Born From A Divine Gamble

Brenia was complaining about her ball dress, standing with Emp and the boys along the wall of the great hall. Ivar answered with another question.

"The real question is why are you on this side rather than with the girls over there?"

"I"ll go away when the dancing starts but not now, I can"t stand all their girl talk."

"Aren"t you a girl too? Aow!"

Ivar got punched in the shoulder.

"Ancestors! Are you trying to break my arm?"

"I"m not used to this strength yet, sorry."

"What does that even mean?"

Odilon intervened from the other side of her.

"I think you"re more attractive in your armor."

Emp might not be an expert but he knew that this was definitely not the right thing to say at this point. There was a harsher punch immediately after and Odilon fell over Zoran from the impact on his shoulder. Emp stretched his hand, grabbed the meek Zoran by the collar and yanked him out of the way before the falling boy could bring him down with him.

"He"s like a sea slug, what comes out of his mouth is all slimy." Nereus shook his head watching him fall over.

"You"re wrong, a sea slug might just be more reliable than him." Pointed out Oliver.

Odilon slowly got back up, dusted his pants and started ma.s.saging his shoulder.

"Hha, real funny guys."

Today was the new year celebration. Everyone was gathered in the hall for the celebration and now they they received the dance cla.s.ses, the newest students were dragged into the dance. As per the tradition, the guys stood on one side of the room and waited for any of the girls to invite them.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, the girls talked between themselves as they waited for the music to begin.

"Who do-do-do you th-think they will ask to d-dance with?" Zoran asked, very nervous.

"I bet on Norval." Frits answered.

"I guess we"ll see soon but I think Emp will be just as requested. He"s a better dancer than me."

"Ha, you think so? Mable is just like Heida, she won"t let anyone dance with him aside from herself." Nicolas told Norval.

"That"s not true, it"s fine as long as we ask her first, I did it the other day." Brenia told him.

"What? You asked her to dance with Emp?" Everyone was surprised.

"Yeah, we absolutely have to dance, we have no choice. In that case, I"d rather duel him than dance with any of you idiots." She mocked them.

"Could it be instead that you have a crush on Emp?"

"I will really break you arm this time Ivar."

"No fun at all."

"So Mable is giving out permission to dance with me without even telling me first?" Emp didn"t know how he was supposed to feel about that.

"Aye, she said it was punishment for hiding something from her. She"s forgiving you but first, you"ll have to dance Juniper, Nessa and me."

"Juniper and Nessa too!" Cyril gasped.

"Don"t be so surprised about Nessa, she won"t be satisfied with just that one dance, she said she wanted to dance with Norval first and see who was good. She"s planning on asking even the guys from other groups as long as they are good dancers."

"For real? She really loves dancing huh?"

The boys couldn"t help but look at the guys from the other groups on either side of them. Emp was more focused on trying to understand how any of this was a punishment.

Aglaya said that she had convinced Mable to make up with him here at the party but he didn"t know it would involve dancing with three other persons. He just wanted to talk to her as quickly as possible.

The singers and musicians took their places on the stage at the end of the hall and got ready for their performance.

"Mhhh, I guess that"s my cue to leave huh? See you all later."

Brenia waved their way and left to the other end of the hall under the furious gaze of Blackbull.

Soon, the music started and many of the girls crossed the hall the other way around to ask one of the guys for a dance. Some were pretty obvious, Rica went straight for Frits and Emp was pretty sure she would not let him go of the whole afternoon.

Heida walked up to Nicolas and told him that he would have to do since she didn"t want to with any of those inferior fools. After a small sigh he only answered her with a generic "yes, of course my lady" and brought her on the dance floor.

The rest of the pairs were pretty much all surprises to him. Aglaya came and fetched Ivar, Josseline picked Zoran of all people and Gervaise got rejected by Oliver. Gytha and Mable didn"t move a bit but stayed far from each other, with Brenia between them trying to somehow raise up their respective moods.

Juniper appeared in front of him and presented her hand which he took since he didn"t want to be rude.

She wore a rich glittering dress with stones at her neck and gla.s.s in her hair. The light blue of her dress made her dazzling in the light of the hall. She was usually elegant and pretty but today, her sight was nothing less than impressive.

