[CENTER][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi2IuG5jeM4][u]S M A L L   T A L K[/u][/url][/CENTER]
"Oh!" Maxine Holloway leaned back in her chair with a scoff that could only be interpreted as polite. "Good heavens, no. Dear girl: today is a festival day! If I made our staff come in on one of Ghalar's premier days of worship, we'd have no staff at all to work with! But then, you couldn't possibly have known that, could you? You remind me of one of our partners: he arrived here some years ago, and he had much the same level of confusion about customs here."

Arn stepped in and deposited another round of drinks, along with the bottle itself. "We are the only [i]Holloway[/i] descendants in the building, but there are at least a dozen other clerks and secretaries in here on most days. Can't run an empire with only two of us, can we?" The old woman laughed, and Edward found the sound unimaginably irritating. Like someone had left a set of pictures to develop for too long, with the detail and finesse [i]too[/i] sharp. Maybe a bad metaphor, but regardless, he disliked the sound.

"I must hear more of your adventures, but there is a brief amount of business to attend to before that." She turned to look at Edward and Luna, for the first time making eye contact. "Everyone out," she practically sang, pointing toward the door. "Arn, you as well. Ah well...Juliette, stay behind, if you'd be so kind. Arn, before you go, pull up another chair, if you please."

The man called Raymond bristled up and glared at Maxine. "I'll stay as well, if it's all the same to you."

"Nonsense, nonsense. Out with you, Mister Rahlei. I promise, your friend will be taken care of. We are civilized here, are we not? Away with you, young man." The warmth in her voice faded fast, with a clear message: [i]Don't make me ask again.[/i]

Raymond looked down at Juliette with an agonizing glance. "Mrs. Holloway--"

"My boy, you are no longer welcome in my company for a short while. Must I summon security?" Steel had appeared in the old woman's eyes, showing no hint of wavering or remorse. "You'll be welcome back shortly. Until then, out."

Raymond looked willing to argue further, but Edward saw what the younger man missed. Maxine Holloway and Constance were very similar in personality, in some ways. The difference was, Maxine was in a far larger position of power to feed her demeanor, and had spent many more years crushing people under her heels. "Come on," he said the Raymond, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We can wait right outside."

"You don't--I...Mrs. Holloway," Raymond said rapidly--Edward could tell he was searching for a way to stay in the room. "You are both so comfortable in your seats there: who will guide Ms. Morrison to her chair? I could--"

"[i]You[/i]," said Maxine, suddenly point to Luna, "can assist the dear girl to her seat, I assume. You look mildly competent, if a little...dazzled by all these wondrous things. I suppose where you come from might be a bit lacking in the finery of life, if Constance's tales of barbaric manners are to be believed."

"Come on, Raymond," Collin said, stepping up to the other man. "She will be safe here, I am sure." He tugged at the younger man's arm, until Raymond reluctantly released Juliette and let himself be led outside. 

Edward glanced at Luna, then at Constance. He was more worried about the two of them jumping at each other's throats than anything else. "It was good to meet you, Mrs. Holloway. If you wouldn't mind--" he rushed onward as the old woman held up a hand. "After this meeting, if I could interview you for a story I'm writing for a paper back home, I would appreciate that."

Maxine's eyes lit up slightly, and she nodded, but by then Edward had ducked out, shutting the door behind him. "Handsome men, all of them," she said, once she, Constance, Juliette, and Luna were alone. "Utterly unneeded for success, naturally, but one can always admire unnecessary things. Case in point, this company: luxury items sell most delightfully to those who cannot afford them. Ah, wae sorja, Yuliette-oum."

Without breaking stride, the Holloway matriarch switched into flawless Ghalari. "I'd called you here to offer good news to you. I've decided that you and Arn, my grandson, will be wed sometime in the next week or two. I expect to tell your parents shortly and see about beginning the necessary arrangements. It's quite an honor, wouldn't you agree? How wonderful"

She continued to totally ignore Luna, but in a way that everyone in the room would [i]know[/i] that it was intentional. As if the woman was saying 'there is no reason for me to communicate with you'.

Then she spoke in Isle Common. "And you, my dear," she said, speaking to Constance now. "I imagine that we'll want to find someone for you as well. As I said before, no one is needed for success, but marriage is still one of the best ways to forge alliances and increase power. Perhaps one of our partners would be interested. One of them is from your home, actually. Joseph Geralt? Brilliant man, just brilliant. But, I'm sure there are dozens of people from your little island, so I don't expect you to know him. A fine man, he is. I shall send for him at once."