Archive of Our Own

Tuuli was in a predicament.

She knew her little sister like the palm of her hand. 

She knew her, not as Aub Alexandria, or the Saintess, nor as Rozemyne, or this ‘Avatar’ stuff she still was confused about - but as Myne. 

Sickly, messy, careless but kind Myne. The girl who would try her best to go to the forest but be struck by sickness halfway there. A tiny thing that threw tantrums when she didn’t get her way, who fussed over Kamil and Mom even though she was getting in the way more often than not. The one with the weird obsession with books and cleanliness, always doing something strange, but also always helping someone out.

Sure, she changed her name. And she behaved differently now that other titles preceded this new name. But deep down she was still the same. Through noble facades, Tuuli could still catch a glimpse of that silly little girl who got in trouble for putting clay in the hearth, and who fainted when she walked too fast.  

Myne, she knew.

The High Priest, she didn’t.

What she knew of him was two things: He was the High Priest. And he was scary.

Her only real memory of him was of that time they signed the contract that forbade her from ever referring to her little sister as “Myne”. He was an imposing figure. Standing next to her sister, with a serious, unreadable look. Stony-faced and cold. Nowadays she was aware that multiple things were at play during that day. 

“Interduchy politics,” her husband would call them, when he didn’t want to deal with how complicated it all was. “Noble stuff, y’know?”

But back then, she didn’t fully understand. She thought Myne was being taken away because of her. That the one who was taking her away was him, The High Priest. Not out of malice, but definitely not out of kindness. 

He was a noble, caring mostly about cause and effect, working within a logic she couldn’t hope to understand. And, truthfully, she didn’t even try. To her younger self, the only thing that mattered was that someone was taking away her adorable weirdo little sister. Whoever was taking her, was bound to be scary and mean.

As she grew, that perspective changed. A bit. She knew The High Priest wasn’t evil. From what Lutz and Benno talked about within her reach, he was helping her out quite a lot. And what she realized in all her years, noble life was weird and complicated. The High Priest had some sort of power to make Myne’s noble life a little less weird and complicated (as less weird as anything Myne-related could be at least). So, sure he couldn’t be all bad. 

But that’s right about as much as she knew about him. He was scary but not mean. And he was the High Priest. 

Heck, she didn’t even know his name was Ferdinand when she heard,

“You could act on your feelings for Lord Ferdinand you have had since you were young!”

Tuuli felt the pit of her stomach drop as her heart sank into itself. All blood drained from her cheeks as dread crept up her spine.

The acute heartache she once felt from a broken heart made its way into the forefront of her mind. She remembered her first love, the way her heart would skip a beat whenever Benno would praise her. The way her cheeks flushed when he believed in her, better than she believed in herself. And she remembered the way she cried and cried by the fountain when she realized it. How she couldn’t breathe, how the grief echoed so hard it tore through her very own self.

It was hard enough to fall in love with someone older than her, someone who lived in a world so much different than hers. It was even harder to accept how futile her love was. That it didn’t matter how much he loved him, she would never be seen as an equal. To him, she would always be a child. Her desperate, selfish love was useless in the face of reality.

At that moment, she thought she would die from how sad she felt. It was a stupid thought. No one could die from being too sad, right? 

But when she heard the lady with pink hair (she forgets her name, but she later found out she was a huge deal. Some sort of princess from a greater duchy or something like that) say that, she could only think:

Myne would! Myne would totally die from being too sad!

She could acutely recall how Myne would collapse when she was sad. Always bed ridden because someone had made her lose her temper or because she got so sad she couldn’t control her fever. Now, here she was, as foolish as her own big sister! Falling in love with a man who definitely did not see her as an equal! Just imagining what could happen to Myne if she ever suffered that kind of heartache had her going faint. 

No! Oh, how could the heart be so cruel as to play this same trick twice! 

