Mai felt alarm course through her veins at the sight of Liviana desperately trying to hide her tears. [i]Oh dear. She must be terribly embarrassed. Perhaps my original theory on her choppy English was indeed correct.[/i] As this went through Mai's head, Niklas apologized and cautiously approached the other princess, kneeling beside her. He offered words of encouragement to Liviana as he gently placed his fedora on Fareeha's head, who soon discarded the fedora and comforted Liviana as well. 

Mai smiled gently at Liviana. "I stand by what Prince Niklas and Princess Fareeha here have said," she said softly, and sincerely-which was a rather unusual occurrence for Mai. "We are not perfect. Princess Fareeha here punches commanding officers, Prince Niklas chose to wear that fedora today-" here Mai paused and gave Niklas an amused look-"and I, well, I had never seen a high heel in my life before I was in my teen years, and of course, the first time I ever dared to try to walk with them on, I fell flat on my face!" Mai exclaimed with a giggle. "It was terribly embarrassing, because the other girls in the room had practically grown up in heels." Okay, so she hadn't exactly fallen on her face-but she'd stumbled so many times that it was almost like she had fallen on her face anyway. There was a pang in her gut as she recalled that particular incident; it was only a little bit after they'd moved back to the palace, and when her uncle was appointing leaders to official governmental positions and such. Many of the candidates had been ministers and officials back when the socialist faction was in control, and of course, their daughters had lived in the capital with them. Mai remembered how those other girls had seemed so refined and sophisticated, while she was just a princess who had just come out of hiding that spoke the dialect of her village better than the official language of Liang. Mai grinned inwardly. [i]I showed them though, didn't I? They could walk in heels, yes, but none of them were capable of throwing a dagger in stilettos, or using their designer stilettos as weapons, for that matter.[/i]

Mai came up next to Fareeha. She brushed back a piece of Liviana's dark brown hair and put a finger under the other princess's chin, gently lifting it up. "Oh my," she murmured softly. "You have such striking eyes, Princess Liviana. They are the brightest blue that I have ever seen."

She cocked her head to the side and studied Liviana's features. [i]It is only her size that makes her look small and childish. I bet that I could make her look like a queen if I had enough time,[/i] Mai mused to herself. [i]What she has on right now makes her look older, yes, and it is very pretty, but she doesn't look very...how would I say this in English? Not very regal? Not very...formidable? With darker, thicker eyeliner and darker, redder lipstick she would be quite a force to be reckoned with.[/i] Mai noticed that Liviana's tears had started to smudge her mascara. "Oh no," Mai said, taking her finger away from Liviana's chin and turning for her hand bag. She rummaged through the multiple cosmetic products (including an eyeshadow palette that concealed a small dagger) and procured a tube of waterproof mascara. She held it up in front of Liviana. "May I?" she asked lightly. "I have plenty of experience with mascara, I promise," Mai added with a smile.