Curious to see who these men were, many of those citizens that were invited had eagerly accepted to attend the ball at the new Blue Mansion.
Most of the guests were surprised upon entrance to the great building. Memories were rekindled and many citizens had tears in their eyes and lumps in their throats. It was remarkable that no one commented on the Mansion's old sameness during any part of the ball. Not a single guest questioned Boyce, or Lloyd, about how they made everything in the house to be as it was years ago. They just took it in stride and tried to have a good time; and for the first time, in a very long while, the Phoridenes did enjoy themselves.
Amongst the guests invited to the ball were Miel and Cassta, with their families, and several higher coenobites from Halls. They were Manguino and his wife, Orren, Polis and Cardinal Levy.
Miel and Cassta came to the ball for much the same reason that everyone else did, curiosity. When they came in, it was as if they walked through some door that threw them back into time, to the night when the Mansion saw its last festive night, the evening of Brook and Dearborne's fifteenth anniversary of marriage.
When they saw Boyce he looked familiar to them but while at the ball they didn't discuss it. Only once that night when they came to meet the two men, Boyce had mentioned that he would like to speak privately to them the next day and they had agreed.
The arrangements had been made so quickly that their entire intercourse seemed to take place in the span of time it took the men to shake hands.
That was Boyce's only contact with the two men, all evening, and later Empal mentioned to both men that it would be to their benefit to listen to and to respect the young man called Boyce
Loebh, and that made both men wonder since they knew that Empal wouldn't say such a thing to them unless it was serious.
Manguino and Orren had walked through the Mansion and finally Manguino ended up at the room which was once Brook's private viewing den. That was the room Brook and Dearborne had been taken from before they were executed.
Manguino felt discomfited standing there and Orren couldn't help but notice it. Everything in the house was just as it was before it was ravaged by him and his men, thought Manguino. He was petrified to open the door and looked inside but Orren had never seen the original room and what it contained, so he bound into the room and looked around at the rock walls, drapes, shelves of books and the large wooden cabinet.