Her worries momentarily decreased, as Myne reassured the Lady that her love was not romantic. That she worried for the High Priest as anyone would a family member. The reason, her little sister explained, that she had gone to war for him was because, well, she was Myne. That she would have thrown herself into that situation if anyone of her family had been in that situation. 

Of course, Tuuli believed her. She had seen her throw rampages over her family. She was a noble to begin with, because that was the only way to protect her family. She threw herself into studies and loneliness just to make sure her family was safe. Of course she would do unreasonable stuff to protect the High Priest, given how much he had helped her.

Yet, her relief was short-lived. 

Myne then went on to describe beat for beat what was definitely romantic love. How she wouldn’t mind marrying him, how he was the perfect catch, and all the wonderful things he had done for her. She was the picture of a girl reminiscing on why she fell in love with someone for the first time. 

Tuuli felt her entire world shatter, as she realized that her little sister was not only in love, but totally oblivious to it. She still had the childish mind of her seven-year-old-self, talking about how her perfect partner was just like father. Someone who could protect her. Tuuli was perplexed how much Myne had outwardly changed, but remained the same child who would cry over not being able to go to the forest after all her hard work. 

Perhaps more worryingly, it seemed that the reason why she couldn’t even entertain her feelings, was because the Archduke himself had shot down any talks of marriage between the two. Tuuli felt her heart sink a bit at that. Sure, she had suffered heartbreak because she knew that Benno himself would never love a girl like her, but she couldn’t imagine what kind of pain came from knowing it was impossible because someone else had decided it couldn’t be. What kind of heartache could come from your family deciding, before you even had the time to think about it, that you and your beloved were a terrible match?

And from what she gathered in the conversation, the High Priest was the archduke’s brother, and was well aware that Myne was a commoner. Tuuli found herself secretly crying over it. Was the reason why they couldn’t be, because Myne was the unfit one? Did the archduke not want her brother to marry a weirdo commoner half his age?

For a second, the worst came to her mind. 

Myne, whose feelings showed in her face like see-through silk, had a crush and was found out. Yes, of course, even the Lady they were talking to had found out! Perhaps the High Priest had known for a while, and the reason why the talks of marriage had fallen through was the High Priest’s noble way to turn her down. 

And her sister was perhaps even too oblivious to notice!

Tuuli felt like she was going to faint.

It nagged at the back of her mind. The fact that her sister was doomed to be in a political marriage with a man she didn’t love. If Myne were a healthy girl, or if Tuuli could at least be with her to cheer her up, she wouldn’t be so worried. But as it stood, she truly felt like her little sister would one day wake up and be stricken with a sadness-filled illness and collapse once more. 

Her nightmares were still riddled with dread. Reliving that time when she collapsed and was bed-ridden in Freida’s home for three whole days. Tuuli could only watch, helpless as her sister’s illness ate away at her. Or when she confessed she had only half a year to live. She still remembered how she would worry every time she was sick enough that she couldn’t get out of bed. Was something like that going to happen again? 

She told her fiancé that once. 

“I don’t think she’ll realize,” he reassured her. If you could call it that. “She’s as dense as trombe wood, she’ll probably go her whole life without knowing she loved the High Priest”.

Lutz was saying it all with a serious look. He was certain of everything he said, but Tuuli couldn’t help but worry. After a few seconds though, he looked troubled.

 “But without him, controlling Myne will be very hard…”

“Huh?” Tuuli asked. “What does that mean?”.

“Well, he’s the one keeping Myne in check,” he explained. “Without him, Myne just goes on rampages and we have to deal with the fallout…Man, I get a headache just from thinking about what she’ll do next”.

Tuuli wasn’t a fan of people complaining about her sister. But Lutz had to deal with her absurd demands, even more than she had. If there was someone in this world allowed to complain about Myne’s antics, it was him. Still, did the High Priest really have such an important role? The more she found out about this whole situation the more she worried. 

