“So, what dress you going for?”

Roxanne and Cassandra stood in front of the dress selection in front of them. About a dozen dresses, with a few pictures behind them of more. According to Willow, they’d be easy to find in town. But Cassandra and Roxanne had no clue where to even begin.

“I think I’ll just take the recommendation.” Cassandra said, already exhausted.

“Hm, okay.” Willow said, perusing the lineup until she plucked a green ballroom gown from the lineup and put it over her body.

“Seems like it’d fit as is, anyway.”

“Okay, but that?” Cassandra asked, stepping back. “That is way too wide at the bottom.”

“Trust me, it’s the best option. You wear this, and nobody notices you’re barefoot.”

“Why do I want to go barefoot?”

“The other option is sophisicated shoes that mangle your feet.”

“Oh, right. Well, I suppose…trying it won’t hurt.”

Cassandra went to the dressing room with a servant, and Willow got to picking something out for Roxanne.

“Hey, can I take a look at your necklace real quick?”

“Excuse me?” Roxanne stepped back, clutching her necklace.

“To find the right shade. Come on, it’ll only be a second.”

Roxanne never let the necklace out of her sight. Her being asked to take off the necklace might as well be the same as asking her to strip naked in front of her. Then again…

“Only a second?” Roxanne repeated.

“You can hold it against the dresses yourself if it makes you feel better.”

Roxanne did as she asked, clutching her necklace, and holding it against the different dresses. Eventually, she found herself a bright yellow dress that was an almost perfect contrast to her violet gemstone. It was thin, with white sleeves that separated into two draping triangles on the bottom half. It sparkled at the bottom with a select choice of sequins.

“Now that one kicks ass.” Willow nodded with confidence. “Okay, let’s get it on and get to the hall.”

Once Roxanne got into her dress and joined Cassandra and Willow in the large ballroom, they were immediately hit by the icy glare of Freyja.

“Took your time.” She said calmly.

“We’re on time.” Willow replied, already exasperated. She was wearing a dress the shape of Cassandra’s that started off orange around the bust area but slowly shifted colour throughout until it was a light purple near the sleeves.

“On time is ten minutes early, you know this. Javier and Julian were here ten minutes early.”

“Okay, but the suits look a lot easier to get into.” Cassandra added.

Julian and Javier were wearing simple black tuxedos. They looked nice, even if Julian was scratching his neck and looking as unsophisticated as you could wearing something like that.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Well, now that everyone’s here, I need to see what your skills in ballroom dancing are. How do you think you fare?”

“I know basically nothing.” Roxanne whispered.

“Ditto.” Cassandra added.

“Eh, I can teach you. Had to learn some shit with Luca a few years back. Pretty sure it’s stuck.”

“Pretty sure?” Freyja asked.

“Look lady, I got the black suit on, okay? It’ll come back to me.”

“Your suit is actually a dark midnight blue. Clearly you don’t have an eye for these things.”

“Hey, I just got another one of those!” Julian said, showing off his glass eye. Freyja didn’t appreciate the joke.

“Just go to your partner.”

Julian went to Cassandra, and Javier went to Willow. Kazumi approached Roxanne, gave a slight bow, and extended her hand.

“May I?”

“Wait, really?”

“It’s just practice, think nothing of it. Please.”

Freyja started the music, a classical piano piece with some subtle violins in the background, the one everyone knew from every ballroom scene in every ballroom movie ever. Roxanne was honestly surprised it was something royalty actually used.

When the music began to sway, Javier tried stepping to the side with a flourish, and Willow tried doing the same, only for the steps to become out of sync and Javier to end up slipping.

“Your posture’s off.” Julian said calmly next to him. The routine him and Cassandra were doing was wonky, sure. But any issues came from Cassandra, he himself was doing great.

“You have your hand too far in the centre of her back. You just gotta put it at the edge of her back, like what I’m doing.”

Javier did as instructed, and Willow was just slightly to the left of him.

“Okay, now try to sync up with some small steps. Imagine a small square in the centre of the two of you and make a one, two, three beat in your mind as you step around it.”

It was a slightly hard adjustment, but after a short while the two were in sync.

“Once you got the beat down you can be more elaborate, like so.”

Julian started to move in more of a circular motion, with Cassandra managing to stay in tune relatively easily. They were eventually swaying in a perfect rhythm, akin to the waves of Vannana crashing against the edge of the grand. Willow and Javier were eventually moving in a circular motion, albeit with less flair than Julian and Cassandra.

“You actually know a thing or two.” Freyja said with a smile. A genuine smile. It was small, but it was something. Julian was surprised her face remembered how to do that.

Roxanne was silently following Julian’s instructions under Kazumi. Kazumi didn’t seem to be as knowledgeable as Julian, but she was managing without any issues. The two of them were also moving in a circle before Roxanne knew it.

“Okay, I think that can conclude our training.” Freyja said, turning off the music. “Julian, I apologize for my assumptions you were uncouth, and I thank you for the instructions.”

“You know, I do take payments.” Julian replied with a point and a finger snap. “Like being allowed to wear my hat without you bitching at me.”

“Absolutely not.” She replied flatly, her face returning to her neutral frown.

“Hey now, what’s wrong with hats?”

Freyja’s frown deepened once she heard that voice, reluctantly turning around to meet Zach Fullsteel.

“I don’t feel the need to explain dress codes to a fifty-year-old man.” She replied, slowly looking him up and down. Just wearing a worn-out grey t-shirt and black jeans.

“Relax, I brought a suit. If you just show the wife and I our room, we’ll unpack ourselves while you and Mia do whatever it is you do.”

“Wait, Mia’s arrived!? And I wasn’t there for it?”

“Dining room.” Zach replied, to which Freyja ran to the room, with the kids following her.

Freyja ran into the room, where Mia, Sylvestro, and Fen Hou were all waiting, alongside Mia and Sylvestro’s husbands, and Fen Hou’s and Zach’s wives.

“Oh, everyone!” She said, eyes fixed on Mia. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t be here for your arrivals, for I was…”

“It’s quite alright.” Mia said calmly, wearing a casual red blazer with a white t-shirt underneath and a brown skirt. Sylvestro was wearing a white button up shirt with blue vertical stripes, and Fen Hou was wearing a deep blue suit. And all were sharing a teapot provided by a servant.

“The tea is excellent, as per usual.” Mia said calmly.

“As should be expected!” Freyja replied quickly.

The kids all saw this display, and how Freyja acted much, much nicer to Mia than anyone else.

“Hey, Willow, is your mom…secretly gay?” Julian asked.

“I don’t think so.” Willow said with a head shake. “But the relationship is about as close as it gets.”

“Well, now that we have so many here, I think I’ll be able to prepare dinner! If you can give me and the help a few hours, we’ll prepare the best feast you’ve ever had!”