Sage in the Sea

It's What's Proper

After the servants had cleared the plates away, Gideon stood up, holding a glass of wine. He cleared his throat and waited as the room grew quiet before he spoke.

"I want to thank you all for being here tonight to celebrate this momentous occasion. My son, Prince Piers, has come of age to marry. He has chosen a woman from the Bycgan by the name of Adelaide Colfield, who graduated second in her class at the facility. Although his mother and I would have preferred to have seen him choose the number one girl, we respect his decision to choose the one who finished second," he said as he glanced at the two of us. Piers squeezed my hand lightly, smiling at me. I forced myself to smile at him in return.

"Nevertheless, we are here to celebrate and that is what we shall do. However, I would like to make an announcement that many of you have been waiting to hear," he continued. Piers stiffened beside me, a look of concern crossing his face before he regained his control. "I am pleased to announce that we will begin putting into law the new immigration policy. I spoke with my adviser's today and we have all come to the agreement that this law is necessary and that it is now time to enact it."

Piers' eyes narrowed slightly. I stared at him. Had he not known that the law had been passed? He must not have. Otherwise, why would he have asked for my opinion and my assistance on reviewing the law before it was passed? To test my trust? It did not appear to be that way from the way he was reacting.

"Now we have even more to celebrate!" the king exclaimed, the ghost of a smile on his face. I slowly turned my gaze from Piers' to look at the crowd. Many were looking at the king with the same expression as Piers, but there were just as many who were smiling and nodding in agreement with what the king had said. "Now we shall dance!"

On cue, the orchestra struck up a song. I stood up. Piers and I were supposed to lead the first dance. I tugged gently on his hand and watched as he stood up, allowing me to lead him to the dance floor.

He rested one hand in mine, the other on my waist and we began to move as one. His eyes remained straight ahead instead of on mine as they should have been as we moved around the dance floor. Slowly, other couples began to join us, some of them looking questioningly at Piers.

"Piers," I whispered, "look at me." He swallowed, his eyes darting down to mine before back up. "You have to look at me, Piers. It's what is proper."

He sighed before he turned his attention to me. "I had no idea that he was going to do that."

"I know," I replied because I did know that was the truth, "but we have to go through the motions nonetheless. We do not need the rumors that would surely come if we broke proper conduct."

He nodded. "I know, I know," he said, the corner of his mouth twitching into a sad smile. "I was for the immigration law, but I, like you, believed that changes should have been made in it before it was enacted."

"There is nothing that we can do now," I told him. "Tomorrow we will see what we can do."

"Yes, yes we shall," he said, kissing my forehead softly before he drew back. "Let's forget about the law for now. This is our party, after all. We should at least be able to enjoy it."

I nodded but didn't speak. I squeezed his hand lightly before I turned my attention to watching the couples around us. Each of them had a small thing that they did to make the dance their own, even as they did the steps the same way. A small sway of the hips, a step closer to their partner. Something that showed the personality of the couple. I wondered what Piers and I looked like to them.

Did they see us as a perfect couple? The picture of how a couple should look in the kingdom? Or, did they see a couple madly in love as I did with Cathleen and her future husband? Or, did they see a stiff couple, such as the chaplain and his wife, who were afraid to be close to one another for fear of punishment? Or, worse, did they see a couple who did not want to be together? A couple who had been forced upon one another?