The Other Side of the Door

Chapter 13

The next day was a day full of excitement. Everyone in the castle was buzzing about the feast and ball. 

Hortense barely allowed me to leave the room. She had told me that the ball  was to be a surprise for me. Not that I wasn't grateful for a surprise, but I had been wanting to help decorate and plan. Unfortunately, the only help I really gave was chosing my favorite color of table cloth. 

"Alayna, which color do you prefer?" Cogsworth had come in holding two table clothes, one gold and one silver in color. 

I analyzed them for a minute. I really didn't have a preference. I thought about the ballroom, however, and decided that gold would look better in that room. 

"The gold," I responded. 

That was as much help as I was allowed to give. If I left my room for anything, someone had to accompany me so that I couldn't sneak around the castle, which I had a history of doing. 

Elliot came around sometime that afternoon to hand me a formal invitation, as if I didn't know about the feast and ball already. The invitation was beautifully handwritten in his handwriting, which I was sure took a lot of effort and time.

Eventually Hortense decided it was time to start dressing me. She had at least five gowns sprawled across the bed to choose from. 

The first one we examined was a light blue color with lots of white lace draped across it. I thought it was beautiful, but Hortense thought it washed out my skin, whatever that meant.

The second gown was lilac with flowers twisted into the skirt. I was mildly sick of flowers, so I wasn't a fan, but Hortense thought the flowers made the dress "magnificent". 

The third gown was dark green and gold which Hortense immediately shot down. "It's a beautiful dress, but on you it looks horrid," she had said. 

The fourth gown was a dark red. It looked lovely sitting on the bed, but it clashed horribly with my hair. Both Hortense and I turned it down. 

"This last dress better be ravishing on you," Hortense wailed. 

I just laughed. I didn't care much for ball gowns to begin with. When I had gone to balls with my sisters, they had always bothered so much over how their hair looked and if their gown was the best. I had never cared. I had always thrown on a gown and pinned my hair up slightly, and that had been enough. 

Hortense, however, was more like my sisters, naturally. Unfortunately, because she couldn't dress herself up, I was the victim of her wishes. I didn't mind much, but it was funny to watch the stress she was going through to make me look perfect. 

We stared at the fifth dress on the bed. It was a mix of gold and a light pink with a rose pattern embroidered throughout. I knew I was sick of roses and flowers, but the dress was our last hope. 

I put the dress on and Hortense literally gasped. "Alayna, I have never seen you look more beautiful."

That settled any discussion over my gown, really. The next problem was my hair. Hortense believed I needed to do an elaborate twisty up-do, however she couldn't really do my hair, and there was no way I was going to be able to do it. Instead, I just braided flowers throughout. Even though I was sick of flowers, it looked really nice with them in. 

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. It startled me and Hortense a bit. I assumed that it was Elliot, summoning me to the ballroom but when I opened the door, it was Cogsworth. 

"Mademoiselle, I have been asked to escort you to the ballroom for the feast," he bowed. 

I gave a small chuckle. "Thank you, Cogsworth." I couldn't really take his arm, so we just walked next to each other as we headed towards the ballroom. I was very excited, and somewhat nervous. The last time we had had a ball, I had been in charge of planning and executing. This time I helped choose a table cloth and that was it.