Strength In Our Bonds (The Strength in Generations Accompanying Book)

Leviesse The Princess

Laguna decided, since his daughter didn't have a substantial amount of friends in their homeland of Esthar, Leviesse should have her sixteenth birthday party in Balamb where her cousin and niece were; she got along well with them, at least. Not to mention, Leiria had just moved to the city, and Spencer-Lynn had mentioned her having a hard time adjusting to the big city. This was good. This was all very good.

"Dad! Dad, look at this!" Leviesse hurried to his study, where he was writing out plans for the celebrations, waving a magazine around. "Look what I found."

Laguna smiled, and beckoned for his daughter to sit beside him. "What is this, Levi?"

"I was thinking we could have my party at the Esthar Cotillion Hall," replied Leviesse, pointing to a picture on the magazine she'd brought in. "They'll take care of everything if we just tell them what we want. It's part of a package thing!"

"Actually, Levi, your mother and I had a talk about this." Laguna turned to her, crossing his legs. "We think it'll be best to have your party in Balamb."

"Balamb? You want me to have my sixteenth birthday party- perhaps one of the most important occurrences of my life to date- in a backwater town like Balamb?!" Leviesse's eyes were watering. "What did I do to make you hate me, Dad?"

Laguna was taken aback. "Levi, don't, no crying! I'm sorry! Look, if it'll make you happy, I... I'll talk to your mom and try to convince her to move it back here, all right?"

Leviesse smiled. "That will do."

"No, the fuck it won't." Maceida walked into the room. "Laguna, the girl is 15. How are you letting her manipulate you like that?"

"Eh..." Laguna rubbed his neck nervously.

"Leviesse, your party is being held at the Old Balamb Courtyard, and no amount of your bitching will change that," Maceida continued. "Plus, even if we wanted to, you wouldn't be able to have your party at the cotillion hall. After you got excommunicated, it's been impossible for your father and I to book that place for anything."

"Oh..." Leviesse looked away.

"Yeah, so it's all your fucking fault anyway." Maceida sighed. "Leviesse, you're such an intelligent, beautiful girl, but I swear you're gonna have me going gray before I'm 40 with the shit you do."

"I'm sorry, Mum." Leviesse looked down in shame.

"No use crying over spilt milk." Maceida sat on Leviesse's other side and put an arm around her. "Old Balamb is beautiful, and I think you'll like the venue a lot. Laguna, have you shown her the pictures yet?"

"Oh! The pictures..." Laguna looked through all the papers he had until he found the brochure. "Have a look!"

"It has a courtyard!" Leviesse gasped, and swooned at the sight of the banquet hall's courtyard, which had an amazing view of the sea. "It's beautiful!"

"I told you." Maceida smirked.

"Well, I guess that since we can't have the cotillion hall, this will do." Leviesse shrugged, trying to not reveal how excited she was.

"Yay!" Laguna grinned. "I'll go ahead and confirm our reservation, then. Get excited, Levi! After all, you only turn sixteen once."

~ * ~

"Hi, Raine!" Leviesse hugged her niece tightly; it felt like it had been ages since they'd last seen each other. "How have you been? How is Rinny? Good, I hope."

Raine was used to Leviesse asking about her mother and not her father. Honestly, she'd have been surprised if she'd included Squall. "Mom's great," she replied.