It seemed like their relationship was far deeper than she had originally thought about. At least, far closer than she had been with Benno. That didn’t alleviate her worries though. If anything, they grew. After all, if they were so close, it made sense that Myne would be absolutely devastated when she eventually married someone else. 

Tuuli truly couldn’t help but worry. 

That’s it. 

Until her sister came barging in with the High Priest into their little house, the very picture of an excited girl in love! Oh, how she paled at the idea first. She was unsure about how to react when a noble came in, with the exact same expression he had when they first met. 

(Although, was it her imagination or did he look a bit younger now? She recalled in her memories he looked old and intimidating. But with her little sister running around from here to there, making the air in the room almost comically relaxing, he was less so. He didn’t feel quite as intimidating, and he appeared closer to Myne’s age than her brain assured her he was). 

Then, Myne proudly declared that they were engaged.

In all her shock, Tuuli wasn’t sure how to react. All the context she knew, blanked out of her brain. It felt like a mirage, a dream from which she would wake up if she questioned everything too much. 

So, she didn’t. 

She let herself bask in the idea that all that mattered was the ‘right now’. 

But the longer it went on, she couldn’t stop worrying. After all…didn’t the High Priest look extremely annoyed to be there? She had the strange feeling that in reality,  Myne was the one dragging the High Priest into this situation. Sure, he drank the wine to symbolize their union, but from what she could tell it was a foreign custom to nobles. It was likely that he didn’t fully understand what it meant. 

The longer time went on, the more she worried. Myne looked happy, but who was Tuuli if not her older sister? It was her duty to make sure her little sister didn’t die of heartbreak. Her arranged marriage was bound to bring her some comfort for some time. But what if one day she woke up and realized she was trapped in a loveless marriage? An entirely political match, where the man of her dreams only stayed to make sure she wasn’t making a complete mess? 

If Tuuli were in her position, she would be miserable. 

However, a thought crossed her mind. Maybe the High Priest didn’t love her now. But Myne was an undeniable beauty! Of course! If Tuuli could get the man to fall for her after the marriage, and before Myne found out that the man didn’t love her…she could get her little sister a happy ending! 

First things first, she decided. She decided to make her little sister the most beautiful woman in all the duchy. That proved to be the easiest and hardest thing she’d ever thought of. 

Her little sister was undeniably beautiful. By commoner standards, she was gorgeous. Delicate frame, an almost scarily symmetrical face, and a large chest that made even Tuuli do a double take. As she looked in pride at what ought to be a good start, realization struck her. 

Could she even turn someone so beautiful, more beautiful? 

Her best guess what to make clothes that would make everyone do a double take…but Tuuli was already the one in charge of her clothes as a noble lady, she knew her clothes were the most luxurious ones money could buy, and so on-top of the trends that those very clothes were the ones setting them. By any commoner standard you could glance from afar, her little sister was perfect. 

From afar, of course. 

Myne was still terrible at needle work. Well, terrible would be a tad too cruel. She could do needle work decently, but nothing to brag home about. She was still relatively sick, and her childish demeanor was still as present as it had when she was a toddler. Really, had Myne grown up at all!?!

When chatting with her husband, Lutz confessed that even by noble standards, Myne was only superficially a catch. She was still a rampaging mess that created trouble for everyone around her and made it a task to keep her destruction to a minimum. Her common sense was still askew, which led her to be considered as close to a tomboy as one could, when you have so much conventional beauty on your side. 

The more she heard about her life in the castle, from both Lutz and Myne herself, the clearer it became: Myne may be the most beautiful woman in the duchy - but that’s where her good points ended. 

It seemed like the former High Priest was truly in a predicament. It sounded out of one of the fairytales their mother used to tell them as kids. One of those ‘be careful what you wish for’ type of tales. 

‘Yes, you will have the most beautiful woman in the land for a wife, but she’ll be nothing short of a constant headache’. 