She was in a good mood too and as they danced she talked casually to him with a bright smile. Mostly, she wanted to tell him that the operation was going very well and they were almost done mining all the crystal. Emp knew this already because he saw the miners every day but he just politely listened to her anyway.

He found this dance to be very fun, Juniper was in such a good mood that it calmed him greatly. She told him all about the good deal she had made with Mable. According to her, who you danced with first was very important to show off your talent, with Emp as her first dance, she was sure that she would be able to drag anyone at all on the floor and once they were there, she"d be able to sell them anything using her charm.

"Mable didn"t even want anything in return so it"s all up to you. Should we make another deal? What would you like in exchange for that first dance, partner?" She said mischievously.

"There"s nothing I really need for now. Can I keep that for later?"

"Sure, I was afraid you might ask for something unreasonable but as expected of you, you"re safe to dance with."

"Aren"t you the one unsafe to dance with? You"re planning to empty the pockets of everyone else. I"d be more afraid for them than you."

"Hahaha, business is a thing full of risks for every party involved, that"s what makes it so fun."

*-*-*-*

After his dance with Juniper, it was Nessa"s turn, she too was in an extremely good mood. She waited for the dance the whole year after all, now that she was actually there, she couldn"t be happier.

She had put on her best clothes and wore carefully matched jewelry to enhance it. Her hair was loosely flowing over her back but a few lightly weighted ribbons flew into the air around her whenever she made a sharp turn. She was dancing on high heels and had such an easy time of it that she seemed to just float over the floor.

She started the dance in close proximity to him, enough to hold a casual conversation with him in the middle of the music and party going on around them. For her, this wasn"t harder than simply breathing.

"I can see that the plan changed."

"What plan?"

"Look, Mable is still sitting over there looking miffed. She hasn"t moved at all, that wasn"t what she said she would do."

"What did she say she would do then?"

"I"m not telling, this is for her to say. But, I"m planning to enjoy my time."

She suddenly changed both the steps and rhythm of the dance, going for something faster, something Emp didn"t know the steps for.

"That"s not part of the dance." He commented as he tried to keep up.

"It is, it"s part of the sword dance. Here, hold my hand up there and make me spin, you"ll see."

He did as he was told and brought her hand far over her head in a delicate hold. Then, holding her other arm, he gave her a slight acceleration and she started spinning, quickly gaining speed on her own. The hand over her head was turning into his own so fast he feared it would set fire to it.

Her feet turned on themselves soundlessly and her dress puffed up. All the ornaments on it rose by themselves and all seemed like sharp blades cutting through the air around her. Her free arm moved up and down in curves but after only a few instant, she looked like she had a dozen arms around her, all perfectly still. Then, a second dozen arms separated themselves from the first row and either rose above or fell beneath the first depending on where the first stood still. Both those above and bellow formed semi circles of their own, with her hands and fingers pointing towards each other until she seemed to be holding her own hand at twelve different points around her. Twelve big circles made of twenty four arms that should not exist.

Then, it all came to a sudden stop and she raised her open palm in the air with her arm fully extended and her body bent backward in an elegant arc. He kept hold of her hand by instinct to stop her from falling back, he was very impressed. He had seen her attempt it many times before but he knew that this time, it was clearly not a failure.

After a merry laughter like a victorious roar and a full bright smile, many other students clapped at her spectacular move.

"Here it is, the opening move of the second stage! That elixir truly is amazing but will you be able to keep up now? I wonder."

Using her free hand, she removed some hair that had fallen over her eyes while she was spinning.

"Well done, that"s was very impressive, and with only one arm too. Extremely elegant and I"m sure, very powerful too. Don"t worry about me keeping up, I"m sure I"ll find something."

She was overjoyed about her success and prouder than anyone else right now. All the joy she couldn"t contain was overflowing from her eyes into the form of tears. Emp felt very moved by the sight and the words that followed.

"I tried in my room and now that I can do that, the rest of the recorded techniques of the second stage don"t seem all that hard. I think I can do it, the duchy will be mine and it"s all thanks to you! That"s why I especially wanted to dance with you today, to show you. I"m really lucky to have friends like you and Mable."

