Attending the welcome dinner for the ambassador

Jim stood in the entrance hall of the ambassador’s palace. There was a big gala dinner at the imperial palace in the evening and the ambassador, who had arrived a few days ago, was expected to attend as the guest of honour. Jim, as his aide-de-champ, would also accompany him there.

“Good evening, sir,” he said as the ambassador, dressed in a colourful traditional dress, came into the room. He made a small bow. “The carriage is waiting.”

“Great,” the ambassador said. “I hope this not gonna be a too stiff event.” They headed outside and Jim opened the door of the carriage. “I wonder, you attended such a party before or?”

“A few, sir,” Jim answered. “But I have to say, I am usually not that high on the invitation list.”

“A yes,” the ambassador said and laughed. “I told the master of ceremonies that I expect my aide-de-champ to be present in the main dining hall. Not that I will need your assistant there, to be clear. I expect you to enjoy your evening.”

Jim nodded, feeling slightly surprised for a moment. Thinking about it, it made more sense to him. Since the ambassador had arrived a few days ago, they had gotten along really well. Already during the first lunch, the ambassador had told him to sit down and have lunch with him. He seemed to be really interested in the region Jim was coming from and what had brought him at the imperial court. And he loved to tell stories about his home too, especially pointing out a couple of times that the women there were beautiful.

The dinner was going really nice. Jim had been seated on one of the tables to the site, together with some earls and their wives. While one of them remarked on his low rank, Jim pointed out that he was here as an aide to the ambassador. The older earl seemed to have been satisfied with that and for the rest of the dinner, nobody seemed to care much. At one point Jim looked over to the ambassador, who sat next to the emperor. He gave Jim a nod and greeted him by raising his glass briefly.

The rest of the dinner flew by. The emperor held a small speech, welcoming the ambassador to the imperial court. Tasty food was served and good wine filled the glasses. During a break between the courses, Jim let his eyes fly over the crowd, trying to see who he was recognizing already. As usual several of the regional rulers were in the city for consultations with the emperor and those were of course attending the dinner. But of course, Jim had his eyes more on the female participants. There were several ladies around his age, all dressed in beautiful gowns, with sparkling tiaras on their heads.

From Jim’s place, he had a great view of Princess Elisabeth, a beautiful young lady with blond hair, which she had shaped into a bun, so her tiara had a good hold. She was residing at the imperial court and Jim had met her before, although not talked much to her. He watched her laugh about what seemed to be a joke, told by the man next to her.

“She looking beautiful,” the older lady next to him commented, clearly noting who he was watching.

“Absolutely,” Jim responded, feeling caught.

“Nothing to be ashamed of,” the lady said with a smile. “When I was in the princess’s age, I was more than flattered when the boys had only eyes for me.”

Finally, the dinner ended and the emperor invited the guests to the ballroom, for some dancing, music and a nice time together. As everyone got up, Jim caught another look at the princess. He felt a little bit sad as the young man, who had sat next to her, offered her his arm and led her to the ballroom.

Jim couldn’t feel bad for long, as he noticed the ambassador giving him a discrete signal to come over.

“Sir?”

“Enjoying the party?”

“I am, Sir,” Jim said.

“I noticed how your eyes were sticking on the young lady. I was told she is a princess, right?”

“Princess Elisabeth,” Jim explained.

“Lovely young lady. A wonderful dress. You should talk with her.” He signalized Jim to follow him as they walked over to the ballroom.

“I don’t think my rank is equal to hers.”

“Oh yes,” the ambassador said. “I forgot, you have all those complicated rules about equal ranks and such. Well, what about some other lady then?” He looked around and noticed a brunette girl, wearing a blue dress, who just was helping an older man up. “Her for example.”

“Princess Ingrid,” Jim explained. “Same problem.”

“I see, I see,” the ambassador said. “Well, we have to come up with a solution for this problem.”

Jim wanted to ask him what he meant, but they had reached the ballroom by now. “I think I should ask the empress for a dance, don’t you think?” the ambassador suddenly asked.

“I think that is appropriated, sir.”

“Good,” he said. “You, get yourself a drink and chat a bit. Don’t get too drunk, in case I require your attention later.

Jim nodded and as the ambassador walked over to the emperor and empress, he got himself some sparkling wine, before standing with a group of knights. For a moment it seemed they would tell him to leave, but then one of them commented on Jim having an important duty as aide-de-camp to such an important ambassador. The rest nodded and allowed Jim to join their round, as they talked about their travels through the realms.

After a while, the group disbanded as some of the knights wanted to dance with some of the ladies. Jim headed across the room to some tables, where a buffet was set up. He was just taking some small snacks and reached for grapes, as his hand hit another hand, which looked really soft and much smaller.

“Oh, I am sorry,” Jim said and looked up. He then realized he was facing Princess Elisabeth. “Sorry, my lady,” he quickly added.

“No worry,” she said with a smile. “Just some grapes.”

Jim felt his heart beating a bit. “I hope you having a nice evening, my lady.”

She giggled a bit as he kept calling her lady once again. “Just Elisabeth,” she said with a smile. “And yes, it is a nice evening. The speeches were rather interesting this time and also the musicians play better than those last time. What's your name? I have seen you around the court before but not at those events.”

“James of Chamberridge,” Jim introduced himself, “but most people call me Jim. I am the second son of the Duke of Chamberridge.”

“Nice to meet you, Jim,” Elisabeth said and picked some grapes from the branch and put them into her mouth. “I saw you earlier talking to the ambassador. You know him?”

“The emperor made me ambassador’s aide-of-champ. That is also why I was invited today.”

“Oh, that is a big job,” the young princess said. “You have a lot to do for the ambassador? He seems to be an interesting personality.”

“He is,” Jim said.

As he wanted to talk a bit more, suddenly another man stepped up next to them. From his dress, Jim could tell he was one of the young dukes, who were residing at the court. “Want to dance?” the young man asked the princess, basically ignoring Jim, who knew that he was in no position to protest, so he gave a small gesture to go along. She responded with a small smile as she left with the duke to dance. Jim sighed a bit and grabbed another bite of food. Then he headed over to some older men, who were talking about an expedition to the icy lands in the far south.

For a while he listened to the stories, before a servant stepped next to him, discretely tapping his shoulder. “Sir,” the servant started. “The ambassador would like to meet you on the south balcony in a few minutes.”

Jim was a little bit surprised about this demand and looked around to see where the ambassador was. He spotted him across the room and noticed that the ambassador was chatting with Princess Elisabeth and Princess Ingrid. It seemed the ladies were completely stuck on his lips as he kept talking and he wondered what it was about. Probably the ambassador was telling a story about his home country, he then assumed, before excusing him to the others and slowly heading towards the south balcony.

The south balcony, overlooking the bay with its ships, was rather large and you couldn’t see all of it from the ballroom. A small set of stairs was leading downstairs, away from the ballroom and to other parts of the palace. Jim leaned against the railing, waiting for the ambassador to show up.