Can You See Me? (A Loki FanFiction)

Chapter Sixteen

The next few weeks went by in a blur as the palace prepared for the big event, until at last, the day of the ball had finally arrived. Jane had spent the last few days attempting to teach me to dance, and how to walk in a new pair of ridiculous high heels she had bought me. I hated every second of it, and nearly broke my ankle multiple times. How she expected me to walk, let alone dance, was a mystery to me. But still, I tolerated it, and by the time Odin's birthday had arrived, Jane had deemed that my dancing skills were presentable enough, although I still wasn't sure myself.

Obviously, being one of the most important days of the year, everything had been cancelled for the day, meaning that I had no training, no chores, and no errands to run. While Thor helped do some heavy lifting in the grand hall, or whatever it was that Gods of Thunder did, I stayed with Jane in her chambers as we prepared for the ball that night. After a few more hours of dance lessons and making sure I wouldn't twist my ankle in my shoes, Jane insisted that she become my personal maid. I was a little apprehensive at first, after all, it should have been me waiting on her, but she was not taking no for an answer, and forced me to sit in the chair in front of the vast mirror in her chamber. I was still in my plain squire clothes and hadn't even bothered to brush my hair that morning, simply tying it back in a long braid.

Standing behind me in the mirror while I looked fearfully back at her, she placed her hands on my shoulders, observing me through squinted eyes.

"Now, Alva, what are we going to do with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you can't go to the ball looking like this, can you?" She answered, gesturing to my wrinkled clothes and tangled hair.

And so began the rigorous 'make-up session', as Jane put it. I had never thought her to be the most feminine of women, but I had never seen her as excited as she was now, laying out all of her cosmetics on the desk in front of me as I watched with a mixture of awe and terror.

After almost two agonizing hours, my eyelids were covered in a shimmery gold powder, my eyelashes were thicker and darker, and my cheeks were looking rosier than they ever had before. Gazing at myself in the mirror, I was amazed by the transformation. Perhaps my mind had been changed about the wearing of make-up. But undoubtedly, the majority of the time and effort had been spent on my hair. While it was naturally long and wavy, Jane decided to take it one step further and with a strange heated wand, had spent over an hour creating a mass of tumbling curls. As a finishing touch, she pinned the front section back from my face with a beautiful jewelled hair pin, matching the glittering gold of my eyelids.

As the sun began to set that evening, we were both finally ready when the guards arrived to escort us down to the grand hall. Jane even more beautiful than always in a pale lilac, satin gown and myself in the long-sleeved, gold lace dress she had picked out for me, we walked arm in arm down the long corridors to the hall, my nerves almost bubbling over with excitement.

Once there, I was not ready for the grandeur that I was faced with. The once dark and gloomy hall had been cleared of the long tables, and every single chandelier had been painstakingly lit, transforming it into a bright, golden spectacle. The marble floor had been newly polished, the banners of the house of Odin were flying, and the edges of the room were lined with small, cloth covered tables and chairs, while the centre was kept open for the dreaded dancing. It was obvious that hundreds of people would be attending, as the adjoining dance hall had also been cleared and decorated in the same fashion in order to accommodate for all of the guests.

Viewing all of this from the vast, open doorway, I was surprised to see that most of the guests had already arrived and, nervously smoothing down the front of my skirts, I followed Jane as she pulled me into the room.