"I hope it will work out as you say. I"m rooting for you."

He didn"t know many feelings that were as good as seeing the joy of his friends so clearly as this.

"I know, I want to dance some more before I hand you to Brenia so lets go."

The rest of their dance together was way more usual than her previous demonstration. The only difference was that she kept raising the speed and intensity to push him to his limits, just for the fun of it. She always slowed down before it was too much for him though, she didn"t want to embarra.s.s him by provoking an accident.

She was gracious in her movement and delicately elegant in her performance. It was a real pleasure to dance with her or watch her display of talent from up close. Each step was perfectly placed and each movement of her body devoid of anything superfluous. If only those were the forms of a fencer instead of a dance, she would be deathly efficient.

Emp didn"t consider himself a bad dancer but he was far from her equal, everything was in her control. He feared that none in these halls could match her or would even threaten her obvious t.i.tle of queen of this dance floor.

Once she had her fill of messing with him, she ended things with a formal hug and handed him to Brenia.

He had not disliked dancing with Nessa but he was relieved when Brenia"s turn came. It was the same sort of feeling one would have after finis.h.i.+ng an intense exercise. This next dance would be his chance to gather himself again before Mable"s turn.

Brenia was wearing the exact same dress she wore for the practices but her boots had been replaced by cla.s.sy heels fit for a n.o.ble ball. It was easy to read on her face that she hated them. It wasn"t long until she complained about them out loud too.

"I hate those c.r.a.ppy shoes, I feel like my toes are about to cramp and the balance is all wrong. I can"t wait to remove them."

She put some more weight unto him in order to shake the numbness in her feet.

"Maybe you should have practiced wearing them before today."

Her hand squeezed down on his shoulder and she showed him a displeased frown. It was a bit painful but at least she hadn"t just punched him.

"I"m never wearing those again."

"You"re way too nervous about this, nothing is going to go wrong."

"I"m not nervous, I"m annoyed that I have to do this, that"s not the same. You better not let me fall over in those or I"m throwing you out the window."

Emp snorted in laughter.

"Don"t worry, I"m not gonna. Anyway those shoes can"t be that bad, those things look sharp. With a good kick, you can probably gut someone with them."

"Haha, I might try it out later." She answered with a wry smile.

"On who?"

"You if you don"t stop mocking me."

"You"re the one mocking me by calling me hero all the time."

"Aye, that"s true-Ha!"

As she was answering that, she twisted her ankle and lost her balance. Felling herself falling, her face cramped and her fingers dug into his shoulder. Emp held her up, using her hand to pull her back upward. The misstep wasn"t too bad so hopefully no one noticed.

"Thanks."

"I told you."

"Ya ya, hero."

"Where is that even coming from? Calling me hero."

Emp was trying to have her think of something else than the present situation she seemed to find overly embarra.s.sing, even without falling over.

"Huh, there was this guy where I lived before. Everyone kept calling him the local hero because he kept flying to the rescue of everyone the moment there was trouble. Somehow, he always managed to be there when someone needed him."

"Wasn"t he a great guy then? Why are you always laughing when you"re calling me hero."

"The guy was a real idiot and took on more than he could handle. He died mauled by an armored bear of the crags."

"Oh, were you close to him?"

"Nah, that"s why I can laugh at his stupid death. What good is there to flying over to help when you don"t have the strength to back it off?"

"Are you trying to say I"m going to end up mauled by a bear?"

"Maybe, who knows? Heroes die early to protect everyone, true warriors live another day to keep what really matters out of harms reach."

"Sounds like a valuable lesson, how did it turn out into a mockery?"

"I just can"t help but picture you getting slapped left and right by a bear every time I call you that and it makes me laugh. Anyway, it"s not like a small armored bear could kill you."

Emp almost choked on his own laughter.

"I"ll try to keep it all in mind then, don"t be a hero."

"You better do cause I"m sure Mable would be real sad if you died in a stupid way trying to help someone we don"t actually care about."

He nodded to show her he understood.

"Speaking of Mable being sad, you"ve been really supportive for her and Gytha, I think that"s great."

