The Crown Prince’s Ball (Meillur-Only)

[Kingdom of Derita]

“I…” Jean took a deep breath, trying to gather himself. He felt terribly embarrassed suddenly. He should have known better. Done something better. “I am fine,” Jean lied. “Just got lost in the crowd is all. I did see Her Majesty,” Jean looked to Oruk and was gratefully that she looked so dissimilar to her cousin. “She wanted me to remind you that you are expected to dance with a variety of ladies tonight.”

Andeja lips formed around an unspoken ‘oh’. He was sure that Jean was leaving something out, but if he wanted to tell him something, he knew his friend would in time. At least, he hoped so. Instead he found himself preoccupied by his mother’s distant reminder. A command in all but name. He was surprised. Of his parents, his mother was the far more relaxed one, at least when it came to family.

“Of—of course.” Andeja said, looking to Frederick and remembering Princess Adela. He then looked to Princess Oruk. “Perhaps we can share a second dance, later in the night?”

Cel nodded her head. “Oh, she sounds lovely. If you do learn her name, you’ll have to make us introductions. Doesn’t that sound great Miss Muraty?”

Siti grinned. “Positively lively.” She eyed the chamberlain and could help herself from chuckling. He couldn’t possibly be talking about the Magaira woman, could he? Siti eyed Celiwe and internally shivered at the thought. Like lusting after a manatee with the mind of a puppy. Though. Prime Minister Wes’ hot aired praise of the chamberlain rung in her ears. “Don’t you agree Lord Chamberlain?”

[Colfico]

Felix nodded and said "Yes, I guess lively is a word for it."

He noticed her chuckle, but it would at least seem his ruse had worked to at least some extent, although perhaps not in the manner he had wished for. However he knew better than to let up when he had gained the advantage, so he decided to press on with the ruse as far as it would take him.

"I will be sure to introduce you to her once things become official, although that may take some time." He took a sip of his own drink, before looking down into the glass, and thinking carefully about how to proceed. While he could tell when someone was trying to entrap him, his specialty lay in military matters, and organizing people to get a task done. Political manuevering and scheming had never been something that interested him beyond what he needed to perform his tasks. This was a front that he was relatively inexperienced in, but he had no intention of making himself easy prey either.

He looked to Siti and then asked "What about you, I am sure that you have someone that you admire, after all, you certainly have no shortage of candidates in the city."

[Raudoya]

Crown Prince Henry was a late arrival to the celebrations around Crown Prince Andeja’s birthday, though he was no less excited. Just a year younger than the birthday boy, Henry was allowed to attend on his own as his father and stepmother, King Ottokar and Queen Tolla handled matters in the North. The Raudoyan monarchy, the newest on the continent, lacked many of the same anti-southern views that their neighbors carried and instead saw a friendship between Raudoya and the Celestial Empire as something that would held improve the former’s standing on the diplomatic stage, King Ottokar all too aware that his quick rise to power and his iron grip on power left some uneasy.

Prince Henry was a tall, remarkable consider the short stature of his father, broad shouldered young man with light brown hair and a thin thing of a mustache. He wore a black three piece suit and white gloves with a shoulder sash of the Raudoyan colors: red, white and blue, with a silver pendant pinned to his lapel in the shape of a brown bear. He looked around with a bit of awe at the space. King Ottokar had been inspired by the very monarchy of Derita for the creation of his own. Henry would have to take note of how a crown prince was treated here to report back to his father once he returned home.

[Kingdom of Derita]

Siti shrugged her shoulders. It was true, as an heiress of the Muraty family and being conventionally attractive, she had plenty of suitors, though admittedly most were after her fortune and all that she stood to inherit. But Siti herself had little interest in the world of romance. At the moment. At least where she was concerned.

“My love is in the bidding floor of the exchange.” A smile quirked at the corner of her red lips. “Well, more like a private lounge above it. My great-grandfather built the Muraty fortune up from nothing. His father had been waterman, rowing villagers back and forth across the river while his wife got pennies telling stories.”

Siti stood a bit taller. “My family built a, built the media empire of the city, by ourselves for ourselves.” She thought of her sister Sauda. She looked at Chamberlain Skotnicki and felt a pang of envy. “Not all of us have the luxury of being handed everything by a fairytale princess.”

Of course Siti’s summary of Muraty family history was a bit… biased. True they exemplified the Aukusan Dream, rising up from nothing through their own hard work, it had been a long time since any of its members had even looked down from their penthouses, save when they attended charity balls or feed the poor or hugged an unfortunate child, instances where cameras often just so happened to be there.

Keoni spotted Prince Henry and looking to Alexis and Cecile, gestured for them to follow him as he went to go greet the Northern prince. Somewhere in the back of Keoni’s massalia-landen mind, he was slowly starting to notice that there were a great deal of Northern royals in attendance, and quite few of their fellow southerners. But who was he to care?

“Your Highness,” said Keoni, bowing a bit less than gracefully. Maybe he needed to switch to water. Cecile was already thinking as such as she rolled her eyes at her friend and curtsied to Henry in a quick motion.

“Please, join us, we were just have a spectacular conversation about the very best foods in the City with Prince Alexis. Lord Rohan and I, Cecile Dupuy,” she said as if she were in a play making introductions, gesturing to her companions. “Have given our take, and His Highness a view on Genoise cuisine. Perhaps you can give us an insight into the Northern diet.”

Elsewhere, a staffer stepped before the King and Queen of Imarati, the short woman curtsying lowly to the monarch. With her head bowed she spoke to the King. “His Imperial Majesty requests your presence.” She then looked and then then didn’t look at the Queen. “Her Imperial Majesty invited you to have tea with her in the salon.”

[Colfico]

Felix listened to the heiress talking, and had more than a little doubt in the story that she was telling. He found himself having little interest in the fact that she was heiress to a media company, the acquiring of wealth had never been among the things he sought. He already knew where he would go once the time came to leave the public life, the amount of money he had at that point of time would be ultimately irrelevant. Instead, it would be the life that he had lived, and the worked he would do, that would make the most difference. However he did often perform a degree of money management and organizing, as it was simply part of his tasks as a logistician, he had to make sure that the armys paychecks got to the soldiers who earned them, when they were supposed to get them.


He heard the comment about having things handed to him by the Queen, and decided to ignore it for the moment, it was true that his current title had been bestowed by the Queen, however, his military rank had been earned through years of military service and by being a veteran in two wars.

"I see" he thought for a moment and then said "I have spent most of my recent years in service with the army, and a large percentage of my time has been either on or around a battlefield of some description, so I have not had much time to truly search for a romantic partner myself." He then looked to Cel and said "But I am not in a rush, there is much work to do, and I am certain that, in time, I will encounter the woman that I will spend the rest of my life with, whomever that may be."
"

[Imarati]

King Besarion smiled with a nose turned up to the air.

“Finally, someone knows exactly who I am.” Besarion felt a fountain of pride spring to life in his chest. Yes, now this was the sort of thing that Kings did, having important discussions while their wives busied themselves mindless chatter. The King gestured for the woman to lead the way as he leered at her. He looked over his shoulder at his Queen. “Do try to be a bit more charming. Try a smile.”