The Union of Nobility (drakendottir)

Cao Cao smiled happily at her, but the sounds of approaching foot steps casued her to back away. Watching her for a moment, he waited until the door opened and a servant girl stood in the door frame bowing to the two respectfully. "Lord Cao Cao, Lady Shang you have both arrived just in time. Dinner is being served and everyone has arrived for the feast. This way please my lord and lady" she said leading the two down the hall. Cao Cao looked at Railja again and smiled at her as if fighting alaugh and wlaked with her down the hall to the banquet hall. The girl led the two down the hall and opened a pair of doors for them.

Inside the hall, many tables where set up with various guests and soldiers sitting at the tables. Motioning to the head table, the servant led the two nobles over where Cao Cao's family sat on the left side of the table and the Shang's sat on the right with two seats at the head of the table. Xun Cao sat near the end of the table smiling happily a the two while Terzan and his mother where seated across from her.

Cao Cao swallowed a lump in his throat, feeling all the eyes on him and Railja. Still he took Railja's hand into his own for comfort and led her to the head of the table. He then pulled her seat out politely and offered for her to sit first as a proper noble would.

Everyone was there. Railja's heart was still racing from what had just happened, and she was still a little flushed, but her make-up concealed most of that nicely. Gracefully, she followed Cao Cao's lead, as he walked her through the grand hall and to their seats of honour. With every step, she was afraid she might trip and fall, and dishonour her family, but she managed to keep a flowing motion throughout it all. And then torture was over with, and they had reached their destination. Cao Cao offered her her chair himself, which as she knew was a huge honour. There were enough servants to perform that task for him, but he chose to give her that noble gesture of caring.

It was not only for her, she knew, though. It was for all those other people, staring at them, some of them whispering inaudibly, others just looking at the new pair. Their engagement had already been announced in this household, before these soldiers, but they had not had a lot of time to stare at her. Now she felt how a hundred gazes lay on her, judged her, took her in. She had never before felt so uncomfortable, but then she turned her head slightly and her eyes met those of her brother. He smiled only so slightly, and suddenly, she felt better. She had done a good job. He was proud of her.

As a small group of musicians started to play soft tunes in the background, to create a decent atmosphere for the formal dinner, she looked over to Cao Cao and smiled at him. She was engaged. It still felt weird, and new, and awfully out of her control, but when she looked at him, it all suddenly was fine. She was calm. He was like waterbending, she realized, he gave her an inner strength she maybe otherwise would have lacked. Next to him, and his completely calm, noble attire, it was easy to appear the perfect lady, smile nicely, and keep up appearances. He was as solid as a rock, and she felt this strange, but deep confidence in him that told her she could rely on him totally, no matter what happened next.

Cao Cao sat down next to Railja as the muscians started to play and various servants started to serve the first course of the dinner. In this case it was bowls of hot and sour soup to begin with, and soon thier were bowls infrot of everyone and soon people where enojying the popular starter, espically Cao Cao who had quite a love of spicy food. Soon the musicians where picking up thier pace and tone. The songs where increasing and the sound sof conversations where beginng as water and wine was served with the food. As they ate Xun Cao looked over at her guests and said, "I'm glad you have enjoyed yourselves so far my guests. On behalf of my son and the entire Cao family, I hope this will be one of many such joyous celebrations of our families."

Cao Cao gave his mother an odd look as he sipped his soup polietly as well as looked over at Terzan Shang and offered an apology for any discomfort from the whole ordeal in the form of a roll of his eyes.

Railja

It was just like she had imagined it when she was dressing up at home: A stiff, overly ceremonial meal with the eyes of hundreds of men on her, as she took up her spoon and tasted the first bit of soup, smiling politely at her hostess after she had carefully placed it in her mouth and swallowed it with as little sign of that action to the outside as possible.

The long, wide sleeves of her dress were making it rather difficult to eat in the proper, society-approved manner, but Railja was used to that, just as she was used to sitting straight up, bowing her head only so slightly when she took food into her mouth, and trying only to take small bites in order to swallow them quickly without chewing too much and disrupting the polite conversation because she might have her mouth still filled.

