Love's Blush

by Sabrina Zbasnik

  As the song continued, the royal couple twisting around the room, Reiss sunk deeper into the midst. The King gave her leave to enjoy herself, but what was there for an elf to do at such a party? She knew people, sure. For example, there by the pickle tray was Arl Teagan, the man she'd threatened with his life. Or there were all the other Banns Reiss would watch with an eagle glare to make certain their hands weren't carrying weapons. It seemed impossible to think anyone else was armed, the heavy skirts making it impossible for women to fish anything out and the men all in tight suitcoats that'd bulge in strange ways from a sheathe hidden below. Perhaps a tiny dagger might slip through, but Cade and his men were guarding the entrance.

  There was nothing Reiss could add to the ball, her job being handled by everyone else. She was completely useless in the cavalcade of rich humans. While no one actively painted a target on her back, she could feel it growing exponentially as the King finished his first dance with the Queen and let her retire off the dance floor. He looked about to leave, when the princess darted around skirts to grab onto her father's legs and tug him back. That drew laughs from nearly all the gathered dignitaries, everyone clapping in joy at the little girl guiding their towering King around as if she had all the power. Granted, after what Reiss saw, she suspected the princess did bear nearly full control of the man.

  Drifting deeper into the crowds, Reiss noticed this mythical dessert tray and began to head towards it. A handful of shemlan moved out of her way in deference to the uniform and not the person in it, barely anyone glanced to her face. They maintained a small island for the Dalish group, all of which stood in a locked off stance watching the proceedings with a small terror drawn across their faces. The true elves in their midst had no idea what to make of all this human celebration, but a few found comfort in a massive meringue cake they guarded. Reiss wasn't in the mood to be called a flat-ear for the night and she turned away from the dalish retinue.

  Gleaming across the way, her back to the window, stood a woman baring a near on likeness to Lunet. Same black curls, in this case a cascade down her back instead of tied up in a knot, same darker coloring that set her apart from the pale Fereldens. Reiss began to laugh at the idea of a shemlan looking exactly like her friend, when the woman turned to her side revealing a pointy ear prodding through the glittering midnight hair.

  "Lune?" Reiss gasped, stumbling over to her like a drunk about to have their pockets picked. The elf paused in whoever she was talking to and turned, that perfectly plucked eyebrow lifting in amusement.

  "Well, well, I was wondering how long it'd take you to find me. Good job, Rat," she lifted her champagne glass in a toast and then downed it all.

  As the tunnel vision of shock wore off, Reiss realized that it wasn't the typical tans and clears of the fancier liquors but something bright pink and bubbling in her glass. There was only one person in thedas who would drink that. "Maker's perforated colon, what are you doing here?" Reiss hissed, before slapping a hand over her mouth for such a blaspheme. Luckily, everyone else was too enraptured with their own celebrating or their King's antics to pay her any attention.

  "I believe I am drinking whatever this concoction is and eating some cheese that smells like rotten feet after a week on the beat," she smirked, her perfect little nose curling up at the cheese square clutched in her painted fingernails.

  "But...but, you're here. At the palace?" Reiss couldn't stop the stutter, her entire world thrown off its axis.

  "As are you, and, Andraste's calluses is that what you're wearing?" she sighed pointing at the uniform Reiss pathetically looked down at. Lunet was dressed properly for this fancy dance, her emerald dress bearing an asymmetrical neckline which exposed one shoulder, while the other did the work of keeping her bodice from falling off her curves. It didn't have the gold and fine jewels of the rest, but the fabric was of a fine make, far finer than something Lune could afford on her salary.

  Still waving at Reiss' abject failure of dressing pretty, Lunet tugged at one of the centerpieces on the table and unearthed a sprig of blue flowers. She knotted the flowers around the emblem bearing the Ferelden crest upon Reiss' upper arm. Now it looked as if the twin mabari were leaping through a field of forget-me-nots. "There," Lunet declared, "much more festive. Did you think to do anything about your hair?"

  "Maker's sake, I'm working here. I don't need to, why are you here? Are the rest of the guards in the palace? Is there more help I...?"

