16 Chapter 16: The Fall

Fifteen minutes ago...

In the hall, while everyone was talking and feasting no longer staying away from the banquet table where all kinds of food and refreshments had been placed.

People could be seen talking to each other in groups and one group, in particular, stood out as two girls talked fiercely about trending clothes while the shortest girl among them in their group, with a round childish face, stood close to them but was barely participating in their conversation.

"I can't stop looking at the queen's silver gown? That number of precious stones on a single gown should be illegal," said Fawna to Parona as she continued gushing over the silver gown worn by the queen.

She was tall and slender, dressed in a dark blue gown with short sleeves and the longer she looked at the queen's gown the more she wished it was on her body instead.

"I like the ones on her sleeves the most, they draw a lot of attention to her upper body. I'm going to ask my father for a dress like that," replied Parona as she stood talking and facing Fawna with most of her back turned towards Arena.

Parona also had a tall figure but was the least attractive among the other two because she had a large forehead which she tried to cover with most of her brown hair as she always parted half of it to the front.

" Why would you even think that there was another of that dress hanging around somewhere? " asked Fawna before turning to speak to Arena without waiting for an answer.

" or what do you think? Do you think your father would be able to get such a dress made for you?"

" Well, statistically..." Arena said as she began speaking however, she didn't even show a hint of surprise or anger when she was sharply interrupted by Parona.

"Oh please! Sometimes it's quite boring to hear you speak and I think it's mainly because of the heavy books you seem to bury your head in all day," sighed Parona telling Arena exactly how she felt about her reading habits.

"Don't be rude Parona," Fawna quickly intervened trying her best to stop Parona from further mocking Arena the moment she saw a sad expression appear on Arena's face.

"But I also agree with Parona, you need to concentrate more on your appearance and looks instead of the books you usually bury yourself in," Fawna continued now looking straight at Arena speaking to her without mincing any of her words.

"All I wanted to do was..." Arena began speaking again trying this time to explain her actions.

"give your opinion, yes, I know," Fawna interrupted this time, without allowing her to finish her sentence.

Fawna unlike Parona wasn't the kind of person to interrupt a person since she always tried to display infallible manners regardless of where she was but she had long decided that among her friends it was usually better to act without being too formal.

"but the problem is usually in the way you give it," Fawna continued berating her the more.

"Please," scoffed Parona who had been trying her best to keep quiet while listening to Fawna speak.

"I sometimes feel that the problem is in the way she does most things," she continued.

"Pa-ro-nnna," Fawna scolded.

"Okay-okay, I get it. I wasn't trying to be rude," said Parona looking straight at Arena's face but wasn't surprised to see that she wasn't looking at her and all Arena did was turn her gaze away from her staring at nothing in particular as if she were in a daze.

Arena didn't have to wait for a long time for her to hear them change the topic of their discussion back to the kind of clothes they liked or wished to later buy.

Instead of listening Athena just zoned out like she usually did even though she was close enough for them to assume that she was listening.

As she stood beside them, she was well aware that she probably had the worst set of friends in the whole world because she didn't share a single interest with them whatsoever and if they weren't talking about clothes then they were talking about her or trying to stop her from talking.

Out of habit, she raised her hands to touch the point in-between her eyes at the top of her nose, where her glasses usually were as she silently moaned their absence and wished she had them on.

Her mom had seized her pair of glasses calling them 'too ugly' to be worn to such a grand banquet party.

Arena could still see without them but her vision wasn't as good as they were when she had them on.

She was still thinking within herself when she surprisingly noticed that Fawna and Patrona were no longer talking to each other but kept on looking at a particular corner they had not been facing before.

Out of curiosity, she turned to look at what they were both staring at and was disappointed to find out that they were only staring at a fellow debutant who was stunningly beautiful wearing a red gown and a masked man.

From the vast knowledge of the kingdom she had read about, she instantly knew that the man was a prince since only the members of the royal family were allowed to wear masks but still she didn't stare for long since such matters didn't really hold her interest.

A few minutes had barely passed when trumpets resounded across the hall and following tradition, Arena followed Fawna and Patrona along with other debutantes to line up in a straight line at the foot of the stairs.

Carefully, trying her best not to stumble, as she lifted the skirt of the beautiful peach gown, her mother had chosen for her and stood on the line patiently waiting for her turn to be blessed by the queen so she could quickly leave.

She noticed that the girl on her right side directly beside her was the debutante she had seen talking to the masked prince and was surprised when the girl smiled at her when their eyes met.

"that's surprising, taking data from previous events people don't usually smile at me without wanting something in return," thought Arena as she quickly smiled back not wanting to be rude.

One by one, the young women ascended and descended the stairs after meeting the Queen and being blessed by her.

Then finally, it was Arena's turn and she began to quickly climb the stairs wanting to be done with the whole banquet so she could quickly leave and go home.