Advice from the ambassador

A little while later the ambassador strolled onto the balcony, accompanied by one of the ladies. “May you excuse me for a few moments,” he told the lady, who nodded and then walked away, returning to the ball.

“You asked to see me, sir,” Jim said as the ambassador leaned next to him against the railing.

“I noted that you had a little chat with the princess,” the ambassador said. “It seemed she was rather snatched out of your fingers.”

Jim sighed. “I’m not in the position to start a fight over her, sir,” he said.

“I see, I see,” the ambassador said. “But if you want to hear my opinion on this, you should still have some courage. Maybe try to talk to one of the other ladies around the party.”

“I will try,” Jim said, wondering why the ambassador was so motivated to help him with his problems. “But in the end, I am who I am and I’m not inheriting any titles from my father.”

The ambassador nodded. “Some problem which isn’t fixable,” he said. “Well, we should head back to the party, before we are missed by the emperor.”

They headed back to the ballroom, where the lady from earlier, was still waiting for the ambassador. He then headed over to the emperor once again, talking with him and some of the kings, who attended the ball tonight. Jim looked around, trying to spot a group of guests he could maybe join. Having not as much luck, he decided to get himself something to drink again.

As it turned out, Princess Ingrid was just standing next to a servant, who was filling her cup.

“Milady,” Jim said and bowed a bit. “I hope you having a nice time.”

“Very nice,” the princess said. “One or two of my dancing partners should train to lead a woman but besides that, fabulous. You are James, right? The ambassador’s aide-de-champ.”

“I am,” James said. “James of Chamberridge. The ambassador talked of me.”

“With the very best words,” she said with a smile. “He commented on him being really happy that the emperor assigned a capable aide for him, not like others in the past. He has come around a lot.”

“He told me a few places he had been,” Jim said. “But I hope I can hear more of those places in detail in the future.”

“Oh, you lucky one,” the princess said. “I was stuck to his lips earlier when he started talking and I could listen to him for hours. I love foreign lands.”

“Maybe you should travel through them?”

She laughed a bit. “I wish I could, but that more something a knight would do, rather than a lady.”

As she kept talking, Jim noticed that another of the young nobles came over. He asked once again if the princess would dance but for a moment Jim and her kept talking. Only as the guy asked again, the princess excused herself to Jim and headed for the dancing floor.

Jim sighed again. The second time of the evening this had happened and it was leaving him a bit frustrated. For a moment he watched the princess dance and wondered if he should have offered her dance before the other guy had a chance. But she probably would’ve declined, just because he was not a suitable rank for her to dance.

Finally, he resigned and headed over to the buffet again. As he was picking some food up, three guys stepped up and surrounded him.

“Who you think you are?” one of them said.

“You forgetting you just a lousy servant,” the other said. “You only here because you are that new ambassador’s aide.”

Jim just stood there, not sure how to react. They were clearly way too drunk already and up for a fight. And he wasn’t sure if they would step down, just because of the location.

“I think he needs to learn the lesson a hard way,” one of them said, signalizing the others that he suggested beating Jim up. “So he knows where his position at the court is.”

“Do the young lords have some issue?” suddenly a familiar voice said, making the three turn around. The ambassador stood there, very obviously aware of the reason for the conflict.

“We … I mean …,” the first stammered. All three were clearly realizing that the powers had shifted and that they were not had the higher ground anymore. Attacking the ambassador would clearly get them into deep trouble.

“We were just clarifying some confusion,” the second said. “But I think everyone understands it now.” He gave Jim a rather angry look before all three walked away.

“Thanks, sir,” Jim mumbled, a little embarrassed that he needed to be saved in this way. “I do not want to cause any issues,” he then said. “If you do not require me anymore, I might leave.”

“Your attendance is still required,” the ambassador said to Jim’s surprise. “And I tell you, forget about those three, have some drinks and enjoy the evening.”

“Of course, sir,” Jim said.

“Good, but now come with me.”

Jim followed him, wondering what the ambassador needed. They headed over to where the emperor and his wife were standing in a group.

“Your majesty,” the ambassador said. “I have to say, I am very satisfied with my aide-de-camp.” Jim made a deep bow in front of the emperor. “I assume the assignment to me will be a lasting one.”

“I am very happy to hear you satisfied, ambassador. And of course, as long as you want.” The emperor nodded in Jim’s direction. “By the way, we should really talk about the trade agreement.”

“My emperor,” the empress suddenly said. “Don’t let us talk about such things today. This is a celebration and we should leave politics out of it. There is more time for those talks in the coming weeks.”

“You are right,” the emperor said and gave his wife a kiss on her cheek. “Ambassador,” he then said. “Did I introduce you to the Duke of the Southern Islands? He and his daughter, Lady Zen arrived in the morning.” The duke and the ambassador shook hands, while Lady Zen, a beautiful lady with dark hair and exotic skin colour, made a little curtsy.

“James,” the ambassador said. “Why you do not show the lady the nice view from the balcony? I am sure she is rather bored by us old men talking.”

The young woman looked rather pleased about this suggestion and Jim made a gesture towards the balcony. They headed outside, where some wind had picked up, providing some cooling on a warm night.

“A nice evening,” Jim said.

“But warm,” Zen said.

“I assumed that someone from the Southern Island wouldn’t think of those temperatures as warm.”

Zen laughed. “It is warm if you have to dress like you are apparently supposed as a noble lady here. Back home we have much lighter dresses. And if I may say, a bit more risky cut than stuff here is.”

Jim smiled while being surprised at how open the young lady was talking. “Yeah, that makes sense,” he said. “I heard nice stories about the Southern Islands. The long beaches sound very nice.”

“They are,” Zen said. “You can lay there and sun yourself for hours.” She smiled as she kept talking about the blue water and all the nice landscape there. “You know,” she then said. “You are the first who seems to be really interested to hear about the islands. Most of those young nobles always just want to brag about their own regions.”

“Thanks,” Jim said and they kept chatting a bit. Then, at some point, Zen excused herself, as she had to do something, leaving Jim standing on the balcony once more alone. He strolled inside, looking around if the three thugs from earlier were anywhere to be seen. Gladly they weren’t and so he got himself a cup of wine, slowly feeling how much he had drunk already.

He watched for a few minutes some couples dance, including the princesses and Lady Zen, all while he was having some more cups. He wondered a bit if he should put the courage together to ask one of them for a dance, but then he got himself discouraged and headed back to the balcony, to enjoy the wind some more.

“I told you to enjoy yourself,” the ambassador said from behind him, as Jim just looked over the bay again.

“I am, sir,” he said as he turned around.

“And still I haven’t seen you dance with one of the ladies.”

“I don’t think it would be wise to ask them for a dance, sir. They probably would decline and some other attendants might be offended.”

“As a diplomat, you learn quickly that you can’t make everyone happy. And therefore you should have some courage to ask the ladies and enjoy the evening. Here, have a cup and then push yourself.” He reached Jim a cup of wine and then left again. Jim took some sips and suddenly felt strange. He looked into the cup, but the wine looked totally fine. He just felt weird, stronger, as if he could take on all three thugs if needed. He took another sip and looked up. Inside the ballroom, the ambassador was just chatting with Princess Elisabeth and seemed to whisper something into her ear. She gave Jim a smile, which he took as the final bit of encouragement. He was gonna dance with the princess, right now.