  Lunet chuckled at Reiss' ravings, "I forgot how hilarious it is when you go in full bore and half cocked. No, I'm not here as a guard. Be a right prig if I tried to arrest someone wearing this contraption. Did you know it's got metal bars jammed up through the corset bits? They said it's to flatter my form, but I think it's to keep women from being able to bend over."

  Not in the mood for Lunet's thoughts on ladies fashion, Reiss crossed her arms and glared at her best friend. That earned her another laugh, one almost powerful enough to snap one of those metal bars.

  "All right, all right, I'm here with someone. You know as in a couple, as in she invited me because she thought it'd be all romantic," Lunet snickered and tipped her glass to her lips. Before taking a drink she whispered, "As if I need more than a 'You wanna?' invitation to go routing through her trousers."

  "With? Someone here, at the palace? The only elves are the Dalish, and Shiani's family..." Reiss struggled to puzzle this out while Lunet watched with her eyebrow lifting higher and higher in hilarity. She was always doing that, giving Reiss just enough information to drive her mad.

  Spinning around, Lunet placed her glass upon the table behind and then waved her fingers, "That'd be my lovely lady right there."

  Reiss almost cracked her neck whipping it around so fast to catch Lace Harding who'd been in deep conversation with one of the Bann's. She nodded politely at the man before catching sight of Lunet and gently lifting the ends of her fingers to return the wave. "You!" Reiss sputtered.

  "Yes, that'd be me."

  "And...for the love of the Maker, you're involved with Scout Lace Harding?!"

  Lunet snickered, "I rarely call her scout, unless we're trying to hunt down a pair of missing knickers. What? Don't act surprised, you know I'm helpless against freckles, in particular on redheads."

  "But, she's a dwarf," Reiss couldn't understand this. Despite her staying far away from the Alienage, Lunet preferred to keep to her own in nearly all matters. She even walked halfway across Denerim to get her swords sharpened because there was an elf who did it.

  "So," Lunet shrugged, "I'm not in any danger of polluting the elven bloodline regardless and anyway, it's not like she's a shem."

  A dwarf, not just any dwarf but the scout for the Inquisition with Lunet. Reiss didn't realize she'd plucked a wine glass off a tray until half of it was down her throat. Nope, still not enough. She finished off the last of it and then grabbed onto her friend's shoulder, "And the fact she's our new Spymaster? Maybe you didn't hear out there in guardhouse 12 but the last one nearly got his head chopped off for messing around on the side."

  Lunet rolled her eyes, "Rye, up there in her ivory tower aloft from all of us working stiffs. Of blighted course we heard. It's been the juiciest gossip since the last assassination attempt. What's he at now, five?"

  "Two," she interrupted, needing to defend herself.

  "Whatever," Lunet waved it away, "Your need to mother me to death is forgetting a few key ingredients. One, Lacey's only an acting Spymaster. She's just holding down the fort until they pluck some new thief of shadows out of obscurity. And two, I ain't someone with ties to foreign titles in far away lands. No one gives two cheese coppers about what some run down elf guard from a backwater alienage does."

  "I..." Reiss felt her anxiety crack but not fully cede. She knew how close Ghaleb came to losing his life, and Lunet didn't have the protection the ambassador did. "I hadn't thought of that."

  Lunet rolled her eyes, "Surprise surprise, the rat's running in to put out the fire before realizing
it's in the bloody hearth. Don't worry yourself to death over it. It's why I'm here anyway. Lacey was upfront about us to your boss and he suggested inviting me along to the fancy party. Seemed to think it'd smooth over any concerns if they see how gentle and sweet I am." At that she grinned wide, showing off her canines before snapping them in a false bite.

  "My boss?" Reiss shook her head, trying to catch up, "The King, he knew before I did? Why didn't you tell me? Oh, right, because it's so much more fun to make Rye run around solving all of Lune's little puzzles instead of giving her a straight answer."

  Lunet shrugged, "That's the long and short of it."

  "I hate you," Reiss grumbled, but the last of her anxiety finally faded. She was at a fancy dress party with her best friend, no requirements ahead of her, and the two of them were free to snark upon all the humans they liked. Settling in beside Lunet, Reiss gestured to Harding and asked, "How in the void did you land that? She's more than above your pay grade, you know."

