The day of the ball was finally upon them, and Alexis spent the morning overseeing final preparations (which is to say, watching while his parents ordered minute changes to decorations and taste-testing some of the cold snacks that would be on offer). He then dined with the nobles, and spent the afternoon with Thomas, supposedly giving each other advice, so that they could escape from their parents’ fretting. Both the king and queen kept repeating the same lines, and doing unnecessary things such as rearranging their collars to lie a little better, so it was a welcome break.

After a light early dinner, the two princes took up their positions near the front gate. They were to stand there so that everyone attending might be introduced to them – or more specifically, to Thomas – which was sure to be a very tedious process. An announcer stood with them, and there were two guards on the gates. Another two stood at the palace doors, directing people towards the ballroom, just in case they happened to miss it.

Quite a crowd had already gathered by the time the gates were opened. Most of the girls were rather nervous and quite a few had to be asked to repeat their names. Their dresses were all equally unique, in such a way that very few stood out. He only remembered the clothes of the people who also stood out, for whatever reason – with the exception of a woman with a particularly tall and particularly hideous red hat.

Of the people who stood out to him, all were for different reasons, and all were very different-seeming people. Two young girls in matching orange gowns entered together and tripped over in unison. A lady with a fetching purple shawl must have been at least sixty years old, and by far the oldest woman there, but her age did not deter her from winking at him and his brother with a mischievous smile. A young woman wearing a blue dress muttered her name to her feet, then looked up, looked straight past the princes, and proceeded to gawk at the gardens until the announcer told her to move on. And a tall lady with a green dress and green glasses said that she went by the name ‘Glottle Elgemeth’, which sounded less like a name and more like a cough remedy.

When the last stragglers were past, the two princes joined their parents on the raised platform at the far end of the ballroom. The guards and the announcer stayed put to welcome any truly late people. After a few more minutes, a different announcer called for quiet, and the king began his speech, looking extremely cheerful now that things were properly underway.

“At this ball, my son, Crown Prince Thomas, hopes to choose his bride. I met the current Queen at a ball like this, many years ago, and this is a tradition I wish my son to carry on. He may choose any person he wishes, be she a lady or a farmer. However, for all of you, whether you dance with Thomas or not, I hope that you enjoy your evening and dance to your hearts’ content. The princes shall not be joining in the first dance, so please, find yourself a partner and let the ball begin!”

Everyone’s eyes turned briefly towards the pair of princes. Alexis found himself thinking, once again, that it might be nice to be down in the crowd, to be just another commoner enjoying himself. Unfortunately, he was well-educated enough to realise that he only wished this in the way that all people pass the time by wanting something they don’t have, and that he actually rather liked his life.

There was a frenzy of movement as people began running around looking for partners, and it was quite some time before there was a neat circle of couples, and all those without partners had been herded to the sides. The musicians waited until everyone was settled, looked at each other, and then began to play. Alexis stepped off the raised stage, intending to prove to his parents that talking to strangers was well within his capabilities.

Weaving through the crowd, Alexis looked around for people to talk to. He was looking for a group who were already talking, since this would be easier than trying to keep up a conversation with just one or two others. He joined a circle of five people, presumably friends, who were chatting a short distance from none other than the cough remedy lady.

“Excuse me, ladies. Mind if I join you?”

Some of them gawked, one of them squawked, and a black-haired girl who seemed more composed than the others welcomed him into their circle, motioning the others to make room.

“I suppose it might be a little early to ask, but I do hope you are all enjoying the ball so far?”

They nodded and made noises of assent, but although he gave them time to speak, none of them did. He groaned inwardly.

“Please, I just want to chat. You needn’t mind me too much. If you’d prefer, you can go back to whatever you were talking about before, and I shall just listen.”

The black-haired girl smiled, and nudged the girl on her left – the squawker, he thought.

“Sure, your highness, or princeliness. I’m afraid I don’t really know titles.” The prince smiled at her and she continued. “We were talking about the inn we’ve been staying in. The innkeeper’s a funny chap.”

Emboldened by their friend, the other began to join in.

“That’s right, he likes to talk to his beer bottles.”

“And my bed was made with the covers inside out.”

“Calls his customers ‘darling’, even if they’re just a young girl or even an old man, anyone.”

“He’s a right laugh, he is…”

They continued with their stories, which Alexis found mildly interesting, if not as amusing as the girls did. At the same time, he had noticed that Glottle now had company, and he was keeping one eye on them. She was standing with a young lady in a blue dress, who had her hands up as if placating the other girl, who was wearing a trailing, dark blue dress. If he strained he could catch pieces of their conversation.

“…quite right about the dancing,” the girl in lighter blue was saying. She looked a little familiar, but then everyone had been paraded past him, so he didn’t linger on it.

He couldn’t hear the first thing the girl with the trailing dress said, but he heard “The Crown Prince, of course!”.

“Well, it’s just that there are two princes, you know… It’s doesn’t seem very fair to say ‘the prince’ when there’s more than one…” The first girl replied, but neither of the others seemed to be listening, and Alexis had to turn his attention back to his own conversation, so as not to seem rude.

“Have you complained to the innkeeper, or anyone else working there?” he inquired.

“Ah, it’s not so bad. They’re silly little things, nothing bad. It’s a lot more harmless than some of the places I’ve been.”

As she launched into a tale of a particularly suspicious soup, Alexis thought back to what he had overheard. It was strange, since he generally liked being overlooked, but the girl pointing out that he did in fact exist had made him feel warm inside. It was like eating hot food, in the way that the warmth spread outwards rather than reaching his skin first.

When the first dance ended, Alexis asked the black-haired girl, whose name was Maria, if she would do him the honour of dancing with him. She was the most level-headed and therefore the most likeable of the five friends, and while the others looked on in jealousy she merely smiled and accepted graciously.