"Yeah, I don"t understand their silly quarrel, Gytha needs help... You know, I"m laughing and calling you hero but you really did good back there. Back when I helped save your a.s.s, I never thought you would then save a girl from... This. I guess this is how Juniper feels when she makes a good deal."

He agreed about Gytha, leaving her alone like that was getting very annoying. Mable had not talked to him for just a short time but it had really frustrated him so much. He could hardly tell how Gytha must be feeling after being pushed away by everyone like that.

"You"re acting gruff and all but you really care about the others." He told Brenia with a smile.

"It"s not... I just..."

She seemed a bit pained and struggled to find her words.

"I... I don"t know the next steps please help."

Emp was taken aback by the sudden change of subject but reacted quickly.

"Counter my advance with your left feet, I push back your hand and you use the momentum to switch with me and take the advantageous position."

"Got it."

They sidestepped in sink with the crowd and turned around each other to face the opposite way. Once the usual slow movements resumed, she had regained her composure and she was looking angrily at him. Completely discarding the previous subject, she started blaming him instead.

"You made such a stupid mistake letting that freak go. You can be d.a.m.n sure that if I find him first you won"t have another go at beating him cause I"m going to split his skull open with my axe and nail his b.a.l.l.s on my breastplate as a trophy."

Emp winced as he pictured her words but he wasn"t about to tell her that it was exaggerated. The guy deserved it, even just for scaring Mable like that.

"Do you think you can beat him?"

"Come on, it was just a what if. I get that he"s stronger than me, I"m not stupid enough to rush him now, warriors live remember?"

"I didn"t mean to say you were weak, I don"t think I can beat him either. The first time was just luck."

"Oh, shall we make a game out of it then? The first one to improve enough to beat him and actually kill him wins."

"That might take a while, what will I win when do it?"

She grinned widely hearing his answer.

"Oh? You really think you can beat me so easily? You don"t know what I can do in that sort of compet.i.tion yet but fine, If you win, I"ll do a single thing you ask. But, If I win, you will be the one to do one thing I ask."

"Isn"t that simple for such a high target? Ninoslav is a war mage after all."

"It"s fine, it"s just a game after all. We might both lose if the guards find him first."

Emp had to agree that this was indeed a possibility.

"Alright then, I"m in, just don"t do anything stupid to win."

"Nah, you know me. The only thing I ever attempted that was out of my league was this b.l.o.o.d.y dance. I hope it"s over soon."

"You"re giving up?"

"No, that"s not it. I feel like Mable is about to blow up, I can see from here, she"s getting really mad."

"Oh."

Emp felt a bit worried about Mable now. He couldn"t see her because she was now behind him but if even Brenia was saying so, she must have been in a really foul mood. He was nervous to see how things would turn out after this.

"Great, the song is finis.h.i.+ng. Thank the ancestors, I"ll be able to remove those toe crushers."

"Did I do a good enough job to escape the gutting?" He teased her to relieve his own tension.

"Don"t laugh now or you might still get it."

With the music dying down, Brenia used him as a pillar to hold on to as she removed her shoes and waved him goodbye quickly to go back to some seat. Blackbull stared darkly at her barefoot self again since this was far from the correct way to end a dance but Brenia really didn"t care at this point and just wanted to be out.

"Happy new year Emp."

"I hope you"ll have a good year too." He answered her.

Now, all that was left was to make Mable feel better, somehow. She was pouting and frowning too, staring daggers at him.

She took a quick but deep breath and rose from her seat. She tugged at her dress to readjust it and walked towards him with long steps. By the sound they made, she wore the heels she said went with the dress the other day.

Everyone wore their best clothes for the new year and so everyone seemed very charming but Mable"s dress really was a perfect match for her. Because of her heels, each of her stride made her skirts bounce left and right, moving like a large bell tolling for his imminent demise.

Emp didn"t understand much about clothing but he really liked how ball dresses were made. With all those layers and folds to give them volume, the way all those layers moved with a slight delay over each-other at every twirl and step, he thought it was captivating. He felt that the clothes maker must work really hard on them and know as much of their craft as a smith must to make a functioning armor.

Mable reached him and extended a hand to him, he rose his own and took her delicate fingers into his palm as was the custom. Then, they both stared at each other for a while. Emp wondered if he should be the one to talk first.