“Ne, Myne,” she asked once. On a special occasion, they were allowed to stay overnight in their little house. Tomorrow, they would go out to the town. Myne wanted to see it with her own eyes, apparently. “Is Lord Ferdinand a good husband?” 

They were sitting on Tuuli’s bed. Tuuli was brushing Myne’s hair. The products they had were hardly the same quality as the Aub would use. But Myne was insistent that Tuuli had magic hands, and she was way better than all the retainers she had. Tuuli highly doubted that was the case, but as a tired older sister, she complied with only a sig.

At the question, however, Myne froze up. Slowly, she turned her head back. 

“What?”

“He seems a little cold, doesn’t he?” She asked, worried if her sister noticed anything. “Don’t you want to be closer to him?”

“Ferdinand is not cold,” she reassured her. Tuuli, however, wasn’t reassured. If anything, it worried her more. Was her sister truly that blinded by love? Myne just huffed out. “If anything, he’s the opposite of cold. He keeps getting so worked up about things that don’t really matter, you wanna know what he did the other day?!”

Myne then went on a rant about how Lord Ferdinand got revenge on her for a prank she pulled a few months back, by getting her to lend her mana for an experiment - even though she was already so busy. 

It had the opposite of reassurance. The more she heard Myne complain about how 'petty' and 'unreasonable' Lord Ferdinand was, the more Tuuli had the feeling that it was certainly not what a man in love would be like. She had vivid visions of her dad, who would do and say whatever their mother wanted. Or of Otto, crazy for his wife. Sure, it would be foolish to consider such people as the norm, specially in noble society. But the relationship these two had was so different from anything that Tuuli was used to. Even her own relationship with her husband, although not as loving as her parents, was still not as blatantly antagonistic as Myne's with Lord Ferdinand was.

"Ne, Myne," Tuuli finally gathered the courage to ask. "Are you…happy?"

Myne froze up. Her golden eyes widened at the words, and her entire body screeched to a halt. It was obvious she was taken aback by the question. That alone made Tuuli worry all the more.

But almost as quickly as she froze up, her smile bloomed. Her eyes turned into small crescent moons and red dusted in her cheeks.

"Yeah," she said. "I have my family with me. I couldn't be happier!"

Tuuli's heart ached at the words. It seemed like Myne remained blissfully unaware of her own situation. Her mind was filled only with her family.

Alexandria had heat. It was warm. The sun was always out, always blazing in the open sky, only eased by the gentle breeze of the nearby ocean. The smell of the saltwater clung to everyone's clothes, to the point some might consider it uncomfortable. From what Tuuli knew, nobility had the power of magic to make their homes colder in the summer, when the heat was at it's highest. Commoners, though, didn't have such things. Specially in the open, like markets and the main plaza. That, along with the body heat of everyone walking and chatting, made festivals a hot, humid and messy ordeal. One where surely no noble would set foot in.

That is, of course, unless they were Myne.

After a few seasons in Alexandria, she had demanded she wanted to go to the Star Festival in the lower city. Tuuli, Lutz, and even Benno had chastised her for her reckless demands, and told her that the Star Festival was hardly the same in Alexandria as it was in Ehrenfest. It had as much effect on her as you'd expect it to. That's to say, none at all. She was still insisting that she wanted to go.

Eventually, and with much negotiating and preparation, she managed to secure her way into the festivals. At the entire affair, Tuuli could only loudly sigh. It was so typical of Myne to force her way into doing something everyone thought was a bad idea. She was already half-expecting her to be there, even before she had gotten permission.

What she had not expected, however, was to see Lord Ferdinand coming behind her sister the day of the Festival.

"Myne!" Tuuli was quick to reproach her sister. "It's going to be very crowded there, don't force Lord Ferdinand to-"

"I'm not forcing him!" She defended herself quickly, clinging to Ferdinand's arm like a child would. "He insisted on coming with me!"

