The ruckus was evident as we entered Jaliya's dining room. Everyone seemed thoroughly engrossed with whoever they were involved with, or seemingly so. Miarye was blushing furiously at the fact that Corst had attached himself to her hip, Tinoya and Fizan were in the corner discussing history, flirtatiously bantering over wine, and Jaliya had Marsoi right by her side, stroking him like a kitten, which he was embarrassingly enjoying.
Scanning the room, I saw Aurienne was over in a corner with another girl I had never met before. I glanced at Kelem quizzically, who shrugged, and went to go tease Marsoi. Wandering over to them, I grabbed a glass of Daumarian red wine, and took a seat, waiting until a pause in their conversation to introduce myself.
The girl noticed me first. Standing up, she gave me a sweeping curtsy; a noted and unmistakable mark of nobility. I looked her over, trying to place her mentally. The long blonde hair, crystal clear blue eyes, a golden brocaded gown...
She wasted no time in introducing herself; being coy was not in the cards tonight, by any means. "Duchess, it is a pleasure to see you at last. Gianna,
Baroness de Goi Blanche, at your service."
I proffered a hand tiredly. "Avelyn, Duchess of Irisynne, pleased to make your acquaintance. Sorry if I appear a bit tired. The traveling arrangements, however pleasant, were rather exhausting." I rubbed my eyes blearily. "How goes things within the court?" I raised an eyebrow, curious to test how useful this girl could be.
"Murmurs that were trickling through the underground of the court are starting to make way into the more mainstream side of things, mostly involving when exactly the Doyenne will be calling together the meeting for the assignations of positions. There's a lot of speculation over who the next Doyenne will be, of course," She winked at me. "And for the most part, people are guessing right, that it would be you."
"F--k." I swore, holding my head in my hands, letting that sink in. People, real, functioning and important people believed that I, a girl of eighteen was going to be the next Doyenne.
And I was.
It just hadn't struck me in full until right now.
"Avelyn?" Aurienne laid a hand on my shoulder. "You clearly are not in the right state of mind to talk politics. How much sleep did you get last night?"
"Probably not enough. Stayed up too late, talking about too much indeterminate bulls--t." I wish I felt as powerful as everyone seemed to think I would be.
"Indeed." Pulling me carefully to my feet, she led me over to the doorway, where one of Jaliya's servants was waiting to take us to bed. "Please, try and get some sleep, hon." She kissed my forehead gently and blushed. "We need you bright and ready in the morning, sunshine."
"Good night to you too, Auri."
***************
What a strange woman, the next leader of our nation was.
She seemed younger than I had envisioned her to be, though she was definitely eighteen, so said everyone around me. Personally, I thought she was a little weak to be the leader of our nation, but I would save the judgment to pass when whatever this imminent doom came; save it for how she would handle it.
That is, if we were even alive to blame anybody.
But enough with the dallying of my own mortality, tonight, I was looking for a good time, getting to know my cohorts in crime, so to speak. I had only just gotten here myself, on invitation from Jaliya; it seemed the party hadn't started yet, until I got there.
I loved being the life of the party.
Scanning the room with a critical eye, I found that there were a few surprises to be had in this group. Fizan had joyfully reunited with Tinoya; they were over in a corner, doing gods know what, I couldn't tell from the soft lighting.
