After the meeting in his father's office, Christopher spent the last week preparing for his birthday, choosing clothing, checking out and decorating the Turos Castle's ballroom that the marquess kindly let them borrow for the occasion, and performing many other necessary preparations.
He obviously wasn't very keen on doing all of this for a party he judged he wouldn't even enjoy, but all the work was useful for keeping his mind busy and not thinking about the scraps of a conversation between Nathaniel and the Merchant Organisation's representative.
And after this very busy week and a whole day of walking around making last-minute checks, Christopher Urso now found himself in a beautiful ballroom filled with a couple dozen people of all ages, all of them here to "celebrate" his birthday.
"Well, how's our star doing this fine evening?" A male voice asked Chris as a pale and skinny hand started patting him from behind, slightly messing up his wig.
Chris turned on his heel, looked up, and immediately bowed down. "Good evening marquess Coliver. Forgive me for not greeting You earlier." He apologised while looking at the ground.
The marquess of Turos, Arlo Coliver, was a tall, pale and skinny man, although his voice was rather pleasant to the ear, seemingly coming from another person. He was on relatively good terms with the Urso family, and was one of the sponsors of the Company, so Christopher has met him before.
"Oh please, stop with the formalities! besides, is this not a party in Your name, mister Urso? Come on, stand up like a man! I want You to meet someone." Having said that, the marquess moved back and to the left a bit, putting before Chris a young lady in an emerald-green dress with green and white gems sewn into it, perfectly fitting her dark, reddish hair.
"So, my end has begun." Chris thought to himself, realising that now all the young ladies attending and their fathers will flood him with marriage proposals.
The marquess continued speaking, now from behind the small figure in front of him. "Dear Christopher, I would like you to meet my daughter, Maia. She is slightly younger than You, and given the relationship that I share with Your father, I decided you two have to meet. And what better time than this!"
The girl in question curtsied before him, slightly bowing her head and closing her eyes, and returned to her faultless posture.
"Good evening mister Urso." She said, looking Chris straight in the eye. He couldn't tell if she came here of her own volition, or if her father forced her to attend.
"Good evening to You too, miss Coliver. It is a pleasure to meet You". Christopher responded, in the most eloquent way he could come up with.
"Well then mister Urso... no, can I please call You Christopher? You can obviously call me Maia." She said, ever so slightly lifting the corners of her mouth.
This didn't go unnoticed by Chris, who concluded that she was one of the (presumably few) women who came here on their own. Of course, this could be just acting on her part, but he should at least pretend he believes her to be sincere.
"I see no problem, miss Maia."
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"just Maia is fine, please." She responded, now with a small, polite smile showing on her face.
At that moment the musicians gave a sign that the dancing will soon begin and attendees should start forming pairs. Chris wanted to quietly escape the spotlight, but he remembered his father telling him to at least do the first dance. Quickly, he decided that there's no reason to spend time choosing a partner he didn't even know, when there's one just beside him.
"Then, lady Maia, could I ask You for a dance?" He asked.
"Again, please call me Maia." She replied, still smiling, reaching out her hand.
Chris couldn't help but also smile ever so slightly while grabbing her hand and leading her towards the parquet.
"I'll be in Your care." Maia said, as the musicians started playing.
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After a lot more talking with ladies of various ages and their parents, Christopher was finally free to enjoy "the most glorious day of his life". Luckily for him, after the dance with the marquess' daughter, everyone else's enthusiasm about making marriage proposals to Chris decreased, making the conversations easier to handle for him.
He was eating at the buffet enjoying a frosted cake, when Maia Coliver came up to him once again.
"Christopher, could I have a chat with you?" She asked him. "In private, if possible."
"Oh yes, of course," He responded, and quickly finished his snack, "I believe there will be less people in the garden. Let's go."
It was already getting dark outside when they entered the castle garden.
Although the Turos Castle was called a castle, it was more similar to a fortified palace or a mansion than a fortress. It served as an important defense point in the distant past, but since the Human Empire had good relations with the Red Mountain Kingdom, there was no point in maintaining fortifications here, and along with trade came money and luxuries, slowly transforming it into it's current, more extravagant form.
Since Maia lived here every day, she was the one leading the two of them around the garden, choosing a path that had as little bystanders as possible.
"Well then, lady Maia, what did You want to talk about?" Chris started the conversation.
Maia sighed deeply and responded: "I told you, please call me Maia. Our parents are working very closely, and soon so will we. Both my father and I believe that we should create a personal relationship as early as possible."
Chris pondered for a second, and said "Okay then... Maia. So, what do you want to talk about again?"
The young lady looked around, checking if there was anyone nearby who could hear them, and started talking.
"Do you remember the man from the Merchant Organisation who visited your father a week ago?"
"How do you know about that?" Chris asked.
He came straight to my father after that. He was infuriated, they weren't even discussing. It was just that fat man yelling at my dad."
"Okay, but... why are you telling me this?" Asked Chris.
After a moment of hesitation, she said to him "I overheard him saying something about your father, something about-" she showed Christopher to lower his head -"the Rebels." She whispered into his ear.
"The Rebels? Never heard of them. Are they a group of mercenaries or something?" Chris asked, dumbfounded.
"What? No, they are rebels! fighting against the Empire! I heard you traveled half a world with your father's Trading Company, how could you not have heard of them?" Maia answered, even more perplexed than Chris.
"Well, I have never seen anyone showing animosity towards the Empire or the crown."
"Yes, because it's punishable by death! How can you be so unaware of the political world? Your father is one of the most Important characters on the political scene in the northeastern part of the continent!" She lashed out at the boy, drawing the attention of some people around them.
"Oh, um, let's go, before things get..." she said, flustered, looking at the commotion she caused, "...unpleasant."