"I'm glad you have enjoyed yourselves so far my guests. On behalf of my son and the entire Cao family, I hope this will be one of many such joyous celebrations of our families." Just like her family members, Railja smiled kindly back at their hostess, as her mother took it onto herself to reply properly. "Thank you so much, Mylady Cao. On behalf of both my children and of course also our honourable family members who could not be here tonight, I thank you for your hospitality and generosity. We hope that you will grant us the honour of returning your hospitality by attending the ball my son is giving in Railja's honour next week? Your son would, of course, have the honour of the last dance."

Railja knew that offering this dance to the General was merely a gesture, it was his by right. The favoured candidate for the daughter's hand in marriage always got the last dance with the maid, sealing his betrothal to said daughter. Dancing more than three dances with the same man was considered to be improper, with the exceptions of the betrothed and the brothers. Dancing solely with ones brothers, of course, would look suspiciously chaste, while dancing solely with the betrothed implied there was already a carnal knowledge of him. No, the proper thing to do at a coming-out-ball was to give the first dance to your father - or, in Railja's case, her eldest brother - then dance one, maybe two times with the man in favour during the feast, finally announce the engagement to the whole upper society, and to give the feast the proper ending, dance the last dance with ones fiance. It was tradition, unwritten law, and this was the way it was going to be.

Offering that dance to General Cao was not Railja's move to make, it was, proper social order like, her mother's move, just like announcing their betrothal to society was her guardian's duty - informing the households, however, were the mothers' jobs - and proposing to her meant that the General would have to have a formal talk with her guardian, even if the matter was already agreed upon. Asking her own opinion on the matter had been a polite, but socially normally inacceptibly bold move. She was glad, however, that the General had done it.

There were so many rules. So many codes. So many unwritten laws, one could easily get strangled in them, and only elder women like the two Ladys, Lady Shang and Lady Cao, knew them all by heart.

Terzan's eyes met Cao's for a moment, as Lady Cao finished her sentence and Lady Shang answered it politely. Only in his eyes could Terzan's own bemusement be read, his face was all cool politeness. Railja saw the exchanged glance, however, and she was the one who did not have her face all under control. She could feel her cheeks blush as she suppressed a wide smile, and hastily lowered her eyes to the bowl with her soup. When she looked up again, the men no longer exchanged glances, but she was sure that there had been an, almost friendly, moment of compassion between the two of them, since they shared the same fate - being the head of their houses formally, with their mothers keeping things firmly under control as far as the part of the matchmaking and social duties went.

Looking up as he heard his mmother address Lady Shang caused Cao Cao to listen to the two women speak as the empty soup dishes and starter courses where removed and replaced with fresh salads and fruit dishes before the main course. Cao Cao listened to the two women as he ate his salad slowly, enjoying the sweet dressing on it that had a hint of berry extract. As he did he heard Lady Shang mention a ball that was being held in Railja's honor. However surprisingly when Lady Shang mentioned that he and Railja would have to share a dance at the end of the ball, he actually looked surprised for a moment and coughed a bit, before swallowing a quick gulp of water that washed down his salad bites.

Quickly recomposing himself and bowing apologetically, Cao Cao, looked at Lady Shang with a smile and said, "Nothing would honor me greater then to share Railja's special day with her suroounded by her family and my own. To take part in such a special ceremony truely makes me feel as if our families have already become one." As he did, he looked towards his mother with a somewhat nervous look, and by the somewhat annoyed one his mother returned, it was clear to only the most deducing mind what the issue previously was. Cao Cao; Noble, General, Warrior, and Master Fire Bender.....COULDN'T dance. It was a unique weakness of his that he had done well to keep secret from all but his mother and the only the most trusted of family and friends. As such it wasn't well known that this great warrior of the Fire Lord's Army lacked cooridination and skill on a dance floor.

However Lady Xun Cao turned her face into a smile and then said, "I'm sure seeing these two hand in hand on the dance floor before all the nobles of our land will show the unification that has come from two of our Nation's most prestigious families. I can promise you Lady Shang we will be in full attendance next week and look forward to the celebration." Cao Cao looked as if he was about to say something but a quick glare from his mother saw him shut his mouth. As he saw everyone else eat Cao Cao looked down and seemed to sweat a little on his forehead as he reached over under the table cloth and set his hand on Railja's. He appeared to be asking for support of sorts from his future wife as he find for one of the first moments in his life, his confidence lacking.

Carefully, slowly, Cao's hand reached out and touched hers, as swiftly and stealthily like a thief in the night he lay his strong hand over her slim, white fingers underneath the dinner table. Confused, a bit flushed, Railja glanced over to him shortly. Had anyone noticed? Was anyone suspicious?