"Indeed," Ferdinad said. "I fear she might cause more trouble if left unattended".

Tuuli tried to hide her worry, although it probably was futile. Ferdinand's face didn't betray a single thought of emotion. It was hard to know if he was angry or annoyed about her little sister's antics, or if he had simply resigned himself to his own fate. Tuuli wanted to reproach her sister.

'Myne! How will you get Lord Ferdinand to like you, if you're this unreasonable!" She wanted to shout.

But she stopped herself. There'd be no point in doing as much, Myne was a lost cause.

Lutz joined them, of course. Benno said he would meet them up, if he was done with work right before the Tarantella started.

Just as Tuuli had feared, though. It was crowded, it was hot and it was humid. There was loud chatter and noise all around, which would surely make the entire thing unpleasant for someone like Ferdinand. The only silver lining was the fact that, unlike Ehrenfest, the air of the lower city wasn't unpleasant. Alexandria's streets were filled with the smell of fresh spices and salt water, as well as the light breeze that carried the distinct aroma of cooked dishes you'd find in the stalls in the market.

Myne wasted no time, dragging them all from here to there, wanting to see everything and taste everything. Tuuli couldn't help smiling.

"You sure are having fun, aren't you, Myne?"

"Hm!" Myne replied with a wide smile. "I've always wanted to go to a Star Festival! Back then, I was only able to go that one time…" her smile turned nostalgic as she looked up to the bright burning sun in the sky. "I've always to go back, one more time".

Tuuli's gaze softened. Her sister might be a huge headache. But ever since she was little, Myne got lonely easily. All the things she wanted to try, they were usually kept from her because of her sickly body. Could Tuuli truly fault her for wanting to try them, now that she was healthier? Even this, as much fun as it was, would never be the festivals she had been promised as fun back when they were children. This was the closest thing to fulfilling a childhood wish as they would be able to get.

She had the feeling that Lutz felt the same. He took a step towards Myne.

"I'm sorry we couldn't throw taues," Lutz said, apologetically. "They don't grow in Alexandria, and since, you know they grow into that, it was far too dangerous to bring them with us".

Myne simply smiled.

"Come on, Lutz, I'm not that childish," she said with a pout. "I wouldn't put my duchy at risk for such a selfish reason".

She could tell that despite her words, Lutz wouldn't feel happy. Tuuli looked over the crowd, a thought popping up to her mind.

"Myne, do you know how to dance?" Tuuli asked.

Myne looked back at her. There was an uncomfortable look in her face.

"Not really," she said, tilting her head in confusion. "Why-?"

"Alexandria may not have taue-throwing," Tuuli said with a grin. "But they have the Tarantella!"

At her words, Lutz's eyes lit up.

"The what?" Myn asked.

As soon as the words escaped her mind, though, the main plaza's clock struck three time. It was a sign that the festival was about to truly start. The loud sound of the wind instruments started playing, and the crowd that had been huddled together, started opening up.

At the center of it, couples began dancing. It was a lovely display, as the colorful dresses of all the women fluttered and opened like the petals of a blooming flower. The dance itself was fun, couples spun around to the rhythm of the music. The song told the story of the god of darkness and the goddess of light falling in love.

Lutz looked back to Tuuli, asking for permission. Tuuli couldn't fight back her grin and gave a decisive nod. She could see the mischievous look in his eyes, starving to pull her sister's leg. It was so worth it. Without missing a beat, Lutz took Myne's hand and pulled her right along.

Tuuli had danced in that same plaza a year back with Lutz. It was a common affair for newlyweds and young lovers. Although, it wasn't weird for friends, family and even little kids to join in at the outskirts of the plaza. That's where Lutz pulled a very confused Myne into, easily swimming through the crowd.

It was a delight to see her usually composed sister, so oblivious to it all, being dragged by Lutz into the circle. Myne was so often good at everything that it caused Tuuli to be a little jealous. Seeing her struggle to keep the pace, was very fun. She was so flustered, legs getting tangled as she tried to follow Lutz's footsteps.

