Necessary Choices

The final event of the evening entailed the gifts that the men had brought with them. At first glance it appeared to be a rather simple gesture, but it was probably the most important part of the evening. Everything leading to this moment was letting the potential mates get to know each other, but the giving of gifts would truly determine the outcome of the evening. Each man had brought with them a single gift which they would present to the woman of their choice. As the gifts were presented the women were given the choice to either accept or reject the gifts presented to them. If they accepted them then the man presenting the gift would be officially considered a potential candidate for mating, however if the gift was rejected he often lost any future chance at mating. While it didn't happen often, gifts were occasionally rejected, typically if the man presenting the gift had behaved extremely poorly during the course of the evening. The other side of this was that the number of gifts a woman was presented directly reflected her status. The woman with the most gifts or who's gifts were presented by the most powerful men was looked on the most favorably and received the most promising matches, but if a woman failed to receive any gifts, then her status would lower and she would receive poorer matches in the future. If a woman's status was lowered too significantly then she was often traded to other countries for diplomatic opportunities. As a result a lot of pressure rested on this one portion of the evening. The women waited anxiously as the men went back to the room where they had left their gifts earlier that evening and returned one at a time in the order by which they were ranked in society. The order was rotated with the men coming out sometimes with the most powerful first and other times with the least powerful first. This was simply a way to prevent excessive bias in the acceptance of gifts. For fear of being manipulated for personal gain some men would even present gifts that were well below their station, while others may have saved for gifts well beyond their means in hopes of greater chances at being selected. On this particular evening the first man who reappeared was the man who had brought chocolates. The chocolates themself were decent quality, but nothing really out of the ordinary, still Sara accepted them gladly. In truth, she may have been happy if this was the only gift she was given, however that was not to be the case, as the very next two men also presented their gifts to her. After the first three men things were looking very bright for Sara and very grim for both Lillith and Elisabeth, as half of the gifts had already been given to just one woman. Regardless of their own opinions it looked as if they would have to graciously accept any gifts that were left. Lilith wasn't particularly worried about this fact seeing as the man whom she had devoted the most time to that evening had yet to come forward. Elisabeth, however, was very nervous because of the men remaining she couldn't even remember one's name. As for the other two she couldn't be sure what they would do. As much as she was hoping for Bill's favor, she also understood enough about his personality to know that these affairs were something he had little interest in and could possibly give his gift to someone else just to avoid any further involvement. Leopold was another matter altogether. While she felt as if they had come to a decent understanding during their dance, she had also offended him rather early in the evening. As these thoughts raced in her head she only became more nervous. That is until the next man came through the door. It was Bill and with him he carried a book. The sight of his gift quickly turned her mind from nervousness to hopeful excitement, as she recognized the title straight away and desperately wanted to read it. Even if he hadn't already been planning to give her this book the look in her eyes may very well have been enough to convince Bill to give the book to Elisabeth, but as it happened he was already prepared to present it to her before he entered the room. As he walked toward her he, admittedly, felt very nervous, but he had made up his mind and accomplished what he set out to do. Elisabeth accepted the book eagerly, not sure if she was more excited about the gift or the man giving it, but as she looked up she caught Bill's gaze and in that moment she knew for certain that it was the man who mattered more. She told him that she would treasure it, and he knew that she was telling the truth by the smile on her face. The next man to enter the room was Jason, and as Lilith had hoped he did present his gift to her. While Sara scoffed at the small bouquet of wildflowers Lillith was beyond pleased to be presented with a gift that he had so clearly taken so much care in picking. The last man to reenter the room was Leopold, and he was also the man whom the women were least sure of. Not one of the women present really knew who he would present his gift to, but they all felt nervous at the prospect of finding out. As Leopold entered the room he looked at the Ladies before him and assessed his options. Sara caught his attention first, if only for the sheer number of gifts she had received, but he quickly wrote her off feeling that she thought too highly of herself. Next he turned to Lillith. She was a decent option, and he wasn't completely opposed to the idea, but she also hadn't left much of an impression on him. This of course, left Elisabeth. Once his gaze turned to her he felt as if he was unable to turn away. From start to finish she had made a great impression on him. Though it wasn't all positive he still felt as if he were being pulled towards her. As he looked at her he noticed the book she was clutching and couldn't stand the sight of it. He wanted to rip it from her hands and replace it with a gift of his own and the more he thought of it the closer he moved towards her. Before he knew it he was standing before her rady to present his gift. He hadn't actively chosen, yet there he was. While he didn't understand why he felt so intensely, he did know that it was hopeless to try and resist. He stretched his arms out and presented a box containing a necklace that he now felt wasn't nearly enough. As he did this he said "I know I may not be your first choice, please accept this anyway. Consider it a promise."

Elisabeth hesitated. "A promise?" she asked.

"Yes." He replied with a look that showed the seriousness of the emotions swirling inside of him. "A promise that someday I make it so that you look upon me with more desire than you've looked upon that doctor tonight." 

Elisabeth was shocked by his words, so much so that she took his gift without even noticing. Her arms reached out without a second thought at that moment. Over the years that followed she would wonder what made her accept this gift so readily. Did she feel bad for having offended him? Perhaps she was worried about his potential status, even not clearly knowing it, she had received a few hints that night as to how high it really was. The truth, however was often the simplest answer, as it was that night. She had truly connected with him, and as such she knew his words to be true, she even somewhat hoped that he could succeed. Though she never would have admitted it at the time, Leopold had already begun to worm his way into her heart. Leopold didn't have words for what he felt seeing Elisabeth accept his gift, but even without them he knew that after this night he had begun to hope for something that he had never before believed worth wanting.  This feeling that he in the moment would consider a fleeting desire, would eventually grow to be more precious to him than he could have imagined, as would the woman who inspired his change of heart.

