Dazien Wayland [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczPUczPMVE4Uh0OBM0h0OjqCOcDg4v3yW1Bz_iLZAk1cGPl5cyuHjr01WEIHwbtwgGKP4XuAzDvdj-KNmWQUWM34ZUv0Zq5NFGHuIFKoFuvka1XFks64CmjVIBBCD0NVks_5YREiNoOKG2CrzVTNjgVY=w639-h958-s-no-gm?authuser=0]
“Breathe, Princess.”
“I don’t need to breathe, Rayna.”
“And I don’t need you mentally hyperventilating and passing out on us before we even leave,” the bard retorted as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“She’ll be fine,” Saiya interjected as she clung to her arm for comfort and support, “As soon as we get there, she’ll see it’s not as bad as she keeps thinking it will be.”
“You know I’m right here and can hear you, right?”
“Good. Now stop fretting, and let’s go admire the boys,” Saiya said with a grin.
They were all dressed for the soiree, all of them having agreed to match with their unofficial kingdom colors of black, gold, and purple. Rayna’s suit was mostly black with gold embroidery, while Saiya’s dress reflected the opposite, and both of them had rich purple scarves draped over their shoulders. Phoenix meanwhile wore mostly purple with black and gold beadwork covering it like stars, Patricia insisting once again that her Soul Mark be displayed prominently, but she had managed to secure a shawl as well, the shimmery gold fabric sparkling from her own semi-natural glow.
Saiya had been right in thinking their men deserved admiration. Both had cleaned up very well, and they were wearing nice suits in the local style. While Dazien wore a dark purple and looked excited, Uriel wore his usual black and looked uncertain, a match for her own feelings on the matter. It was only a few minutes later that a magical carriage made of opaque glass and steel hovered over the street to stop in front of their group.
Polissa Teras, along with Mohala, opened the door to allow them entrance and greeted Phoenix with the confident smile she remembered from their first meeting. Po had insisted that they all ride together to the party, making it clear to everyone and anyone that Phoenix had agreed to be her date. Phoenix wasn’t quite sure about accepting the temporary claim on her, but when Patricia pointed out that it would likely keep too many others from approaching her, at least for the night, she let it go.
Phoenix found herself immediately wanting her own carriage as they climbed inside. It was much warmer than she had expected from the cold evening outside and filled with a pleasant scent. She found herself once again in awe of what magic replaced tech for compared to her old world. It was usually the little things that magic made more convenient which caught her attention the most, but she had to admit she hadn’t seen much of the world yet.
The group fell into cheerful conversation and soon arrived at the Duke’s Palace, the largest skyscraper in the entire city placed in the very center of it.
Entering the party was all the pomp and circumstance that Phoenix had expected it would be. Each pair that showed up was announced to the occupants already present in the grand ballroom, which was so large that it put her Noble Reveal to shame. The whole floor of the building was dedicated to the space, and the vast three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the city through the floor-to-ceiling windows was a statement all on its own.
Phoenix felt the tension release from her shoulders as she realized they wouldn’t be dancing right away as people mingled and drank colorful, bubbly alcohol from tall, thin glasses. Polissa kept the conversation with her going as the summoner handed her one of the glasses she had snagged from a passing waiter that was filled with a bright red liquid.
Before Phoenix could even lift it to her lips, however, Uriel had swapped it with a blue one he was holding instead, “Here, Princess, trust me when I say you’ll prefer the sweetness of the blue to the spice of the red.”
He lifted his own glass politely towards Po and nodded. Polissa slightly blushed as she nodded in return, “Thank you for the forethought, Mister Karislian. You’ll have to tell me more about your preferences… Princess,” she said with an impish grin.
It took all of her willpower to hold back the groan of her latching onto the ridiculous nickname, and instead, she politely said, “I’m an open book to anyone who asks.”
“Is that so? Well, I guess I’ll have to ask everything,” Polissa said as the group all moved to find a table and mingle.
When the dancing started, Phoenix did exactly as Dazien had suggested and let Polissa lead. Thankfully, she had been able to bring her dancing skills up to snuff quickly enough not to make a complete fool of herself, but she only did it a few times before claiming her quota had been met.
Her friends had been the biggest factor in helping her learn to relax and enjoy the merry atmosphere, surrounded by music, drinking, and laughter. It was a couple of hours later when the drink had started to take a much more prominent effect, and things started to go wrong.
She was chatting with Polissa and Saiya at one of the tables they had claimed for their group when she noticed Dazien talking with a group of young people that she actually recognized as part of the clique that used to hang around him at the Temple of the Warrior.
