How I Met Hena Chakelithp

Chapter 18. Sedalhil's Spiteful Shenanigans

The crowd watched the back door as Varnith and Pemlon came out of it and walked down the aisle, arm in arm. Varnith was wearing a yellow silk dress, the groom, Pemlon, a neat black suit. They stopped in front of the arch, turned to face each other, and joined hands.
The priestess spoke.
"Do you, Pemlon Baomi, from this day forth, promise to love and cherish Varnith Hish, through good times and bad, in sickness and in health, to be her husband and companion for all eternity?"
Pemlon spoke, looking straight into Varnith's eyes. "I, Pemlon Baomi, from this day forth, promise to love and cherish Varnith Hish, through good times and bad, in sickness and in health, to be her husband and companion for all eternity."
"Do you, Varnith Hish, from this day forth, promise to love and cherish Pemlon Baomi, through good times and bad, in sickness and in health, to be his wife and companion for all eternity?"
"I, Varnith Hish, from this day forth, promise to love and cherish Pemlon Baomi, through good times and bad, in sickness and in health, to be his wife and companion for all eternity."
"Do you, Pemlon Baomi, take Varnith Hish to be your wife, forever and always, until death do you part?"
"I do," said Pemlon.
"Do you, Varnith Hish, take Pemlon Baomi to be your husband, forever and always, until death do you part?"
"I do," said Varnith.
"Then, from this day forth, you shall be together, blessed by the sisters Valiara and Aravis, in a bond of love that lasts a lifetime," said the priestess. "I now pronounce you husband and wife!"
There was a great cheer from the crowd.
"Let the festivities begin!" said the priestess.
Everyone rose from their seats. The band started playing a lively tune fit for dancing. Cherry wine was poured. Food was eaten. Hands clapped. Smiles were smiled. Every couple joined hands and pranced around, Varnith and Pemlon in the center of it all. Aranee was dancing with a boy I didn't know. He was had shoulder-length dark brown hair, a handsome, angular face, and the kind of figure that you get after working on a farm day after day. He and Aranee looked very fine together.
I didn't have anyone to dance with. By the looks of it, neither did Hena. She was looking around for any boy who was alone, but to no avail. My eyes searched for Sedalhil, secretly hoping she hadn't found a partner either. I finally saw her opposite the band, but... she had found a partner. And--oh, horrors--it was the one person in the entire party that I didn't want her to dance with.
It was Arvern.
And there she was, standing in front of him, holding out her hand and simpering at him. Sweet, kind Arvern, who I would have given anything to have ask me to dance. He looked around, unsure, and I thought I saw his eyes graze mine as he searched for someone else to dance with. At least he didn't like the thought of dancing with her. But he took her hand and they flew across the dance floor. Pritz. They were both really good dancers. Sedalhil appeared to be keeping a very  firm grip on Arvern's hand and shoulder. She stared at Arvern's face with something like intent, except more...forceful. I was liking her less and less every second. Arvern seemed to be having difficulty holding her gaze. I sat alone, slouching, arms crossed with spite.
"Srarori," said a voice, and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I jumped. I turned to see Dev, Arvern's friend who ran the food cart, behind me. He looked like he would rather be somewhere else, but I assumed he had asked me as a last resort because there was no one else to dance with. I took a deep breath.
"Sure," I sighed, and took his hand. It was very sweaty. We moved slowly, in short intervals. Neither of us was a good dancer, so our movements were chunky. It was unpleasant. Dev seemed to feel the same way.
We were still moving slowly. Our dancing wasn't getting any better, in fact it seemed to be getting worse as the two of us both realized that the experience was far from enjoyable. It was indeed getting worse. We fell out of sync, causing us to bump into each other at awkward moments and making it harder to narrowly avoid mishaps, until finally it happened.
I tripped on a foot which Sedalhil put out as we passed.
Yes, Sedalhil.
We fell to the ground and my skirt flew up in the air.

The whole crowd could see my underwear. To make matters worse, I had fallen bang on top of Dev. He was only slightly cleaner than usual and I did rather dislike him. I could feel my cheeks and forehead turning beet-red. Everyone stared at us, including Sedalhil and Arvern. Arvern had hidden his face in his hands. Sedalhil smirked at us, arms crossed, one side of her mouth raised.

I scrambled up in an effort to run for it, but I tripped on Dev's leg and fell down again. Even worse, my shoe came off and flew into the air, along with some dirt I had kicked up, and it landed on my head, messing up my smooth, shiny hair and leaving a scrape on my scalp. Needless to say, I was having a bad day.
But then, someone stepped into the wide area we had cleared and held her hand out to help me up. I looked up to see Hena, giving me a soft smile. I took her hand, which was far less sweaty than Dev's, and got up with her help.
"Come on, Srarori," she said. "Let's go."
I walked away, turning my back to the crowd of people, some laughing, some as embarrassed as I was. I took one last look at Dev, who was scowling at me as though it was my fault. I turned my head with what I hoped was a neutral expression and walked away with Hena.
We sat on the front steps, where no one was looking, for a while, talking about nothing in particular. Hena seemed to sense that I didn't want to talk about what had just happened. But at the last minute, as everyone was getting ready to leave, Arvern came up to us as we were getting our coats.
"Srarori..." he said, rubbing his left arm with his right. "I just wanted to tell you..."
"Tell me what?" I snapped. I was so horribly ashamed that I wasn't paying attention to my tone.
"Sedalhil's a nightmare," Arvern said.
"Heplimah knows that's true," I said hostilely, avoiding eye contact.
"I saw her trip you."
"Good."
"Just wanted to tell you... I didn't like dancing with her or talking to her one bit."
Could he tell that I didn't like him dancing with her either? Was this some form of apology? Was he telling me because he fancied me too?
"Thanks, I guess," I said. "I'm sorry I snapped at you."
"No problem," Arvern said.
And Hena and I walked out the door.