Beauty Through Their Eyes

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        In the city of Lithria, beauty and opulence were paramount, its citizens never settling for second-best: even the streets shone like nowhere else in the world, and it was rumoured to be paved with gold, just so it would be pleasing to their eyes as when they looked out of their carriage windows.

         Leiana nervously played with her blue dress, that had pearls sewn onto the bodice, as well as being full of ruffles, feathers, and with chiffon overlay. Bracelets and necklaces with jewels craftily worked into the delicate filigree adorned her wrists and neck, completing the image of a high-class young lady in Lithria.

         She took a deep breath, looking down at her clothes, and nodded to herself, relieved to know that she was dressed well enough not to embarrass herself at the New Year’s Eve ball being held at her family’s mansion, even with the first time she had ever done anything like this.

         Leiana closed her eyes, and put on her mask. When she opened them, she turned to a mirror, and smiled at her reflection, feeling more relaxed. It looked perfect. The blind mask makers, who perpetually bound their eyes so as not to see their customer’s faces, were certainly the best, and her mask displayed it perfectly. Intricate designs swirled and roiled on it, seeming to move whenever the light shifted, covering the expanse of the upper part of her face, stopping on her nose.

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         With one last check of her hair, Leiana slipped out of her room, using the servants’ routes to get to the first floor of her house. After all, it would do her no favours for people to know who she was at a masquerade ball.

         Music soon filtered towards her ears, and she nervously adjusted her dress. Steeling herself, she peeked into the corridor to make sure no one was looking in her direction, and quietly joined the crowd.

         She had stepped into a magnificent ballroom, and observed, under the soft amber light of a massive, angular ...

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