"Won"t you say anything about my dress, or my hair?" She finally said.

Hadn"t they been through this the other day already?

"That dress suits you perfectly, it is really good but like I said the other day, you could wear anything else and I would still find you really charming. Is that a better answer than that day?"

She nodded with a hint of red on her cheeks and moved closer to him for the start of the dance. Emp took hold of her waist with a bit of shame and an accelerated heartbeat but kept his voice calm as he asked her a question of his own.

"What was that all about? Brenia said this was punishment but somehow, you seemed more punished then me."

Mable scrunched up her face as the music started but still answered the question.

Emp didn"t recognize the song but with a quick look to those around him, he guessed what dance it was and led Mable into it.

Every dances fit for a ball were pretty similar to one another in the end, remembering a few wasn"t that hard. The most difficult was the one they always kept for last because everyone had to be in sync with everyone else, involving every single pair present.

Putting the music and the other dancers at the back of his mind, he listened to her answer carefully.

"I wanted them to hold you down while I danced with other boys to make you jealous. You would have been angry too then and I could have told you "It"s not like there"s anything between us." just like you told Aglaya the other day."

"But, why didn"t you do it?"

"I couldn"t bring myself to, so I just sat there with nothing to do but watch you dance with my friends and I made myself jealous instead." She mumbled, trailing off her last words.

Emp almost started laughing out loud because of her small voice and shameful tone but managed to keep his cool somehow. For him, it didn"t really matter at all but he found that seeing her fall into her own trap was charming.

"Aglaya was right, that idea was really stupid and childish." She said in regret.

She looked away feeling ashamed from her actions and Emp decided he should apologize at least for that.

"I"m sorry about what I said to Aglaya about us. I didn"t think it would hurt you, you"ve been the one refusing to tell me what that kiss was about after all. I should have been more considerate, I"m not used to this sort of thing."

"I know, I shouldn"t have stuck to these few words like I did, I understand that"s not really what you meant after all. I was unfair."

"I"m curious though, why those three?"

"Well, Nessa just wanted to thank you for helping her and she felt the new year was the place to do it. Brenia was very uncomfortable and didn"t want to dance with anyone so I felt that if I was the one to tell her to go with you it would be easier on her. Juniper just told me she"d pay me back if I let her have the first dance to talk to you about some shared business. I denied everyone else because I felt this was just too much."

He felt appeased knowing that she only let those three because they seemed to have some good reasons. But, Emp was also afraid to learn who was everyone else. In the end, he chose to not ask. Instead, he waited for her to place her own question as he felt it was her turn. Since she had been mute all this time, she must still have some grievance to vent form the day they went to the temple.

As he waited for her to talk, he looked at the others having fun all around them. The new year really was a good day to have fun after all, there were only a few who didn"t seem to enjoy themselves. Zoran and George were in a corner by themselves, Some girls waited for a guy or another to be freed and some guys like Jin turned down anyone that came to request a dance from them. He seemed really displeased, Emp wondered who he was waiting for.

Finally, Mable calmed down enough and decided it was time to get onto the real subject. Emp removed everyone else from his eyes again to give her his whole attention.

"About the girl you mentioned, Calla was her name right?"

"Yes, Calla, what do you want me to tell you about her?"

"I don"t know... I felt really surprised to suddenly hear about her like that. I wondered why you had been hiding her existence and if she was trying to steal you from me. You bought so many flowers for her too, you never gave me such a big gift."

"But she was the one who asked for those, her and her mother needed enough to fill a tub, it was an errand, not a gift. Are you saying you would like me to give you some flowers? Because I can. I can go through all the flower shops in the city and bring you back every single flowers in them."

She giggled a bit and relaxed thanks to his tomfoolery.

"That"s not what I meant. I know you weren"t hiding her on purpose too, Aglaya told me what you said. It just caught me off guard, I didn"t know you were so close to someone else. I felt she was sneakily trying to steal you from me."

"Considering you met me after her, it should be the other way around."

She giggled again.

"I guess that"s a way to see it."

She took a short pause to gather her thoughts before she spoke again.

"You said you liked her as much as you liked me though you didn"t say just how much that was."

