Vesa nodded his thanks as he took the piece of fish from her hand. While he had certainly heard of people breading and frying fish, it was not a style of cooking that he was accustomed to. "We usually cook them over an open flame," He said as he took a bite, feeling rather pleasantly surprised went he felt a tinge of heat spread across his tongue. One's sense of smell and taste were often dulled due to the low temperatures of the north, and so most dishes were quite heavy with spices. When they were available, of course. "Usually coated in spices to give them a nice sear, and a bit of warmth."

He popped the rest of the fish into his mouth, savouring the crunch of the fried coating. It was just too bad that wheat products were still in far too much demand for anyone to wish to waste them on making breadcrumbs rather than actual bread. "It's good, though." He said with an affirming nod, then took another glass of the wine, taking a long sip from it to wash the fish down.

"You are too kind to my people and I," Vesa said, in response to her appraisal of his land. "But I suppose you are right. I may have been too harsh with my words." Raikkavar did have it's own charm, rough and unpolished as it was. The early morning mists over the Northern Sea, Vesa recalled, were indeed quite a sight to behold. To anyone standing on the shore, it would feel as if the world had been engulfed by a gigantic cloud, and there was nothing but a cooling, grey mass for as far as the eye could see. 

However, the beauty came with a very high price, and Vesa knew from experience that pirates often used the mist to cover their advances as they crept towards any one of the fishing villages hugging the Raikkavar shoreline. Such raids were often devastating; the mist prevented anyone from raising the alarm early enough for Vesa's men to sally forth, and the pirates knew that they only had the one opportunity to gather as much loot as they could, and so they were far more ruthless in their pillaging.

Vesa shook his head slightly to clear it. Now was not the time to think about the North Sea pirates, even though he would have liked nothing more at that moment than to ride back to Raikkavar to find out how things were. "I highly doubt that most people here are looking for a match," He said with a nod, and looked around the ballroom for the umpteenth time. More and more people were filing into the ballroom, and he could see that those who looked as if they were the most powerful were attracting most of the attention. "But better for there to be alliances than war."

He cleared his throat once more. "Ah, I have been meaning to ask, but I would like to know a little about your lands." He said with a little bow of his head. "If you do not mind, of course."

([@Kaalee])