To You, Who Shines

The idea of someone as dominant and unwavering-seeming as Eris, who she’d just seen handling crowds with finesse and ease, hiding out in a side room was something Siffia would never have imagined.

“Yes...? Of course I was. I am not so narcissistic that I wish lavish myself in other’s praises and attention, true or false though their words may be. I believe anyone would grow tired under the obligation of so much unneeded conversation. It is only natural. Why, I would never have chosen the path that I had if I-”

Suddenly Eris clamped her mouth shut, looking as if she’d tasted something disgusting for a split second before her expression swiftly returned to its usual neutral position, her hands coming up to busily pull Siffia’s hair, necklace, and dress back into place.

“And what of you, Lady Siffia? Why did you sneak away from my side earlier?”

“Ah? Um…”

Siffia looked down, watching Eris’s hands fixing her dress with a meek expression. For some reason, she felt like a child who’d been caught wandering away from their mother.

“W-well I… Everyone was talking to you, and I was just standing there with nothing to do, so… I was bored.”

A small part of her felt like she was admitting to abandoning Eris to the wolves somehow. She peeked up cautiously to check Eris face, and had to stop herself from breathing a sigh of relief at how unaffected Eris still looked.

However, when Eris replied, the heaviness of her words spoke to something that Siffia had never expected.

“Yes, that’s quite understandable. As I said, it is only natural to feel such a way. ...But you only had to put up with it for a mere forty minutes; Imagine, perhaps, how someone who had to sit through it multiple hours at every event for a decade must feel.”

Siffia’s eyes widened, and her mouth opened slightly. A startling understanding filled her, one that she never would have guessed at from simply watching Eris handling others earlier.

-But before she could try to speak a word of it, Eris spoke up once more, giving one last final adjustment to Siffia’s hair.

“Now then, I’ve done all that I can do. Sadly I lack in the talents of the maids who prepared you, but I believe that you’re plenty presentable enough at the moment to not warrant any embarrassment.”

“Ah, yes-”

Siffia quickly turned to look at herself in a nearby reflective vase, repeatedly nodding as she reaffirmed that everything was properly in place.

“-It looks perfect, Lady Eris! Thank you for doing this for me! Your eye for detail is wondrous as always!”

Eris gently smirked, seeming lightly amused by Siffia’s enthusiastic praise, before standing up and offering her hand to her.

“With that out of the way, what would you like to do now, Lady Siffia? You’ve experienced quite a shocking situation, so I’m sure no one would fault you if you wished to return home. I, as your escort, would gladly see you there safely.”

Though Siffia instinctively placed her hand onto Eris’s, she didn’t stand up right away. The word ‘yes’ was threatening to spill from her tongue, but the dancing music that she could hear beginning to play through the walls was making her hesitate.

“...We’ll… get in trouble if people see us leave now, won’t we? The music has only just begun, and as you said before, dancing is heavily encouraged at this banquet.”

For a moment Eris wrinkled her brow, looking as if she didn’t understand why Siffia was worried about such a thing, but soon her expression relaxed and she backed off slightly, centering herself in the middle of the room and adjusting herself into a dancing stance. Her hand once more extended itself towards Siffia in invitation.

“May I have this dance, My Lady?”

“O-oh…”

Siffia blushed, her eyes widening, her hand still hovering in the air where it had been placed on top of Eris’s only seconds ago. Though she’d suggested dancing, she’d never actually thought that they would be doing it in this secluded room, and certainly not with each other. Yes, they had practiced together, and sure, Eris was her self proclaimed escort for this banquet, but somehow this felt like breaking the rules. The purpose of these dances were for young ladies and omegas to meet others and perhaps make connections, if not find a possible future mate. With the way society shunned the pairing of omegas, it was possible that a scandal could spread if anyone spotted the two dancing together.

And there was also the fact that Eris was so amazing, beautiful, and highborn that she could dance with practically any eligible bachelor that she could possibly want.

Somehow, the idea of making Eris dance with her, an unwanted viscount’s daughter who’d almost been debauched, felt terribly wrong. It made Siffia curl her hand shut and press it against her chest, as if protecting Eris from her filthiness. Clearly, she was unworthy to dance with someone like Eris. Yes, she was certainly very, terribly, aware of such a fact.

And yet-

“At this rate the music will end, Lady Siffia. ...Do you plan to snub me?”

-With even the slightest excuse, Siffia couldn’t help but shut her eyes to it all and spring up, eagerly placing herself in front of Eris as her partner.

~~~

Two songs had come and gone, each dance lifting Siffia’s spirits more and more, as if erasing every wrong that life had inflicted upon her. And as the slow-dancing portion of the night began, Siffia didn’t feel at all as flustered and overwhelmed as she had when they’d practiced. Pressed against Eris’s firm body, held in her strong arms as they slowly swayed along to the music, Siffia couldn’t help but feel as if she were where she was meant to be. It was like coming home and slipping into a warm bath after a long day. She almost dreaded that the music would ever come to an end.

She was so calm and relaxed, in fact, that she finally felt comfortable enough to re-broach a subject that she’d been curious about.

“Lady Eris… If you dislike everyone coming to talk to you, then why do you let them? ...Are you not annoyed with it?”

From what she’d seen of Eris so far, the woman seemed perfectly capable of sharply cutting any unwanted chatter off and sending the hordes of nobles away from her, or even just escaping before they could swarm her in such a way. If she despised it as much as she seemed to, then it didn’t make sense that she was allowing such a thing, powerful and dominant as she was.

“Of course I’m annoyed. It would be odd not to be. But I cannot fault them for working so hard for the sake of their families, nor am I willing to snub such noble efforts out of my own selfish boredom; After all, it is an obligation that few nobles find themselves free of.”

Something about the tone of Eris’s voice as she spoke made Siffia straighten up a bit to check her expression. Though Eris’s face seemed to remain neutral on the surface, Siffia could tell that there was a slight tiredness that had snuck onto her countenance. Siffia couldn’t help the way her eyes suddenly widened as an unexpected realization dawned on her.

“...Have you perhaps had to do the same as they have, Lady Eris?”

It was something that sounded absolutely crazy, knowing how powerful Eris’s family was. Siffia couldn’t even possibly begin to imagine it to be true, and yet she couldn’t read anything from Eris’s expression but that.

Clearly affected by the question, Eris stilled, no longer moving along with the music. With a slow, melancholic looking nod, Eris muttered wistfully.

“While it’s not nearly to the same level as them, I can’t help but understand their motivations. I too have had to play the game and do half-hearted actions just for the sake of keeping my family’s standing, at least in the social world. All this time, for their sake, I’ve-”

Just like earlier, Eris suddenly pulled a face and went quiet, resuming her movements to the music a moment later with a stiff face.

No more words were said until the music finished, when Eris stated that it was time to escort Siffia home.