Bucky grinned.

"Might be worth showing up, if the princesses are going to be there," he said. "Never know, might run into them. Or at least find you a pretty girl to dance with."

Steve heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Like we don't have a list each back home," he grumbled. "Soon as people know they wanna dance with us, Buck."

"We don't have to announce ourselves this time," Bucky replied. He glanced at Steve. "They won't know, then. Might be kinda fun, wandering around there like normal people get to."

Steve considered that idea for a few moments. "It could be," he agreed slowly. "It'll be interesting, if nothing else. Seeing all the stuff from a normal perspective."

Bucky nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "Could be fun. We should do it."

"We'll have to get something decent to wear," Steve said, grinning a bit. "Not that you'll mind, you peacock."

Bucky shrugged with a bit of a grin.

"Can't help it if I know what looks good on me," he replied.

Steve snorted and shook his head. "Tomorrow, then," he said. "We'll find out more about this ball, and look for something to wear."

Bucky nodded.

"Tomorrow," he agreed. He grinned a bit. "Pity we don't have time to write home and ask for some of our nice things."

"Some of our nice things might be a bit much," Steve pointed out. "Since we're supposed to be workers, not us right now." He grinned a bit. "But it might be worth it to see."

"Then tomorrow we should go scope out our options," Bucky said. He stretched. "For now, I kind of wish that pretty maidservant was here to rub my shoulders."

"So you could flirt with her the whole time?" Steve snorted and shook his head. "You're shameless, Buck."

"Hey, I can't help it if the pretty maids flirt back," Bucky replied with a grin, shrugging. "Just giving 'em what they want."

Steve rolled his eyes. Fortunately he knew Bucky wouldn't do anything bad, because otherwise he'd be a lot of trouble. More trouble than he already was.

It took another few days for them to get everything they needed together for the ball, but then they were set. Steve found himself actually kind of looking forward to this one.

Bucky was looking forward to it, too. As much as he teased Steve, a ball where they weren't the center of attention sounded amazing.

The night of the ball finally arrived, and Elinor was both looking forward to it and dreading it. They were expected to make nice with the other royalty, after all, in hopes of a potential match. She just wanted to have some fun and not worry about princess duties for a night.

At least she got to wear a pretty dress.

Aria was having a great time wearing her pretty gown. She was less thrilled about having to mingle with the other royalty, but she put up with it for a little while. As soon as she was able to, though, she slipped away into the crowd.

Bucky was having fun at the ball. He flirted with a few pretty girls (or, at least, he assumed they were pretty, considering it was a masqued ball) and he danced with some of them as well. It was nice, not having to deal with royal politics for once.

Steve was having a good time chatting with people, no politics involved for once. He didn't dance, unlike Bucky. So he was more than pleased to just talk to people.

Elinor took a few turns on the floor before she also escaped from the politics and royalty and escaped into the crowd.

Aria managed to make her way to the outer edges of the room, away from the dance floor. She'd acquired a small glass of champagne from a servant and was sipping it slowly, watching the guests dance. She was glad that everyone was wearing masks; it meant that fewer suitors recognized her right away, and it gave her a small measure of peace and relative quiet.

Steve ended up next to her, and he smiled a bit. She was pretty enough, and there was a fair to middling chance he wouldn't trip over his own tongue if he tried to talk to her.

"Having fun?" he asked her.

Aria glanced over. She hadn't expected anyone to try to talk to her so soon.

"I guess so," she replied. "I've definitely been to worse. What about you?"

"This is probably the most fun I've had at a party in a while," Steve admitted. It was true; normally he was busy avoiding people.

"I have to admit, it's a bit more fun when everyone's in a mask," Aria agreed, nodding a bit. Although, she had noticed that all of the women had been getting flirted with, on the off chance one of them was a princess.

Steve chuckled. "Makes things a bit more fun," he agreed. "This was definitely a good idea. This whole thing looks very well planned, looks like someone had a lot of fun."

"The event planner had a grand time," Aria agreed with a bit of a wry grin. "Considering the resources at her disposal."