Will to Live

Wild Oat

She woke feeling just as tired as when she went to sleep. The floorboards had left red lines across her skin and her head had been bent in a strange position.

"Hurry up, Pfalzgrafin! You need to take a bath! There's a ball tonight to prepare for!" Ursilda bustled around the room.

Adelaide raised herself on her elbow and watch Ursilda. Ursilda glanced over and gave her a stern look. Adelaide rolled her eyes and pushed herself up. The sun peaked through the window, signalling that it was far past dawn and closer to noon.

Ursilda let Adelaide take her time in the bath. She allowed Adelaide a little bit of time to eat, then began the process of readying her for the ball that night. First, she carefully cut Adelaide's nails with a knife. Her laborious task left both her and Adelaide yawning. She braided Adelaide's long hair and wrapped the braids in ribbons, letting them hang down Adelaide's chest.

The noon-day meal was served and both Pfalzgrafin and servant took the chance to rest. Ursilda looked especially tired, but she ran her perfectionist eyes over everything again and again to ensure that everything was right. Adelaide could see in her eyes just how much she loved dressing the Pfalzgrafin up.

"Now, no more mirror until we're finished," Ursilda said.

Adelaide laughed. "Oh, come on, Ursilda."

"No. I only want you to see when I'm finished and you are perfection itself."

Adelaide shook her head and laughed as Ursilda began the process of dressing her for the ball.

Over her white silk chemise, Ursilda, with some help from a few other maids, draped the long black gown. Over this came a white pelicon. They buckled a white leather belt around Adelaide's waist and pulled the edge of the pelicon through it to allow for more movement. The long billowing sleeves of the tunic hung like wings from Adelaide's arms.

"Why, Pfalzgrafin, you look just like a swan!" one of the maids said with wide eyes.

"Of course she does! That was the idea." Ursilda sent her a scornful look.

"Thank you," Adelaide mouthed when Ursilda's back was turned. The girl smiled and blushed, ducking her head.

Carefully, the three maids draped a veil over Adelaide's head and placed a band over it to keep it in place. White feathers danced with each of Adelaide's movements. There were feathers lining most of the edges of the cloth.

"And, the final touch!" Ursilda smiled, her eyes dancing uncharacteristically.

"Careful, Ursilda, I might think you're actually enjoying this."

Ursilda pursed her lips and shook her head, but couldn't hide the smile that grew across her face. She gently picked up a white mask laced with white pearls and feathers. Black eyelashes provided the perfect contrast.

"Aaaaaahhhhh!" the other maids sighed.

Ursilda smiled at Adelaide and turned the mirror around so Adelaide could see herself.

There she was. She could see her own faintly rosy face beneath the mask. The white made her skin look pale. Adelaide thought she looked sickly, but that was the style. The white feathers looked gaudy and too decorous.

"You are perfection!" Ursilda gushed, earning herself a few sidelong glances from Adelaide and the other maids. Ursilda never gushed.

Adelaide smiled and tried to look pleased. She'd have to rely on Ursilda's fashion sense. It was too late now to change, anyway. The sky outside was indicating that it was time to head downstairs to the ballroom--a room she had yet to see.

Ursilda was the one that showed her the way to the big doors in the room. Two guards stood on either side of the closed doors and two ushers stood at the doors. From inside came the sound of lilting music and faint talking.

"This is Pfalzgrafin Adelaide of Lundhoffe," Usilda told the ushers, nose slightly in the air.

The ushers opened the doors and passed the information along to the herald inside. He, in turn, blew his trumpet and announced her.

"The Pfalzgrafin Adelaide of Lundhoffe!"

Adelaide sent one glance back at Ursilda who sent her a reassuring nod, then stepped forward and descended the stairs, gaze fastened on the orchestra straight ahead on their raised platform. A few men gathered at the foot of the stairs, eagerly offering their arms and their praise to her.

"I'm Herzog Gadonheim."

"Pfalzgrafin Adelaide." She gave the old man a small smile, wondering how he expected to dance while depending on his cane.

"Herzog Brunheim," a middle-aged gentleman extended a hand. "May I be your escort?"

His warm brown eyes and fatherly manner instantly won Adelaide's trust. She smiled and placed a hand in the crook of his elbow. "You may."

The other men turned away in disappointment, shooting glares his direction. The Herzog smiled. "Hopeful youths."

"Indeed. I do believe you may have made a few enemies, sir."

He laughed. "How have you enjoyed your week?"

"I've definitely enjoyed it."

"My girls have too," he said with a laugh. "Ava won't stop talking about the library and I could barely get Matilda to speak of anything but the horses and the weaponry."

"Oh, you're Ava and Matilda's father?"

He smiled. "Yes, I am."

"Yet you chose to escort me?"

He pointed to a corner of the room. Ava could just barely be made out between the passing men and women. She was talking animatedly to a young man whose eyes fairly danced as she spoke.

"Ava would rather spend her time with a man more suited to her age, I suspect. Besides, I'd like to watch him from a distance tonight. To see how he behaves when I am not present."

"I see. And Matilda?"

He laughed agian. "Matilda wouldn't take any man for an escort. Just shooed that whole horde of men at the base of the stairs away. I believe she's up there right now." He pointed to a wide balcony that encircled the whole room. More men and women paraded there, though there seemed to be more flirting going on. A few of the older women sat in their chairs gossipping and laughing as they watched the festivities.

"So many people." Adelaide surveyed the wide white room with the big windows all around it standing open that led out to the garden.

"Yes, there are. Pfalzgraf Kafistania invited most of the nobles from the closest areas. I talked to him earlier, and he said that there would also be a surprise visitor, but he wouldn't tell me who."

"Who do you think it is?"

He led her up the stairs to the upper balcony. "He spoke as if the man was very important. And the surprise visit is something that is rather common to one particular man."

"Who would that be?"

He leaned down and spoke quietly. "The Kaiser himself."

Her eyes grew wide and she swiveled her head to meet his eyes. "The Kaiser?"

He smiled and nodded. "And a true honor it would be, too."

"Yes, but-- The Kaiser!"

He laughed. "You'll see soon enough, Pfalzgrafin."

A dance struck up below and they leaned over the rail to watch the couples below.