's sweet of the princess to talk about me," Sophie chose to ignore the second part.
"So you assume she only says good things about you?" Neal raised his eyebrow. He had succeeded in making her talk and he smiled internally at the victory.
"No, Your Highness, you misunderstand me," Sophie said without losing a beat. "It's good to be talked about among the elites, even if they say some bitter truths about you."
"You are a treasure," he chuckled. "Why don't you try politics?"
"I've got another job offer to think about right now," Sophie said with a poker face. "Why does Your Highness keep giving me job offers?"
"I would burst into a laughing fit if you and I were not in a formal ball right now."
"I would not want to cause embarrassment to Your Highness." Sophie couldn't help but smile, but she looked down to hide her face from Neal.
"Then I take it you will keep our little secret to yourself," he whispered in her ear.
"I'll take the secret to my grave," she swore and he knew she meant it.
"I don't think that would be necessary. But I like your spirit."
After some minutes of silence, Neal asked Sophie if she was tired.
"Not at all Your Highness," Sophie replied. In her opinion, starlites did real the dancing. Those balls were tiresome. Even if she were tired, she was the kind of person who would consider admitting it as a sign of weakness. She wondered why he would ask her such a question. Her anxiety started throwing questions at her. Was she looking tired? Did the prince think she could get tired floating around? Was the slow dance supposed to tire anyone?
"So you are up for another dance?" Neal asked. He found his heart hanging on her answer.
"Sure." Sophie remembered her orders of not letting him ditch her.
"So Sophia," Neal asked with a smile, "How does a starlite ball differ from a human ball?" Dai had already told him in great detail about those, but Neal couldn't think of anything else to ask her.
"The music is faster. The clothes are of course different and we don't dance on the floor. We dance in layers. The room is filled up to the roof. We take up much more space for dancing. The dance is exhausting. Sometimes we have the ball on the frozen lake, when it is not frozen. The sky is our roof and the water touches our feet. You never know when or whether the ball ended."
"It sounds interesting," Neal said, "Our balls are not always this boring but even the good ones would look simple in comparison to your balls."
"What are the good balls like? And why is this not a good one?" Sophie had started to like the ceremony. She wondered if there was a better one.
"Well, for starters, this is my home and not a public ball room. It's filled up to capacity. Think of a bigger place with lesser crowd and a little more lively music."
"I think this is a good ball, Your Highness." Sophie had been to worse balls.
"Now you are just being polite."
"Oh no, I never lie; even for the sake of politeness."
Sophie saw some animation in his eyes and wondered what he was thinking. Perhaps he thought she was lying. Or maybe he was thinking how a life could be led without lies. Finally he said, "You and I are total opposites." He couldn't help but smile at the irony. All he did was lie.
"I wish I could see one of your balls," he said wistfully. They were now moving round and round at their spot. Sophie had no idea that the move was called the fleckrl; neither did she have any inclination to know.
"Your Highness must surely know that humans have trouble breathing at the altitude."
"But starlites don't have any problem breathing here." Neal wanted to remind her how easy the grounds would be for her "Do you feel hot here?"
"A little, yes," Sophie said, "I've heard the guardians trade their wool and silk for cotton."
"Yes, they do." He asked again, "Is the food there much different than ours?"
"I wouldn't know Your Highness. I have never seen human food."
Neal scolded himself for his stupidity. He had forgotten about the food. "You can try now. Like I said, dinner is on the first floor. Dance and dinner, they both continue all night long."
"Does Your Highness want to eat?" Sophie was not hungry but she took it as a hint that Neal wanted to eat.
"I cannot eat at my house, until you all get out." Neal had not disliked the rule before, but he was curious to see Sophie react to the human food.
"That's a way to put it," Sophie said. "Even at starlite balls the host is not supposed to eat. At least we found something common in our balls. Sia hates this rule." They both knew that Sia's hatred was not due to hunger but for her failure to accompany her guests at the dinner table.
