I wasn't sure what to expect from this ball. Certainly, I had seen a vision of this celebration, but it was not completely a happy event. There were undertones of regrets in the vision and I was prepared. I was also in need of some unwinding of my nerves. It would feel good to have a few glasses champagne and lose myself in dance and music. Jessica was wearing the lovely dress Armonn had designed for her for the first ball. She looked fantastic and less uncomfortable in the dress this time. She smiled at me as we entered the hall and asked (jokingly?) if I had gotten her a flower. I attempted to produce one on the spot. The spell was a ridiculous maneuver that required so much guess work and finger crossing that I was stunned when it worked at all. The product was a daisy. It amazed me. As Jessica looked attentively around at the arriving guests, I just stared at the flower in my hand, created from nothing but improvised magic. Soon I realized it was not a very impressive feat compared to most magic. I presented it to Jessica, and she was amused. She chuckled, temporarily not the hardened warrior, and gave me a light kiss on the cheek. Warm, friendly, festive, the party was relaxing me already.

There were several couples already on the dance floor and the band had struck up a series of related numbers. These songs, it appeared, were old favorites of Amber. They were easy to dance to. Flora had instructed me on the finer points of the style during the first ball and I was going over some of the flourish steps in my mind when Jessica asked me to dance. I remembered how withdrawn she'd been at the first ball, barely going out to the dance floor at all. She seemed at home now. She led me right out to the center of the floor where I was to teach her the steps.

dancers

I clasped her left hand in mine and step back away from her. She duplicated the stance as I began to circle her, in step with the music, but with no mind to the exact moves.
Soon we were doing the normal steps of the dance. She caught on quickly. She knew where I was about to move before I moved. She was agile and light on her feet. I grinned. If this WAS a knife fight I'd have been chopped to ribbons. The remaining subtleties of dance were all about shifting your balance into the other person's control and artistic merging of styles, but that could wait. We danced until the first set of music was complete.

Quinn approached us during the break and discussed a trip that she and Connie had taken into Corwin's universe. They had briefly made Trump contact with Corwin, but his captor had broken the contact immediately. Quinn proposed the possibility of a rescue mission. Jessica and I both offered assistance. I felt for Quinn. Tragedy was at every turn. First Merlin's murder, then Dworkin's threat on her own life, and now Corwin's predicament. Of course I would do what I could.

fiddle Vialle stood at the edge of the stage and addressed us all, officially beginning the event. After some formalities Vialle introduced the minstrel Raine and the fiddlers Locke had recruited. They played a musical accompaniment to Raine's epic poem about The Battle of MoonAmber. Raine had an excellent voice and the poem wasn't bad. The audience enjoyed the performance.

Jessica left to mingle with the crowd, which gave me a chance to sit back and take in an overall view of the party. I spotted Locke and Connie for the first time. Locke was engaged in spirited conversation with Luke. Connie on the other hand seemed to be a little depressed. I wonder what was on his mind and was about to go try to cheer him up, but Vialle chose the moment to make another announcement.

Vialle once again stood and the head of the stage. She quieted the crowd and announced that the participants of the battle of MoonAmber would be awarded membership into the "Order of the Unicorn". The award sounded like a great honor. I saw a few of the elders nod in agreement with the award. We approached the stage and one-by-one we were called up to the stage and presented with a unicorn emblazon lapel pin to signify the award. The onlookers cheered as we all bowed graciously. I noticed that had Deirdre remained uncalled, soon I found out why. Vialle announced that Deirdre had previously received the award and would now be made a "Knight of the Realm". Vialle called her to the stage and placed a medal around her neck. The crowd applauded even louder for this. Finally Vialle introduced Random. He moved slowly, he looked shaky, and he spoke in a halting and forced tone. It was odd to see him so out-of-sorts, but good to see him functional. It was not the words of Random's speech, but the fact that he was capable of delivering it that was so inspirational.

Next it was Flora's turn to make an introduction. She went through a short litany of formal acknowledgments before announcing the newest member of the royal family, my daughter, Cayt. Cayt made her entrance in a billowy hoop skirted dress. She looked stunning, but didn't appear to be enjoying the outfit much at all. I hoped Flora hadn't annoyed her too much with the formalities of Amber. Cayt eyes turned my way. When her gaze met mine I smiled. I didn't detect the same burning hatred she in her eyes I had seen before. Maybe soon she would accept me for who I really was and not the monster Morgawse had made me out to be.

The music stared up again. I saw that Mandor had joined the party and was dancing with Jessica, so I looked for someone else to dance with for the time. Deirdre was trying to pull herself away from a conversation with some minor nobles, so I asked their pardon if I could have a dance with Deirdre. I congratulated her on her recent Knighthood. As we danced we discussed her training. She seemed reluctant to talk about her strength training program, which struck me as odd. Was it an unusual thing to discuss? I let the topic drop. Deirdre was a very technical dancer. Every step was perfect, but there wasn't much emotion. When the song ended she thanked me for the dance and went about other business.