[h3][color=burlywood][center]Niklas König[/center][/color][/h3]

Mai remained on his thoughts, even after she continued inside and he was greeted by, and he greeted in return, other members of global royalty. He was not entirely taken by the gesture to realize that it could be a strategic move, but he nonetheless appreciated it. Even if she planned to stab him in the back, at least he'd make an effort to go down swinging- with her own sword.

These three months will be interesting indeed.

Now where are the last of the royalties? He's met all but a couple. The last ones should be arriving soon.

And then from behind them, from all of them, a booming voice. Niklas spun about, as did his guard, both of them reaching towards their belts- in Niklas's case, for something that wasn't there. But no; they both relaxed after a moment, frowning in distaste at one of the latest-arriving Princes. However dry and stuffy tradition and such might be, there was a reason it was so. To ignore it was disrespect to the ancestors of Kings and Queens.

So that explained the prince-less escort that just drove up, and the panicked man, shouting at the guards.

Either way, he frowned a little bit more at the man's declaration of his gift- to all of them. It was admirable, in that way, to gift [i]everyone[/i] something. A little less so when they were all the exact same gift, whether to Prince, Princess, King, or Queen. And he disproved of the gift in itself- have a person, do with them what you will. It did unsettle him, somewhat.

He passed a look to Kuhn, then nodded in the direction of the handmaid that was bolting straight for him. Obediently, his guard intercepted her before she could reach him, and took her aside. He'll deal with her- 'greet her'- when he finished greeting the royalty. However, important gifts are, he is to greet the royalty first. 

[hr][hr]

[h3][center][color=rosybrown]Fareeha Amari[/color][/center][/h3]

She turned, annoyance dragging at her features, at a 'spectacular' entrance from the stairs at the rear of the palace. Unlike all the other royalty, this one- Casimier, she immediately recalled- decided to come in through a much less convenient entrance. Like a peacock, all feather, all prettiness, but not much else. There were showy entrances- and then there were the overly extravagant ones, the ones that were making up for a lack of something else. And it was no wonder. Ortha had nothing compared to other nations here- nations that were ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred times their size. Aciras itself was massive compared to Ortha.

So why the showy entrance? Was it really necessary to call such attention to himself? Of course, based on his clothing- or lack of, where the torso was concerned- he certainly thought so.

But she smiled none the less when the manservant approached her, beginning to speak.

"Excuse me, Princess Amari, I am at your complete service for these next three months." He said it exotically, enticingly, temptingly, clearly having an idea of his intended purpose. "My name is--"

With a dismissive wave, she hushed him, replying, [color=rosybrown]"Do you have any idea on how to care for a hyena? Or for a royal python? How fast can you run a mile? If I have a servant, I need one that can keep up."[/color]

The manservant stopped dead, trying to process her request. Hyenas? Pythons? Running? He had zero experience in all of those- he was just a servant!

[color=rosybrown]"Exactly what I thought."[/color]

She turned towards the descending Casimier, calling out in response, her voice booming with command and authority- [color=rosybrown]"My thanks for the gift, Prince Casimier. Gracious gratitude is all I have."[/color]

Without skipping a beat, she turned back to the manservant.

[color=rosybrown]"Your service thus far has provided satisfactory, and I release you from your service to me."[/color]

She gave the man a wave with her right hand, Habi's head raising from her forearm to stare blankly at the man. The man slowly nodded, eyeing the snake nervously, before taking his leave.

There. She did it [i]diplomatically[/i]. 

She turned back to Ariel, and gave her a slight smile. [color=rosybrown]"Where were we?"[/color]