"Dai is a big fan though."
"He had his own rule. It's not a ball if he has not talked to every girl present."
Neal knew the rule Dai had tried to get him to follow it. It had proved cumbersome. "Had?" Neal asked Sophie.
"I don't think his wife will appreciate this rule." Sophie smiled.
"Speaking of Dai, when is he coming back?"
"Sia is sure he'll come back before the big peace negotiation."
"Yeah, he loves such meetings," Neal said. His ears turned a little pink and Sophie remembered what Sia had said about the trap.
"He is the peace-lover of the family."
Neal wanted to correct her. Dai wasn't a peace lover. He was just fed up of his father's war craze. Sia was too. But her approach was to try to fight in his place. Neal opted for a more subtle approach. "With you three always ready to fight."
"We three?"
"King Suffle, Sia and you," Neal supplied. "Though Sia never gets the chance."
Sophie hadn't expected to be acknowledged as a part of the family by the human. "Maybe Sia and Dai do talk a lot about me," she thought. Then she asked Neal, "What about Princess Mishty?"
"Mishty married Dai to strengthen Esite's ties with Midos. How's that war-love?"
"This shows you haven't met her yet." Sophie said. She had gone to Esite for the wedding and knew that Mishty was a warrior. "As for marriage, it's not something Sia won't do in a heartbeat."
"Really?" A smiled crept on Neal's face. He remembered that Sia had already celebrated her twenty-fourth natal day.
Sophie did not answer for she could tell by his smile that she had said something wrong.
The hall had started getting less crowded, and they got more space to dance. The couples on the dance floor started moving more freely. Neal's heart kept getting heavy by the second, knowing that the night was about to end.
"You make a convincing human."
"People see you walking in a ball gown and they don't give it another thought," Sophie said, "You may put on a pair of velvet tights and a fur coat and tell everyone you are a starlite. Nobody is going to question you."
"I have been told to have a passable skin tone," Neal said, "but starlites have to fly. I can be a starlite no more than you can be a nymph."
Sophie had not seen many humans but she had noticed that the royals were much whiter that the others. She had chalked it up to a life of leisure. "I can be a nymph," Sophie said, "for about a minute and half."
"That's an impressive time. Good thing I haven't timed holding my breath," he said, "Or next you'll say I could pass for a nymph."
"Let me think." Sophie closed her eyes in mock imagination. "Nope, not a pretty sight." She immediately regretted her insouciance. For a moment she had forgotten that she was talking to a prince.
"Why hadn't I found you before?" Neal tried to suppress his laughter. If only Sia or Dai or King Suffle had introduced her before, a lot of pain and hate would have been avoided.
Conversation ceased for some time, as Neal tried to gain advantage of the thinning crowd by doing some space utilizing moves. Sophie had no idea what steps they were doing. She was in doubt whether they looked any good on the floor.
"He must know what he is doing," she assured herself. "A prince gets dancing lessons since childhood."
"Lots of space to dance now," she observed after about half an hour of silence. Neal had decided to give up conversation in favour of proximity.
"I wonder why," he said twirling her.
"Everybody is leaving," she said ignoring the sarcasm.
"About time," he said, "this is the last dance." If he could he would have stopped the sun from rising.
"Human balls do get over soon." Sophie was in a habit of being exhausted after a ball.
"Interesting," Neal said, "Sia had a different opinion."
He saluted her in the human style when the dance ended. "I bid you a good night, or whatever is left of it," Neal said with a smile, "Miss Antofurota."
"Goodnight to you too, Your Highness." Sophie started her salute in the human style, but then she let her hands flutter for a second. She was sure nobody but Neal saw it. "My Magnificence, you really can't lie," he exclaimed.
"I don't," she emphasised. She believed that she could lie if she wanted.
Sophie left the ball thinking it wasn't as bad as Sia had said. In fact it wasn't bad at all. If only she had managed to eat something.