"Would you like to lead, or should I? I'm a bit taller than you Lady Mari, and I've had practice leading, but I will defer to your choice."
Such polite words, how could I refuse? Plus, I've not learned how to lead a dance and I'd like to feel… I mean, I think she has more strength than me, so the role of the Lady better suits me.
"You may lead of course Lad… I mean, Venna."
"Oh, you're catching on fast! Well, pardon me Lady Mari."
Venna gave a deeper bow than she did with the Crown Prince, took one step forwards, and then held out her hand with the palm facing upwards. After I placed my hand in hers, she gently lifted it outwards with my arm slightly bent and extended further than her own, which had a more pronounced bend. She placed her other hand cupped just on my shoulder blade, with that arm pulling me gently to her body. We weren't touching, but our bodies were incredibly close.
I could feel the warmth of her hand on my shoulder blade through my gown, and her body's heat was transmitted to my own, even with the small gap being ever-present. I don't know if my ears were red, but I did know I couldn't break posture, so I had to keep my eyes focused on her right ear. My head was tilted ever so slightly up, making her side profile visible out of the corner of my eye.
"Don't be ashamed if you stumble Lady Mari, I can easily cover for any mistakes you might make."
Ah, there's that signature smirk that I'm starting to expect from her. There's no doubt that she's teasing me now, and this just solidifies the idea that she's been taking small opportunities to do so since we met.
"I'm well practiced in dance Lady… Venna. I don't think I'll make a mistake, but if I do I hope I can rely on you not to falter."
"Oh ho! And now you manage to quip back! Finally, I'm breaking through that beautiful iron façade."
"Lady Venna, please don't tease me too much. As much as this banter is fun, we are in a formal setting, and I've not had much real practice keeping my expressions schooled."
"Just Venna, Lady Mari."
I barely tilt my head towards her to flash a, slightly more than usual, deadpan expression.
"Alright, alright, I understand Lady Mari. But I'm serious about you calling me just Venna." After a slight pause to keep her measure on the dance, she continued. "On to more serious topics, I'm surprised that the Crown Prince is so amiable. I had expected him to act like his father in public, though I guess I've only seen King Lestryal in front of other adults in a diplomatic setting."
"Have you met him before?"
"He comes to our Kingdom every so often to maintain a peaceful discord. Our family and your Royal Family have an agreement that we've kept for a few thousand years."
"Why don't you call your family the Royal Family?"
"I've told you before, titles and formalities like that aren't used often in our Kingdom like they are in yours."
"You just used your formal title with the Crown Prince earlier though."
"Well, I wasn't sure about his intentions, so I had to stay on my best behavior. Now that I've been satisfied that he at least won't cry out that I offended him after some offhanded remarks, I'll probably be more casual with him in the future."
To my confusion I felt a bit disappointed that she'd act casually with him. It shouldn't be too surprising that two people of equal standing and close in age would have to at least get along in public, so why do I feel uneasy about that?
"I thought you'd ask me more about the trees, or about my culture, or even about my ears. So why are we going over all this silly formal language that I'm sure you're tired of learning about?"
"I'm sorry … Venna, but I'm just used to studying being the core focus of my activities. Sometimes it's hard for me to redirect my attention to other subjects. But yes, now that you speak of it, I'd like to know more about your culture, or the trees."
I tried to hide the fact that I had glanced back to her ear that was facing me after she mentioned it. Judging by her smirk I'm certain she noticed it despite my best efforts. I'm hoping that glance was enough to distract her from the fact that I'd rather hear about the trees more than anything else. A small victory, if so.
"Our race is long-lived, with the oldest that I've met being over two and half thousand years old. That's not the oldest on record, or even currently in existence, just the oldest that I've spoken too. Because of our race's long-lived nature though, our culture is just as deeply rooted and long… winded. Heh, I'm gonna have to tell that one to mother."
I felt something pleasant at the thought of her telling her mother that. It's apparent that they share a close relationship. Something to envy on my side. Instead of being upset though, somehow I'm just happy for her and her mother.
"I think that's the first genuine smile I've seen grace the presence of your beautiful countenance. It's incredibly faint, but it's there. You've given some very faint and polite smiles tonight, sure, but I'm almost certain that this is the first genuine one."
