[@Hekazu] Do you really think you could keep him from turning up if he really wanted to?  Doubtless the Duchess was invited -- nobody fails to invite her to such things.  Perhaps she did not attend, but he turned up in her place.  Or maybe she's there, somewhere, and he came with.  <3

And yes, the Parabolan aspect is not exactly part of his original build, but since this is FL it cannot be avoided.  It's the only time he's actually seriously Dangerous.  But I see him as a smaller sort of black jaguar (that is, a panther) -- not full sized.  His claws are just as sharp, though....