Fire and Ice

First Dance

I quickly looked away from his mesmerizing stare and turned my attention to the crowd.
I felt the blood rush to my cheeks once more as I thought about the prince's stare again.

Why would he be looking at me? My entrance wasn't that grand.

I calmed down and looked around at everyone that was present at this event. Well, to the best of my abilities, I could still feel his gaze from above. It was intimidating yet calming. . . it was weird.

Everyone on that crowded the first floor were either dancing or talking. The orchestra played elegant music for the partners twirling in the center of the room.
Sylvia had already disappeared in the crowd to the point where I couldn't see her anymore.

I couldn't really recognize anyone really. Even if I did knew them everyone had fancy masks on making it really hard to find anyone I really knew.

"Excuse me."

I look down to find who said that and if they were even talking to me.

And sure enough, someone was talking to me. A little girl with short golden hair pulled into two pony tails was standing next to me. She looked up at me with her bright hazel eyes and nervously asked,
"Princess? This is for you!" She said holding up a red fan.

"For me?" I said gently taking the fan from her.

"Yes, a gift!" She said smiling.

"Are you-" I started to say but never could finish. She had scampered away before I could ask if it was truly for me. . . or even her name.

I looked at the front of the fan I was given. It was a scarlet fan with golden edges. It looked very expensive.
I wonder who it's from?

I examine the whole thing to see if there was any type of clue of it original owner.

Then something caught my eye.

On the corner of the back of the fan was written very small in black ink the name 'Storm' .

Instantly I knew it must be from the Prince.

I look up at the balcony where the other royals sat to get a quick gimps at Storm.
But when I look up where the Prince was sitting. . . his chair was empty.
Where did he go?

"Thank you for wearing my rose, Princess."

Those words were spoken so close to me in a smooth and rich tone that startled me quite a bit.

I quickly turned to see a young man with dark Raven colored hair and a navy mask which was only a few inches from my face.

It was Storm.

I wanted to say his name but the only action I was able to produce was mouthing his name.

Right when he saw this he smirked and nodded.

"Would you like to dance, Princess Nashi?" He said holding out his hand and bowing, not breaking eye contact with me.

Without thinking I slowly nodded and gave him my hand. Thank goodness my face was mostly covered by my red mask because I could feel my cheeks were tinted a light Crimson.

Storm lead me to the edge of the cleared space made for dancing and got into position.

At first we were quiet, neither is us spoke.
Well it was mostly because Storm seem a little. . . occupied with something in the far distance. It looked like he was facial communicating with someone across the room.
I tired to look to see who but no luck.

Finally Storms gaze made it back to me so I decided to ask,
"So the rose was from you?"

"Yes." He said glancing at the rose in my hair.

"But why?"

"Why what?" He questioned, looking down into my eyes with his robin egg ones.

"Why did you give it to me? And why did you thank me for wearing it?"

He went quiet for a second before he answered, probably thinking of the right words to say.

"If you wore it then I would know you were the right one." He informed me as we continued to dance, he gently spinning me in a circle in rhythm to the music.

"Right one?" I repeated.

"Yes, do you see the other women wearing red dresses at this ball?" He gestured out towards the crowd probably pointing our three or four women wearing long red dresses.

But the most surprising thing was that every single women in those red dresses wear dressed like me. I don't mean we were all wearing red, I mean that we were all wearing the same dress and the same mask and the same hair style.

"Wha-" I began to say, but Storm carried on.

"They are all the same because of a ridiculous game my Father put together. He thought that if I were to find my future wife I had to figure out which one was you. He wanted to see. . . well for example, if I were to find and meet one of the other girls dressed like you, finding her to be the one I liked most then I wouldn't love the real Princess. So then it wouldn't be love."

If my cheeks weren't really red before. . . they were now. I couldn't explain anything in words of what I was feeling or what I wanted to say.

"But I don't like playing these ridiculous games my Father puts together. So the way out of it was to give the real princess a rose to wear in her hair so I could easily find her."

I thought for a moment, trying to process everything he told me.

"But how did you know I would wear it? I mean, you did just leave it tied to my door handle. It didn't have a note telling me to wear it tonight."

"Yes well it also helped that I have seen you in person before." He said, still determined to dance with me even though the song was over. It did help that a new song was played immediately after the last.

"In person? I've never met you in person." I stated, getting a little more comfortable speaking and dancing with this raven haired young man.

"No not 'met' , 'seen'. This morning at the practice field."