The Elven Princess wlw

Chapter 8

The evening soon came around and I had braided my hair, leaving half of it down and I put on my dress with the gold complementing my eyes and a brave face of course. I was not sure how tonight would go down, I just hoped as smoothly as possible. By the time I had arrived, most elves were already there and taking a seat. Some elves banged shoulders with me as I walked past, stupid elves. I sat next to some of the other guards much to my dismay, there were a lot of tables in the hall and it was decorated beautifully. The tablecloth must have been the softest I had ever felt, a lovely beige colour too.

The King entered and we all bowed and sat back down, "thank you all for being here this evening, as you all know my daughter has been away for quite some time" As he spoke the doors opened and revealed Princess Lily, she stepped forward in a blue/silver dress, one that I had never seen before, she must have found it in another city somewhere. You could recognise that golden hair anywhere. Her face was bright, and she looked well and as beautiful as ever, breathtaking some might say.

She took her place by her father, I had hoped she would look over my way which she did but her eyes never lingered on me, it was as though I was not there. I had guessed she had forgotten about the low elf she had been training.

Her father carried on his speech, "she returns from her travels, fighting off those not of our kind who try to infiltrate our cities, whilst away a suitor from the city of Eskao has asked for her hand, he will be arriving in a few days, I suggest we raise a glass, to my daughter, the future Queen of Atheldran". I lowered my head at that but I did not know why, something in my stomach felt uneasy at the thought.

I shook it off and raised my glass, Lily did not show any expression on her face, at least if she felt anything she was very good at hiding it when she wanted to.

The banquet carried on with our starter and then the main course, it was all very tasty, I mostly listened to those around me and their conversations. There was music playing throughout which became louder after we had finished eating, many got up to dance. It was quite the formal occasion which meant a more courtly dance, I stayed seated, looking over at Lily now and again but she was very engrossed in a conversation with her head trainer.

A guard who I recognised approached me, he had curly blonde hair and blue eyes, "good evening" he smiled. "Good evening" I replied. "May I?" he gestured. I nodded my head as he sat down, I didn't want to appear rude, I could use a friend. "Are you enjoying the evening?" he asked. "yes, it has been lovely, are you?", he took a sip out of his drink. "Yes, it is the same every year, I'm Laer by the way", it was nice he had gone out of his way to introduce himself. "I'm Gabi" I replied, giving him a small smile. "Will you be dancing this evening?", I hoped he had not want to dance with me because it would be a flat no. I shook my head. "How do you not have elves queuing down to the market I do not know, your beauty is striking" he was frank.

"My lowness is striking", he flattered me but I was not interested. "ah, that does not matter" he spoke of something he had no clue of because it did matter and it always had, that was how I was defined. I brushed it off, there was no point in arguing with him about it.

"How is training going? Everyone has not stopped going on about how you get to be trained by the Princess" he laughed. It seemed as though he was not one of them. "I'm sure you have heard", I had to be careful what I said, you never know who things could get back to and I was going to be smarter than that. "Well Damion thinks you are a perfect fit, he could not praise you enough, so that's something" he smirked.

I looked over at Damion briefly who was still in conversation with the Princess. "He is too kind, I am enjoying training for what it is worth and I hope to fulfill my role as best I can", I smiled. He placed his hand on my arm and went serious, "I know it has been hard but please if you do need any help, let me know, I know how hard it is to trust" That was kind and I could tell he was being sincere. "Thank you" I was grateful for his kind words.