She realized, to her surprise, that he was sweating. What was she to do? Ask him if he felt unwell? That would be the obvious, nice thing to do... but well... if he didn't feel well, he would have said so. Maybe he did not want anyone to know?

The salads and fruit dishes were removed, and as her mother congratulated Lady Cao on the wonderful table decorations, Railja took out the wonderfully painted silken fan she was carrying with her. It had the exact colour as her dress, and as she used it to slowly, kindly fan herself, she covered her mouth. Only Cao Cao, sitting right next to her and not engaged in conversation, could understand her as she whispered.

"Mylord, are you not feeling well? Is everything alright?" She dared not say more. Already Terzan was giving her a look with lifted eyebrows. He knows, the thought suddenly flashed her mind and gave her a short shiver of panic. He knows that we have talked, and that we are talking now. The question was, why was her guardian not saying anything, but just looked at her and her betrothed with raised eyebrows, an almost sardonic smile on his face? Her mother would not be pleased with her improper behaviour and surely sanction her later if she knew...

The lower half of her face still covered by her fan, she gave Terzan a warning look through narrowed, stormy grey eyes. That one, he probably perfectly understood just as if she had spoken aloud. Keep out of it, Terzan, the look said.
Then her concentration was back with her fiance, as she waited for him to give her a sign, an answer, and if it was just through some hidden message or wink of his hand.

Cao Cao looked towards Railja as she spoke from behind her fan. A crafty move he had to give her, and smiling a bit, he couldn't help but imagine how crafty a spy or an assassin she could be with the proper training. Still returning to the topic at hand and seeing how a few people where looking at him, he took a mouthful of salad and as he swallowed it, he made a mouth motion like he was still chewing. However in actualility, he made sure to look at Railja and as he did he moved his mouth slowly to form words. It was a simple and yet also complex move that still was able to convey his message to Railja as he successfully mouthed to her, "I....Can't.....Dance."

Cao Cao's reason for revealing his dark secret to her was due to her being his future wife. If they where to make thier relationship work, it was going to require them both learning and understanding one another. That meant sharing secrets with one another as well as learning all they could. Accepting this seemed to make it easier for Cao Cao to tell her the truth, albit in his own way.

She looked at him with surprise, too confused to actually cover up that emotion. Thankfully, their mothers were deeply engaged in conversation and Terzan, whom she had given a dark look earlier, had turned away to face the soldiers.

Cao Cao - the great General of the Fire Nation, a skilled fighter and bender - was unable to dance?

She could not believe her own ears and eyes. He was making fun of her, right? But then she realized, that he indeed was not since he had no reason to.

Strangely enough, she felt completely calm, almost in charge of the situation. Her fiance was unable to dance with her on her coming out ball. The moment that was meant to be the most glorious one was therefore going to be the least perfect one of the evening, since it would not only shame herself, stepping around with an unfit partner, but even more dreadfully, Cao Cao and both their families.

There were only few ways out of it. Announcing they did not want to dance was as bad as trying and failing. Cao Cao announcing he could not dance was the impossible thing to do. No one who was there would ever forget about it. A man like Cao Cao was not allowed to have weaknesses, and be they as minor as the inability to dance.

No, if there had to be a way out of their dilemma, it had to be over her, it had to be her weakness, a weakness she was not guilty of.
And then she just knew it. All she needed was a little help of her elder brother, Rozan, the one she trusted with her life. Although it was not deemed to be proper to dance with your brothers all night, no one could judge her if she shared one dance with one of her brothers, close to the finish of the ball. When everyone had already seen that she could dance as gracefully as a swan, there was no one to judge her if she had an accident on the dancefloor, straining or twisting her ankle. She would not be able to dance her last dance with Cao Cao if she had twisted her ankle...

There was only one problem with this. Her mother was a master waterbender. She could probably heal a twisted limb within a short time. Well, most of the other invited guests were non-benders or had other elements than water. With a little bit of luck, she might get through with the deceit. The only problem was, that her mother should probably not know that Cao Cao could not dance, otherwise he might as well have told her.

Throughout all this time, Cao Cao could probably only see that she was thinking hard while they shared a deep look over the top of Railja's fan.

Then she turned her head away from him, as if overlooking the audience, and fanned herself again while she silently murmured: "Trust me with that one, General. I think I have an idea how to get you out of it without shaming you or any of our families."

