So it was when one courtier began acting furtively around another that the subtle changes began to creep up. Dinners, feasts, and court functions became increasingly colder and colder, more formal and formulaic, to the point that they became shorter and shorter until only the bare necessities of decorum and form were adhered to. The knights changed too. these brave, professional griffons, one by one, changed. They became less outspoken and less close. No longer did they linger in their free time in one another’s company. No more were their playful barbs and jests bandied about as the inconsequential posturing it once was. They became suspicious and reclusive from one another, and then one by one they seemed to leave to be replaced with younger knights, less experienced. The servants became fearful, courteous to the point of sophistry before they too seemed to be replaced. Nobles began attending court only when strictly necessary, and for the life of her, Shortbeak could not understand what was going on.