Kallain turned to his mother, and took her hand, bowing. Afterwards, he gave a light bow to the handmaiden, a pretty young redhead, around Kal's age, wearing a dress similar (though much less expensive than) his mother's own. [color=Orange]"I am pleased to meet you, miss, however, I do not have a name to put with the pretty face. Might I ask it?"[/color] Kallain said this with a polite smile. Truth be told, he didn't know what to think of the handmaiden. Pretty, yes, but why did Mother make Drevala and himself come all this way to meet her?

The young woman curtsied, and said, [color=FireBrick]"My name is Alexandria, m'lord. I am afraid I can only give you a first name; where I come from, surnames are unimportant."[/color] Kallain raised his eyebrow at the woman's slightly foreign accent, and looked at Drevala, who nudged him in the ribs and winked. Whatever that was supposed to mean. So Mother's new handmaiden was from Preugua, a nation far to the east of Zersal, which was led by a Senate of representatives of all the Highland Clans. Interesting. The Preuguans were notable in the fact that they were incredibly free-willed, and that they worshiped their ancestors, instead of a proper Pantheon. However, that might explain why the Clans had avoided annexation by the larger nations for all this time. They didn't rely on the other nations' gods and goddesses, so they didn't have a crisis of faith. Each clan had an animal for its symbol; however, these clans viewed communalism over individualism, thus, family names were useless to them. [color=Orange][i]What had this girl done to have come all this way, alone?[/i][/color]

Kallain bowed to his mother, Drevala, and Alexandria, each in turn, before he turned to leave. [color=Orange]"I'm sorry I can't stay any longer, Mother, Drevala. I [i]must[/i] leave to take care of the Turnips."[/color]

Almost immediately after he said this, Alexandria started to laugh. [color=FireBrick]"You... have to take care of the root veggies? But you're the crown prince! Don't you have a gardener for that?"[/color]

Kallain raised his eyebrow, and said, [color=Orange]"The Turnips are a group of bloodthirsty bandits, miss Alexandria. I don't think that they're a laughing matter."[/color] His know-it-all tone set Drevala off laughing, as she had figured out what had happened in the Great Hall, in Kal's first Court. Grumbling, Kallain headed to the armory, where his personal guard and some of the damn finest soldiers in the realm were gathering.