<div align="center"><strong>King Archibald Aserit</strong></div><br/>King Archibald was fortunate to have his brandy glass shielding his face when the Theiri Queen made her announcement, otherwise the grieving Thierians might have seen the King Aserit smile. He forced a solemn expression and made the toast along with Queen Lyssa and all the others; but behind his guise of sympathy, King Archibald Aserit was thrilled at the news.<br/><br/>The ruler of his rival kingdom was now a corpse, the only person left to rule was a woman who looked young enough to be his daughter. Surely this young beauty had no ideas of challenging the mighty Aserit empire in war. He was now holding all the cards in this negotiation.<br/><br/>As Archi drank his toast, the first course was presented. Hot yellow soup with warm, grain bread. The smell was remarkable, and the presentation quite appealing as well. King Archibald brought in his royal taster to try a spoon full of soup and a small bit of bread before the king himself began to eat. The flavors were foreign and complex, someone with a more advanced palate would have picked out the hint of saffron in the broth, King Aserit just knew it tasted good.<br/><br/>The king bit a deep trough in his piece of bread and then used it like an oversized spoon to make short work of the delicious soup. It even tasted better after another swallow of Brandy.<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong>***<br/><br/>Sanguine LeChance</strong></div><br/>“Yes, of course Princess Juli. It is understandable.” San, said gently, handing his bread down to Eyes before she started whining at the smell of food so strong in the air. “If you would honor me so, I’d very much like to wear your standard in the Memorial Tournament, that I may fight for the memory of your father.”<br/><br/>While Sanguine felt no true sentimental attachment to the late king, he meant this request from the bottom of his cold heart. He was no stranger to the ripple effect of how the death of one could affect the lives of so many. While he had no evidence to suggest that she viewed him any differently than when she had him ordered into chains when they first met, San had grown fond of Juli. He would still kill her if there was a profit in it, but he wouldn’t enjoy it. No, he would even dislike doing that quite a bit.<br/><br/>Sanguine’s stomach spoke up before Juli, reminding him of its own emptiness, not at all related to the whimsy of his empty heart. The first spoonful of soup, Sanguine poured over his tongue, savoring the texture and layers of spices flavoring it. He ate each spoonful slowly in this same way, every once and a while holding his face close to the bowl to contrast smell with taste. It was heavenly.<br/><br/>Eyes, looked up from her hunk of bread when Lenally’s chair moved, but when Elise, not the Aserit Princess sat down; the wolf began to growl. San tried to comfort her, too distracted by his soup to notice who was on his other side. When Eyes’ fur began to stand up, Sanguine set his spoon down impatiently.<br/><br/>“I beg your pardon Princess Juli, I think my wolf is in need of a bush. Would you take the air with me?”