<div align="center">Amarin, Day 1</div><br/>The King's expression hardened at the news. It was what he had feared would be the case. "So. Our young representative fled her duty, her family, and her nation and, shortly thereafter, we are told our holding in Nor has gone missing. Curious timing, would you agree?"<br/><br/>He lifted a batch of grapes to examine above their platter. So many variants of the same round foundation. Anything to take his mind off Nautali's greatest dilemma. The girls - the women - surely they could be distraction enough? Yet the more he thought of those possibilities the more he came back to her. Her face covered their faces. Her eyes. It was her eyes that burned the most.<br/><br/>"I have changed my mind." He dropped the grapes, a heavy thop on the silver tray below. "I don't only need you to seek out a woman to be my fourth gauge. What I need is to have that girl hunted down. If she is west, then we will look west." Amarin was not known for showing a temper, but to his oldest friend the tension would be obvious, the stiffness in his neck, the lack of eye contact. Whatever lay between the King and Ghin, it had him on edge. "She may not serve as a voice for her people, but she<em>will</em>serve me."<br/><br/>Abruptly he stood and left the room by a different door than he'd entered. The page waiting outside moved to receive him immediately. "I would see the representatives. Have the captain of the guard gather them in my chambers, and only them. Court has adjourned for the day."<br/><br/><br/><div align="center">Ghin, Day 1</div><br/>The questions made her wary. There were too many and they were the wrong kind.<br/><br/>Bako drifted to the ground, talons resting light on the soil, his wings drawn in to rest against his body; even on his feet the bird loomed over the other three. His bearing demonstrated he was aware of this as well, tall, peering down on these temporarily pardoned threats.<br/><br/>Avoid the questions. "He isn't mine." Ghin stroked a hand along the eagle's feathers, the longer ones nearly the size of her forearm. "We are partners. He keeps me safe. I remind him to be gentle. He is a strong child; sometimes he acts too quickly." She kept each movement steady and slow, her glove blending into the earthy tone of the bird's plumage. "It's true that we don't belong here. We...don't belong anywhere, really. I just thought..."<br/><br/>Lying was never her strong point; lying on demand even less so. It was better to tell something that at least resembled the truth, something that could pass. She bit her lip in a moment of anxious thought. "I needed to get away from home for a while. My father...I had to take on a great deal of responsibility because of him, because of who he is, and it proved to be..." Bako lowered his head and clipped at her hair with the tip of his beak; it got her to smile, if only a little. "I know I let him down, but I couldn't stay. So we've been traveling. I wanted to see what the Moloch range looked like." Ghin finally returned some eye contact to the elf then. "It is a beautiful place. The mountains of eastern Nautali are too often thick with goblin patrols or giant spiders roaming for new nesting grounds to explore much from the ground even with Bako to watch over me. I am sure these mountains have their own dangers, but it is worth the risk to learn."<br/><br/>There didn't seem to be anyone else with her. If she were a soldier she would be with a unit of some kind, wouldn't she? Or at least another scout, a partner? That was how hunting parties from the villages went; venturing out alone was too dangerous. You could go missing and never be found. You needed someone to come back to the village if the other were too injured to return, or captured, or lost to the elements. Someone to at least tell your family how you died. It was better than never knowing.<br/><br/>And her mount! Ghin had heard of such creatures, but it was her first time seeing one. If she showed undue caution toward Dasrya she did not share the sentiment for her animal companion. Though Bako ruffled slightly when his companion slipped away to approach the strangers he didn't move to obstruct the action. "And you? Do you live here?" The relaxed, strangely distant tone she used made it a little unclear whether she was actually talking to the elf or her mount, though the question applied equally either way. Her eyes were all for the beast in any case, accompanied by an easy smile.<br/><br/>Whatever tension the inquiries had brought up seemed to be receding quickly in the face of meeting an entirely different kind of companion. "You don't want to be here, do you? It's alright; I know what being grounded feels like. You're so brave to stay with her!" She glanced from the mount to the elf then, her smile in full bloom. "You are a lucky woman. He's special, isn't he?"<br/><br/><br/><div align="center">Loras, Day 1</div><br/>Well<em>that</em>was worth a laugh. A hearty one. "My men are loyal to me as long as they think they have a better chance of getting paid with me than against me.<em>Most</em>of them are bright enough to know a dragon is a guarantee of not being around for the gold on account of swift death by fire, if you're lucky. You don't make a living that way."<br/><br/>He took a wet bite of his chosen fruit and turned to the King with juice glistening on his lips. He was still chewing as he added, "If you sent for me just to hire my troop to go up against a dragon you've wasted our time. I'm not interested in suicide; none of us are. 'preciate the food, but I'll show myself out if that's it."<br/><br/>Like fuck he was going to get himself killed over this dick's hard-on for some kind of dragon trophy. Really, royals, go figure.