"I don"t know how to put it into words aside from a whole lot. You"re the only one that gave me a kiss though, two at that."

She blushed and gave a weak slap to his shoulder.

"Those weren"t real kisses, they don"t count, they don"t mean anything."

"Really? But you were so angry when I spoke about Calla."

She made an angry pout.

"So mean. I... I think I do... want it to mean something but. I can"t even give you my name so giving you more is just... impossible."

"Why can"t you tell me your name?"

"They told me to not say it." She complained.

"I get that, I was told the same."

"Who told you to not say your name?"

"My family, the duke, Blackbull. You?"

She giggled a bit hearing his answer and returned something similar to him.

"My family, the old duke, Aglaya, Blackbull too. She says I"m making trouble for myself by sticking with you."

"Yeah she told me the same sort of thing. She"s not that worried though because when I told her about what I said in the flower shop to ask for her help, she hit me on the head with her cane."

Mable laughed out loud.

"How hard did she hit? Just a small one to mock you or a real one?"

"The real thing, she was very angry, she hit me three times and called me an idiotic miscreant."

Mable laughed again but then made an apologetic face.

"The teacher is one of the only few who knows both of our full names right? She"s the one who cares most about social rules and household names in the whole school too. She"s the one who think we shouldn"t be close, she must be right, we just can"t see it."

"You think we should listen to her and stay away from each other?"

"I don"t know, should we? I"m sorry, This whole thing is probably all because of me."

"Don"t be sorry, it"s probably all because of me instead."

The music ended and everyone came to a stop. The students around them moved around and changed partners or walked off to get some food before the next song but neither Mable or Emp left. They remained together in silence as they waited for the next one.

Emp didn"t need to be told to know that Mable didn"t have enough. They weren"t done talking either.

"She think it"s probably a bad idea but she can"t know for sure. She wouldn"t have gotten angry at me if she really wanted to drive us apart. Well, I"m saying us but it"s really all up to you."

"All up to me?"

"Yeah, what is it that you want? If you tell me to work hard to impress your father then I will, but only if you want me too."

His words really embarra.s.sed her but she still squeezed out a weak answer.

"I... want to tell you to do your best. Because l... I think you will be a great person someday, not that you aren"t a great person now, I mean, I don"t know, you know?"

Emp didn"t, her sentence made no sense.

"I"m not sure I get it."

"I just, I don"t. What about Calla? I don"t want to steal you. I don"t want to be the bad guy in the story. I don"t know how she feels, I don"t know what she"s like, I don"t know if we can get along or if we"re competing, I don"t know her at all. I had fun when It was just me but now things got complicated. I"m not sure I would have done the same if I had known she was there."

Emp didn"t really know how to answer to that. He just gave her the words that came to his mind.

"If you had done differently, I might have never noticed how I felt about you, or Calla or Celtine and Harriett. It was your kiss that woke up my heart for real."

"Are you saying you like your servants too now? You"re the worst."

"You don"t seem as upset as last time though."

"It"s not really the same, those two are servants, plus, I kinda know them. I can understand what you like about Celtine. She"s cute and weak but she tries her best to be helpful, anyone would want to protect her. As for the other one, she"s a bit like Aglaya isn"t she? Super serious in her work but that"s only because she likes that work. Both of them are sealed and bound to you so they"re safe too, they"re not going to betray you or our, I mean, your family. The other one I can"t be sure about, how do I know she"s even worthy of you?"

"Are you?" He asked, returning the question back to her.

"I definitely am worthy! Definitely more worthy than anyone!"

Emp showed her a smirk as the next song started and he brought her into the next dance.

"Sounds like you did make a choice then. If there is no one more worthy than you, than I must do my best to impress your father."

She blushed again.

"That"s not what I meant! That"s cheating! What I"m saying is that I want to see her! If I think she"s no good then I will fight her and if not than I"ll think of something..."

"I really think she is someone great, I like her infinite kindness, she always wants to help everyone. She makes really great food too, she made us a new year meal we"ll eat later, would you like to share it with me? I"m inviting you to supper."

She turned the question around in her head for a moment before she gave her answer.

"Fine, but I"ll be extra judging."

"Then are we good?"

"You"ll tell me if another girl tries to steal you right?"