"Please do not use such greasy phrases as 'you're more beautiful when you smile' towards me, Lady Venna. I'd rather keep my opinion of you in high regard tonight."
And now I showed her a very faint, but genuine, frown. Probably the first one tonight, real or fake.
"Ah, you mistook my meaning. I said that you have a beautiful countenance but not that it is any more or less beautiful with a smile on it. If that's the implication I gave, I'm sorry." She sounded disappointed that she came off that way. I glanced to see her wearing a slight frown herself. Her frown was a bit more pronounced than my own was.
"It is nice to know that I'm not the only one who's uncomfortable with certain behaviors and appearances being the 'most appropriate and beautiful' to show in public though, Lady Mari. I think if a beautiful lady wants to scream and cry at the top of her lungs while throwing things, she'd probably still be beautiful. Probably."
"I'm not one to hold the slip of the tongue or the unintended tone of a word against someone. Unless of course it keeps happening. Greasy lines to entice women are my least favorite type of lines. Enough about depressing social expectations, you still haven't shared anything about the trees, Venna."
"I thought we were talking about my culture?"
Oh no. I didn't just have a slip of the tongue myself, she's even giving me that knowing smirk. She knows I was interested in the trees earlier too.
"I guess there's no point in hiding it. I was interested in the tree because you brought up myths. You also used trees, as in the plural form, so I was curious if there was more than one Gold Tree. Laurelin, you called it?"
"Yes, Laurelin is the right word for it. Impeccable pronunciation by the way. And no, there is only one Gold Tree. But there is another tree said to stand with it, Telperion, the Silver Tree. One is of the Sun and the other of the Moon. I'm guessing you can tell which one is which."
"Is the entire tree really golden?"
"No, it's called the Gold Tree for two reasons, the first is fairly simple. Did you notice the faint gold embroidery sewn into the vines and leaves of my dress?"
I gave her a slight nod.
"I knew you were incredibly observant. Well, there appears to be faint gold threads laced similarly within the bark, branches, vines, and leaves of the Gold Tree as well. And by faint, I mean truly faint. My mother had to practically push my nose in to a thread for me to see it. Granted I was annoying her with my questions at the time, so maybe that's why she reacted so drastically."
"You've seen the tree?" I'm having a harder time containing my curiosity now so I started using my meditation to help keep my thoughts and actions less obvious.
There was a pause in her steps, something that someone less practiced at dance might not catch, but I spend on average 2 hours a day doing just that. Her expression also became a bit stiff. Did I say something wrong? I hope I didn't offend her.
My worries didn't last long though, as a faint smile came back to her lips. Not the teasing smirk she sometimes shows, but still, something radiant. I mean, it's normal on her beautiful face. Gods, I'm digging my own grave here. Thankfully I'm the only person who knows exactly what I'm thinking, and thank you Lizabeth for your lessons in poise.
"Yes, every Elven child over the age of ten is taken to the Gold Tree as part of a Ceremony celebrating their birth."
"Why do you wait until ten?"
"Because Elves are long-lived, for one. For another it's the earliest age at which an Elven child begins to develop a sense of self. Elven emotional development is a bit slower than humans until about five years old. Physically we age the same until around twenty, but it's clear that we don't have the emotional aptitude that a human child of five years old has until we're ten."
"Why wait for emotional development? I can't see a reason to wait that long unless there's something important about that age."
"Sharp as ever, Lady Mari. Sadly, that's not something I'm allowed to share with you. The dance will end in just a moment as well, so we'll have to keep our conversation more reserved under public scrutiny."
I didn't even notice that the music had started to grow quieter. I'm sad that this dance is ending, and I'm worried that after tonight I won't have anyone to talk with normally. Venna seems a bit down as well, but she steps back while still holding my hand and repeats the bow which she opened the dance with. She then escorted me off the dance floor and towards the my Family's table.
My legs are already beginning to shake. I was apparently so engrossed in my conversation with her that I didn't notice the strain I had been putting on them. A single dance shouldn't exhaust me this much, but I've been on my feet since early this morning, and I have only had a few bites of food all day. My only solace is that my dress is hiding my legs from view.