  That got Reiss a small shrug and a bigger smile, "Maybe. We find ways to even that one out. Step-stools help."

  "That wasn't what I..."

  "One day I was out on patrol and find a cart with a downed wheel blocking up the road. Lots of angry villagers waving their pitchforks and what not. Instead of yanking out the manacles and threatening to throw someone in jail, I helped this sweet dwarven woman lift up the carriage and hold it. We get to talking while her mother slaps on a replacement wheel. Seemed she just arrived in town to help settle her mother, would be around for awhile, oh and was incredibly hot and thought I was too."

  "Just like that?" Reiss sighed, "How do you do it? It's so damn easy for you. Swoop in, smile, make a few cheeky remarks, and you've got Scout Lace Harding eating out of your hand."

  "Hand isn't my preferred venue," Lunet quipped, earning a groan from Reiss. "I don't know. I'm me, I smile politely when I feel like, and snap back when I don't. Putting on the facade was never my strong suit, unlike you."

  "Me?" Reiss curled up her nose. "What facade? I don't do that."

  "That armor's the thickest in thedas," Lunet said cooly before snatching up another one of the pink drinks. There seemed to be a lot of them circling through the crowds. Apparently she wasn't the only one in Denerim who liked the strange mage brew.

  Reiss watched her drink, uncertain what to say. She could argue that she had to wear the armor for her job, in both the literal and figurative sense, but Lune was right. Reiss never took it off and the few times she found a chink in it, she patched over the hole as fast as possible. Folding her arms tight, she grumbled, "I have my reasons."

  "Please don't pout," Lunet groaned, "because we happen to have a room full of the fanciest food in Ferelden and I may have snuck a bag in under my skirt."

  "You are aware you are talking to a royal guardswoman who answers to the King," Reiss said, her hand falling to the grip of her sword.

  "So are you going to help me steal that giant cake or just planning to play lookout?" her friend giggled.

  "Depends on if we can nick it before the dancing ends," Reiss said, standing on her tiptoes to try and see over the mighty hats. A cluster of the chantry gathered near the edge, effectively blocking everyone's view - which felt like a very chantry thing to do.

  Her friend snickered at the idea, then she drew a very shrewd look across Reiss' visage. "Why are you suddenly of the mind to ask me for advice on the dark arts of romance? It wouldn't happen to be because someone has caught your eye? Someone in this very castle perhaps?"

  "What?" Reiss gasped, "No, of course not. No. Don't be silly. No. Never, not, no."

  "Uh huh, I believe you said no a dozen times there."

  "Well," Reiss felt her shoes constricting against her ankles and wished she could elegantly yank both off. "That's because it's true." Right? It wasn't as if she'd sometimes let her mind wander down a fantasy road that could only end in impenetrable brambles. Which sometimes translated into dreams about a man that the bodyguard would never dare have any interest in because it was improper and against a law, probably. There were lots of stupid laws for things. Ignoring the fact the Queen all but...

  She broke away from the spots of light on the dance floor Reiss had been glaring into. As they melted away, she realized it was caused by her screwing her face up so tight in trying to seem unperturbed that she looked like a raving lunatic. Lunet patted her on the arm and then gave her good friend soft slug along the chin, "Buck up, what do they say? Be yourself, say something witty, and he'll be certain to be eating out of your...wherever soon enough."

  "Fenheedis, Lune," Reiss cursed to herself, falling back on the elven swears whenever more polite ears were nearby. A few turned back at the foreign tongue but none raised a fuss. Her friend only chuckled at that. Of course it was all easy for Lunet. Not only was she beautiful and shapely enough to enflame the curiosity of damn near every species that liked women, she was herself. There was no facade, no playing hard to get, no flitting about like an errant butterfly hoping the right hand would pluck her from the sky. If Lunet wanted someone she made it obvious and quick. Reiss wished she had an iota of that certainty in her veins.

