Alaras froze when Basren had taken his hand, looking to him and hearing his earnest words. He nearly ripped his hand away, when his lips touched his knuckles, but he only squeezed his fingers in return, and gave him a pinched smile.<br/><br/>Alaras spent much of his time out of the way after their awkward dinner. It wasn't hard for him to try at being unnoticeable, given his habits. He was either in his room, or shut in some library, doing his best to use the reading material to help prepare him for court, and all it's elaborate eccentricities. He filed overheard information away for later, to jot down in a notebook he kept carefully hidden. He would have liked to spend some of his time outside, in the royal gardens even, but he knew with that would come Basren's presence.<br/><br/>He was nervous when the day came for the gala, mostly because he knew he would be meeting the King, someone who he'd been carefully avoiding out of his own desire to put off the inevitable for as long as possible. This, at least, was better than him making an offering of himself to Sovele. His disinterest was a welcomed relief, even if it put him in a whole new situation of grief. Alaras had fidgeted with the tailor's measuring and sticking, who was as patient with him despite his inability to be still. What he presented him with made him as claustrophobic as ever, but he had to admit that he at least looked the part. The fabric was a dark indigo, tailored to outline his frame, with elaborate folds across the face of the jacket. There were more layers beneath, all in decadent material and rich colors.<br/><br/>Alaras wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to do with the flowers when they were sent to him. He brought them along, all of them, held in a bouquet because he'd assumed Basren had wanted him to gift them to him, as a show of courtship.<br/><br/>“Am I supposed to make a show of giving these to you?” Alaras questioned, after Basren had inspected him. Basren explained the cards to him, and the dances, and he nodded his understanding.<br/><br/>“I've.. done my best to practice the dances, so that I don't make an embarrassment of either of us,” Alaras explained, hoping it would be enough. He'd never been a comfortable dancer, but he only had to follow a pattern and do his best not to stop on his partner. “Hopefully we can keep each other occupied enough that I don't have to dance with too many others.”<br/><br/>Alaras paused, looking to Basren.<br/><br/><br/>“Are you ready, or should I wait in the hall a few more moments?”