[Stephen Brydges (Emily)]

While Stephen fully understood the horror deemed necessary by polite society that was a lady's stays, he nonetheless thought it very hard that they should be recompensed in the allowance of fans and smelling salts, where men who might have nearly every bit as much difficulty drawing breath under the circumstances were condemned to bearing up, manfully, despite the ample heat and confusion a crowded ballroom could offer any of its occupants. No one was spared the coils of candlesmoke and slick currents of sweat which underscored the cloying perfumes, the baser scents seeming to laugh at the attempted artifice, creating a singular olefactory experience as one might encounter were a herd of cattle to descend upon a pâtisserie.

Having well had his fill of being gawked at and doubtless talked over by the less generous of those gawkers, Stephen had had enough for the moment, and yet it was far too early to make any kind of gracious excuse and exit. Of course it would not do to keep downing whatever drinks passed his way as a means of finding something to do with himself.

Clearing his throat, and trying not to make eye contact, lest his movement be construed as an approach to anyone in particular, he half-sidled, half-strode as the space would allow, and found the door he had marked earlier, already sensing an eventual need for escape, noting that it led to the terrace.

The door had been left open, but the cool benediction that was the night air did not permeate the room much further than a few feet. Still, Stephen had to hold back a sigh of relief as he caught his first draught, making him all the more eager to claim a moment of relative solitude in the decidedly less crowded out-of-doors.

Deftly side-stepping the last clutch of peering, gossiping strangers who had (wisely) staked their claim nearest the door, Stephen felt like a cannonball blown from the barrel as he hastened for a quiet spot, making a point of ignoring whatever individuals or couples in each other's confidence had likewise sought sanctuary and a moment's peace.

Leaning against a low stone parapet set atop an ornately-carved balustrade, he allowed the sigh he had contained until that moment to leave his lips, feeling more tension snapping and popping through his broad shoulders and the throbbing vein in his forehead than when faced with enemy fire. At least in the heat of battle, one had the men of the crew...the unwavering loyalty to crown, country and captain that led so many men to glory and grave.

Here, Stephen felt more alone than ever before.

[Caroline Gardiner (Ashley)]

The evening had so far been very exciting. With all the dancing, excitement, and the oppressive heat of the ballroom Caroline needed to take a breather lest she become faint. After brief pleasantries with her last partner Caroline spotted the doors through to the terrace where she would certainly still be in full view of the ballroom and therefore hopefully not untoward. Cautiously she made her way toward them nodding and smiling to the acquaintances she new either through her aunt or those she had met tonight. Finally she reached the doors and stepped through...

She took a deep breath in and a deep breath out. There much better. She smiled as a slight breeze ruffled her few curls. Then she opened her eyes and looked around finally realizing she was not alone. There were a few people and couples farther off who must have come outside for some air as well. There was, however, a gentleman much closer whose peace and quiet she must have interrupted. Her cheeks flashed scarlet and she fluttered out a quick apology,"Oh I am most frightfully sorry for disturbing you. Shall I...?"

She gestured helplessly at the ballroom not exactly sure why she was still standing there. She looked back at the ballroom-- at the bustle, noise, and heat-- and knew she was not quite ready to go back yet. She looked down the terrace on both sides for another suitable spot but this was one of the few places she knew for sure she could be seen from the ballroom and therefore was committing no faux pas. She looked helplessly back at the man again... Oh dear...

[Stephen Brydges (Emily)]

Stephen had been mindlessly examining the toes of his boots when a voice quite close by made him start and glance upwards.

"What?"

He chastised himself for having spoken so abruptly in his confusion, seeing it was a young woman who had happened upon him accidentally, no doubt desiring a breath or two of good, clean air (or such as was to be had in the city.) She seemed hesitant to retreat in any direction, casting glances at the further reaches of the terrace and to the brightly-lit room while Stephen scrounged for something to say which might put them both at better ease in the awkwardness of the moment.

"I beg your pardon, ma'am. Er. You're not--you haven't disturbed anything. I--if you would prefer to be alone..."

His gaze shifted above her head and dubiously regarded the loitering couples trying to conceal themselves in patches of darkness.

"...they do look a sinister bunch, do they not, now? There is more terror and intrigue down that end of the terrace than in the whole of France, I believe..." he jested lightly, though he dared not quite smile at his own weak jokes. After all, he had no idea who this girl was, or what she might find amusing or apalling.

"I'm sorry, am I talking too much? I...don't know the, er, rules..." he gestured briefly to the ballroom, wishing he had a hat or umbrella or a glass. He much preferred to fidget with something while he was making an utter buffoon of himself. "I really ought to hold my tongue...I fear I have only made you uncomfortable."

[Caroline Gardiner (Ashley)]

Caroline's face softened into a small smile. The man really was most adorably awkward and flustered and made her feel like she wasn't the only one a little out of her element this evening. "That will not be necessary sir. It was not that I wanted to be alone so much as I just needed a moment away from the hustle and bustle."

She glanced toward the couples in the recesses at the far end of the terrace and giggled softly behind her hand. They were a bit shady and a bit untoward perhaps but certainly not sinister. When she turned back, however, to see the man did not look at all amused she stopped abruptly. Surely he had meant that as a joke, had he not? What would they be up to if he was not? She deprived herself of the momentary flight of romantic fantasy that would have usually followed such a meeting so that she would explain herself, "It is not that they look so sinister to me sir so much as this is the only spot I can be assuredly seen from the ballroom and since I too am rather unfamiliar with the rules I am loath to subject myself to any possibly questionable behavior. It would be rather thankless of me to subject my aunt and her family to the slanderous tongues of London's gossiping society..."

She laughed softly at his next comment and started fiddling with her hands. The blush in her cheeks had still not cooled and she must simply hope he would not see it in the darkness. "Sir," she replied softly, warmly, "I would have had to be comfortable in the first place for you to make me uncomfortable, would I not?"

[Stephen Brydges (Emily)]

The young woman's easy manner and own acknowledgement of the general awkwardness of the situation relieved Stephen's mind at once--here was no icy London miss who fancied herself above all humour.

"I am pleased, then, to give that credit to the seething mass of humanity in-doors--they, too, are responsible for my expulsion from the ballroom. Not that I did the place much distinction in adorning a corner for the last half-hour."

A niggling voice in the back of his mind told him that his chattering had officially moved the encounter beyond pleasantries and now they were in the most grevious danger of having a conversation.

"Forgive me, your desire for decorum must silence me--for we are not introduced, and I am uncertain how or to whom one applies for that honour. I believe the surest sign of good breeding is in how many personal tasks one may burden others with...beyond a basic servant there are those to dress one's hair, chuse one's clothes, and I know not what...and now I must hire someone who may properly tell you my name and beg the knowledge of yours."

Though he spoke with a serious brow and at length, dry merriment was apparent in his glance, even in the darkness of the terrace. Stephen knew he was awkward and doubtlessly behaving entirely inappropriately, given the circumstances, but he truly meant the girl no harm or censure, and his own confidence in this fact led him to find many of these social conventions beyond a little bit stupid, though perhaps that was only his own ignorance of how to proceed with them.