"A-ah?"

Surprised, Fanilly stumbled a little bit when she saw someone stop directly in front of her. Looking up, it became apparent quite quickly that it was Marianne, who evidently had intended to take a bath herself. As she apologized, Fanilly shook her head with a small smile. To get angry over such a thing would simply have been absurd, it was an honest mistake, wasn't it? The smallish blonde girl gave the other girl a smile.

"You don't need to apologize, it was an honest mistake," she explained, "Besides, it may be for the best if I attend-"

She paused for a moment when she heard the voices of the maids, peering past Marianne as she did.

"Er, yes, yes, I am the captain of the Iron-"

Marianne, this time, cut her off, telling her to... run? Why?

Moments later, Fanilly found herself surrounded by maids, girls commenting on her hair, her eyes, touching her, speaking about how small she is, how young she is... The girl's cheeks grew hot, bright red, and one could almost see the steam pouring from her ears. Congratulations?

"Th... thank you..." she said, weakly, stammering as she tried to get the words out.  "Er... I'm... sixteen, I..."

Fanilly's cheeks grew hotter as the maids continued to surround her, bombarding her with so many questions from every angle. What could she do? This was so embarrassing... A... a boyfriend?

"N... n-no, I... I..."

The short girl shook her head, taking a deep breath. Space, she needed space!

Breaking away from the crowd, blushing furiously, Fanilly tore towards the first door she saw and forced it open.

[hr]

As Tiral opened the door, what greeted him was [url=http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=282294]the sight of a girl in her twenties, with long, blonde hair and a slightly tanned complexion. She wore a rather elaborate outfit with a quite puffy hat upon her head[/url].

"Ah, hello, I was expecting the Captain, er," she gave a slightly awkward laugh, "No matter, I'm certain a loyal knight can pass along the information to her."

She cleared her through, then reached into a pouch hanging from her waist and withdrew a sheet of parchment. Unraveling it, she read it aloud.

"The Presence of Knight-Captain Fanilly Danbalion and her Iron Rose Knights is cordially requested tomorrow at Princess Eliabelle Tanenway Falthaen's Royal Ball," she began, "The Princess understands that you may not be able to bring every knight, and as such you may choose whomever you desire from your order to accompany you. Please come in your finest attire, though the Princess desires to see Knight-Captain Danbalion in armor, and eagerly desires to see an assortment of weaponry used by knights."