PeaceMaker

"Who do you think is up next?" Annabeth asked as she pulled back a few stray strands of her long, straight, black hair. 

"I'm not quite sure, my lady," Doe sighed, her hands reaching her master's face as she applied eye makeup.

"It's one of my sisters," Annabeth sighed, her vice quite confident in her choice. 

"It's one of your sisters? What makes you think so?" Doe cocked her head to the side. 

"Did you hear the direction the heels were coming from?" Annabeth asked.

Doe froze for a second, trying to recall what she heard. She continues her makeup when she does, "It seemed to come from the… left of us?"

Annabeth snapped her finger and grinned, "Exactly, and what direction did you see my sisters go to before we entered this room?"

Doe's eyes brightened when she figured it out, "Ah! It was left right?"

Annabeth nodded her head, "I'm quite sure it has to be one of my sisters."

"We can't be too sure of that my lady," Doe shrugged. 

Annabeth kept quiet for a moment. The silence was enough to make Doe worry. 

"I-I didn't mean to shut down your idea, my lady, I just-" Doe began, anxiously muttering.

"Don't worry about it Doe, I was just thinking about what you said," Annabeth smiled. She looked in the mirror and let out a sigh, "I guess I'm anxious afterall…"

Doe's eyes were filled with worry immediately and careful to avoid the ornaments in her lady's hair and not to ruin her light makeup, gave her a light hug.

"Don't fret my lady, I'm sure whatever the lady has planned will wow the audience," Doe gave Annabeth a reassuring smile. 

Annabeth grinned and lovingly patted Doe's hair. "You're so cute, haha," Annabeth chuckled. 

Doe blushed and brushed her bangs, trying to hide her face in them. "Thank you, my lady." She quickly rushed behind Annabeth to continue working on her hair.

Annabeth smiled. "But not to worry, being anxious isn't something that I have to be scared of. The more anxious I am, the more compelled I am to make a perfect performance."

Annabeth and Doe locked eyes through the mirror. "I'm more driven to win this than I am to run away. No amount of stress can ruin all that I've prepared at this point so don't worry about me and work on getting me dressed."

Doe nodded. She had known of that for a while now, that her lady was just a tad bit different than her sisters. There was something… else in her, that wasn't presented in her sisters. May it be that something else is her personality, her aura, or just her mindset. Her gaze had always been different than the rest. 

"What do you have planned, My lady?" Doe asked. 

Annabeth grinned, her pretty face forming a charming smile. "Take a guess."

*

"I think the next person is coming up now," Dramio announced, highly excited for the last group of performers. "And I think there's a pattern to this now, every time there's tension in the room from anticipation, your sisters show up to perform."

Dramio turned to look over Falls to Justin. "Am I right?"

Justin chuckled, "Let's see."

The announcer stepped on the floor to announce the next person. "I'm sure we all remember the memorable dances from earlier, Now one of the dancers in one of the splendid groups has come to present a performance of her own." 

The announcer grinned and redacted from the performance floor, "Welcome to the floor, Lady Jena Crowly, eldest daughter of the Crowly family."

Nothing could be heard as Jena walked out, her steps silent to the ears. There a slight gasp and the announcer could be seen rereading his script. 

He stepped in front of Jena and turned to the audience, an apologetic smile on his face. "It seems I mis-introduced the performer."

There was laughter throughout the room and the performer turned to face Jena. "Sorry for the misunderstanding, are you perhaps the daughter of another family?"

Jena looked up at him blankly and he flinched when he looked at her face. She was stunning. 

"There has been no mistake," Jena smiled and took a bow, "I am the eldest daughter of the Crowly family, Jena."

The announcer stood there for a moment, astonished, along with the rest of the people in the audience. 

Jena continued forward, a slight smile on her face as her servant followed behind her. 

"Did you hear her?" Santigio gasped. 

"Her voice was nice," Walter smiled.

"Well… that too, but like, did you hear what she said?" Dramio rolled his eyes. 

"The oldest of the three? Not the youngest?" Addison muttered, her eyes widening. She leaned forward and turned to her left to look at Justin. "Is that true Lord Justin? She's the oldest daughter in the family?"

Justin nodded. "She's older than me by years."

"Impossible," Addison retorted, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "That's not the face of an older daughter!"

She wasn't the only one tasked with confusion, almost everyone in the room was as Jena stepped forward and stood in the middle of the room. She stood there facing the audience for a second, her head down as her servant set up behind her. 

Her servant steps aside and Jena looks up, awing the audience again. Her face was so youthful, rid of wrinkles and with a glow of a thirteen-year-old. Her cat-like eyes were bright and alert, fully aware of its surroundings and full of confidence. 

She stood before them, a gentle smile on her face as the people in the crowd stared at her beauty

Her dress was a sleeveless, cotton pink shade, puffy, layered dress. With a rose gold cape flowing behind her, her dress had two pieces of butterfly wing-shaped, puffy, pink clothing on each side of the dress, attached to her waist. On the base part of the dress, underneath the two puffs on top were long leaf-like, rose gold designs that took up the whole area left on the base of the dress. 

Her choker was a plain white, matching with her high-heels and the wings of her gold tinted ornament on her head. Her makeup was very faint, there was none needed for her after all but the places they were placed were her lips around her eyes and cheeks. There was a dab of pink on her soft, olive cheek and her eyes were accented by gold eye makeup. 

There was a dot of shimmering light gold on her skin right next to her tear glands and a golden wing affect around her eye. The gold blended in smoothly to the lighter shade of gold on her eyelids. Finally on her lips, to perfect the look was a blush-red shade of rouge.

She looked nothing like her age, she looked like a painting, like an angel on earth. It was such a soft aura around her, filled with liveliness and doses of angelic beauty. 

The ruby on her chest shimmered as she smiled. She was gorgeous, blessed with a face that withstood time. 

Jena turned around, all eyes on the room on her and she bowed before the King. 

"Your graciousness," Jena greeted.

The king gave her a nod of recognition and Jena took a seat on the soft pillow placed on the ground that her servant had prepared for her. Before her, was a beautiful Guzheng with deep brown wood and silver strings. On its sides were clouds of dust of rose-gold, matching with its master's attire. 

It was such a peaceful sight, an angel seated beside its beautiful instrument, her aura unaffected by the intrigued eyes around her, and the tension in the air as they awaited her first move. 

She didn't seem to be affected by their stares, in fact, she was inviting them. Her cool demeanor a perfect vessel for stares and to pull in the recognition from the people in the room.

She wasn't intimidated. She was excited.

Just when it seemed like the silence was going to engulf the room with its bleakness, Jena's smooth hands rose up and hovered over the strings. On her slim fingers were skin tapes with picks underneath them. The tape and picks were on all her fingers except her pinkie which has been coated with a small coat of pink rouge.

Another second passed until her finger descended on the twelfth string, lightly plucking it swiftly, her other hand on the other side of the bridge pressing down on the same string to give it a beautiful tremolo. Then her hand floats up the Guzheng to the 17th note, giving it one pluck that resonated in the air.

The same movement repeats 5 more times, gradually getting faster before she switches to simply plucking the twelfth and seventeenth back and forth for 12 times after which, her hands run up and down the strings. The first time closer to the tail and the other closer to the bridge. 

Jena flashes a gentle smile.. With that, her performance had begun.