Uriel was standing slightly behind him as usual, even partaking in some of the conversation, this time with the other nobles. They seemed surprised but pleased that he was finally talking with them and saw it as a sign that perhaps Dazien accepted them as different from Murinah and Franz, who had made them more estranged.
It was when another cinderen boy she didn’t recognize came up to the group that the conversation seemed to take a turn for the worse. He was a Sapphire Caster, but his aura was suffused with the tainted feeling of Monster Seeds. He also seemed a bit intoxicated as he walked up to Dazien and said loud enough for even her group to hear, “Well if it isn’t the pretty Wayland charity case.”
For his part, Dazien gave a respectful tilt of his head as he responded politely, “Noble Kanthis. How good to see you made it to the soiree,” then added with an evil smirk, “I’ve been meaning to ask how your mother has been doing during the investigation into siding with House Ruwena.”
“Doing better than you will be if you speak of her again, you polished turd,” the boy replied with a snarl, “I bet your parents couldn’t abide having such uncouth spawn that they abandoned you the first chance they got.”
Dazien’s smile never faltered as he said calmly, “My parents died during the last blood moon, much like many of your family members during this one,” then he twisted the dagger of his words as he pointed out, “Mine, however, were captured and killed by cultists while defending people from monsters, but yours were the monsters that joined some cultists.”
The boy’s face contorted in anger as he spat, “You speak of monsters, but you keep one in your shadow.”
This time, the smile did fall from her brother’s face as he spoke with cold sobriety, “I warn you now, Noble Kanthis, tread carefully with your next words. While you may try to impugn my honor, I will not tolerate the same efforts levied at my family or friends.”
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“You call that thing a friend?” the noble cinderen said with disdain, then scoffed, “It’s more like a pet. A collared beast on a leash. I bet he even begs for—” The words were interrupted as a fist met the boy’s jaw and sent him crashing into the marble floor.
The controlled wrath evident in both his expression and aura made the Warrior King appear to tower over the other man as he said with what Phoenix recognized now as his magically empowered Royal Voice, “I gave you fair warning. If you wish to continue, I will meet you on the roof for a duel you won’t leave alive.”
Kanthis looked up in thinly veiled terror as he clutched his cheek in one hand and yelled back, “You’re as much of a beast as your pet is!”
Dazien seemed to almost flex with his aura as he crushed the inebriated noble’s own into nothing. He then warned with a feral grin that Phoenix had never seen before, and it sent a shiver down her own spine, “Oh, I promise you, I can be much worse than a simple beast to those who defy me.”
“Daze, that’s enough,” Uriel said, placing a hand on his partner’s shoulder, “He’s not worth your time or attention.”
The party leader retracted his aura back into its polite sphere as he seemed to shake off the intense visage of a lion about to pounce, “You’re right,” he said, then walked back over to their table. Many eyes followed him as he addressed Phoenix with a regretful smile, “Sorry, Sister, but I think I’ll take my leave for the night.”
He pointedly glanced around the room as he said, “There are less honorable people here than I had been hoping to find. I’ll see you at home later before we go visit the temples tomorrow. It’s been a while since I’ve met with Warrior, but you know how busy we’ve been. Do you mind giving us a quick portal back to the Sacred City?”
She nodded in agreement and watched with a frown as Dazien left with Uriel dutifully following behind him through the portal she conjured right there in the ballroom before quickly closing it behind them.
“Oh, he is good,” Polissa said from the seat next to her.
“What do you mean?” she asked in confusion.
“That little monologue at the end there,” she started to explain with a gesture to where the altercation had occurred, “He basically placed himself as more honorable, well connected, and divinely favored than almost every other noble here. Nobody can really challenge the position either since they are well aware of their involvement, or lack thereof, in the little test Noble Kanthis provided.”
“Wait, what?”
“Wow, you really don’t do politics, do you?” Po said with a skeptical look towards her.
She returned the look with her own exasperated one, “Why would anyone want to do politics?”
“Well, most of the people watching could have stopped Kanthis from making a fool of himself or stopped him from confronting your brother in the first place. So they are complicit, if only peripherally, in the confrontation. Dazien called them out for it with that little statement about honor. There’s not much place for honor in politics, really, only when it comes to keeping one’s word. But Dazien there even went so far as to warn Kanthis before striking him, which upholds his honor, if only barely.
“Then he reminded everyone about who his new family was by addressing you directly and talking about your shared home and future plans together. He also reminded everyone that, before you showed up, he was the one considered favored by a god, with Warrior checking in on his training. This puts him almost on par with you, or at least someone like you, who’s backed by divinity without actually being clergy. I wonder why Warrior doesn’t mark him as one of the Chosen, now that I think about it. Finally, he pointed out that all of you have been busy fighting monsters on the wall, taking out cannibal cultists, and saving our city from annihilation repeatedly.”