"Yes, of course. I told you I didn"t mean to hide anything."

"Then I guess we"re fine for now. I"d like to have you for myself but I don"t even have myself for myself so there"s nothing I can do really."

"Are you still upset?"

"I am. More at myself than you though. I feel like I"m suffocating, I can"t make any move at all and I"m forced to watch things happening around me. If it was all on me, I would have already given you my hand. We"re both of age after all. How come I can"t do what I want?"

"Maybe because you keep spending all your money on cakes and do childish things like trying to make me jealous."

She seemed really miffed about his words and gave him another small slap and a pout.

"I"m sorry but I do like that about you. You"re always very honest with yourself and your words, you don"t hide anything and you"re very lively. You always make me smile with your antics, I think it"s a good thing."

"Stop that you, I"m very mature I"ll have you know."

She seemed in a much better mood now, maybe it was a good time to bring up what Brenia told him earlier.

"Speaking of that, I would like you to use that maturity."

"Now you"re just being mean."

"No, I"m serious, I"d like you to forgive Gytha."

"Gytha? There"s no way I"m forgiving her, she betrayed me!"

"No, the teacher betrayed the school, Gytha is your friend, she was just controlled."

Mable wasn"t making a pleased face but Emp continued to argue for Gytha.

"I"m not saying you need to trust her with all your secrets, I agree this is probably a bad idea. I"m just saying that the teacher wronged her too. You should have mercy on her, she needs support as well. I"m glad Brenia kept an eye on her up to now, even dogs starts to bite when no one care for them."

"Are you comparing Gytha to a dog?"

Her face was hovering between laughter and anger as she spoke.

"Mhn, I didn"t mean bad with this... I meant to say that Gytha was still on your side but if you continue to push her away like that, she really might turn against you. I understand this is hard for you but I think this is the reasonable thing to do. You don"t need to trust her to enjoy her company do you? It"s the new year, help her get over this bad experience, as a friend."

She made a sharp sigh of annoyance but still reluctantly agreed.

"Fine, I"ll try to get over it but in exchange, you have to make up with Celtine too."

Now it was Emp"s turn to make a difficult face. She must have noticed that Celtine had scarcely been on his shoulders recently.

"I really want to but I hurt her and I don"t know how to get things back to how they were."

"What did you do to her?"

"Well, she"s what they call a wind caller, that"s sort of the royalty of her kind."

"Celtine"s a winged princess?"

"Yes, I promised I would help her regain her wings and her voice, I will do it, we have a good idea of how to do it but..."

"What"s the problem, say it."

Emp told her all about how he said he liked her, how her tribe was monogamous and how he told her that he couldn"t give his whole heart to her.

"Yikes. Poor girl, I guess I can kinda understand why she won"t talk to you anymore."

"What do I do then?"

"Mhhhh... Let me talk to her. I"m part of her problem after all, she can"t have you because I"m there. I promise I"ll do my best to make her feel better."

Emp agreed to her request readily. He had nothing to lose in this really.

After all that important talk, they danced a lot more until the very last song. Thanks to Emp keeping Mable"s rhythm in check, they didn"t break the performance of the whole school on the last dance. He felt like Mable greatly enjoyed herself once everything had been cleared up so Emp felt great as well.

Mable went up to Gytha before the end of the new year party and pulled her in a hug to tell her she wanted to be friends with her again. Brenia gave him a big slap in the back saying "good job" but he really hadn"t done a lot. He believed that she had wanted to mend her friends.h.i.+p with her since the start, she only needed an excuse to do it. Both of them left separately but on good terms.

Later, Mable really did the impossible and managed to get Celtine out of her room. He didn"t know what they told each-other but it must have been emotional since both had their eyes reddened by tears.

It wasn"t exactly like it was before but at least, now she was there. Mable, the four servants and himself all sat down at the table and they all enjoyed Calla"s amazing cooking.

Mable seemed really frustrated that there was nothing to complain about at all in that meal. She couldn"t find anything worse to say about it than it was enjoyable and impressive.

Emp was very glad that everything seemed to have finally calmed down after being so tense for so long. He felt like he would sleep better tonight than he managed to in an entire month. That was true until he recalled the other him.