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She had backed up, been fine, no one could possibly be as stupid as this, no, sure, right, but then again, these were men, men did lots of things that were stupid, very stupid, very, very, very, very-

Tristai screamed. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't-

She reflexively flung her hand outward- the hand that was holding onto her water glass. Crystal splintered across the axeman's face, and she jerked away from the group, holding herself tightly while slightly hunched over. Her visible eye was wide with shock, and hate, but deep down, the most solid fear. The sent of whiskey was still on her, the smell of sweat from a strange man- if he hadn't been drinking, and hadn't spent time beforehand training, perhaps he would have simply received a splash of water to the face and a close-handed slap. But no. It was alcohol, it was sweat, it was too close to her, too close to her face, close enough to see- to see- to see- he said it out loud. He saw it and he said it out loud, made it real for everyone to hear, pointed it out, made a show of her, made a show of IT.

The color drained from her face, from her entire body, forming the starkest contrast between her now sickly white skin and her vibrant dress. She let out the most pitiful cross between a mewling and yell, covering her mouth and fighting back nausea.

She'd been doing so well, until now.
The smell of whiskey wouldn't leave her nose, and she blanched again. She turned tail and ran, as well as she could in her heels, out the door of the hall.

Paler than she is? Now that she mentions it, I do easily pass off as a Learanian. I bet that's why nobody's ever given me a hard time about it.

"When you're in a desert country like Sentria, you keep yourself bundled up against the sun and sands," she responded. "My face and body were usually covered up by cloth, so I wasn't getting that much sun. I knew something of flying in my younger days, though, so I had that going for me."

"Now, hold still..."

"No, mommy! It's suppos'da stay like this!"

So went on the little war behind the scenes as Ayra strove to get her beloved little daughter looking as prim and proper as possible. On top of the little blonde girl's head was a small tiara, sitting on the center of her head but tilting slightly to one side; Ayra kept trying to fix it, but little Vaherianslyeri wouldn't hear it. Every move towards it by the mother ended with the smaller of the two pouting and bringing her hands up to her head, almost as if threatening to mess up her hair (which had taken hours to fix, though all of her tantrums!) if she didn't get her way.

While Ayra was in a lovely red dress, her daughter was in a sky-blue one, and both looked like- thankfully- they had spent time on their appearance. There was no need to look shabby at a party, after all!

As soon as they opened the dressing room doors and moved into the hall adjacent to the party area, Vah took off and lead her mother with an eager little jump, dashing with a rhythmic 'click click click!' of her little heels towards her father's tall figure. Her multi-layered dress, with all its white frills covered by a blue dress, flared behind her like some kind of cloak as she ran straight towards him, hugging him tight.

Ayra had let go for a moment, stopping as she saw Tristai leave the room.

Now, it was no time for drama like that!

Stepping by the drunkard that had done it, Ayra rested her hands on her waist and raised a careful brow. Her voice was spiced all too heavily in sarcasm, and her tone was biting.

"What a ladykiller. You don't always act like this, do you?"

"Maybe if I can call you Nephew, Roy... Nephew!" FD replied to Roy's playful comment with a grin.

And then the wedding was mentioned. FD and Nils might be living together, engaged, and spent the majority of their time together, but as far as planning their wedding went, they had gotten... nowhere. Admittedly, this was partially due to conflicts with guest availability. FD knew Roy was planning some sort of trip although he didn't know the details (and they couldn't have the wedding without family, could they?) and it seemed that whenever one person would be available, another wouldn't. "And I'll have to get back to you for a fixed date. But what's this about a quest, Ro-Nephew?" FD asked. "Where are you planning? Because you can bet we want you to be at the wedding."

"I know how that feels" commenting on Ziaram's concern. Though that was the least of Ephraim's problem right now. Truth be told, the prince was getting a little bored. The party had just only begun and the only thing available right now were food..though one can't really deny the need to get something to eat. He turned his heel, observing the area, scouring the table at what there was to eat until they came to land on a certain someone he had been looking for the entire time.

"Um.." Ephraim turned back to the man whom he was talking to "I hate to run off on you like this but...there's someone I need to catch before I lose sight of her" without another word, Ephraim zipped away through the crowds, picking up a couple of glass waters on the way.

Sophia didn't really notice the prince's presence, more like she was off in a daze or just really tired from all that planning. Never the less, he approached her, the glass still in hand and raised one up to touch her cheek.

"Ahh no problem Ephraim..." Heading off for the food table, grabbing a plate, then noticing the red headed lord...Roy. The one from that last battle, and went over there, also noting FD...oh god how it was a bit off for him to go near.