“Harassing my staff again?” Julius asks as he steps inside his office to find Diedrik in his viewing chair and Robin hovering awkwardly, unable to leave a guest. “Thank you, Robin. McPherson, just put it anywhere I suppose.”
Robin nods and slips past McPherson who steps inside too, holding the massive two-metre long, solid metal staff Jasmine gave Julius…that Julius cannot actually carry for more than five minutes without needing to put it down again.
“What’s that?” Diedrik asks, standing up and coming over to see it.
“A casting focus,” Julius says with more confidence than he feels. The foci used in school were more like glass orbs, bowls of still water or whatever high the students got from breathing in incense.
McPherson slides a glance at Julius and when he nods, she passes it over to Diedrik’s waiting hands. When Diedrik does not stumble from the sudden weight, Julius purses his lips in disappointment. Diedrik is confident with it as the staff smoothly twirls so he can hold it in a better grip.
After McPherson leaves, and Diedrik doesn’t stop staring at the detailed etching on the solid metal staff, Julius just goes to make some tea.
“Who made this?” Diedrik asks, slowly rotating the staff to read the runes.
“A blacksmith I know,” Julius explains, tipping some blue flowers into the brew. “You can’t have it, she gave it to me as a present. Sorry, why are you here again?”
“I need some fey wings.”
Julius’ office door opens and he flicks the card of fey wings at Diedrik, a 1st circle briefly blooming over his thumb, and the card spins through the air with gentle magic assistance to slide into Diedrik’s outrageously expensive jacket pocket.
Diedrik ignores the impressive speed at which Julius got his latest request, and instead raises an eyebrow as he pulls the door closed after him. “Should I applaud?”
“Yes, and do it on your way out.” Julius pointedly shuffles papers around, all of it genuinely work he needs to do with the noble ball just around the corner. “You don’t have to keep coming in person. Just send a servant or I’ll have someone drop off the package at your estate.”
“I like to window shop,” Diedrik huffs, wandering up to the shelves. “Are the scrolls for sale? I keep looking past them at the books but there are a lot more since I left.”
“Those are all copies, not really meant for sale so they aren’t pretty but you can still pay for them,” Julius admits, going back to sorting the requests into ‘urgent’, ‘can wait’ and ‘reject’. His shop hasn’t received any new customers in a while, but after the popularity boom from Diedrik, Julius can barely handle this many when an event like this comes up and everyone puts in orders en mass.
Diedrik pulls out a few scrolls at random. He then has the audacity to untie and unfurl one, and start reading right here in Julius’ office like Diedrik owns the building. Clearly, he hasn’t grown out of that arrogance.
“I have a client in twenty minutes and you didn’t book me out, so make it quick,” Julius reminds him.
Diedrik obligingly, and a bit dramatically, releases the scroll and it curls back up with a hiss of paper. “Are you going to the ball?”
“Of course, it's a great networking opportunity,” Julius admits. Then he pauses a moment as he remembers. “Is this your debut into high society?”
“I don’t like to call it that-“
“Baby boy is stepping out into the big scary noble world-“
“-it’s a business event,” Diedrik snaps.
“-I’ll see you there,” Julius finishes with a bright smile and a flap of a large sleeve. “This is a big moment for you! All your planning, all those years studying. You have minions now but that’s too small of a step for you, isn’t it?”
Diedrik tilts his head and his eyes look so blue in the sunshine. He smiles in boyish delight but there’s a shadow of something fully-grown and much sharper. “It is.”
On the day of the ball, Julius has nothing at all to do at work because the rush of orders is done and everyone else is also distracted with the event. He still spends the morning in his shop but goes home early to get ready.
The streets are in a flurry as people line up to watch magnificent carriages pass by like a parade, nobles already heading to the castle despite the event not starting for another hour. Julius squeezes his way past and meanders his way home. The ball is not about him, and he’s hardly going to be mingling with anyone but merchants and maybe the castle staff, so he’s not going all out.
Except when he arrives home, the excited crowd has his stomach flipping with butterflies and he stands in front of his closet for too long until he talks himself down.
He does have fancy clothes and all the jewellery necessary to blend in, but he refuses to wear them out of principle. He has an invitation, so it’s not like Julius has to con his way inside like he was younger and just beginning.
“Don’t get caught up in it,” he mutters and makes himself some tea to calm down.
Julius picks out black pants and a long-sleeved shirt that loops over his middle fingers like normal, then an outer robe such a pure white that it seems incandescent. It has four layers, each one slightly more transparent, and it forms an entire garden of subtle silver flowers. The collar is loose but comes up to his chin and a hood falls off the back. Large sleeves of course, and it’s edged in sunshine gold trim.
Julius changes outfits three more times before settling back on the garden motif and then forces himself outside.
It’s raining lightly, more of a soft mist, but as nobles of the eastern kingdom, the carriages that pass Julius by are decorated to shine brilliantly in any weather but especially the rain.
All carriages have channels carved into them to lead the rain away from doors and windows but nobles have created spiralling, curved artworks out of trickling water, the rain magnifying the colours painted in the channels, brilliant even under these cloudy skies.
The carriages form a massive line at the castle gates and Julius slips past through the veritably empty walking path, with only an umbrella spell over him to keep dry.
The castle sits high on a hill overlooking the capital, surrounded by wide, sweeping gardens that are an even better deterrent than a moat considering how long it takes to get past them. Julius passes canals full of rushing water and brightly coloured fish, walks over a chain of bridges that cover any slight dip in the ground that might flood into a pond, and arrives at the perforated deck that expands over the entire guest receiving area.
The architecture is all eastern; it’s a colossal building with pillars for the water to run down, overhangs anywhere possible as shelter, and all covered in hydrophobic oils.
The main giant-sized double doors are where most nobles filter through. It’s up a set of high stairs so the light pouring out is cast over the carriages and the streaks of glimmering rain. People pause there, fluffing up dresses or smoothing down suits before stepping into the grand hall so there’s quite a bottleneck.
Julius hides under shelter off to the side, on the edge of the light spilling out, waiting for his turn with the side door instead. There’s a bottleneck here too but that’s from guards checking the unknowns.
He flashes Diedrik’s invitation and they let him through into a cavernous hall so bright it’s almost blinding. It’s a glorious, gaudy thing, but surely there’s no need for that many chandeliers and light spells. Julius turns away from the vast room and instead moves along the wall to a more shaded area behind a pillar next to a balcony.
It’s so bright inside that it takes him a moment to realise people’s clothes are glowing too. Much like carriages, the clothes people wear are just as beautiful in dim light. The material is covered in jewels and reflective beads, the outer layers often waterproof and matte which makes the delicate lace stand out even sharper. Some have taken it a step further and are laced with spells to make them glow.
They all trot around like a dizzying kaleidoscope, some spinning to the music of the band clustered around the far end, next to the raised dais of the king and queen.
Julius immediately grabs a passing champagne flute from a waitress.
