High Tea at The Royal Academy

•─⋅☾2. High Tea: Arrival☽⋅─•

#FanFiction #AscendanceOfABookworm #HanneloresFifthYear
#wss366 #PIXIVCharitySanta

“Do you think Wilfred will be there?” Hannalore asked Cordula for the third time.

Her attendant resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "It seems unlikely. It would be awkward, given what has occurred, but you'll find out soon enough.—But we are here; so please don’t #overlook your manners."

The room selected for the tea was small, decorated in the latest Alexandrian fashion, complete with elegant bookshelves and tasteful ornaments. Anyone daring to take out a book would have found that it was fake. Even the Alexandrian court, influenced by their new aub, couldn't afford to display this many books in a mere academy meeting room.

Hannalore chuckled. Knowing Rozemyne, the books would soon be real. She then blushed, embarrassed to have laughed out loud at such an inopportune moment. Her unfortunate timing had already played a trick on her.

Lady Sorrona rose as Hannalore entered. She was short for her age, with a face unfashionably sun-darkened. Yet she had a cute smile, and her clothes were in the best taste, liberally decorated with tiny lace flowers in the Ehrenfest fashion.

"Lady Hannalore, once again, Dregarnuhr, the Goddess of Time, has woven our threads together and blessed us with a meeting," Sorrona greeted her. Her voice quavered, and Hannalore felt sympathy for her. She, too, felt nervous when hosting others. It must be much worse for Sorrona, a first-year, hosting such important individuals. The duty must have fallen to her because the ranks of Alexandria's nobles had been severely thinned by the recent war and by Ferdinand's removal of others he deemed untrustworthy. The man was truly ruthless.

Still, surely they could have found someone more experienced. There were other Alexandrian students at the Royal Academy.

Hannalore curtsied and smiled reassuringly at the young woman. "I am honored by your invitation and have been looking forward to the event."

“I hope you can stay afterward and talk,” Sorrona said. “Aub Rozemyne gave me a special message for you."

The guest who had arrived early stirred. Such overt favoritism was unthinkable unless it were a deliberate snub. Poor Sorrona didn’t look sophisticated enough to have mastered that noble art yet.

"Poor girl," Hannalore thought. "She's already made a faux pas."

"Dregarnuhr has kindly bound our threads extra long." Hannalore bowed while taking in who else was there: Ehrenfest, of course; Blumenfeld; and Klassenberg. Behind her, she could hear Drewanchel arriving. The fact that such high-ranking duchies had come to a first-year's tea—a duchy inferior to most of them—spoke to the influence of Alexandria's archduchess.

Tags: #SliceOfLife #AoaB #MicroFiction #TootFic #Serial #NMV366 #NMFic #Bookworm