  Ignoring her friend's deep jealousy, Lunet tried to wave at Harding. The move drew Reiss' eyes over and she soured instantly at Bann Declan attempting to ooze into the new Spymaster's circle. Of course he'd be here, everyone was, and even if the man wasn't invited he probably bribed a guard to let him in. He stood on the outside, dancing back and forth on his shoes like a puppy needing to relieve itself. When nothing would work, the man turned to another standing beside him and began to whisper.

  Reiss was about to turn her back on it all, when the crowds parted enough and she got a full look upon the man Declan spoke with. No. She stumbled back, the air rushing from her lungs at the metaphorical kick to her gut. Lunet caught her shoulders and she tried to ask if Reiss was all right, but she couldn't hear her for the pounding in her ears.

  No. Not here. Not now. Not ever.

  "Rye, Reiss, Rat!" Lunet shouted closer to her ears. The last broke through and Reiss whipped to her, a snarl lifting up her lips. "What in the Maker's ballsack is wrong?"

  "It's him," she swallowed. Her blinking slowed as she tried to follow the man's movements. Lunet watched Reiss' line of sight and caught the same man dressed in a simpler guard uniform, far more generic than even the ones they wore in the watch. He was that dashing kind of handsome that made an instant impression but washed away quickly with time. Pretty but forgettable. At least he should be.

  "Him who?" Lunet asked.

  "Ethan," Reiss wanted to hiss his name, to sneer and scowl with an anger that could shatter the mountains, but she felt herself slipping away. Fading inward, she clung tight to her own arms as the years yanked back leaving her as emotionally raw as she'd been when it all went so wrong. Lunet managed the scowling, her pretty eyes glaring at him, as she tried to shield away Reiss sinking into the floor.

  "Forget him. He's of no consequence, yes."

  "Why is he here? He shouldn't be here," Reiss whispered to herself, wishing that logic would somehow fix the world and make it right.

  "Toads tend to gather in groups," Lunet sneered. "Ah shit," she grabbed onto Reiss and tried to turn her around to face the dancers. "I think the little prick saw me."

  The women held their breath but they didn't need to wait in fear long as that smooth voice called out from behind Lunet's shoulder, "Fancy meeting you here, Reiss. Never expected to see an elf in the Denerim palace."

  Maker no. Go away. Just go away and don't do this.

  Lunet snapped around, "More than one."

  He should have burst into flames from the glare Lunet worked, but Ethan used his charms to easily slip past it unharmed. Barely even bothering to look over, he honed those sharp blue eyes on Reiss and smiled, "How are you?"

  Go away! "Fine," she mumbled, glancing up anywhere but in his direction.

  "It's been a few years since we last spoke," he tried to lean clos
er to her, but Reiss shifted back.

  Not fucking long enough! "I suppose," she wished she was strong enough to spit in his face, to upend him out the door, to challenge him to a Maker damn duel. Anything but the fumbling little girl who felt herself trapped in quicksand. It was her fault, all of it.

  "A little birdie told me that you're working for the guards now," Ethan stepped into Reiss' bubble. As she gasped for breath, his cologne punched into her stomach dredging up a hundred painful memories - and worst of all - a dozen happy ones. Reiss shuddered, attempting to find air that didn't smell of him, when Lunet leapt to her defense.

  "Not just any guards, she's working in service to the King."

  Oh no. Lunet meant well, Reiss knew it. She wanted to pound the pathetic turd down into the tiny hole he belonged in, but that was what he hoped to hear. Ethan's eyes lit up, and he flashed the entire top row of his teeth. She knew that smile, it was the one he'd beam on her when he wanted to get something from her. But never the other way around. Not even when things were good.

  "What delightful news," Ethan oozed, his hand landing upon Reiss' shoulders, "because my good Bann has been trying to get a private meeting with His Majesty for some time now. I'm certain you know how busy the King is. Perhaps you could facilitate something between the two?"

  For a brief moment the pilot light in her gut lit. How dare he walk into her life as if nothing happened, as if he didn't twist her mind around like a pretzel and shatter her self esteem until she had only pieces to pick up. After all that she did to scrabble together a new life, months walking the streets in sole-less shoes because she couldn't afford to replace them, her ears scrapped raw every day on the beat. And now, now that she was someone, had access to someone important, suddenly he needed her again. He wanted her. Fuck him and his grabby Bann!