I'll drown eventually so don't save me
Maea shook her head. "No. Invitations to the ball, those were public. If she'd shown up there I would have understood. But the meeting was by personal invitation only. So either she intercepted a letter somewhere, or someone tipped her off about it. The meeting was never spoken loudly about - that was half the point of the ball. To give the leaders an excuse to be in the Grounds." She'd never said as much to anyone, but that had been her reasoning.
Again her head moved from side to side, the salt white hair swaying in the gusts of hot air. Firelight cast a reddish glow over her pale skin, and gave her eyes a crimson, feral look as she looked up at Asta. "No, I did not. For one, it would have been strange if no one protested her presence. So I did, as the host and as the least important person present. And for another, I didn't want to. I hate bullies, and I hate people who simply take what they want with no consideration for others. That woman - she's an outlander and an invader, and she was not invited. If I'd said nothing..." Drawing a deep breath only to let it out in a heated huff of breath - just thinking about it made her riled up all over again - "If I just stood by and did nothing, I couldn't live with myself."
It really was that simple, in the end. Between the choice of doing nothing, and doing something, even if that something turned everyone she knew against her - it seemed she'd learned something about herself from this.
Again her head moved from side to side, the salt white hair swaying in the gusts of hot air. Firelight cast a reddish glow over her pale skin, and gave her eyes a crimson, feral look as she looked up at Asta. "No, I did not. For one, it would have been strange if no one protested her presence. So I did, as the host and as the least important person present. And for another, I didn't want to. I hate bullies, and I hate people who simply take what they want with no consideration for others. That woman - she's an outlander and an invader, and she was not invited. If I'd said nothing..." Drawing a deep breath only to let it out in a heated huff of breath - just thinking about it made her riled up all over again - "If I just stood by and did nothing, I couldn't live with myself."
It really was that simple, in the end. Between the choice of doing nothing, and doing something, even if that something turned everyone she knew against her - it seemed she'd learned something about herself from this.
Maea