She turned her hand, that was still underneath his, around to be able to exchange a short, but tight squeeze. Then she put her fan away again, since she realized her mother had stopped to talk to Lady Shang and was giving her an odd look since it was not at all that warm in the hall.

OOC: Okay after working every day for the last ten without a day off I am ready to continue. My work schedule should go back to normal now.

IC: Cao Cao felt the hand of Railja squzee his own as she spoke behind her fan. In truth admiting his secret to her had been more taxing then he had thought it to be, yet despite this when she squzeed his hand he felt a massive burden off his shoulders and her understanding was all he needed to feel like a man again. He smiled happily at her, and he felt his heart beat for her as she released his hand. However feeling a strong sense of annoyance, he looked to his own mother Xun who was giving him a look that could freeze ethe Emperor Owlan himself with fear. Clearing his throat he tried to hide from her glance but it only got more annoyed as she realized more and more what was spoken about between him and Railja.

This was enonciated with a loud clap from her hands and servants went about taking empty plats and bowls, refilling glasses with water and tea. Soon servants where putting plates of the main course infront of everyone know as "Vermillion Dragon Beef." The plat was white rice topped with braised beef and vegetables in a brown sauce that had a spicy taste that became mild after a few moments of eating ina manner of fire breathing dragons, hence it's name. It was a popular dish among all of the Empire's people and had become a sort food symbol of the Empire.

As plates where passed about and people began to eat, Cao Cao ate his own dish slowly still under the gaze of his mother who made a hand motion, and glasses of cold, sweet wine was passed around to all. "Watching the two of you communicate in your own ways, makes it seem your already married. I believe you'll make the perfect couple when this is all set and complete. That being said Lord and Lady Shang, I wish a proposition if I may be so bold? I think it would be better for my son and Lady Railja to spend some time to get to know each other better in the upcoming days leading up to the ball" she said with a smile directed at both Cao Cao and Railja.

Railja’s eyes widened and flickered over to her own mother, as she heard Lady Cao’s proposal. Eleynja did not look as if she was pleased, that was easy to determine and even easier to understand. Lady Cao’s proposal had been, at best, unorthodox. It was deemed improper if a girl spend time alone with a man, even with her fiancé, before they got married. The purity of a young maid had to be protected, and as soon as she was alone with a man, even a man of honour, that was no longer ensured. A girl considered “damaged goods”, however, was almost impossible to marry off to another man, if the first one should not take her after all, for whatever reason that might be. Just before Eleynja could say something, Terzan spoke up though, saving the evening.
“Mylady Cao, that is a wonderful idea. I think my sister would really like that very much. As you surely have heard, my family trains their own war horses, which are considered to be among the best ones of the Empire. I would suggest General Cao accompanies me, when I visit the stables tomorrow afternoon? Railja has always been very fond of horses and never misses an opportunity to go and observe their training.” Railja breathed through deeply, taking a sip of her iced wine. In this moment, she not only admired, but loved Terzan. With just a small invitation he had managed to maneuver them into socially acceptable waters again. There was no one who could question her honour if she was accompanied by her guardian, Terzan’s company, rather, was exactly as protecting as would have been her mother’s, with the difference that Terzan could give them some moments alone while talking to the horse trainers or watching a particularly promising horse.

She gave General Cao a little smile, trying hard to not look too relieved. Too many emotions were also improper. Oh, how she hated all those rules and restrictions of society! But, ladylike as she had been trained to behave, she just put a small bite of food into her mouth, chewing it, and swallowing it with as little motion as possible.

Eleynja still did not look completely happy, but she nodded to Terzan’s suggestion. “I think that is a good idea. Railja will gladly accompany you tomorrow, Terzan.” Although Railja technically did not need her mother’s permission to spend time with her guardian, she was glad to have received it. It made things so far easier than working against her mother’s will. As she looked towards Lady Shang, she got the impression for a short moment, that the strong, independent woman was smiling slightly. How could she be smiling? Only a moment ago she had looked angry, and now she was happy?

It was just then that Railja realised, that her mother had played both her and Terzan. She had wanted her to spend time with General Cao all along, but it was socially improper for her to suggest something like that, she had to be the morally superior guardian of her daughter’s purity. Crafty move, that much Railja had to give her. But well, her mother had always been a good actress. She would have made a great politician, if women were allowed to become politicians and sit in the Emperor’s council.