Phoenix stared at her date with wide eyes as she sputtered, “He did all that with what? Five sentences?”
“Yup,” the summoner confirmed with a nod, “That’s why I said he was good. While his Talent might be considered a bit of a cheat, I won’t deny his capability with speech. It’s probably a good thing to keep him as your party leader.”
“I’m not planning on replacing any of my teammates,” Phoenix said, crossing her arms defiantly.
“I’m glad; they’re a good team that will hopefully keep you safe while fighting out on the tundra. The blood moon might be over, but there will still be some monsters to fight,” the suave woman said, then grinned and asked with a hand outstretched for her to take, “For tonight, shall we dance?”
----------------------------------------
Phoenix was feeling rather relaxed as the party was winding down, and their group started to break off to return home, which she would provide a portal for, or go to various after-parties, which she believed Mohala and Rayna disappeared to. The city was still wide awake despite the late hour, and the streets were abuzz with celebratory energy.
She was walking down the hall with Polissa towards the entrance that would lead to the street where Po’s carriage awaited, and Phoenix planned to portal back to the World Tree, where the rest of her friends were likely waiting for her return.
“I’m glad you agreed to join me, Phoenix,” Polissa said, breaking her from her internal musings with the sound of her name. “I’ve been hoping for this since the day I saw you,” she said in a sultry tone that Phoenix recognized from movies but had never actually heard in real life.
It was the tone that came on right before the sections she had mostly ignored or would fast-forward through. Now, she was deeply regretting those choices as her mind panicked in search of the proper response. She falteringly managed to say, “I, um… thanks?”
Po raised an eyebrow at her and asked, “Did you enjoy tonight as well?”
“Yes, aside from that drunk noble insulting Daze and Uriel,” she admitted, “And aside from the anxiety of dancing. I don’t think I’m really cut out for that kind of atmosphere.”
She contemplated more on the night, “Watching Rayna and Mo dance from our table was much more fun than being out there myself and worrying about running into someone and tripping. The food and drink were good… though Uriel does cook better, I think, but maybe that’s ‘cause he’s learned what I like? Oh, and the music was pretty great, too, but it could still really use some electric guitar. I think Saiya’s been playing around with ideas for that, but I’ll need to ask.”
Phoenix paused when she realized that Po had slowed in their walking and turned slightly to ask, “Is something wrong?”
Polissa’s nose wrinkled as she quietly asked, “Did you enjoy any of the time spent with me, though?”
Her eyes went wide as she realized she must have messed up and thought back to everything that she had done with Po specifically. They had danced quite a bit since Phoenix had a really hard time telling her no when she seemed to like it so much. They had talked about random things but nothing especially interesting to her.
She had enjoyed the time together overall, but she was more than ready to go back home, collapse in her bed, and snuggle with Tala and a book. Maybe she’d stop by Uriel’s room and see if he had managed to make more cookies since his recent muffin spree.
“I mean, it was nice?” she said uncertainly, and the frown that showed on Polissa’s face told her that wasn’t the right response.
Po stopped moving completely as she got a sad smile and gently said, “Mohala mentioned you might be heartbound and that it would take time for you to potentially develop romantic feelings for me… Rayna said it might not ever happen, and you might be what the dryads called veilborne. While I won’t hold that against you, I think I realize now that the uncertainty is… heartbreaking in its own way for me.”
Phoenix frowned but wasn’t sure what to say to help. She couldn’t force her feelings to be a certain way. She could pretend her feelings were different, but that lie would likely hurt both of them even worse.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, “I told Mo and Ray that I would try, but… I just don’t feel anything other than friendship for you. While that could change, I can’t promise that it will.”
Polissa nodded and gave a deep sigh, “Well, I had fun tonight, at least. I don’t think I can keep doing this again, though. It… I can live with just being friends if that’s all you can offer, but I think I’m going to keep looking for someone who wants more than that with me.”
“I’m sorry,” she found herself repeating, unsure what else she could possibly say that wouldn’t make things worse.
“It’s not your fault, Starlight. Whether heartbound or veilborne, it’s just another part of who you are and just means we’re not compatible like I hoped. It’s nothing to be sorry for. It’s just how it is.”
Silence fell for a brief moment as the finality of that statement settled what their relationship would be. Phoenix gave a soft smile as all the nerves she had been feeling dissipated, “Thanks, Po.”
“For what?”
“Being a great friend.”