It could be hard to remember that, despite all those strange titles, Myne was still only just a girl. A strange but kind-hearted girl who'd never been taken out to dance by someone in a crowded place. Tuuli could see her freaking out about everyone looking at her.

"Such a strange dance".

Tuuli was startled by the voice beside her. She had completely forgotten that Ferdinand was by her side. Her mind was going overdrive, trying to think what to answer.

"It's a traditional dance here," she tried to explain. "It's different from any dance in Ehrenfest too".

It was true. There women here used lighter clothes due to the heat, which would start floating when they danced.

"It's similar to whirling, yet so different," Ferdinand continued. "Although…it doesn't seem difficult to learn".

'Whirling?' Tuuli wanted to ask. She had no idea what that was. That aside, 'not difficult to learn'? Hardly, it had taken Tuuli the entire day just to become slightly decent at it. Even Lutz, who was better than her at it, could hardly compare to the men who were in the center. They commanded the dance flow so dramatically that they were an attraction on their own.

"Is that so?" Tuuli asked, a bit confused. "But Myne seems to be enjoying herself!"

Tuuli was happy to see her sister having fun, even if she was clumsy in her steps. It melted her heart to think that after all that hard work as Aub, she had her reward. Although, she couldn't know if Ferdinand felt the same. His eyes remained icy cold as he stared at the pair dancing away.

'Wait…was Ferdinand upset?! Why!?'

"It's unlike her to be this bad," he said simply.

The overprotective part of Tuuli wanted to be furious. This was her little sister's special request, it was not nice to ruin it! Yeah, so it wasn't very noble-like, and she was definitely making a fool of herself with how much she was messing up…but it could hardly be helped.

Tuuli liked to believe that she was different from when she was a kid. At least now, she liked to think, she would be able to protect her sister. That said, when she was confronted with a situation like this, she couldn't bring herself to say anything. All she could feel was indignation for this man, who didn't lover her terribly beautiful if not completely useless little sister's, but still wanted her to behave in a noble way in the middle of a festival!

"Would you like trying?" She asked, trying to hide her anger, offering her own hand.

It was meant as a taunt. She thought the man would find this beneath him. Simply look away and wait for Myne to be done with the dance. Maybe then he'd try to chastise her, but Tuuli was already planning to drag Myne to the stalls. She would not let him ruin their festival time when they were in the festival! That would have to wait until they were back in the palace.

What she had not expected, however, was for him to answer,

"Quite".

And take a step forward.

Myne, she knew.

Ferdinand, she did not.

Her impression of the man was simply a cold and formal noble. Perhaps a man forced by her rampaging sister to marry her. Someone who'd simply been swayed by fate into his situation.

It had never occurred her why Myne would take interest in him. After all, he was handsome. Maybe she just fancied his looks. Or maybe Tuuli had been projecting her own feelings for Benno into this strange relationship. She had fallen for the older man for being a reliable person, who believed in her more than she believed in herself. But of course, Myne was not Tuuli. Something should have lit up in the back of her mind, at some point, if she knew any better. As much as she loved Myne, Tuuli was acutely aware that her sister was a giant weirdo only ever contained by noble status quo (and that wasn't fool proof, even on the best of days).

So, really, what type of man could make her weirdo of a sister fall for him?

Tuuli's own worry skyrocketed as she realized, of course a weirdo would fall for an even weirder weirdo, right!?

And yeah, perhaps Ferdinand wasn't a weirdo, but he was definitely not sane. Because instead of doing the logical noble thing and stay on the sidelines, he stepped forward. He took Tuuli's hand without any shame and dragged her into the the dance circle as well.

