Dancing in the Rain

II.b

"Now, this is a simple print that has a nice feel of elegance to it. Notice the embroidered design? It's cheaper than the others and could be a nice accent to the color scheme we've already chosen."

"It's lovely," I replied, trying to sound engaged. "We'll keep it among our top contenders."

"Perfect!" She moved the small square sample into the pile on her left.

After two hours of reviewing tablecloths with the wedding planner, my head was aching and my legs were getting restless. We'd looked at what felt like hundreds of samples, organizing them into various piles on the large table in front of us. I never knew that something as simple as tablecloths could take so long to decide upon. After choosing a theme, our main colors, the guest list, the invitations, the cake, and the food, I was surprised that we still had more to plan. The wedding was just in three weeks, though, so we had to settle all of the nit-picky details as soon as possible.

I sighed, wondering how much longer this was going to last.

As if she had read my mind, the wedding planner looked up from her binder. "Okay, that was the last of the tablecloth samples I had for today," she said. "But if we had time, we might want to go over the centerpieces..."

"No, no, that's okay!" I said quickly, interrupting her before we could start on another project. "We can do centerpieces another time."

"Of course, Miss," the planner said as she began to gather her things.

"Thanks for your help!" I called out as she left the room, not wanting to seem rude.

But as soon as she was gone, I let out a contented sigh of relief. I rolled out my neck, stretched out my arms a bit, and got out of my chair. I had maybe two hours or so until dinner began. Perhaps I'd go on a walk, to think things through for a bit before I had to go back and work on my speech for the Report.

I made my way to the gardens, looking forward to some peace and quiet. But I didn't get so far as to the end of the hallway before someone was calling my name.

"Lady America! Excuse me, miss, do you have a moment?"

I groaned internally, yet set my expression to a smile as I turned around. "Yes, what is it that needs my attention?"

The councilmen who'd called my name took my arm as he dragged me along, taking me towards the meeting rooms on the floor. "We're having a disagreement about this caste elimination program, and we were wondering if you could help us out."

"Of course," I said, this time my smile less forced. "I'd be happy to help." While I was sad that I missed my opportunity for a bit of relaxation, I was glad that the advisors were looking towards me for advice. Not only did it show that they were beginning to trust me, but it also allowed me to make sure that the program kept in mind the needs and feelings of the lower castes.

The councilman brought me into a conference room, where the advisors were exchanging terse words with each other around a table.

"Hello, I heard that you were having some troubles with the caste elimination program?" I asked as I made my way towards the front of the room.

The conversations immediately ceased, and it was quiet for a moment until one man spoke up.

"Yes, just a little bit, Miss," he said. "We were just unsure as to whether the palace would be providing any extra aid or services to the Eights during this transition."

"Ah, of course," I replied. "We'd like to make this transition as smooth as possible. We're merging the Eights into the Sevens, so maybe we could set up a program that could help Eights look for jobs. The food services that Maxon- I mean His Majesty-" I stuttered for a second. "-set up a couple of months ago are already a great start. Keep thinking along those lines. Providing any necessities that these families struggle to get is a good start." I paused as the room of advisors stared at me. Assuming they wanted me to go on, I continued.

"Let's see...clothing is another big issue. Right now its still summertime, but when it gets colder, many don't have warm enough coats or blankets." I turned to the board behind me, picked up a marker, and wrote down "Clothing". Facing the advisors again, I asked, "How could we work to fix this?"