Chapter 53 A Scene
Lenna wore the inverse of the dress from their first teatime with Serentia Von Arbencroft. She was still not happy with the amount of skin that was showing but dresses were dresses so she dealt with it. Isaac at least had the luxury of wearing identical dress to their first trip. He clasped her necklace around her neck from behind her and peered over her shoulder at the mirror to get a good look at her. “Isaac, stop staring.” Lenna scolded after Isaac hadn’t moved for a few seconds. Her smile betrayed how she actually felt. Turning around she kissed him but quickly walked towards the door right as Isaac was about to do something that would cause them to be late.
Isaac hurried after her and locked the door behind them. Once at the top of the stairs Isaac and Lenna both took deep breaths to focus and get back into their roles. Their relationship was shelved, their true personalities were shelved as well, even their status as high ranked adventurers was put on hold with their badges settled inside Isaac’s Inventory. They were now only Lord Isaac Wexler, a powerful and eccentric exiled noble from a faraway place and Lady Lenna V’Nova, the drow noblewoman, paladin, and soldier who turned traitor in order to serve a human of all things. Isaac nodded sharply and turned to look at Lenna. “Same fog as last time or should I bring it up a notch?” Isaac asked.
Lenna smiled. “Bring it up a bit.”
Isaac’s grin in return to her words made Lenna feel like she was mated to a storybook villain. Power flowed out of Isaac. It turned to shadows as they walked arm in arm down the open flight of stairs to the first floor. He focused and turned the shadows into plate armor sabatons, greaves and poleyn, then demi-gauntlets and vambraces. The shadows hardened enough that they looked solid and relatively thick but they wouldn’t hold up to an actual strike. Isaac summoned them more for the spectacle of conjuring armor on himself than actual protection. It took a fair bit of focus to hold them together but it was nothing Isaac couldn’t handle. It did take up a substantial amount of his mana regeneration to keep everything together and still allow wisps of shadows to come off of him.
Lenna had her own trick that she was working on. She herself was resistant to high heats but not to the point where she could grab hot coals or anything. Luckily she didn’t need to go that hot, not that she had the mana to maintain that kind of temperature anyway, she only needed to go hot enough to cause a visible haze. She had done the mental guesstimation to figure that she could make it at least to the duke’s manor without lowering her external temperature. She raised up to a level that she hadn’t felt outside of a forge before. The heat haze was immediately noticeable as the air around her seemed to wave and tremble.
Sera had once again made sure to pick lunchtime for their teatime in order to give Isaac and Lenna maximum public exposure. People gawked and someone even spilled something though Lenna was fairly sure that the man was a mage of some kind and simply felt the power radiating off of them. Celeste smiled at the pair. “Enjoy your visit. Do tell Duchess Arbencroft that I said hello would you?” She spoke elegantly and with both warmth and at a slight remove, something that seemed like it had come from an amount of experience in court, and bowed to the pair slightly.
Isaac and Lenna both returned polite smiles. “We will and I will make sure to tell her.” Isaac returned with a nod before leaving with Lenna.
—
“That was awful.” Isaac commented when it was only the three of them plus the maid that Isaac was convinced was Sera’s bodyguard. She had the same height and build as the one that had accompanied her before but this time her hair was braided down to her waist and was a platinum blonde with eyes that matched. Her facial structure seemed a little different too but Isaac couldn’t place how. Mostly it was just the general feel he got from the woman that keyed him into suspecting her.
Lenna nodded. “Indeed.” She replied somewhat wearily. She had overestimated her own mana reserves and had just barely made it to Sera’s garden before she had to stop bleeding heat. She was sweaty and hated it, not enough that anyone not staring at her would notice but enough that she felt it.
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Isaac’s entire side was sticky with sweat from the heat that Lenna had been radiating. That combined with the amount of focus it took him to keep all his visual effects going caused a small bead of sweat to roll down the side of his face. The maid handed him a towel. “Thank you.” He told her and dabbed his face before offering it to Lenna. She shook her head and he returned it to the maid.
Sera looked at them both with clear amusement. “What did you two do?” She questioned.
“Spent almost all of my mana.” Lenna replied honestly.
“It’s hard to focus on that many constructs while walking next to a sauna.” Isaac answered and rubbed his temples. He was starting to feel the beginnings of a headache.
