“Yeah.” Serenity glanced back at the wall; the runes still glowed brightly with the mana they were leaking. “Why wouldn’t I be seeing them? They’re right there.”

“No one outside the family has ever noticed them before. At least, not that I’ve heard. Plus, I didn’t know the enchantment used runes.” The young man in the ridiculous outfit smiled. “But then, we can always count on Lowpeak to find the strangest people. He always has. I’m Prince Ora. You are?”

Serenity returned the smile. “I’m Serenity. Of Earth, if that matters.”

“No title other than your homeplace? You are definitely noble.” The prince seemed certain. He must have used a Skill to confirm it, because while Serenity was dressed more like a noble than someone from a Court, he didn’t actually fit the mold.

“Not one worth claiming here. I’m not from Zon.” Serenity would rather not claim one anywhere, but it seemed far too late for that. “You knew I came with the Lowpeaks?”

“I keep my eyes and ears open. Tell me, why are you on Zon? Visitors are rare, and there is always a reason.” The prince watched Serenity impassionately. At least, Serenity couldn’t discern any clues from his expression.

Serenity shrugged. He wasn’t going to share his reasons at such an open venue. He also didn’t get the same feeling of openness from the prince that he’d gotten from Andarit; the prince was reserved and formal. That was only to be expected of royalty. “I don’t wish to share my reasons. I don’t see any reason they should impact you.”

The prince nodded, then looked at the wall. “So what do you see when you look at these runes? They must be quite impressive to achieve such an increased mana density. It’s quite helpful.”

The prince liked the jagged, dirty mana the damaged runes emitted? Serenity suppressed a shudder at the thought. He was seriously considering casting a shield to protect himself from it. The only reason he hadn’t was that he wasn’t confident he’d be able to maintain it for the entire dance, and he might need his mana afterwards if something went wrong. “That’s not what the runes were for.”

Serenity could tell that much even with the little he’d been able to see. “A local mana thickening runic formation would have a far smoother mana flow, and wouldn’t include the runes I’m seeing here. This looks defensive, but I’m not sure it could actually be used for that anymore.”

It was almost certainly powered by a nearby ley line. Serenity wasn’t certain where the ley line was yet, but the other option was a lot of monster cores or Etherium, and that seemed extremely unlikely on Zon. Either would require significant amounts of dungeon delving, and that wasn’t possible on a world that destroyed most of its dungeons.

Prince Ora shrugged. “It does what we need it to. Welcome to Zenith.”

The prince turned and walked away.

Serenity took a moment to check on Andarit; she was dancing with another young man; not the young man from the Blue Fire Court (or was it Sect? Serenity needed to remember to ask about that), but he was still dressed like someone from a Court. The Duke and the younger brother whose name Serenity still didn’t know were watching the dance floor, so Serenity made his way over to them.

“I haven’t seen her dance with a noble yet,” Serenity commented. “All of the other noble women seem to be dancing with nobles.”

Kalo nodded. “I’ve noticed. The Court boys would normally never ask a noble to dance, but they’re using her to insult the noble children who abandoned the delve she was on, when she continued. This is likely to make things worse, but not dancing with them would be an open snub to the Courts. We can’t afford that. Not yet. Not until she’s married, at least.”

“Is that what this event is for? Finding a partner?” Serenity had noticed that only young adults were dancing. He hadn’t been asked for a dance, even though he appeared to be in the correct age range, but that was probably because he was so obviously foreign.

“Yes and no. All marriages are approved by the head of house; for her, that means me. This is supposed to introduce them so that they can get used to each other and we can see who fits together. In many ways, it’s as well the nobles are avoiding Andarit; I’d rather not tie her to another House. That’s why her original betrothal was to a man from one of the Courts.” Kalo grinned and shook his head. “It’s just as well that was canceled, from what I hear he was too proud to be second in a household, and Andarit wouldn’t have stood for him being first.”

Serenity nodded acceptingly but didn’t pursue the topic. Andarit’s future wasn’t any of his business. Come to think of it, he should probably tell her father that, just in case. “I’m engaged, myself. We’ve been together for years. Rissa handles some things, while I handle others. It works out pretty well.”

Soon after that, a young girl of about the same age as Kalo’s son, thirteen or so, walked up to them and asked Kalo if “Rylin of Lowpeak” was open for a dance. Kalo shooed his son off with the girl.

It was clear they’d both had lessons in dancing. Serenity didn’t know the dance they were doing, but it was obvious that they did, just like the older dancers. Rylin seemed to make more mistakes than the girl he was dancing with, but he laughed about them and she didn’t seem upset.

During a break between songs, Serenity found the band playing the music. He watched them over the course of the next several songs, as they were more interesting than anything else happening at the dance.

There were six musicians with a wide variety of instruments. He’d seen all of them over the years, but hadn’t ever been interested in finding out what they were; Serenity was reminded once again of how focused Vengeance had been.

