The Butterfly Crown

Sober - Avala

Avala

Edan Duncan had the incapability of eating his food with a closed mouth. I wondered if someone had starved him as a poor young boy and now he had to eat up for the times he wasn't able to. He greedy devoured everything that had been put on the table and although the rest of his table manners were passable, yet I felt the hypocrisy of every etiquette lecture I had been given by him. Eating three grilled chicken looked so easy, when he was doing it. All the food he consumed was straight turned into muscle mass. I had decided that when he was eating, I maybe liked him the most, mostly because he wasn't talking.

Edan and I had been forced to spend every day together. From painful sword training to dancing lessons. The dancing lessons were definitely more fun, although I did have an issue with the whole body contact thing. At some point I suspected he could feel my racing heart.

If I had been religious, I would have prayed for that poor pudding, which was put on our table. He was in Edan's hands immediately. With my hands I was drumming onto the silver, which calmed me down.

"What do you mean Captain Adalsteinn, is going to be my dancing teacher for today?" I asked him fed up.

Edan gave me the sweetest of smiles, that one smile that made me want to ruin his perfect teeth. "That the glorious Moira Adalsteinn has taken a day off to personally teach you the art of waltz. You have to be pleased with that, I'm sure half of this castle has been waiting for this opportunity"

"I'm not half of the castle", I stated eagerly "Also she is a Captain, not a dancing trainer."

"Is it exhausting?", he asked me, his eyes resting on my face, his fork poking the pudding.

"What? Training with a high-energy beast? Yes, definitely", I retorted.

"No, I mean the fact that you have to differentiate yourself from everyone all the time. Hi, I'm Avala the sad sad princess, who nobody likes, everyone is awful, I'm the only person that matters", he tried to mime my voice.

I highly debated whether I should throw my pudding at him or to punch him in the eye in front of all gathered nobility. I repeatedly had asked to not dine with anyone, just alone in my room, but I think it had been Master Eachann's sorcery that I wasn't allowed to.

"I'm not the only person that matters. Colia does count as half of a matter", I informed him.

"That's great considering the fact that Colia is Captain Adalsteinn's daughter. Then you can try to give maybe two percent of that matter to her mother, I'm sure she would be grateful. I mean she will have hard time, since you are going to be there missing me with every inch of your heart", he continued.

"Don't be silly", I said and took a scoop of the red goo onto my fork.

"I wasn't trying to be", he said.

I averted my gaze and tried to focus on eating.

.

Instead of the usual ballroom the training had taken place in one of the rooms in the castle that had been granted to Captain Adalsteinn. The dancing class had been so awful, that I had considered following my sister's example and run away. Although as opposed to Keeva, I would have been found in minutes or get lost in Melar city. I never have been granted the privilege to have a friend to ditch the castle with, Colia always had been prim.

Apparently my sister had also been a prima ballerina, because according to Captain Adalsteinn she did everything right and I did everything wrong. My arms weren't tense enough, my legs weren't flexible enough, my back wasn't straight enough, I wasn't moving my head enough, my face was either expressionless or I looked like I just had bitten into a lemon. I personally blamed my incompetence on Edan, he had been my trainer before.