.:The Grand Staircase:.
This hadn't been the first big ball-type event Elise had attended. Being who she was, Princess of Soleanna and last surviving member of the royal family, she had been to many of these. Pomp and circumstance was nothing new, nor were big productions put on for the sake of others.
But this? She could tell immediately from her position on the grand staircase that was something was different. Maybe it was the people? She had been used to dealing with those in Soleanna's government, that it seemed strange to attend a ball where she hardly knew a soul. Only the scant few she had talked to over the journal and that was all.
But it felt different too. A difference that she found she liked. She wasn't the Princess of Soleanna here, she could just be Elise. Smiling to herself, she made her way slowly down the stairs to mingle with the crowds below.