Tuuli was left fumbling, confused as she followed a pace she didn't know. It came easy, which was the strangest part. She had never before danced with Ferdinand, for obvious reasons, so this entire situation was new to her. Yet, instead of clashing into his chest, and stepping on his foot repeatedly - like she had when she first danced with Lutz - she was swept into the flow of the dance with scary amounts of ease.

Although, she couldn't say it was the most fun she was having. Sure, she was now fitting in with the more experienced pairs in the center of the plaza -but it was hardly comfortable. When she had danced with Lutz, it had been a clumsy but sweet affair. They had both been so confused, so lost, that they had stumbled on the outskirts of the plaza. Neither could hold back their laughter as they realized how bad they were. But also, they were both stubborn to a fault. They had danced all the way from afternoon to sundown in an attempt to perfect the most basic of steps. By the end, Tuuli and Lutz had barely managed to secure a spot in the middle tier of the plaza, where the rest of the couples from Alexandria mingled.

However, despite such a beautiful memory, right now Tuuli was freaking out. The skill with which Ferdinand spun her around was far greater than some of the more seasoned dancers. If they continued this way, the crowd would eventually open up the path and land them on the inner parts of the plaza. That was way too much for Tuuli's heart to take!

She couldn't describe the amount of relief she felt when, finally, they caught sight of her sister dancing with Lutz. Tuuli didn't even have to say anything, Myne was the one who spotted them, and as sooon as she saw them, she beamed.

"Tuuli!" A second later though, her whole face spelled confusion as she o continued, "Ferdie-!?"

Tuuli had never imagined that someday she would see her little sister be turned into a confused mess. Myne was usually the one causing everyone to turn into one. Yet, she couldn't even relish on the fact, cause she could only feel relief at seeing she wasn't the only one who through this was strange!

"I believe it's time to swap partners," was all that Ferdinand said, before unceremoniously letting go of Tuuli's hand mid-spin. Before she could react, however, Lutz was already holding her hand, and guiding her into a much slower pace.

She let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she was holding, as she continued to dance with Lutz.

"I feel like I was just spun around by the goddess of chaos herself," Tuuli said.

Lutz only laughed.

"That's Myne for ya'!"

"Myne? I'm talking about Lord-, uhm, Ferdie," Tuuli said, trying to remind herself to use Ferdinand's 'commoner' name. "That was intense, I swear!"

"Yeah, well, birds of a feather flock together," Lutz replied with a shrug.

Lutz was obviously way more equipped with dealing with the whole bizarreness that was Myne. He was so nonchalant in the face of pure chaos and unexpectedness. But, she guessed, he was the one in charge of keeping her in control with the Plantin Company.

"I can't imagine how you keep up with her," Tuuli sighed.

"Nor really my problem half the time," Lutz said, then with a grin he pointed at something behind her back. "That's his job".

Tuuli was suddenly reminded that the 'switch partners' meant that Ferdinand was now the one dancing with her clumsy sister. Tuuli looked back, half expecting to see Ferdinand scolding her sister or teaching her how to dance without embarrassing herself.

Yet, what she was met with was everything but.

She had turned expecting to see her sister, much like she had seen her with Lutz. A blushing mess, unable to put her foot in front of the other, and struggling to even keep up with the rhythm of the music.

But, instead, all she could do was gasp.

Her sister was beautiful. The skirt she was using was far from the high quality ones that nobility always used. It reached to right below the ankles, since she still had to walk around and the long robes of the nobility were hardly practical in the lower city. This caused the skirt to twirl and float as she was spun around, moving and fluttering across the bright blue sky. Her right hand was gently placed on Ferdinand's shoulder, while her left held her skirt, lightly moving it to the rhythm of the music. Her face was brimming with happiness. A happiness she had never seen before. It was bright and enchanting, eyes overflowing with pure love. Her eyes were squarely looking at Ferdinand's, as if she were uncaring for the world around her.

'Knowing her,' Tuuli thought with a soft smile, 'that might just be true'.

