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Tasha was an odd one. It was very clear that he would love at least one dance with Byakuya, but something was holding him back. And, Byakuya highly doubted it was simply because he was worried for his mother. Not that he couldn't be worried for her, but Byakuya didn't think that was the sole reason. Of course, everything Tasha had said about Byakuya having other things to do was lost on him. True, he could be spending this time getting on the good side of many nobles from Ventiaus to secure connections, but he'd already gotten into the good graces of their king; as unintentional as that was, it was all he needed. At least he didn't have to fall to flattery, though he very well would have if it came down to that. "Until something demands my attention, there is nothing I need to do. That means I will spend my time how I like and with whomever I care to. This is a ball after all, and it would be a shame not to participate." It wasn't entirely difficult to pick up on the scared tone Tasha had, though it took a bit to figure out where it came from. It couldn't be because of how he handled the situation with the noble before, could it? He seemed impressed by how it dealt with. Byakuya thought for a moment before offering a gentle and reassuring smile to the rather timid noble. "Are you concerned with how I would react? You have no need to worry. I had already figured out you aren't the lady you appear to be. Have you not noticed I stopped calling you Lady Tasha?" True, that was mostly because he wasn't sure how to address him. He wasn't sure if Tasha had been dressed that way by will and truly believed he was a woman, which was fine, or if he just liked to wear dresses....Not the oddest thing Byakuya had ever heard of and Tasha did pull it off better than most men could. But, given his most recent concern, Byakuya figured it was neither of those and he was likely dressed that way because of someone else's influence. A dare from a friend maybe? "If you truly don't wish to dance, then I won't force you to, but now that you know I've figured you out, I hope you'll reconsider. Whether you are a man or a woman means little to me; I find your company enjoyable regardless."

"𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝑖 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑒'𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑟. 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖'𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡."

☪.｡.: { Tamlen thought for a moment on his encounter with the ambassador. "We spoke of fire rocks. Not much was said really. But I do hope I calmed her nerves at least a little. It would not look well for such an important guest to feel unwelcome in our land. Especially at such an event. I suppose I wanted to speak to her because of my own hopes to end this war. but that is not really my place." He sighed and his face showed a slight amount of stress. Those who knew Tamlen well would understand how he felt about the war, and those who knew him closely would know about how he felt of his position. He relaxed himself a bit. "Still, I am positive that once Byakuya takes the throne we will begin to see signs leading to a more peaceful Larcasia. He feels the way I do about this war. For that I am grateful." He took her hand his his and gave it a light kiss. "But enough of that, my Lady. Such topics are ill suited for an event such as this. And I owe you a dance." He gave her a somewhat uncharacteristically playful smile. It was his way of trying to show an honest desire for a dance with his fiancee. "If you would have me for one, that is. I may not be the most fond of dancing, but if it is you I dance with I am sure I will be fine." He told her. } :.｡. ☪

"𝓌𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝒶 𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝒶𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈. 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝒶 𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒹 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒𝓈. 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓈 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝒶 𝓉𝑒𝓈𝓉. 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓌𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝒹𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓊𝓃𝒹𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔- 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝒾𝓃𝒻𝑒𝓇𝓃𝑜 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓏𝓏𝒶𝓇𝒹, 𝒾 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊."

Chell's attention was brought back to her friend, giving her a light smile. "I'm fine, Rina. No need to worry." She assured her friend. "Aside from the chaos that happened earlier, I think tonight's going well. The food's great, you're looking a lot better, and any second now, Tamlen and Rebecca are gonna be dancing, all happy and romantic like. Well, as much as Tamlen can be, anyway." She said with a chuckle. A thought then popped into Chell's head once again, and she paused for a moment. "Rebecca and Tamlen seem like they're good together. Do...do you think I'll ever find something like that?" She asked. She knew she wasn't exactly the perfect picture of nobility, and she was fine with that, but...she wasn't exactly the most mature. Would that put people off? Would that get in the way of romance? Rebecca was engaged to a prince, while Chelsea...didn't exactly have the best luck. Her mom always said that she'd find someone who loved her, faults and all, but sometimes, she had her doubts. She wasn't trying to make Rina feel bad for her, far from it. It was just Chell confiding in her dear friend.

Dancing, mingling, flirting....Those were a few things the majority of the women at the ball were doing. Most women heard of a ball hosted by the royal family and prepared for the best night of their lives by getting all dressed up and making sure to look as appealing as possible for any chance at romance that could last a night or a lifetime. Not Opal, though. Sure, she got dressed up. It gave her a chance to wear the kimono she'd gotten for herself without sticking out like a sore thumb; not to mention it was very open-minded of her since Thalassia was known for its kimono. She was rather proud of herself on that one. But, she wasn't there to mingle or dance; no, she was there to eat.

She'd never had food native to Thalassia and that was the only reason she was there.

Opal spent the majority of her time so far stuck at the food table, picking at all the different food that was laid out there. She made sure to use a plate, of course, since she didn't want to be rude and ruin the food for everyone by acting like a child and touching everything. That didn't really matter, though, since many of the women that saw her just scoffed at her and called her "unladylike". That didn't bother her, though. It wasn't like she ever claimed to be a proper lady. She just liked to look pretty, not act it.

The blonde's attention drifted to the scene between her brother and a servant, and Opal just ate as she watched the show. Shattered glass, bonking heads, cut fingers, and a lost tray of drinks. All in less than one minute. Even for her brother, that was a brand new record. There should be metals for this sort of thing. Walking over to her brother as he sent the servant away. "Wow. Four mishaps in less than a minute. That's a new record." Jade gave a sarcastic laugh before essentially telling her to go away in that special way brothers had. Laughing softly, Opal took her plate of food and walked off in search of a servant that could help her unlucky brother. It looked like tonight was going to be an active one. Well, for one of them anyway. Someone had to make sure the servants knew about all the messes that the Fortune's Scourge was going to cause.

Sakura looked to the man that approached her and gave a gentle smile. "Hello Sir Satomi, it is a pleasure to meet you." She said softly looking the librarian over for a moment before she looked around the ballroom. "Im not afraid of the people here, it would be hard to talk about peace if I were afraid of the peole here. The only thing I fear is being so far from home and worrying about how my siblings will react to me being gone until things resolve." She said looking down. "Prince Tamlen was being nice and keeping me company until his sister got sick earlier." She said looking towards the doors. "Personally, while the ball is nice, I would enjoy taking a look at the books and history of THalassia to try and figure out what caused the war to begin with."


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