Princess Eileen strode elegantly down the castle corridor, her petite figure casting a shadow on the wall in the dim light. Her heart was pounding, and she could hardly repress a smile. Tonight was the night of the royal ball, held once every five years. At the last one she had been eleven, too young to dance, and too young to search for a suitor, which were the soul purposes of the royal ball. She wondered what her sister would be doing this evening, but didn't linger on that for too long. She had more important business to attend to, the first order of which was to find out if Juliana had lain out her gown yet, and the second being to find out what her shoes would look like. While pondering this thought she came to the door to her chamber, which she cordially knocked on, expecting it too be opened by Juliana, who was her servant girl, and good friend, but no one answered the door. She sighed and pushed it open herself. "Juliana?" She called, wondering where Julie could possibly be. Se checked her bed, making sure Juliana hadn't already laid her gown out. There was nothing on the bed but a corset. She grimaced. "Ugh. I hate those things." Temporarily distracted, she forgot about the Juliana mystery and began to undress. She had just put the corset on, and was waiting for someone to come and lace it when Juliana finally appeared. "Juliana!" She exclaimed. "Where have you been?" The other girl smiled apologetically, her dimples showing. The tailor had to make some last-minute adjustments. ---Let me lace that corset for you. If you're not dressed soon your mother will be outraged." Ellie grinned, "When is mother not in an outrage?", but she bent over to let Julie lace her corset all the same. "These things are horrid." She complained, more to herself than her servant, but soon Juliana was finished and she had forgotten about the corset-her waist was eighteen inches without it anyways-and was slipping her gown over her head. It was long, flowing, and a lovely color blue that matched her eyes perfectly. "Oh! It's beautiful!" She exclaimed. Juliana smiled, "I'll tell the tailor you liked it."
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Fifteen minutes later, Juliana had done her hair and makeup, and she was ready to enter the ball room. Her heart was pounding again. Whether she knew it or not, though, she looked beautiful as she strode gracefully in. Every head turned in amazement. She smiled a genuine smile, and began to mingle. She spoke with the prime minister and his wife, along with some of her mother’s friend and many other people before the music began and everybody took a partner. A young man with bleach blond hair and dark brown eyes approached her. "May I have this dance, Princess?" He asked, holding out his large hand. She placed her small one on top of it, noticing that it was unusually cold, and it felt more like marble than flesh. His voice was very melodic, and slightly seductive. "Yes, you may." She responded politely. They began waltzing across the floor more gracefully than any other pair in the room. This pleased Eileen greatly. She had been taking dance lessons from a tutor for months now, and she hadn't been sure how well she would do. She had no worries now, as they danced. Se was completely caught in the moment. Nothing around her seemed to mater. The blond boy suddenly spoke. "I'm Carlise." He whispered. "I'm Eileen," She whispered back, "but you probably already know that." They continued on in this way for a while, dancing and talking, but then the music ended, and they broke apart with a curtsy and a bow. She hurried to one of the tables at the far end of the room, locating a group of friends. "You looked wonderful!" They told her, but she simply grinned and shrugged. She couldn't even begin to describe how it had felt to dance with him. She was positive that it had been one of the most amazing experiences of her entire life. After her father had died at few years before, she had had trouble finding joy in anything, but it didn't seem so difficult tonight. She danced with many more young men that night, but Carlise was by far the most magical, and so therefore we shall skim over the details of the others.
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Somewhere, in a village not all that far away from the castle there sat a young girl- around the same age as our princess-in a window nook with a candle. She was reading a scroll, and seemed totally absorbed. Her name is not necessary just yet, but her story is something you might find interesting. As she went on reading this scroll she heard a commotion in the downstairs portion of her fathers shop. She heard yelling, and then she heard her father let out a yowl of pain. She immediately let her scroll fall to the ground, taking the candle and tiptoeing down the stairs. As she neared the bottom, she began to understand what the voices were saying. Her fathers shop was being robbed. She stayed in the stairwell, which was hidden in the back room, until it was quiet and the intruders were gone. She rushed into the main room of the shop. All of the merchandise was gone, and her father lay on the floor, coughing up blood. "Father!" She exclaimed in terror. "Father, are you alright?!" She rushed to his side, sobbing. It was then that she noticed the little boy that had followed her down the stairs. "Go back upstairs, Ian! GO!" She screamed. She couldn’t bear for her brother to watch their father die.