This year’s winter was completely different than the previous year’s. In the previous years when the Months of Demons ended, Border Town’s residents had to stay for one more month within Longsong Stronghold’s slums. They waited until the snow had completely melted, only then would they head back home.
Back at the town, they always saw a complete mess. After a few months with no one taking care of the houses some of which had already become dilapidated. Some of the less sturdy huts had been overwhelmed by heavy snow and some of the townspeople’s houses had been used by the demonic beast’s as hiding place.
Everything was broken and in disorder. For example, the cupboards and the tables were full of bite-marks and the remains of their meals still lay within the corners. Obviously these houses had been used as shelter from the snow and as their lair.
They often had to spend a week repairing the houses. Replacing all the moldy furniture, cleaning out the lingering smell of rot and so on. This was the procedure to which the residents were already accustomed to.But this year, it could even be said that Border Town seemed completely new, the snow was quickly swept away, and the prince provided to each family home’s door a multi-colored banner. From afar, the previously monotonous and dilapidated town had become colorful. When the colors mixed together, it looked like a sea of flowers.
The castle also spread the news, that on the first day after the Months of Demons, his royal highness would hold a grand celebration ball in the town square! Everyone was invited, and if that wasn’t enough no one had to pay a coin and would also be given free food!
What is a ball? It is a social occasion that only the upper nobility was allowed to attend. The townspeople only knew of them from the stories of the influential, experienced and knowledgeable merchants. Yet even then, they were never allowed to attend. If what the merchants had been telling them was right, then even with all their money it still wouldn’t be enough to receive an invitation. But now His Highness would allow anyone to attend?
“Your Highness. You wouldn’t do that, right?” Carter asked disapprovingly, “There will be neither a band nor will there be any lead dancers! So who will control the rhythm of the ball? Besides, in this kind of remote place, even the nobles aren’t necessarily able to dance, so citizens will only mess everything up.”
During Carter’s time in Graycastle, he had only ever attended one ball. It had been hosted by a marquis to celebrate the birthday of his daughter. The music played was graceful string music mixed together with passionate drum beats, while the dancing contained many rotations and tapings. But if the instruments were played individually, the ladies would dance to the melodious string music, while the men displayed afterwards a fast and powerful dance in rhythm with the sound of the drums. During breaks, attendants would shuffle through the crowd and hand out drinks and snacks. Up till the last song, the men still had time to find and invite their favorite woman to a dance, and if they were lucky they would not only be rewarded with a dance, but also with some sort of romantic interaction.
Carter sighed, although he was still to young to invite his favorite girl, he could still remember the aftertaste of that elegant and romantic atmosphere. The nobilities are trained daily in maintaining their elegant demeanor, can the villagers who had to instead fight with the demonic beast daily compare with them? God, he could not imagine such a scene within Border Town.
“Lead dancer? Yes, well,” Roland had commanded the militia to remove the stone sculptures and the gallows from the town’s square, “Iron Axe and the militia member will take over that part.”