[i]Merek Thorne, Appointed Advisor to King Alaric Gyre of House Gyre, Ruler of the Second Kingdom of Osteria[/i]

While the fiefs dallied and discussed taxation, a door [b]suddenly[/b] slid open and a cloaked messenger emerged. His robes indicated the Order of the Wasp, a rather rapturous group of assassins, sworn to secrecy forever. Hanging from a worn leather belt in loose fitting scabbards were dangerously curved blades and anyone worth their salt could only imagine the amount of bloodshed they'd made manifest in the decades of King Timault's rule. The assassin pulled free from his robe a worn parchment and handed it to Merek Thorne up on the dais, turned and was gone through the door a moment later. If one were to look, the door blended in so well with the carved stone that only if you stood close enough for a long enough time could one see the thin slits of the door. Such was but a single weapon in the arsenal of the Order of the Wasps.

While Lords and Ladies talked, Thorne's thin fingers unrolled the scroll and cast his eyes upon the words there. Not a second later he turned, approached the King and leaned down to whisper. "[i]My liege, there appears to be an intrusion on the castle grounds, the guards have..[/i]" but anything else Thorne said was drowned out by the dialogue between the assembled council members. [b]Jarl[/b], the personal champion of the King, took a half step closer to the throne. Thorne descended the steps of the throne, pushed past several members of the crown and took--rather delicately--the wrist of [b]Timone II[/b] into his hand, leading him to another door through the side.

Whether or not anyone besides the King noticed was an issue that Thorne cared little about.