Lianna stood among the twinkling garden lights, her aura casting an almost identical golden glow. Large purple trees towered over the guests in the lowest level of the garden. Among the branches, fairy lights shone softly giving the entire gardens a romantic feel. With a gentle hand, she picked a particularly vibrant Camellia and put it behind her ear amongst her blonde locks. She had come the festival out of curiosity. The invitation had come attached to a delicate, lace, golden mask that currently adorned her cheeks. She felt a little out of place in a long pale purple dress when most of the party-goers donned blacks and whites. 

In a clearing at the center of the room sat hundreds of lanterns in all sorts of colors. A pile of wood lighting sticks stood on a wooden table next to half a dozen lit candles. Lianna picked a beautiful yellow one with the pattern of a lotus emblazoned upon it. With it lit the color would match the aura that always surrounded her. She picked up a lighting stick and lit the lantern before releasing it with a simple wish. All Lianna wanted in this world was to secure a future for the Aurai race. It had been her finance's dying wish that she not be the only one left in the world. Thus far she was failing in that department, while she planned to visit the God Naota that was as far as her plans went. In her heart, she wished that she would meet someone here, even just someone to call a friend. 

As the yellow lantern floated gracefully among the others she clasped her hands together in front of her. Around her couples milled about, sending off wishes with love in their eyes. It had only been a year since her fiance had passed and she was lonely. The party only exacerbated those feelings. With a sigh, she decided to stroll amongst one of the fewer populated sections of the gardens. She knew that the second and fourth floors weren't being used in the celebrations. Perhaps here she could find a respite and enjoy the beautiful gardens themselves. 

When she reached the second landing the first thing she noticed were all of the carefully cultivated flowering bushes. There were much fewer people up here and most of them were spread out far enough that they wouldn't notice her. Lianna knew that the dancing would take place on the top floor, but she would need to steel herself for that adventure. Here at least the noise of the chatter dimmed startlingly. The blue fairy lights that danced above the bushes brought a smile to her face and Lianna finally felt herself relax. There were no foreign dignitaries to impress here, she could just enjoy the cool night air and the beautiful surroundings. 

Heaven knew that Jayden had to get away from home despite only arriving there recently. Had he regained his memories before returning, he would have recalled how his parents were, his mother in particular. She was constantly smothering him nonstop much to his displeasure. Both he and his father tried to get her to calm down, but their efforts were for naught. One day while he was coming to the stables to go horseback riding, he found an invitation to this masquerade ball with a silver dragon mask. At first he felt that it must have been for his mother due to her dragon knight profession, but when he tried it on, it was a perfect fit.

He made sure that his father at least knew where he was running off to, lest she would go into a frenzy and that wasn’t good for anyone at home. His closet was stock with a bountiful arrangement of clothing, though he loathed digging through it to find a wardrobe for the bash. After some time, he settled for a cream colored shirt and midnight blue slacks and coat. Lacing his boots, he could hear his father luring his mother away for the evening, likely to spend some quality time together. It was also a great ploy to let him escape the mad house and sneak off into the night.

It didn’t take as long as he thought to reach the hanging gardens and could see the vibrant lights before so much as setting foot there. Whoever had orchestrated this had plenty of time on their hands, but it was a beautiful seen nonetheless. The rosenite watched on with deep blue eyes shining from his mask as he explored about. Already there were quite the number of people around, conversing and dancing beneath the lights of the lanterns. It had been some time since he had been around a mass of people that wasn’t from his court and immediately he grew anxious. Perhaps he rushed a bit too fast into exposing himself onto a crowd so soon. Whatever the case, he decided to slip away from the company for now and chose to explore other parts of the festival.

Being in the more secluded areas brought comfort towards the wolf and the scenery not only kept the theme going. It looks like it was the closest thing to give his aunt’s gardens a run for its money. Pacing about, Jayden watched with eyes enthralled with wonder in them. Perhaps a little too much for he wasn’t completely looking where and nearly bumped into a lady there but caught himself in the nick of time. “So sorry about that, miss. Just got lost in the moment”, he apologized quickly to her and bowed his head. 