Sera giggled at them from behind her hand. “I believe you were warned about overstretching yourselves, yes?” She teased.
Isaac and Lenna both nodded wearily. “Yeah.” Isaac admitted.
After some more light teasing the trio changed to other topics. From their impressions of the new magistrate to Isaac’s dragonscale armor to Sera’s relentless barrage of questions about Kahtesh, most of which were deflected. After a lull Sera motioned for the maid and was handed an envelope with gold trim and her family crest stamped into a red wax seal. “For you.” She told the duo and handed the envelope to the two of them.
Isaac grabbed it and opened it with a flick of shadows that sliced between the paper and wax. He opened it up and withdrew an invitation, also trimmed in gold, to: “One Duchess Serentia Von Arbencroft’s forty third birthday ball.” Isaac read aloud. He looked up from the paper to meet Sera’s ever sparkling brilliant blue eyes. “I can hardly believe forty three, Sera.” He commented. “What is your secret?”
Sera giggled then gave Lenna a look. “You shouldn’t let your boyfriend flirt with other women.” She told her with a mischievous smile.
Lenna looked side eyed at Isaac with a raised eyebrow. “What?” He asked. “Neither of us show our age. I’m allowed to be curious.” He tried to defend himself which luckily for him was enough for Lenna to drop it. As soon as he looked away a smile crept across Lenna’s face though she tried to hide it.
Messing with him was fun. The only problem was that it had to be restricted to when they were alone or around a select few people otherwise there would be talk. Lenna didn’t want anyone to reference the ‘whore’ comment that she had gotten in the Celestial Dawn that had caused Isaac to delete a man. She was well aware of some of the differences between elvish and human society and how some humans would perceive their relationship.
“What is the dress code?” Isaac asked Sera to bring them back on track.
Sera looked at him with slight confusion for a second before she remembered Isaac’s lack of knowledge about such things. She looked at Lenna. “You have a ballgown from Jessica right?” She asked and Lenna nodded. She looked back at Isaac. “Well, for you it is a bit harder.” She confessed. “Usually there would be house colors and military tassels, maybe a medal or a coat-of-arms.”
“All of which I’m lacking.” Isaac commented along the same line of thought that Sera was going.
“Yes.” She agreed. “Do you have anything that could be used as such?” She asked. Isaac shook his head in the negative. “Platinum.” She told Isaac. “Platinum buttons, platinum chains, a pocket watch, silver tassels, all over black fabric. Only thick cottons. I know you don’t have enough time to get any of it enchanted but it will be a good place to start.” She explained.
Isaac held back a wince at the potential costs. He was quickly running out of money. “Why is my stuff going to cost so much more than Lenna’s?” He asked.
“You are the head of household.” Sera explained. She nodded to Lenna. “She is your escort so she will be fine but your only other option is to go in the opposite direction and cause a scene at my birthday ball.”
Isaac’s face showed obvious intrigue. “Oh?” He asked. “A scene you say.”
Sera’s eyes twinkled a little brighter and her near constant smile got a little more pronounced. “Well…” She drew the word out. “Usually wealth is what is on display but there are other kinds of power in the upper levels of society.” She hinted.
“Indeed.” Isaac agreed. “Wealth, political power, magical power, strength, and skill are the five ways to gauge how formidable a person is. Which ones should we show off?” He asked her.
“Wealth is not something you have at the moment.” Sera replied simply. She was vaguely aware that at the very least Isaac wasn’t capable of buying the types of clothes that were used to show off how wealthy a family was. Isaac was hurt but had to agree. “You completely lack political power.” She continued to dig in the knife. “As far as I am aware you are not barbarians from the wildlands so strength is also out as an option.”
“Magical power it is then.” Isaac conceded.
“Well…” Sera drug the word out again. “If done properly, skill can be shown at a ball.” She told them. “But, if done improperly, it will make you look like you are from the circus.” She warned.
“There is a ritual known as the sword dance.” Lenna explained. “Usually the host and hostess of the event would open the dancefloor with it.”
Sera’s interest was officially piqued. “Do tell.” She asked. Sera was going to show all those uptight, old-house, old-city, old coffin dodgers what a frontier city had to offer that theirs didn’t. And she was more than happy to blindside her husband while planning it.