Edward of Weselton
Part I
Story Part Setting ~ The ballroom of Arendelle Castle, directly after the coronation of Queen Elsa.
Characters
Edward of Weselton - son of the Duke of Weselton, the main character of the story series.
Grandmother Louisa - Edward's grandmother, on his mother's side
The Duke of Weselton - Edward's father, visitor to Arendelle
Elsa - Queen of Arendelle (recently made queen)
Princess Anna - Princess of Arendelle and Elsa's younger sister.
Prince Hans - Prince of The Seven Ilse and an old friend of Edward
CHAPTER I
Under the bright lights of the chandelier, Edward, the son of The Duke of Weselton (who had accompanied his son from Weselton to Arendelle for Queen Elsa's coronation) stood and watched in amusement as the colourful dancers whirl round decorated the floor of Arendelle Castle's large ballroom.
It was after the coronation of Arendelle and now the party had started.
The room was filled with people, either dancing or talking in loud, cheerful voices. And the noise about was nearly deafening!
'Mr Edward!' came the voice of a woman.
Hearing his name being called, Edward turned his curious and bright brown eyes away from the dancers and caught sight of a small, stout woman; who was one of the Queen's servant maids. She was strolling past the many guests with another lady - Gerda - serving drinks on a tray and making her way towards him. When she reached Edward, the lady handed him a glass and smiled broadly at the tall man. 'Good evening, Master Edward!' she said in a cheerful way.
Edward bowed, smiled back politely and then paused.'Good evening...Grandmother Louisa!'
'Yes, Master Edward, or should I say Mr Edward or Sir Edward," said Lousia, curtsying to him in the Weselton fasion and waving a hand carelessly in the air.' And there's no need to call me Louisa. Everyone knows I'm your grandmother. It's so good to see you here!'
'Same here,' said Edward. 'I didn't know you worked for Arendelle castle.'
The lady smiled and looked about at the crowded room. 'I took up the job a year ago, just because it suited me' she said. The lady sighed happily. 'Doesn't the ballroom look wonderful tonight! I've never seen it so brightly lit and decorated in years!' then she added.'Are you having a good evening?'
"Yes, thank you," said Edward with a nod. 'This is probably the best party I've been to in a long time!'
"Good to hear!" said his grandmother, looking very pleased. "Did you enjoy the coronation?"
"Indeed I did!" Edward smiled.' It was most spectacular!'
"Her Majesty did well," said Louisa to herself in excitement, looking towards Queen Elsa through many of the guests. "She acted so bravely, after all those years of..."
The lady stopped in mid speech, coughed apologetically and looked away from Edward. An awkward expression crept onto on her face."Oh...ah...nevermind..." she stammered.
Edward looked at his grandmother in puzzlement.
Turning back to him Louisa said. "Ummm...may I ask you a question, Edward?" As if trying to change the subject.
Her grandson raised an eyebrow; he had been slightly confused with Louisa's sudden pause and was going to ask her what she meant by it. But he let it go, smiled and answered quietly. " Yes of course you may. Feel free."
Lousia served the last of the drinks to a group who were standing talking beside them and then turned back to him. "May I ask you...what Weselton is like? I've never been there before.'
Edward again looked puzzled, he had forgotton that his grandmother never visited the country before. He groaned. Though Edward enjoyed talking to his grandmother, the subject had become rather dull for him (for though Weselton was a wonderful place, Edward had to tell of it many times to people, and had indeed grown pretty tired of it).
And this was a speech was punctuated many times by the interested and attentive Louisa, who had nearly dropped her tray at least twice in her excitement, as the man went on about the high, glorious mountains, the flower covered hills, the golden leafed woods...
*
After around half an hour or more later, Edward, to much his relief, managed to abstract himself from the conversation when Lousia was called to the kitchens to give assistance to one of the cooks;
The cook had somehow or another got her ladle stuck in a heavy dough mixture. And when trying to pull it out, it had sprung loose and catapulted into an open oven. Ergo, creating a rumpus in the kitchen.
- Or so that is what Edward had heard.