Lianna smoothed out the skirts of her long purple gown and looked at the man who had almost run into her. He had dark hair and sported a silver dragon mask on his brow. Behind the mask were bright blue eyes that sparkled with intelligence. She watched him bow his head and apologize to her. A smile blossomed on her pink lips as she touched his upper arm in encouragement. Quickly she removed her hand realizing that the gesture might be construed wrong. In the romantic environments of the gardens, it would be easy to misinterpret.

"Don't worry, I was just as distracted by this amazing festival. I'm Lianna, what is your name?" she questioned as she squared her shoulders and primly folded her hands in front of her. She automatically adopted the proper stances she used when dealing with nobles and such. When you spent your life in politics you learned what was expected of a young lady, including how she was to stand in the presence of a man. Lianna had spent years learning the rules of courts in different kingdoms and it was hard to break the habit even outside of palaces. 

"Did you come here for the Masquerade? I don't think I've ever gotten an invitation from a ghost before. I wasn't sure if I'd come, but who could miss an opportunity to attend a ball hosted by someone long dead." she offered as she brushed her hair behind her ear. Lianna shifted her weight and looked at the man out of the corner of her eye. While he was lithe he was still almost half a foot taller than her. It was strange to have bumped into someone on the most deserted floor of the party. Perhaps he too had just wanted some air. With every passing moment downstairs more and more couples had piled around, vying for a spot to light a lantern.  Here the only other people were two couples wandering amongst the roses nearby. 

"Did you make your way up here to escape all of the people? I can't believe how many people accepted the invitations." Lianna wondered as she blushed and realized she was rambling. It wasn't often that she was caught so off guard that she began rambling. Her aura changed from gold to pink, the same color as her cheeks. While the golden lace mask, might hide her blush, the color of her aura changing was very obvious. It served only to make her more embarrassed. 

He blamed his wolven curiosity over his failure to be attentive and nearly bumping into the young lady. He was a knight and the son of a queen, albeit one that may have seemed to be strange and unorthodox by many, but both she and his father had raised him with manners of a gentleman. It wasn’t common for Jayden to find himself caught off guard and it showed in his apology towards the fair maiden. He managed to regain his composure as she reached up and took his arm. He smiled kindly at Lianna and bowed again, this time a more formal gesture. “My name is Jayden, milady.”

At least she was okay, that was his main concern at the moment. He kept the smile upon his face for much longer than he expected in her presence. Her attire stood out from the others, but it was nice change of pace. Her dress surely complimented the beauty in her eyes and the arrangement of colors between the mentioned purple and the golden color of her hair and mask made her appear as one with the gardens.

b]“Actually, yes I did come here, just to escape from some things going on back home, even if for a bit.” He had overlooked the part about the host supposedly being a ghost that mourned for the woman he loved. It made him wonder of whether to spend some of the night looking for him or not. “I think many people here came for other reasons, especially those above us”, he pointed up. They were too immersed with their partners and the music to likely grasp what the ball was truly about. “I am surprised to find a lady like yourself alone here, Lianna”, Jay said, a bit too forward but he was unsure why she would be. It seemed like quite a shame to him.

But the more she talked, the more he was starting to get the picture. Like him, she seemed to want to get away from the crowds. He could appreciate the serene of the gardens and how liberating it was compared to the awkwardness he felt previous around other people. “Aye, I’m not really a people person most of the time. It seems to be an oxymoron that I would come here, but I suppose that I was willing to give it a try and meet new people. But I think I went a little too fast.” He kneeled down and carefully inspected some of the flowers near them. It was one of the things he had picked up from his mother when she taught him all forms of mannerism within the court. Tending to a garden was satisfying and he was taught to study all sorts of plants. Of course he didn’t happen to pick up her trend of cutting off the buds of the flowers when angry. He looked onto her and noticed some changes; the one that stood out particularly was the color that glowed around her. Before, he hadn’t really noticed it before since it seemed to blend into her natural colors but the pinkness was definitely a signal of change. He didn't consider her words to be just ramblings, but he found such endearing as he shook his head and smiled tenderly. Rising back up to his feet, Jayden moved his hand over towards her to try and take it out of support. That was if she would permit it of course. The last thing he wanted to do was to make her feel nervous or uncomfortable. “Are you alright, Lianna?”

