The journey of destiny

Epilogue

Will rushed down the hallways, wondering if there would ever be a time in his life when he wouldn't arrive late at official occasions. The past two weeks had flown by. He had met so many people, seen so many performances and attended so many festivities during the Festival of Freedom, that he could barely tell one day from the other. Purgon had even flown over the city, showing the people that they no longer needed to be afraid: the danger of a third Dragon War had been averted. More and more reports of dragons peacefully roaming the sky came in and even though most people were still scared and suspicious, Will's efforts to try and get them to leave the dragons be were starting to show their effects. Today was the very last day of the Fifteenth Festival of Freedom, meaning that today - now to be precise - there would be a Closing Ball, once again open to everyone who wished to join. After two weeks of celebrating, this Ball would have to be even more spectacular than the Opening Ball, putting even more pressure on Will and his parents.
Will slipped around the corner, barely avoiding running into a wall while doing so, and started to count the doors on his left side. He needed to be at Donne's workspace, but having never been there before, that was kind of a challenge on his own. Normally someone would take him to her, or she would come to him, but this wasn't a normal meeting: he wasn't here for himself this time. His parents didn't even know of the request he had made to the kind woman, but being the nice woman she was, Donne had agreed to help Will in secret nonetheless. An excited smile broke through on his face as he thought of what he was about to do. He came to a halt in front of the right door - he hoped so at least. He knocked, hoping this wasn't some kind of broom closet. Relieved, he heard Donne's voice telling him to come in.
"What do you think?" she asked as soon as he had stepped on foot inside. Will smiled.
"Great work, Donne!" he said, finally ready to go to the Ball. Fearing he would be lost and alone amongst the many people who would come to the ball, Will had decided to bring a guest of his own and who else to ask but Tarah? Being part of the royal family of Elian, she needed to be there anyways; this would be a great way to reintroduce her to the present knights, many of whom had been kidnapped by her all those months ago. Tarah gladly accepted his invitation, knowing she wouldn't have felt at ease next to her newly found brother.
The two of them made their way through the hallways, trying to find the ballroom. Neither of them was very familiar with this part of the castle.
"Are you sure you won't get in trouble for this?" Tarah asked, readjusting her dress.
"Don't worry," Will said. "We'll be fine. It's not as if we're going uninvited. Both of us are expected." Tarah wrinkled her nose, tugging at her skirt.
"I'm not used to this kind of dresses," she said nervously. Will laughed.
"It almost seems as if you don't what to go," he teased. Tarah looked up, startled.
"No, no, that isn't..." she started, but then she realized Will was in fact making a joke. She playfully hit his arm. "Don't tease me. It's been a long time since I've been to a ball like this." She gestured toward her own general appearance, apparently uncomfortable with the situation. Will critically looked her up and down. Donne had dressed her in a long dark green-bluish ball gown, tight-fitting around her upper body, loosely hanging down from her hips. The silky fabric had been embroidered with a wavy pattern made of reddish gold, as if it was a continuation of her hair. The bright red hair itself had been turned into a complicated hairdo, half of it put up with braids, the other half casually waving over her shoulders. The neck of her dress was high and broad, showing the tops of her shoulders and her collarbones, but nothing more. The sleeves followed the form of her arms till her elbows, where they split open, revealing her wrists; the fabric flowed down, reaching halfway down the floor.
"You look beautiful," Will concluded. "Don't worry, it'll be fun! I hope." Tarah laughed.
"Thank you," she said. "Now let's go. I believe we are late already."
They hurriedly turned a corner and Will was relieved to find the red carpet than lined the way from the entrance of the palace to that of the ballroom. He chose to turn left, hoping that was the right side. The closer the entrance got, the more his nerves caught up on him. He had been able to keep them at bay so far, but the idea that he would have to enter a room filled with hundreds of people in a couple of minutes, to stand at the centre of attention again wasn't really helpful. The two of them exchanged looks for a second.
"Let's do this," Will said. Tarah nodded queasily, apparently just as nervous as he was. They crossed the last few yards separating them from the doors and walked up to the person who was appointed to announce all people with a title. The man was wearing the traditional uniform that was appointed to his function, while holding a small stack of papers.
"Names?" he asked somewhat bored, barely looking up at them. Will and Tarah exchanged amused looks. Everybody who had paid a little attention to the latest developments in the city knew who they were. The man looked up, annoyed that they didn't answer him, and nearly dropped his parchments.
"I- I'm sorry, your highnesses," he exclaimed, stumbling around for a few seconds before getting himself together. He gestured towards the horn blowers to let them play their little tune announcing that royalty had arrived. Will thought it was all a bit over the top, especially because it would only focus the attention on him even more, but there wasn't much he could do about it. He straightened his back, hoping he looked decent; he was wearing a similar outfit as during the previous Ball, only a bit more 'official-looking', according to Donne. Will barely saw a difference, besides the lack of blood on this version. The thought of Tarah being cut down still haunted his mind, and he was happy he could wear different clothes.
"Please welcome prince Will of Althoris and princes Tarah of Elian!" the announcer called out as soon as the sound of the horns had stopped ringing through the air. Again, Tarah and Will exchanged looks, both finding the situation very funny all of a sudden. Trying not to burst out in laughter, Will offered Tarah his arm, before heading down the stairs together. He tried to ignore all the people looking at him, hoping his face hadn't gone bright red.
Will realized Tarah and he had indeed arrived quite late. His parents had already danced their opening dance and the dance floor was filled with dozens of couples who barely looked up. King Wystan and Queen Allyn had taken a seat on the small stage on the other side of the ballroom. Brison and Calinda had joined them. Will was happy to see that nobody had caused any serious trouble as the king and queen of Elian were welcomed. At the bottom of the stairs, they were met with Bryan and Alene, who were followed by someone who couldn't be anyone but their mother, judging from her looks.
