Sacred Song, Mirror Water [Fairy Tail Fanfic]

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

After the ball

Jellal was finally feeling more relaxed now that the ball had ended. Everyone had left the main ballroom, and some guests were still escorted back to their accommodations or transported by the guards. There was staff bustling around and cleaning up, organising dirty glasses and plates and collecting leftover food. Jellal was happy to see that a particular person had hung around and was chatting to Dreyer with considerable vigour. Serana was talking to him as they assessed the small model made by the sculptor, and he slowly approached them to not disturb their discussion. Serana must have felt eyes on her, though, as she tilted herself back to her full height, drawing her attention away from the model she had been leaning over to examine.

Their eyes met, and she smiled. Jellal smiled back, and he could already feel his heart hammering in his chest. Dreyer noticed him and bowed his head respectfully before thanking Serana for her thoughts before he zipped off, heading somewhere else that Jellal ignored. Serana was the only thing he was currently interested in, and he hadn't had a chance to tell her how incredible she looked.

Those close to the King had noticed where his eyes were drawn all night. During most of the evening, he had been glancing at her from afar, even while conversing with people regarding Veruze. There had been people he hadn't seen since his formal coronation event, so it had been essential to catch up with them. Depending on the research his engineering team was doing, he may also need some funding to continue their research and eventually implement them on a large scale. He struggled to focus throughout the night and tended to ensure that Serana was always in his eye line. In his gaze towards her had been warmth and affection. The few times they had made eye contact throughout the night, nervous excitement had been evident. Coco had watched happily as they interacted a few times briefly, just sharing a smile for a moment.

As he walked over to her, he noticed a brief flash of colour on her cheeks as she smiled at him. From his left, a staff member appeared with a large plate of leftovers, mostly just finger food and tiny pastries, and someone else handed them a glass of water each, which Serana took for them wordlessly. He began walking out of the ballroom, Serana following behind silently until they came to a small sitting area just far enough away that most of the noise from the clean-up was hard to hear. It was dimly lit with candles, and Jellal laid the plate out on the coffee table, and they sat down on the soft lounge. He hadn't eaten enough throughout the night and was probably dehydrated, so it was a good idea to eat and drink something before he called it a night.

"How did everything go?" Serana asked softly, keeping her voice low since it was quiet now.

"I think it went well. We did get a lot of donations, so I'm pleased with the result. I'll probably find out how much it ended up being tomorrow. Were you talking to Dreyer about the model?" Jellal responded just as quietly.

"Mmm." She bit into a small quiche before she finished speaking. "He was telling me about the progress of the site. His friend and colleague is the curator, so he gave me all the inside information."

"Ahh, lucky you. Dreyer selects people he will talk to at length very carefully. He seems to have taken a shine to you." Jellal enjoyed a small pastry filled with some apples and custard after he spoke.

"I am glad to hear that I'm among the select few... I really enjoyed coming tonight, so thank you for inviting me." She smiled and took a sip of water.

"I'm pleased you had a good time. I knew you would appreciate the reason for the ball, and I thought you'd like seeing all the different historical research and the people working on them talking about it." Jellal breathed as if he was going to speak, but he couldn't quite get his head around how to say what he wanted.