The festivities were in full swing, the soon-to-be-married couple had the first dance of the night.  Ifan watched them with a warm feeling in his heart as he thought his brother was very lucky to have found his Soulmate. Lady Laeria was magnificent with her long blond hair, perfect skin, silver eyes as her dress flowed graciously around her while they danced. Athelan had that look on his face that was filled with utter love. They were happy and Ifan couldn’t be more delighted by that. A soulmate was a love for life. Soveryn Elves could not love anyone else besides their Soulmates once they found them. It was something yet so pure and beautiful, but also heartbreaking and bittersweet. If one of the pair died before the other, it was said that the feeling was the same as if the other one had died as well, being ripped from their love, their heart. Weirdly enough though, it was also said that this feeling of pure love was worth everything.

His brother and Lady Laeria just finished their dance, and it was the cue for everyone else to dance as well. 

As the night went by, all the people were dancing, chatting, and enjoying the party with its delicious food and delicacies displayed on the buffet table. The Elf Prince went to meet his little sister who was eagerly waiting for her first dance with him. She was beaming as a wide smile was plastered on her rosy cheeks. His little brother was with her, looking like he wanted to go play around the ballroom, but his duty was to watch over Ilithya and he always took his responsibilities seriously. As he saw Ifan approach, he knew he would be able to leave and go run around the room, eating, probably way too much, sweet delicacies.

Ifan bowed low in front of his little sister with the utmost courteous manners a nobleman could give, extending his hand for her to take. “My lady, would you make me the honor of this first dance?” he elegantly said.

Ilithya was skipping on her feet and let out a cheerful “mmh, mmh!” of approval before reaching for her older brother’s hand.

“Shall we, then?” Ifan said as he led her to the dance floor.

Some people were whispering as they saw him reserve his first dance with the little Princess. Some were outraged, as usual, as he should have taken the opportunity to get acquainted with the noble Ladies, but some let “aaws” as they found it adorable. But Ifan didn’t really care. All that mattered was his little sister’s smile. She was quite small still, so Ilithya had to stand on his feet while he led the dance. She was giggling and asked for more as the music ended and the new one started. Ifan told himself that he could allow some more dances to her as he would clearly have to at least ask one noble Lady to dance tonight, otherwise, his mother would complain that he didn’t even try to talk to them.

After their fourth dance, Ifan felt the sharp glare of his mother on his back. She was narrowing her lilac eyes at him that said “you better dance with a Lady tonight”. Ifan sighed and brought Ilithya to Athelan, before heading back to ask someone to dance. He saw Lady Oriahna standing near the musicians, conversing with two other noblewomen. He thought he had been quite rude earlier when he fled the conversation, and if he had to dance with someone, it might as well be her. At least to atone for his rudeness towards her. He went directly to Lady Oriahna who had noticed him watching her already.

He finally asked her for a dance as she seemed surprised by that as well as almost everyone that witnessed the scene. Ifan only did it to please his mother, he had no interest in her and he knew she was only courteous with him because she wanted something out of him. They danced as she talked about mostly herself and how great he was, courageous and strong, to still stand while everyone would scorn his lack of “abilities” as she elegantly put it. But Ifan only smiled and thanked her. She was here for his position, for the power he could provide to her and her family. Lady Oriahna might not be his Soulmate, she could still try to use him in her own way. And she showed what she wanted as she babbled about how wonderful her father would be doing as a minister of the royal court. Power. That’s what she and her family were after.

But again, Ifan simply stayed humble and acted innocent as if he wasn’t aware of her play to persuade him. The dance was finally over, and he excused himself to Lady Oriahna. Other noble Ladies had gathered around, hoping for the beautiful Prince to ask them a dance, but he did not. He had enough of them already and simply went to find Orian.

When Ifan finally found Orian, his best friend teased him about how he looked like he wanted to run away all the time he was dancing with the Lady. Alas, he couldn’t stay long with Ifan as he had guard’s patrol to do. “Try to enjoy the night without me, Ifan” Orian had said grinning before leaving him alone to do his duty as a royal guard.

The Elf Prince pouted at him but quickly shook his head. He would have preferred to spend more time with his best friend, but he will still enjoy the night. Ifan then went to seek his older brother and his fiancé. They decided to play a drinking game that Ifan obviously won due to his unusual training as heir.  Athelan cursed to himself as he said this wasn’t fair since the Elf Prince got trained for it. His older brother didn’t get the same “training” as Ifan did and was clearly drunk. Lady Laeria laughed at her beloved, telling him he was a mess as she tended to him like a child, a warm smile on her face.

The Elf Prince left his way too drunk older brother with his beloved future wife and went to spend some time with his little siblings. The little princess’s eyes were sparkling with joy as she giggled with glee. Kolthen was dangerously planning a prank on the guests and Ifan stopped him just in time.