Lianna offered a smile to Jayden as he introduced himself to her adding milady to the end. It was a relief to see that someone else had come to the seclusion of this floor aside from her. While she wanted to enjoy the festivities the idea of being surrounded by so many people was daunting. At least with Jayden around she had company without being completely overwhelmed.

"It's so nice to meet you, I'm glad to have found someone up here besides couples vying for privacy." she admitted as she watched Jayden look at the plants before offering a hand to help her. She took it gratefully before smiling at him once more

"I tend to feel uncomfortable in crowded atmospheres, don't feel bad. I was so distracted by the gorgeous garden that I didn't see you until you ran into me either." she offered kindly. "I'm fine, thank you for asking"

Lianna saw her aura return to the neutral gold and she let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't often any more that she had little control over her emotions. She took Jayden's hand and stood up, brushing dust off of her purple skirts. Perhaps she could get to know Jayden a little and eventually they could make their way to the dancing. 

"Why don't you tell me a little about yourself while we walk Jayden?" she asked as she pondered who this man was. He seemed kind enough and it would be a shame to miss out on any of the sites. Lianna offered him a kind smile and gestured to the clear path of stone bricks before them. It meandered amongst the flowering trees, offering the best views of the carefully cultivated plant life. The entire layout of the gardens would be planned around what one would see from the walk ways.

"I guess I should tell you a little first, before I expect you to tell me about yourself. I am an ambassador of sorts. I belong to a rare race and have been petitioning royalty for assistance." Lianna said while she waited for Jayden to reply. 

“Aye, it is refreshing. I felt like I was suffocating a bit up there”, he replied. The young lupine wasn’t so keen on trying to exposing himself to a big crowd like that again. He wanted to gradually meet people and that would help him to get used to people in general again. Being stuck in his wolf form after getting pulled into this world did more damage to Jayden than what he had originally thought.

“You’re far too kind”, he said, shaking his head at her generosity. It was still welcoming to have a modest person like Lianna keeping his company. “If you don’t mind, we can at least accompany one another for a while. I think that would help us both here.” Jayden, if anything, was a gentleman especially as his father had instructed him to be. Blaine wanted him to be far more better than how he had been in his younger years before meeting Jay’s mother and through her, he learned how to mannerly and proper. It also helped that he was humble at heart.

Blue eyes looked from her to the trail she suggested and nodded. “As you wish.” He followed alongside Lianna for a while, admiring the scenery around them. “How can a beautiful place like this come from such a tragic tale is beyond me”, he said softly before turning his attention to the lady. “I have to admit I wasn’t expecting to run into a ambassador, but I’m glad I have now”, he said with a smile at her. He looked down and saw that he was still holding her hand after all of this time. Jay’s response would have normally been to let go of her since he had already helped her, but he refrained and kept it unless she wanted to release it.

“Royalty…that is a funny thing. I’m a prince to a unique race myself, Lianna.” He looked to an arrangement of flowers set aside, clearly picked by someone and left be. Perhaps it was someone trying to impress a loved one, he didn’t know, but he admired their beauty. “Seriously, I am. I belong to a race known as Rosenites. They are led by five different queens, sisters in face. My mother is the White Rose Queen and like I said, I am both a prince as well as a knight.” Picking one of them up, a rose no doubt, he laughed at the irony before handing it over to her. “It looks great complimenting your colors. Now, what is this about needing assistance?” Jayden came around to the front of her, eager to help out if it was possible. It must have been dire if she had been looking for a time now.