Viscountess Zabanya unbends again, nodding at you politely. "She's Neianne of Caelon. She and Elizabeth are squadmates at Faulkren. Elizabeth invited her from Apaloft as a guest."
"Elizabeth?" The viscountess-consort glances behind her, the direction her eldest daughter was last scene in, before turning her attention back to you. She masters her obvious surprise a moment later. "I...see."
"She's a guest of House Zabanya," Elizabeth offers from her corner of this square.
Wilhelmina's eyes narrow for a moment at Elizabeth, before she casts the same look at you, which suddenly makes you feel very self-conscious. Eventually, Wilhelmina's look softens, but only by a bit. "I...see,"
Glancing around, you lean in close enough to whisper up to her, a little despairingly, "I d-didn't expect to be here either. Lady Elizabeth...s-surprised me."
Melanie blinks, confusion - if anything - increasing. "You're here w-with Lady Z-Z-Zabanya?" Abruptly, she glances behind you, as if worried that, perhaps, the smaller elf had been hiding in your shadow, waiting to step out and startle her.
"N-No," you admit, "I'm here with House Zabanya."
Lucille actually gives a slight start at that, considerably less subdued than Melanie's was. Slowly, Lucille let's her hold on Melanie's arm drop, actually frowning a little. "You're here with Elizabeth?"
While others have been surprised at this news, something about the way Lucille asks the question makes it sound as if you're doing something wrong.
"By Zabanya?" There's something about how she says that name - in this particular context - that doesn't quite sound like upset, but somehow makes you strangely uncomfortable. As if Sieglinde has just learned of something you'd rather she not have.
I really did enjoy seeing everyone's reactions to the idea that
Elizabeth invited a guest. Doubly so for those who actually know Neianne and thus are
even more confused at the idea that Elizabeth and Neianne actually get along. I wonder how many people are going to come to the (partially correct) idea that Elizabeth is dragging Neianne around because she finds Neianne's reactions amusing? It would fit with their preconceived notions of her as a bully who enjoys flaunting her own power since you could view that as Elizabeth
forcing Neianne into uncomfortable situations for her own amusement. It's not true since Elizabeth pretty clearly, at least from what we see via Neianne's POV, respects Neianne and actually enjoys spending time with her not
just teasing her.
"D-Do you..." you find yourself asking, "...dislike Lady Elizabeth?"
Lucille frowns as if that's a strange question.
It really isn't a strange question from an outside perspective. Elizabeth has a dreadful reputation and unlike most characters with similar backgrounds she has actually
earned that reputation and truly does deserve it. Elizabeth
shows no love and blatant disrespect to her father when they meet in the capital, keeps her younger sisters in line via the threat (and likely occasional application) of
electric shocks, and is highly argumentative when she actually becomes engaged with a topic.
That all being said it's not surprising Neianne doesn't recognize this. Not only does she have very little social awareness which means she misses a lot of the cues about Elizabeth's personality she personally doesn't actually see that side of Elizabeth that much. The reason being that Elizabeth is very much a "respect must be earned" type of girl expect she applies that to
everyone instead of half-heatedly and the vast majority of people
fail to earn Elizabeth's respect. Neianne meanwhile has solidly earned Elizabeth's respect, as has Sieglinde in her own way, so she sees the more toned down "true" Elizabeth rather then the "normal" Elizabeth who is tired of dealing with all these fools.
"I'm going to go take a seat," Elizabeth announces, moving past you and navigating the rows of seats that line the gallery. "Join me whenever you want. Or don't." She smirks a little. "I suspect you may find a few friends here."
...who wants to bet Elizabeth was somehow observing us through this whole thing. The way she smirks here and mentions our friends has me thinking she has plans. Primarily probably just to gain some enjoyment from seeing everyone freak out when they realize
Elizabeth was the one to invite Neianne.
Speaking of which; I suspect that is something Elizabeth will bring up sometime in the future. Possibly when we have the post-session mingling although given the separation of nobles and guests pre-session it might be off-screen. Neianne has made a
lot of friends in high places yet not a single one of them thought to invite her to one of the most important events of the year. Only
Elizabeth cared enough to invite Neianne. She didn't even settle for inviting her either; she brought Neianne to her home, introduced Neianne to her family, and paid for Neianne to have a dress suited to the occasion. That is a lot of effort for someone normally as detached as Elizabeth.
Now we know that OOC this happened because we voted to spend time with Elizabeth rather then one of our various other contacts over the break but in-universe that doesn't matter. It wasn't even that Elizabeth got there first or Neianne rejected other offers; Elizabeth was the
only person to even offer let alone follow through. I have no doubt Elizabeth is going to use that to gain the upper-hand in one or more conversations with our friends in the future.
"M-Magecraft isn't that complicated. If you w-wanted to learn, I'm sure you c-could."
You make a slight sound of distress, before admitting, "Smart g-girls keep trying to explain m-matter dissipation to me."
This; this right here
really makes me want to have Neianne get into Magecraft as her second weapon. While I still think she'd be better off with Staff as her second weapon I'd be fine with Tome as well. Honestly all these discussions, which despite her protestations she does seem to be learning from and getting engaged with, seem like the perfect catalyst to spark her interest in Magecraft. Plus it means Neianne would finally be able to contribute
back to these discussions.
Yes, it has taken me more than two real-life years to write one in-story year, which is supposed to be only a third of the prologue. I'm not even halfway to the "real" story. Something terrible and wrong has happened with my life.
Honestly while I would love it if you updated and I do look forward to post-school adventures I really enjoy the current story. Everything and everyone feels well developed and fleshed out. The world, despite its various oddities, feels
real and the characters all feel like
people. So even if it takes months between updates and tens of thousands of words per chapter I think it is worth it for a story of this quality.