He spent the rest of the evening dancing with Ilithya and talking with the guests as he sneakily avoided all the noble Ladies that wanted to chat or dance with him, to the disappointment of his mother.

Then came the time for his little siblings to go to bed. He kissed them good night as their mother took them to their bedroom. Most of the guests were leaving as the time went by and only the older Elves were still there, sitting as they talked about politics or kingdom matters. The King and Athelan were nowhere to be found as they probably left too some time ago. Ifan was also starting to feel sleepy and excused himself as he left the ballroom.

As he walked in an empty hallway to get to his chambers, the Elf Prince heard muffled voices coming from the left corner at the end of the corridor. The more he approached the corner, the more he could hear them and recognized Athelan and his father’s voice as they seemed to be having an argument. It was odd. They never argued, well, not that he ever heard of. Ifan stopped right before they would see him. He simply stood, his back on the wall as he listened. Perhaps it wasn’t proper to do this, but he was curious. They never argued, what could they possibly be talking about.

“(…) father, he has the right to know!” it was Athelan that had spoken.

“He’s still too young, Athelan.” his father replied harshly.

“He’s old enough to understand!” Athelan argued. “He’s not a child anymore! And the sooner he knows about it, the best it’ll be for him to control-“

‘’Enough! He is not ready.” His father cut him.

Athelan paused before speaking again. “I wonder if it is not you instead that isn’t ready.”

His father stayed silent.

“Father,” his brother softly said this time. “I understand that you only want him to be safe, but he needs to know. Sooner or later, the sea-“

“No! Don’t…” his father sounded desperate.

“But-“

“I said enough, Athelan.” The king said firmly. “We won’t speak of it until I say he is ready.”

Ifan heard his father leave as his footsteps echoed in the empty hallway. His older brother let out an elvish curse as he stomped in the opposite direction.

Ifan was perplexed. What he just heard seemed to be important information about someone. But who were they arguing about? Was it him? Could it be… him? No, it couldn’t… Surely his father would not think him so childish as to hide something from him… Although they were doing just that right now; hiding something important without him knowing a damn thing about what it was.

Ifan’s heart suddenly started to beat fast in his chest as anxiousness rose. Wasn’t he the heir? Should he not be aware of important matters regarding the castle and the kingdom? Did his father really only see him as a child still not worthy of such whatever secret they were keeping from him?  So many questions were in the Elf Prince’s mind right now and he only wanted to go talk to Athelan and ask him right away what they were arguing about just now. He knew his father wouldn’t say a word and would probably deny that such a conversation ever happened.  He had more chances of getting any answers from Athelan, but it was late. His brother would probably want to get back to his fiancé and he certainly didn’t want to bother them with his insecurities. He will wait until tomorrow and find a way to ask him. He needed to know.

The Elf Prince finally reached his personal quarters. He was now very tired, but a million questions were still jostling in his head. He had to calm himself before going to bed. And the only thing that would do just that would be to go to the library. Reading had always helped him calm down and right now, he needed to do just that, or he wouldn’t even be able to get any sleep at all after what he just overheard in the hallway.

Ifan took off his royal garments and put on his usual dark blue tunic buttoned up to his neck with a mid-length collar. He didn’t want to stay in official attire any longer than he needed to. He then opened his bedroom doors and headed to the library, taking the spirally marble carved stairs that led up to it. Luckily for him, the royal library was located near his chambers, so he was able to sneak out during the night to go read without the guards noticing and his father knowing. Although he would sometimes regret it the next morning as he would not have had enough sleep. Once he would find something interesting to read, he could not stop until he would fall asleep, most of the time on the library’s couch.

Ifan opened the large wooden doors of the library and went straight to the Gemstones section of it. The room was tall as it was built in a tower. Books from small to overly too large were displayed on the colossal shelves of the library. In its center, a velvet red couch had been placed along with a wooden table for him to put down his books. A marble fireplace was placed in front of the couch. Small embers were still emitting a faint red glow in it.

 As Ifan brushed his fingers on the books that filled the shelves redolent of paper and ink, the Elf Prince found the one he was looking for. It was a rather large and heavy book about the Ciarinn Elves’ gemstone properties. He had read that some very powerful Wizards could enchant a Gemstone imbued with an insane amount of magic energy that could resuscitate a newly deceased person. Some people saw it as the forbidden Necromancy magic, but Ifan found it particularly interesting as it could be useful in certain situations. For example, someone that died from an unfortunate accident, a child that died of sickness, or any other reasons where the person had perished while it could have easily been avoided. Alas, those gemstones were rare and only two of them were known to exist.

As Ifan laid on the red couch of the room lit by a small crystal, he opened the book and started reading. After a while, The Elf Prince felt his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier as he let out loud yawns. Without realizing it, he fell asleep, the book still opened on his stomach, the back facing up. The worries he had earlier went away almost immediately as he dozed off in his dreams.