"A bit. I've always been fond of experimentation." Perhaps, had he any emotional inflection behind his words, this might be taken as a flirtation, but as is, it remains a simple statement of a fact. "in Aserit, we prefer to eat... well, whatever we want, however we want, whenever we want. Whether  you're a man or woman, high born or low. We don't judge each other on the food we eat or the ale we drink. Our own, first king, used to make his own short beer; not because he didn't have the money to afford expensive brandies or what have you, or servants to brew it for him, but because he enjoyed the process and the end result. And nobody thought he was simple or silly or unfit because of that. He liked doing it, so he did it. That's pretty much always been the way of our people."<br/><br/>"I do think it's a bit strange that your culture expects certain members of society to eat in certain, different ways than the other castes.  It's about the only thing I<em>don't</em>understand." His nose twitches a bit when he catches a whiff of the fragrance Elise wore; it was thin, barely there, hard to notice over the queen's own perfume, as well as the scents from the food (which are combining into something a bit obnoxious for his sharp sense of scent).<br/><br/>If Elise is sharp enough, she might note that his gaze, every so often, seems as if it will drift down and become firmly focused on her bosom; however, it always slips away to look at something or someone else. Like with many things involving the young prince, the movement of his gaze is subtle, but not beyond notice.<br/><br/>Then, suddenly, out of the blue! "Will you be mourning the king's passing?"