There were two guitar-like instruments, which seemed to be played with a small tool held in the right hand. It was far larger than a guitar pick, but far smaller than the bow for a violin or cello. There was a lady tapping strings on a stand with tiny, specialized hammers and a man playing something that almost had to be a flute. The other two people seemed to have three or four instruments each.

Serenity was starting to ache all over after an hour and a half in the deformed, barbed mana field. He knew any actual damage would heal, but that didn’t make it comfortable. “How much longer will we be here?”

“The dance will run well into the night,” Kalo answered absently before turning towards Serenity. He paused, then leaned a little closer and took a good look. “You don’t look comfortable.”

“Well into the night” was quite a few more hours, but Serenity tried to downplay it. He’d signed up for this, and it wasn’t like he hadn’t been through worse. Even if it was worse than being on Earth in not enough mana; this wasn’t just pulling mana out of him, it was trying to carve its way in. “It’s just the mana leakage from the building.”

“Mana leakage?” Kalo sounded confused, then seemed to realize something. “I’d heard that Sensitives didn’t like the Palace; I didn’t know you were one.”

Serenity knew what Sensitives were; they were people with an inordinate ability to feel or detect something, far more than their Tier would indicate. Both Rissa and her father were Sensitives; Rissa as an empath and oracle, her father as a telepath. Serenity wasn’t a Sensitive, however. He didn’t have any exceptional senses. He shook his head. “I’m not.”

“Then why are you standing here about two shades paler than you were and looking like you’re in pain?” Duke Lowpeak had a soft smile as he shook his head. “Never mind talking about mana leakage I can’t even sense.”

Serenity shrugged. “But you do sense it. You said the mana level in here is higher than outside; that’s the leakage. I’m not sure why no one else can tell it’s sharp and broken.”

The Duke blinked twice. “If you’re not a Sensitive, do you have a bloodline related to magic somehow?”

That was kind of a personal question, but it was phrased very broadly. It wouldn’t really give much away. Serenity nodded.

The Duke still looked puzzled. “Why aren’t you a mage, then?”

Now Serenity was puzzled. Wasn’t it obvious? “I am a mage.”

“Then why are you working as a mercenary? A good mage, especially a high-sensitivity one, can get …” The Duke trailed off before muttering something about not examining the scales on a gifted erkal. “We can’t leave until after the Prince does; it would be an insult, and we can’t afford that. Fortunately, he usually doesn’t stay all that long. You’ll know it’s time for his last dance when the band plays Rising Zenith.”

“Rising Zenith?” Serenity could guess that the song was an anthem or something, but he didn’t know it.

Kalo caught the implication easily. “The dance floor will clear out and it will be only the Prince and his chosen partner.”

Serenity nodded and went back to trying to peoplewatch. As boring as that was, he’d take anything as a distraction from the constant irritation of the damaged mana.

It was almost another hour before people suddenly streamed towards the walls from the dance floor. The pain hadn’t gotten any worse, but it also hadn’t gotten any better and Serenity was more than ready for it to be over, so he watched the Prince walk out onto the dance floor with his partner with anticipation.

The Prince’s partner was Andarit.

Serenity leaned close to her father and whispered, “Is that a good thing?”

The Duke didn’t have to ask what he meant. “It’s a declaration from the Prince. We’ll talk more later, but keep an eye out when we leave.”

That sounded an awful lot like a “no”.

The dance was long, longer than any of the other pieces Serenity recalled from that evening. When it was done, the two of them bowed to each other and walked away from the center of attention, but the attention followed both of them as they moved.

The Prince headed out the front entrance, the same way he’d come in. Serenity wondered a little at that; did he not live at the Palace? Or was the dance hall simply not connected to the rest of the complex? Serenity had seen some doors that no one went into; perhaps they were closed off while an event happened.

Andarit headed over to her family. She seemed excited after the dance. “That was so much fun! Did you know the Price is a gifted dancer? And he said he likes people who shake things up; do you know what he meant? Was that a message to you?”

The Duke took a quick breath, then seemed to catch himself before replying softly. “Yes, I do know what he meant. We need to be leaving; I’d wanted to leave with others, but I think it might be a good time to withdraw right now. Others will understand; it won’t be the first time.”

“First time?” Andarit asked the question Serenity was thinking.

“Our Prince seems to thrive in chaos. He likes doing things that get attention, and dancing with you certainly did. This isn’t the first time one of his dance partners has left right after the dance. I have some bad news for you: you’ll be at the house all day tomorrow. Now, let’s go.” The Duke already had his son’s hand; he turned and led the way to the entrance.

Andarit followed, looking completely blindsided.

Serenity simply wanted to get outside. He didn’t care about the politics, he just wanted to not be in pain. The politics would still be there later.