Now that he was free from the talk and was wanting of rest, Edward situated himself on one of the plum purple-coloured chairs beside a side table, and surveyed all guests carefully. When he and his father, the Duke of Weselton, had come to Arendelle (via boat, by the way) Edward did not have enough time to search and see if any of the people he knew had been invited, let alone meet any of them.
As he looked tiredly around him, the first person he noticed was Prince Hans; mostly because of his clothing, which colours stood out among the other men's simple one-to-two coloured suits in the room.
He had not clearly seen him at the coronation, due to have been given the seat at the back row in the cathedral's main room; which he thought was a little odd; as his father was on one of the front rows, and it is a usual custom to put relations with each other, so as not to make it confusing.
Edward was hoping to sometime get a chance to talk to Hans, who had been his friend ever since they were children and it had been a while since they had seen each other.
Anyhow, now as Han's stood there, talking to the guests, Edward could not help noticing how nervous he looked under his content smile which appeared to him to look nearly...fake?
Turning his eyes more to the left, Edward saw his father, The Duke of Weselton, making aquaintances with some people. He nearly laughed at the sight of the small and rather skinny figure which was acting as spritely as ever on the occasion; skipping round the other guests, making jokes and laughing hysterically. And indeed seeming to enjoy the party most thoroughly!
*
A few more hours past and Edward spent these on talking to old friends. The Duke of Weselton, weary but happy after some good evening meetings, walked smartly over to his son whom had just finished talking to the Duke of France on a subject of woodland hunting and was now standing alone, watching the band in the left side of the room, play a soft, slow tune on their brass and string instruments.
'Hello, Edward,' The Duke said, nudging his son's shoulder and eyes smiling through his well cleaned spectacles. "Having a nice evening?"
'Yes,' Edward nodded with a small smile.' Yes, I am father. Though I wish mother and the others had come. The night has wearied me quite terribly, but I'm glad we came.'
The Duke smiled, but to his son's surprise after a few seconds he began to glare around the ballroom and the smile fell quickly and turned into a dark, frowning expression.
'Why, what's wrong, father?' Edward asked in confusion.'You looked troubled!'
The Duke breathed heavily and nodded, still suspiciously looking about.' I am Edward. I am.'
'Why's that?' asked Edward softly, bending down slightly to whisper to his short father.
The Duke snorted, put his face close to Edward's and spoke in a low voice so that no one could hear. 'Seen that Prince of Isles?" The Duke of Weselton hissed hoarsely.
"Earlier this evening, yes," said Edward, greatly confused."Why...why do you ask?"
The Duke's moustache bristled, his dark eyes glinted in the lights as he fumbled with the medals on his tunic. "Oh, no reason really. Not really. It's just he's been acting oddly throughout the evening. He's not quite the boy I used to know.'
"Oh, how's that?" asked Edward, raising an eyebrow and looking about for the Prince.
'He's just different,' replied the Duke, " and I have a nasty feeling that he might be a trouble to us..."
'A trouble to us, father?' Edward said, 'why do you think that?'
Nothing else was said between the two after, for at that moment there came a lot of noises and some of the guest began shifting about and bumping into each other.
"Sorry!" said a tall gentleman, as he was thrust towards them.
Edward nodded and side-stepped to get out of the the man's way. And for a moment he recognized the red-haired man. Prince Hans.
The Duke, who had been knocked over by the Prince, stood up (with the aid of his son) and taking off his glasses, wiped them. He and his son stared at the crowds of people in astonishment as Hans weaved clumsily past them.
"See,' The Duke said in a slightly annoyed voice. He nodded and gestured to Edward.' Trouble.'
Edward dusted his father's tunic and picked up one of his father's many medals which had fallen off and landed onto the floor. He gave an awkward smile and shrugged.
'Thank you, Edward. What on earth is he doing anyway?" said the Duke, as he placed his glasses back onto his nose and peered mysteriously through them.
Edward did not answer, he was making his way towards one of the room's side doors. All he asked was forgiveness from his father, for his grandmother had reappeared in the room and was calling him
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