[center][color=c2a5fd][h3][i]Aymiria Cassiel[/i][/h3]
[sub]Bride of Zakroti Unalim [@darkwolf687], sister-bride of Kasari Liesma [@WeepingLiberty][/sub][/color][/center]
Miry grinned up at Ayltam; she couldn’t help it, she really liked the young Drakken girl, even if she was kind of talking her ear off. [color=c2a5fd]“My sister’s better at painting, because I gave up entirely on my lessons when I was six or seven. But I will do my best. The royal family is very nice, I mean, Aery and I used to play with Princess Annaveya, when we were little, before Anny’s nursemaid got a stick up her bum and told us we couldn’t play with her anymore.”[/color] Miry pouted a bit, then focused on the explanation of the household. Her blood ran a bit cold as Ayltam recited the family motto. So this was when it hit her. These people had their own empire, before they got conquered, and here they were playing pretty in the Drakken court. No question there would be some resentment there, the kind of resentment that could, possibly, spark an explosion.

[color=c2a5fd]“I used to know a person like that. My flute instructor, Liiren. I could spend hours practicing but the slightest mistake, like my fingers coming off the keys too far, or the slightest hesitation in a trill, or a note not articulated right, and she’d rant about how useless I was and make me do it over. There were times when she’d get so frustrated she’d lock me in the practice room for days on end, until my fingers started bleeding or I collapsed from dehydration. But it made me into the musician I am today so I really can’t blame her.”[/color] Miry shrugged. Then she sensed the change in the mood and frowned, her brow wrinkling slightly as she thought about it. Then realization dawned on her face.

[color=c2a5fd]“Jaelyn Simmerson? I… I’ve heard the name before, I think...”[/color] Then the faintest flicker of horror crossed her gaze, though she kept her face blank, as she remembered the tale she’d heard whispered around the court behind books and parasols, when the adults had thought that nosy children weren’t listening. The woman’s body had been found in the forest just north of the border with Drakka, her body emaciated and broken. She had been taken in a reaping a year or two before the twins had been born; Miry seemed to recall that she had been very small, at most 3 of 4, when the news was going around the court. She had escaped from her Drakken keeper, that was the rumor, that was why she was noteworthy. She had escaped and had tried to flee back to home, but her strength had failed her.

To change the subject, Miry asked the girl, [color=c2a5fd]“If you don’t mind me asking, which elements do you use? What is your family’s estate like? Is it pretty there? Do you have a library? Is there an orchestra? Is the weather going to be too cold for my Bunny? Oh I never mentioned, Bunny is my pet rabbit. I dunno what kind of rabbit she is but she’s all white and super-super soft and really friendly, she loves everyone.”[/color] Miry couldn’t help it, firing off so many questions and statements. Once one question had been forced out, it seemed like seven others snuck out too. She had never been one for conversation and couldn’t be sure she was doing it right. The theory of conversation was so straightforward… why did she constantly trip over her tongue when trying to practice those skills?

The pretty fire Gem had said something about the dances. Miry looked up at the taller girl. [color=c2a5fd]“I have a whole pile of my old scores in my flute case. I’m sure there’s something that a dance could be choreographed to. My sister used to dance some but I’d imagine it was a very different style of dancing…”[/color]

As the group came to a stop in front of the older, important-looking male, Miry dipped a curtsy; she wasn’t sure if that was the proper protocol… she might be able to rattle off the entire Gemminite court protocol including angle and time for curtsies in various settings and to various people, the proper way to hold a serving tray, and other such things, but… she had absolutely no idea how Drakken politics and honor and etiquette worked.

The grandfather seemed to say something dismissive, judging by his tone and the way Zakroti wearily sighed and looked back to his brides.

Now this didn’t seem right. Patriarch he might be, absolutely terrifying patriarch at that, but he still shouldn’t disrespect his own grandson.

Miry looked up at him, then swallowed, her mouth suddenly going dry, and looked back down to the floor.

[i]Come on, Miry, you played a concerto in front of three thousand people when you were thirteen years old, and you can’t even say something to one measly little Drakken now that you’re an adult?[/i]

Miry curtsied to the lord again, keeping her eyes down; she held the pose for a few extra seconds, then rose back to her normal standing posture. She opened her mouth, still looking at the floor, and said quietly, barely more than a whisper, [color=c2a5fd]“I would hope that’s not the way you talk to all of your kin… I would think that a cruel patriarch wouldn’t survive for long here… especially not in a family that is so cruelly oppressed. But I suppose that’s the nature of a hypocrite. Preach freedom, offer out oppression, and no one ever sees through it.”[/color] By the end of that little seemingly nonsensical rant, Miry looked up at Zakroti through her thick eyelashes, a tiny razor blade of a smile settled onto her mouth. Her hands were clasped demurely in front of her, in part to hide how badly they were shaking and in part to show her sweet, innocent nature. She entirely ignored the lord she’d just insulted and looked up at Zakroti as calmly as she could, blue eyes bright and... excited.
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[color=c2a5fd][b]Aymiria:[/b] Again with the water gems trying to get themselves killed. Political/social ties explained, little bit of backstory provided, and also insult to a Drakken who could break her in a fraction of a second. In other words, normal Aria post.[/color]
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