"Tarah, look at you!" the woman exclaimed joyfully before either one of her kids could say anything. "A lady right there!" Tarah smiled shyly. "Your highness," she then said with an awe-struck expression, preparing to bow down for him.
"Please don't," Will hastily said. "You can call me Will. I'm not really used to... all this," he added, gesturing at their general surroundings.
"Always so modest," Bryan teased, winking at his best friend. His mother gave him a warning look.
"Bryan, behave!" she hissed. Will couldn't help but laugh at Bryan's indignant expression.
"Don't worry," Will assured her. "I know Bryan longer than today." Before Will could ask for her name, figuring that he would see her more often, as his two best friends closely knew her, sir Steven joined their little group.
"Myra, how nice to see you again!" he said warmly, but as nice as the knight had sounded, Myra's eyes turned cold.
"Steven," she said, purely because she had to. Will looked from one to the other, curious to what had happened to make her react like this. Even Bryan and Alene looked surprised. Sir Steven refused to meet her gaze, awkwardly shuffling his feet, painfully aware of what had upset Myra.
"What's going on here?" Will dared to ask, not sure how to change the topic without having this tension around the rest of the night.
"He hurt my sister," Myra reluctantly explained, sending a poisonous look to the knight.
"I had my reasons," sir Steven muttered. Will raised an eyebrow. He had never seen him act like this before.
"Oh, of course you 'had your reasons'," Myra exclaimed angrily. "Nobody doubted that. The thing is that you never shared them with her, which made everything even worse." Sir Steven looked up, a look of hurt in his eyes. He almost looked... vulnerable, Will thought.
"I couldn't," the knight replied in a defeated tone. "I wanted to tell her, but I couldn't." Myra threw her hand up in an exasperated gesture.
"What is it with men and their excuses?" she sighed. Will saw Alene and Bryan looking at each other, who were probably wondering if that last remark had been about their father.
Tarah tapped Will's arm, taking his attention of his former father.
"I think we need to go," she said, gesturing towards Gavin, frantically waving in an attempt to get Will's attention. Will smiled, acknowledging the servant's presence.
"Excuse us," he said, leaving the others in an awkward and tense silence.
"A guest has arrived for you," Gavin said as soon as Will was in hearing range. The prince frowned.
"For me? I'm not expecting anyone," he remarked.
"I know," Gavin said. "But he specifically asked for you." Will shrugged; a guest was a guest. Gavin led Tarah and Will to the side of the ballroom, where some tables with chairs were positioned, to offer tired dancers the opportunity to catch their breath while having a drink. Much to his surprise, Will spotted sir Peter as one of the few people who had actually taken a seat. The knight smiled and waved, gesturing for him to join his at his table. Gavin gave Will an encouraging nod; apparently his guest was sir Steven's best friend.
"Hello, Will, nice to see you again," sir Peter said, as he sat down. "Who is this lovely lady?" Tarah's cheeks reddened. Will smirked.
"This is Tarah. She's my friend," he answered. Sir Peter chuckled.
"Ah, I see," he said, winking at Tarah. Then he leaned forward, as if the three of them were holding some kind of important secret meeting. "But your lovely companion isn't the reason why I called you here. You've probably noticed Steven and Myra don't get along well, haven't you?" Will nodded, wondering where this conversation was going. He hadn't seen sir Steven in quite a long time and he'd expected the knight would just like to catch up. After all, he was like an uncle to Will. Sir Peter's eyes shimmered mischievously as he continued: "Did they by any chance tell you why?"
"Something to do with Myra's sister," Will replied, trying to remember if he'd ever seen sir Peter being into gossip like this before. The knight nodded enthusiastically.
"Yes, yes, you see, Jade and Steven used to be together, years ago, when he still lived here," he said, rushing himself through the words in his excitement. "But Jade never got to know why he left. Obviously he couldn't tell his little girlfriend that he was on a secret mission for the king and queen, taking their only son to safety - you know your story - but she didn't know that. So now both she and Myra are pissed that Steven never even bothered to say goodbye or even leave a note." Sir Peter rambled on about all the things sit Steven could have done to prevent himself from the hatred of the two women.
Will felt a lot less upbeat all of a sudden. He knew sir Steven had given up a lot to take on the role of father for him, but he had never known he'd had a girlfriend. This meant that all the accusations Myra was undoubtedly firing at him were all Will's fault.
"The point is," sir Peter said, claiming Will's attention once again, "that Jade is at the Ball as well, right here, right now." He sent the prince a meaningful look, his eyes twinkling again, seeming to expect some kind of answer from him.
"Uh, what does that have to do with me?" Will asked slowly, not sure what the knight was getting at. Sir Peter rolled his eyes.
"Come on, Will, think!" he exclaimed. "Let's 'accidentally' put the two together, see if the old love will blossom again! Might give some interesting situations."
Will felt biased. On the one hand, it would be nice to give his former father a chance to restore his relationship, but on the other hand, if things went south, he would feel even worse than he already did; Will didn't want the last possibility on his conscience. He looked at Tarah, hoping for some advice, but she just smirked at him.
"Why not take the chance?" she said. "The worst that could happen is that they are being confronted with their past and they get over it." Will's jaw dropped. That was one way of looking at it. He shrugged, deciding not to think of the possibility of ruining sir Steven's life.
"Alright," he agreed. "What do we do?" A grin broke through on sir Peter's face.
"This is the plan..."