Don Enrique Fernández Albor, Count of Castivedra, strode through the grand ballroom in the Palacio María Cristina. His polished boots the only sound to be heard as he walked the marble floor. It had been several years since the last major ball held in the Western Atlantic. The imperial family sought better relations with the other dynasts in the region and also held out hope for a prospective match for the heiress presumptive, the Archduchess Alejandra. The ballroom was lit by intricate, sparkling chandeliers hanging from the high-vaulted ceiling and the walls lined with fine murals showing scenes from the history of Tehua, Spain, and classical antiquity. The Count stepped into the atrium outside the ballroom, an atrium lined with comfortable chairs and small tables. His practiced eye scanned the room, looking for anything out of place, any spot of dirt or dust. Finding none, he stepped back into the ballroom and slid through a back door leading to the kitchen where the caterers had set up, inspecting the hors d'oeuvre and the freshly poured glasses of wine set on silver platters. A veritable army of straight-laced servers in black uniforms stood ready to serve the guests when they arrived. All was ready. He returned to the far end of the ballroom where the Archduchess Alejandra was waiting. She was much more at her ease than she had been in some time, standing with her uncle and aunt, Emperor Maximiliano IV and Empress Brígida,.
The Empress was chatting amiably with her niece about the houses of the Atlantic but the Emperor seemed vaguely distracted. He was becoming more and more worried about the future of his crown. It all rested on his niece and, hopefully, on a good marriage for her. When Alejandra had been born, the daughter of Emperor Agustín III's fourth son, the Archduke Fernando, no one had imagined she would ever succeed to the imperial throne. She would be the first woman and the first person of known indigenous heritage since a delegation of Tehuan factional leaders had petitioned for a Habsburg prince to be elevated to the imperial dignity and serve as a guarantor of the unity, independence, and religion of Tehua. There were some who described her impending succession as the "patriation of the monarchy" and even said she would be the first Tehuan monarch to "look Tehuan," whatever that meant. In truth, Alejandra did not look indigenous or even like the average Tehuan. She would have been unremarked upon anywhere in Southern Europe. Still, with her near black hair, dark eyes, and olive tone, she stood out among the imperial family, most of whom looked downright German, and it was not such a secret that there were still people among the Tehuan aristocracy who sneered the archaic term castiza with real contempt.
The Tehuan guests consisted of a host of imperial aunts, uncles, and cousins along with Alejandra's mother, the Archduchess Demetria; Don José Canalizo, the constant companion and adviser of the widowed archduchess; and Félix Cardinal Hidalgo, Archbishop of San Miguel. Among the uncles, Archduke Agustín, the emperor's surviving younger brother, stood out. He was a heavy-set man with a military bearing and an ugly scar along his left cheek. He had a reputation for excess stemming from his command of the imperial troops sent to restore order after an Anarchist rising in Ursaria back in 2013 and he now looked coldly at his niece who, well into her twenties, seemed to him little more than a child. Prime Minister Nicolás Tuñón de Rivera and Minister of Foreign Affairs Casares Calvo Blanco were also present with their wives, paying close attention to the guests. Jerónimo Rodriguez de Villalpando, Duke of Xaro, and his family stood out in the crowd, their Tehuan courtly garb accessorized with indigenous symbols. Descendants of the Xarene leaders who had rebelled against the Ancient Tehuan Empire and joined forced with the Conquistadors, the Dukes of Xaro had only married with other members of the ancient Xarene upper classes and today the family were among the largest landowners in Tehua. Pedro Gonzalez de Rojas, Duke of Tereen, blended in perfectly with the crowd despite being the heir of the last Ancient Tehuan Emperor. The Conquistadors had kept that Emperor alive for political reasons and ever since his descendants had tried to safely integrate themselves into the nobility. There was always some lesser noble eager to marry into the line of the ancient emperors and with each generation that line grew more and more assimilated.
It was these assorted grandees, nobles, and other distinguished Tehuans who took up their own positions around the edges of the ballroom, leaving a clear path from the doorway to the Emperor, Empress, and Archduchess. Don Enrique went to stand by the door and as each foreign guest was shown in he escorted them to where the Emperor stood and presented them to the Emperor. It was then the Emperor who introduced each in turn to the Archduchess.
