The entire table erupted in laughter as Olivia finished telling an entertaining story about one of King Haidar's legendary exploits and although she was at the very heart of the conversation she didn't fail to notice a handsome Theirian male occupying the empty chair across from her. Her soft, full lips curled up into a smile as she looked him up and down, analysing every feature just as she would anybody else. His skin was slightly tanned and he had a square, chiselled jaw covered in a fine, neat stubble that matched his dirty blonde waves of hair. The man was muscular, although not in an unpleasing way as she was used to in Nydewia, where many men were hulking slabs of meat wrapped around a tiny skeleton and an even tinier brain.<em>I wonder if everyone in Theiri is unnaturally attractive</em>, she thought to herself, her lips pursing slightly.<br/><br/>Before the man spoke she tried to put a name to rather handsome face, her cool, analytical mind ticking over. The man carried a book in his left hand, a seemingly unimportant detail but one could never underestimate its importance due to the prevalence of those who are right handed. He was also a warrior, clearly from Theiri due to the graceful manner in which he walked and seemed to carry himself. She had also noticed him rest his hand on his blade the moment he had spotted the Nydewians, watching him from the periphery of her vision just as she watched all those who came and went from any room she inhabited, and his quick glance towards the Queen indicated an instinctive concern for the royal family.<em>The First Sword? </em><br/><br/>“I am Lorenso Florencia, First Sword of Theiri,” he said, causing her to smile as he confirmed her quick analysis, although she was slightly annoyed to hear the man speak in Nydewian.<em>And to think I was under the impression that I was done with that guttural tongue and would finally be spending most of my time playing with a language that flowed as elegantly as silk</em>, she thought to herself, although her smiling exterior betrayed no hint of her mental scowl. Flashing a radiant smile she decided to at least indulge him for making the effort and replied, first in Nydewian, “The pleasure is all mine to be in the company of so gracious a host. My name is Olivia Wilde.” She deliberately avoided providing any of her many titles, hoping to provide some ambiguity amongst the assembled ambassadors as to her true position within the Kingdom. Continuing to speak in Theiri, she added “I thank you for your courtesy, Sir Florencia, but I find the Theirian language much more agreeable to my ears.” Her words were confident and precise, showing perfect fluency in the language as she suddenly added, this time in the almost extinct language of High Theiri, “Yours is such a beautiful language that I wish I had the pleasure of speaking it more often.”<br/><br/>Olivia once again flashed a pleasant and charming smile. She loved languages and prided herself in fluently speaking almost a dozen, although she rarely ever had the chance to use any more than two or three. A tiny glimmer of amusement flickered in the piercing blue discs of her eyes as she dropped that last phrase in High Theiri, curious as to whether or not he knew the language of old. Her eyes slowly trailed down to the book that Lorenso laid down when he arrived and a slender ebony eyebrow started to arch up with curiosity as she read the gold lettering.<em>The Philosophy of Love and the Arts of Pleasure.</em>“I was under the impression I had His Majesty’s entire collection,” she said with a smile, her tone alive with curiosity.