Just give me five minutes!

She only needed five minutes. Just five minutes! There were so many people. They were all filing in and congratulating. The faces and furs started to blur together. The colors were starting to meld into a kind of gray and the sounds started to muffle in her ears.

Ignita tried several times to keep smiling and say thank you, and listen to what they had to say but she could feel the strain in her teeth and cheeks. Had she ever smiled this much in one day? She glanced at Basilisk, his stern and almost cold demeanor a contrast to her warm giddiness. But as she would catch his gaze she would be able to steady herself for the next few guests and greetings. As if he was able to bring the life back into her.

There was finally a moment where there was a lull in the onslaughts of guests and they had turned to hold Basilisk's attention. She exchanged a "just going to get a breather" look with him before quietly slipping away from the wonderous music, heavenly smells, and cloistered musings among the guests. She paused as she heard one of the children talking, but they seemed to be having a lively conversation about silly jokes and killing polar bears with their cousins. She smiled at the scene, winking as one of them caught her eye. Then quickly she absconded into a quiet corridor before anyone got the idea to pull her into another conversation.

She didn't know where she was going exactly, all she needed was a little quiet, a little fresh air. Oh, she hoped she wasn't going to trespass! Was there a balcony somewhere she could just breathe in?

Finally. She found a balcony already open to the fresh air and no one around. She heaved a sigh as she felt the autumn wind caress her face. It had the bite of winter on it. How strange, oh! Thats right! So far south they would have winter when Armada was about to enter summer!

The autumn wind caught a cold wetness over her cheek. She huffed as she wiped a tear of overwhelm away. Did she have to cry at every other breath? She was tired of it! How did she have any more tears left in her at this point?

She slumped into the balcony railing, her eyes glazed over at what should be a wonderous view of the land as her head rested on it and her legs crumpled beneath her. Silent tears openly fell over her cheeks

How was she going to handle being a leader next to Bas if she could barely handle saying thank you and hello ten or twenty times in a row? How could she stand in front of a crowd and not weep or run away to hide? The last time she was at a party like this, with wine especially... She had been the center of a very different flavor of attention.

"Basilisk" | "Ignita"