This marked the end of the night's events. Ahead of them, the men had a period of waiting. If they were lucky, the ladies they favored may call upon them either for the chance of gaining further information to make a decision or to announce a choice they had already made. The women were left with their thoughts as they made their final choices. For Lillith this choice had already been made, and she had no regrets in the choices she had made that night. In fact it was quite the opposite. She was quite certain that she had made the best possible choice. Regardless of her certainty, however, even Lillith couldn't deny the frustration she felt when faced with Sara's bragging. She had started bragging the moment they retired for the evening, and continued to do so for the next two days. It was something that couldn't be avoided. While Sara was the picture of elegance whenever men were present, it was all for show. She was a very vain and shallow girl, who was exceedingly focused on status. As such, she never missed an opportunity to elevate her status among the other women, nor did often she miss the opportunity to brag when she believed she had done so. In this particular situation though she may have been too eager to show off. While it was true that she had a good night, it wasn't so great that the status of the men, which was still unknown to the women, couldn't alter the perception of success for the evening. Lilith sighed in frustration, even as she reminded herself  that Sara's attitude and excitement was in large part due to her lack of experience. After a couple more years even young Sara would certainly begin to settle down, or at least that was Lillith's hope.

Sara chattered on endlessly to any of the women who would hear her out. Of the five women who resided in the Rose Palace, the place where the women who could yield magic resided, four seemed willing enough to listen to her endless bragging. It was easy enough for most of the women to just smile and nod, knowing that her enthusiasm would curb after a few days had passed. Elisabeth alone couldn't stand the sound of it. It was exceedingly clear that the fact that she had produced a girl on only her second mating cycle had completely gone to her head and having it followed up by receiving favor from the most men on her very next cycle had only served to stroke her already overinflated ego. For most of the women this was a simple thing that was sure to pass, but Elisabeth had  far too much on her mind to care to entertain her incessant bragging. Before the end of the night she had been certain that she would choose Bill, but after Leopold's sudden declaration she had found herself faltering. It was maddening. If only she knew what was going on in his head, she thought that she could certainly make a choice with ease, but she also couldn't bring herself to ask for an audience with him for clarity. It would be as good as saying that she was interested in him, which she was determined not to do. Even as she sat there thinking of this Sara sat there desperately trying to talk to her about the men she had matched with that evening, but seeing that she was getting nno response she finally gave up. "What in the world are you thinking about that has you so distracted that you haven't the time to listen to me?'' She asked with a deep frown, attempting to show her sincere frustration.

Elisabeth didn't even bother to look up as she responded, as she was still very much lost in her own thoughts. "Why in the world did he say that at the end?" she mused, feeling more and more frustrated the more she thought of it. "It makes no sense. How can I be certain of my mind with him saying such things." She had never really intended to say any of this outloud, but simply responded out of habit.

This fact didn't seem to bother Sara at all. To her this was an easy problem with a simple solution, and once it was solved things could start to feel normal again. She jumped up excitedly and with a big grin said, "Is that all?" Then, without waiting for a response, went straight to the nearest guard and told him to summon Leopold because Elisabeth needed to speak with him. She did so feeling very proud of herself for helping a friend, though if she had known how Elisabeth would feel about this decision she likely would have made a different one. Elisabeth, who hadn't been paying much attention managed to come to her senses a little too late. It was only after Sara had told the guard to call on Leopold that she jumped up frantically. As such, she was forced to make a quick decision. She could contradict Sara and potentially lose face, or she could ask him for something else. The problem was that she could only think of one thing to ask, so she quickly blurted out that he should send notice to Bill for a meeting as well. Sara eagerly added that he should be careful to set the meetings on separate dates. With this, the matter was settled and Sara felt pretty proud of herself. At least, she did until she saw the enraged look on Elisabeth's face. Elisabeth couldn't even express the anger she felt towards Sara after seeing her make such a big decision in her place, nor did she feel rational enough at the moment to admit that the actions that Sara took were exactly what needed to happen. Instead, she got angry. Sara, seeing the anger on her friend's face, knew that this was a good time to excuse herself and tried to do just that, but didn't move quite quickly enough. Before she had made it clear of the door Elisabeth shouted, "What is wrong with you! If you have so much time on your hands maybe you should spend more of it thinking about who you're going to mate with, rather than wasting it worrying about mine."

Sara bit back bitter tears. She was so sure she was helping and more than that Esilabeth's words felt unnecessarily cruel. "I've been trying to decide all day!" she exclaimed. "No matter how much I tried to talk to you you wouldn't listen. You're so cruel!"

Perhaps if Elisabeth were less upset she would have cared more about Sara's words, but she was too upset to care. In her mind Sara had selfishly interfered in her personal matters for no reason other than to justify stroking her own ego. She couldn't stand it. "Please," she said. "You've been blathering nonstop about your choices for mates for days, if you really cared about my problem you would have tried listening rather than interfering, and if you cared about any of your options at all then you would have narrowed it down by now, but all you care about is yourself."

Listening to this Sara was brought to tears. She couldn't even begin to understand why her actions had brought on such anger. While her own self-absorbed nature had contributed to this conflict, it wasn't the only source of contention. If Elisabeth had been more forthcoming with the emotions that had led to her indecision, then perhaps the whole problem could have been avoided. In truth the ensuing conflict was little more than the result of a naive nature of two young women that still had a lot to learn about life. Before Sara could muster a response a thorny rose bush appeared between the two girls, interrupting their conflict.