A heartbeat later, Kenna heard the other woman let out a soft sigh. Then, with deliberate care, the black-draped pale face swung back in her direction.<br/><br/>"You<em>must</em>be one of the scholarship adepts," the woman said, her voice soft and almost monotone. "Which I suppose makes you more interesting than most of the people here, none of whom liked Her Stuffiness and most of whom are really only here to find out how much she left them in her will." Was that weary sarcasm? Certainly the other sounded bored. "As if there's any mystery to that. It's all been carefully hammered out."<br/><br/>Her head bowed a little so that her bangs shadowed her face.<br/><br/>"Her Majesty is here out of a genuine sense of respect and honor for the old goat. I suppose I can understand all that. Brought the eye candy along, too, which is at least polite. He's probably bored out of his skull."<br/><br/>Another sigh.<br/><br/>"I'm just not sure why<em>I'm</em>here. Other than the usual show of one big, grieving, supportive family and all that. And now that I've said the quiet part out loud, I think we should become better acquainted at a later time."