A Celebration Banquet

To celebrate the victory in the war, Alpharos of the Red Moon Tribe held a celebratory feast. Leon and I were invited to the banquet, which was held in a hall capable of holding several hundred people at a time. Many of the officers and men who had fought in the battle were invited. I sat beside Leon, watching the table before me filled with food, but with no appetite. The maids are constantly adding new dishes and replacing empty wine glasses. In the center of the hall was a vacant space that could be used for a show, and several handsome dwarfs were performing a ball toss. Some of the officers below laughed at the dwarf's performance, while others drank and talked loudly to those at the table. In the crowd I saw a silent figure, and William was like a shadow caught in the tumult of the heat. He did not say a word, but drank in silence. At this point he pretended to look casually at the main table on the stage, and I met his dark rippling eyes. There was a faint sadness in William's e