Elina

Luka was starting to get antsy. The dinner was supposed to start in ten minutes, and he had yet to see the girl he was supposedly marrying. Did she not want to marry him? True, he could understand that it might be a bit of a shock. The marriage had been arranged fairly suddenly. But he was likable enough, or he tried to be. He was always polite, rarely lost his temper, rarely even SPOKE unless spoken to. Not that she would know that, since she obviously doesn't care to even meet me. He ran his hand through his hair and stood up. I guess I'll at least see if her parents are here.

He stood and scanned the room. His parents were speaking to a couple, he noticed, but the couple didn't look old enough to have a daughter ready to be married. "If only I could remember her name," he muttered. In a rare instance of lack of attention, Luka had missed the girl's name when his parents told him of his betrothal. He noticed a butler standing close by and waved him over.

"Do you know if--" Luka began.

"I'm sorry, sir. Your mother asked me the same thing not two minutes ago. They haven't arrived yet, and dinner will be served very shortly. Perhaps they've forgotten?" He shrugged and walked away, not even waiting for Luka's reply.

My parents need to stop replacing servants; they seem to get more ignorant every time. He shook his head.

Waiters began bringing out platters of food, and Luka gave up looking. I guess they're just not coming...

~~~

The dinner went by fairly quickly, with the missing girl the only hitch in the evening. Luka noticed his mother looking absolutely livid and decided he'd rather not be home when she finally let her anger out.

As soon as the last guests were leaving, Luka grabbed a jacket and ran out the door before anyone could stop him. He was going back to the woods. If I'm lucky, she'll be there, he thought hopefully. He didn't care that the girl hadn't shown up to dinner. He just wanted to see Elina again.