More surprisingly, though, was the way she was moving. The type of dance the people of Alexandria were used to was very intense, it should come specially hard for Myne, who was known to be sickly and with terrible stamina. You had to jump every few steps, and the twirls and twists that you had to while you jumped added up quickly. Last year, even Tuuli had ended up drenched in sweat after hours of dancing. She had guessed it would be hard for Myne to keep up, specially since Lutz had taken her out and her nervousness and uncertainty had become apparent. Tuuli had simply assumed Myne was bad it.

But perhaps she was wrong.

As she was, right now, she glided with ease through the sky. An ease came to her steps. Tuuli could hear the click of her heels against the pavement, a tell-tale of the Tarantella dance, which matched the rhythm of the drums and tambourines of the musicians scattered at the edges of the circle. Sure, there were certain moves that looked, well off, but it was hard to tell if it was because she was messing up, or because it was just Myne's weirdness slipping through her own dance.

Suddenly, she was taken back to her childhood days. Back when she was just a kid, taking care of her little sister. It reminded her of that time when they were making weaved baskets, and Myne, who had never before toched the materials, expertly make a fancy basket. At the time, Tuuli had been devastated, feeling like her sister was much better than her, even though she was supposed to be the older one.

"She's so good…" Tuuli couldn't help saying.

"Gotta hand it to Ferdie," Lutz chuckled. "To think he could get her to switch back into her noble skills in a second is quite something!"

That perked up Tuuli's attention. The sight was indeed beautiful. The pair was quickly going deeper into the circle. Perhaps, even totally unaware of it. After all, they seemed to be lost in the music and each other's eyes. The gap between Tuuli and Lutz's own dance grew farther and farther apart. The skill they showed was undeniable. It came to a point when Tuuli finally stopped feeling jealous, and only awe was left.

Because the more she was jealous of her sister, the more she noticed things. Yeah, she was exceptionally good. But her steps still faltered sometimes. Steps got mixed, and turns were done in the wrong places. Much like Myne had with Lutz, in fact. The key difference, was how she was being picked up before she fell - perhaps those small mistakes were being picked up and corrected before she even noticed.

Of course, by Ferdinand.

There was an ease in the way that Ferdinand guided her. Tuuli hadn't even realized it a first. While Myne's skill was undeniable, it was even harder to deny Ferdinand's. Vaguely, she wondered, if Myne's dance was only able to shine as brightly as it did, because Ferdinand was there. Surely, she was good on her own. But when paired with people who couldn't match her pace, perhaps it looked severely lacking.

"You think that's why she likes him?" Tuuli wondered, asking her fiancé as much. "Cause he's so good at…things?"

Lutz thought for a moment.

"I don't think so," he answers truthfully. "It's Myne, I think she would love anyone regardless of skill but…"

"But?"

Lutz grinned.

"Have you seen the way he looks at her?" He asked, with an impish grin in his face.

Tuuli startled, realizing she hadn't. Her mind was so taken in by the dance, so graceful and captivating that it was hard to look at anything but the way they followed each other's steps. Not once had she thought about looking at Ferdinand's face.

Discreetly, she looked back.

Oh.

Oooh…

Tuuli couldn't fight back the smile that crept in her lips.

Myne, she knew. Ferdinand, she did not.

What she knew, however, was that there had been no reason for this man to jump in the middle of the Tarantella to get a single dance with his own wife. There were no pros of performing such a flawless dance - one which led them squarely to the center of the plaza where everyone had stopped to look at them dance -. Yet, this man did. Simply because he wanted, and simply because Myne's reaction to realizing they had ended up at the center of the dance circle (all red faced, stammering and hiding behind him) had his own lips tugging at the corner into the smallest of grins.

Ferdinand, she didn't know.

But looking back, Myne, terrible, chaotic, and messy Myne, would surely only fall for someone as equally terrible, chaotic and messy as herself. And someone like that, surely, could only ever truly have fun looking after her spoiled bratty little sister.