Tierney & Ress She could do this. Tier had kept repeating those words over and over as she stood in front of the mirror earlier in the evening and it was a mantra that hadn't left despite how long she'd been at the ball. This was one of the first times that she'd been out since....well everything. Tier hadn't felt particularly ready to face crowds of people she didn't know and certainly didn't feel ready to even face the people she did know. The only ones she'd seen outside her soulmate were her sisters but with Kyna remaining in New York it had really just been Neela and River. She knew it couldn't be fun for Ress, knew it had to be lonely, but she didn't know how to be ready. She didn't know if she would ever be, honestly.
Then, Annaliese had come. Seeing her cousin had filled her with a mixture of emotions, stirring that fire the former-princess had been known for before her entire world had shattered. Not just with the death of her parents and her thinking her sisters had followed suit but with the horrors Terranox had brought upon her. Seeing her cousin had brought all the fear back from years on the run, though Tier had been surprised when the dark-haired beauty had not tried to kill her as her family had done to parents. She'd explained everything that had happened at court, explained that she'd had no idea what her parents had planned and would have helped put a stop to it if she'd known. She'd explained that her brother had not been involved and had therefore been ostracized unjustly. Most importantly, Annaliese had explained that she was emperess now and those responsible for what had happened to her family were taken care of. Tier's mind had spun at that, unable to process it at first thanks to all the trauma she'd endured and survived. She couldn't make the pieces fit in her new vision of the world.
It had taken time, but eventually Tierney had had a moment of clarity; a moment of understanding. The fire had been reignited, though she was by no means cured of all the lingering effects of her trauma. She simply felt like she could truly live again and it had been such an intense relief that she'd sobbed into Ress for the better part of an entire night. It was this relief, this renewed vigor, that had prompted her to accept when her cousin sent her an invitation to the queen's ball. Nobody needed to know who Tierney was, as she didn't want to usurp power from anyone or disrupt the Night Court of the Genies in any way. She just wanted to live and despite knowing nothing really about this affair besides what Annaliese had explained, she felt this was as good an opportunity as any to crawl out of her self-imposed darkness and back into the light.
Despite how breathtaking she looked in her gown, how electric and vivid and more like her old self than she'd ever thought possible, Tier's inner demons were impossible to ignore indefinitely. All the people, all the extravagance and flair, reminded her of growing up in her own court. It reminded her of what she'd lost, which in turn caused the fear of all she'd been through to rear its head. Tier had needed a moment, so she'd escaped out to the gardens in order to compose herself. The cool breeze drifted over her skin, burning some of the panic away with its sharp sting. Tier took another long breath as her therapist had taught her, letting the wind tickling in sharp pricks against her cheeks and through her silvery-white hair (done up for the occasion) as a centering point. She could do this, she would do this. She just needed a minute to re-center herself.