Dance With Me

Ava seemed to be in especially good spirits. Once she'd changed into her night gown and draped her silk robe over herself, she had shooed the staff beside her companions from the room. After which, she had discarded her slippers in favour of walking around barefoot, feeling the plush carpet between her toes. She wiggled her toes before grinning to her companions. "Ah, although the mansion was quite nice, this is something else. And the wine is great here too."

Mila nodded enthusiastically as she threw herself over the bed, sinking into its depths of silken bed sheets and pillows. She laid on her stomach, kicking her feet lightly in the air as she scratched Rodney under the chin.

Covin glanced around the room with a contemplative look before signing 'It's still missing something.' He then poured out a glass of wine and walked over to pass it to Ava.

Ava accepted it from him, taking a sip before hanging the glass loosely between her fingers. "You're right." She then swayed her hand, filling the room with little lights. With a gesture of her hand, the lights positioned themselves, lining the walls and hanging over the frame of the bed as if strung up with strings. Mila seemed pleased, flicking her hand to add to the decorations, filling the sides of the room with bouquets of different kinds of glowing flowers.

"Oh, that looks good. Covin, can we have flowers like these placed around?"

Covin nodded as he plopped himself down on the sofa, hanging his arm over the edge.

Ava tipped her wine glass back to take another sip before looking at Mila who had her face nuzzled into Rodney's. She then smiled brightly, walking over to tug at Mila's hand. "Mila, you missed the wedding dance. Dance with me." Mila looked at her with mild confusion as she was pulled from the bed. Ava twirled her finger, bringing to life a tiny illustration of a figure dancing in the air. Mila let out a helpless breath of air but she placed her hand in Ava's, pulling toward the open area of the room.

"Covin, clap the beat for us."

Covin waved his hand lazily, seeming like he couldn't be bothered.

"Covin," Ava repeated more sternly, shooting him a look over her shoulder. Covin could only roll his eyes but there was a faint smile on his face as he started clapping a beat for them. Ava grinned happily, twirling about with light steps across the carpet. Although Mila couldn't hear the beat, she followed Ava's lead, gathering a feel for the timing through Ava's movements. She danced along effortlessly, her smile growing as Ava raised her arm to lead her into a spin. Ava laughed a light happy laugh as she ducked under Mila's arm to spin out before spinning back toward Mila, who held her mistress's hand with one hand and her waist with her other.

However, their joyful moment was interrupted by Rodney raising his head suddenly, letting out a low, somewhat quiet bark. Almost at the same time, the door opened. "Princess Avaline?" Prince Jin called as he entered the room.

Covin immediately shot up from his lounged position, standing and bowing to the prince with haste. Mila was dazed a moment, freezing up when her line of sight was met with the prince standing in the room. Ava was displeased however, momentarily unable to stop the annoyed look she shot at the prince, locks of her loose hair tumbling over her shoulder as she turned to him. She was quite the image with curls of black hair flowing around her, red silk robe wrapped around her and her matching red wine still held carelessly between the fingers of one of her hands. The prince froze up immediately when faced with this barefoot princess who even glared at him for interrupting her moment of dancing with her maid. But she just as quickly smoothed her expression into a patient smile, stepping away from Mila. Mila stood silently with her head bowed and hands folded in front of her.

"Prince Jin. If I may, although this is your castle, you really should knock before you enter. I may have been asleep, or getting dressed for that matter," She commented lightly but the glare she had given him was burned into his mind.

"Ah… Yes, you're right. It was my mistake." To avoid meeting those piercing blue eyes, he glanced around the room, his brow furrowing slightly at the glowing decorations it had been filled with.

Ava swept her hand in a circular motion, gathering the lights that had lit up the room into the palm of her hand and swirling them into a ball on her palm. She closed her hand, extinguishing them. "Just a bit of fun. I hope His Highness doesn't mind."

"I don't, but I wasn't aware the Princess could do illusion magic." Actually, he had been informed the opposite, that she hadn't been capable of any magic at all, but that clearly wasn't true. Had any of the information he'd been provided on his wife been sound?

Ava smiled, not at all surprised. As if any of her own royal family had paid her any mind. She held her glass out, Covin quickly stepping forward to take it from her. "A small trick I picked up when I was younger, please pay it no mind. What is it you needed, Prince Jin?"

"I had been meaning to give you your identification plate but I hadn't had the chance." He'd also forgotten about it but he wasn't about to admit to that as he pulled it from his pocket, holding out the thin gold nameplate and its accompanying fragile gold chain. "It was completed earlier today."

"Ah, I see. Many thanks Your Highness," She said with a brief dip of her head to express her sincerity, gesturing with two fingers for Covin to step forward and collect it for her.

But to her surprise, Jin raised his hand to stop the man. "It isn't appropriate for anyone but the royal family to touch it."

Covin fell back to stand behind the princess while Ava personally reached out to take it from him. "Oh, my apologies." Since it had to be worn on the body at all times but there was no requirement for where, she pressed the plate against the inside of her wrist, holding it in place. She then wound the extra length of chain around her wrist like a bracelet. At this point she frowned as she realized it would be difficult to clip it. So she glanced back up at him, holding her arm out slightly. "Could I trouble you, Prince Jin…?"

Jin reached out and clipped the end of the chain in place for her. Ava lifted her wrist to examine it, her name elaborately carved into the symbol of the Eden royal family across, seeming to approve as she let her wrist fall again, the sleeve of her robe hiding it from view. "Thank you. Is there anything else you need?"

Jin felt that he was oddly unwelcome so he decided he wouldn't stay any longer, turning to walk from the room again. "No, there isn't. Good night, Princess Avaline."

"Good night, Prince Jin."

As the door shut, Ava turned to her companions, signing to them. 'Can you believe him? Doesn't even know to knock before entering a lady's room, how hopeless. Do you think it would be inappropriate to have a lock installed on the door?'

Mila had to suppress her laugh while Covin seemed to be thinking about it seriously. 'It might be,' he signed back with a sigh, finding it unfortunate as he would feel more at ease without the sudden interruptions as well.

Mila shrugged. 'How often could he possibly want to visit Ava anyway?'

Ava collapsed into her bed, raising her hand in the air to lazily write her response. 'Mila has a point. We'll leave it be.' Rodney got up to sluggishly move over to Ava before dumping himself beside her with a huff, snuggling in close. Ava wrapped her arms around him, stroking his fur as she stared blankly, lost in thought. She then sat up again. 'We weren't informed about that touching rule for the nameplate.'

Covin signed back, 'It's a private family custom of the royal family. Hard information to come by.'

Mila shook her head however. 'We still should have known.'

Ava gnawed at her lip with unease, her brows creased in displeasure. 'We'll have to look into our networks here. It seems they aren't as reliable as they should be. We also need to ensure there's no other information we're missing.'

Both her servants nodded their heads in agreement. Ava then yawned before half burying her head into Rodney's fur. Covin clicked his fingers to get her to look over before wishing her good night, stating she should rest. Mila gave a small wave as her good night before she followed Covin out of the room. Ava watched them go before pulling the blanket over herself. Rodney wiggled under the blanket, curling himself up beside her. As Ava gradually let sleep take over, she quietly decided to herself that she wasn't getting up tomorrow morning. In fact, she might sleep the whole day.