[centre][b][color=9e0b0f]Edwin Drakewine of the Britannic Imperial Dominions[/color][/b][/centre]

Edwin sighed weakly as he straightened his uniform, readying himself as the vehicle passed through the gates of the Palace. He had to rub the sleep from his eyes; Damn jet lag. He hoped it wouldn't make him move like he'd been drinking. After a short while longer, perhaps no more than a half minute, the vehicle came to a halt. The four guardsmen and Richard exited it immediately. After a moments pause, Edwin peered out of the window and gave a short nod to Richard as two of the guardsmen rushed back around the pavement to open the boot, retrieving a large and ornate chest from it, covered by a golden cloth. The two carried it between them as the procession arranged themselves.

"Impressive grounds, are they not?" Richard asked with a light hearted smile as he opened Edwin's door. As the young Prince stepped out of the vehicle, he peered around to evaluate them for a moment before replying with a simple nod. They made their way up the path, passing several guards who gave them and the chest rather peculiar looks. Edwin had sent word ahead to clear it before hand, but of course, no one had quite expected such a spectacle when he asked to 'bring my bodyguards and some gifts' as the gifts to be contained in a chest carried by soldiers who looked like they had just stepped through a timewarp and with a chest that looked almost as though it contained the crown jewels (or at least, part of them. He doubted he could fit the lot of them in this one chest after all).

And indeed, out of time they looked; Edwin himself wore the bright scarlet dress tunic of the Imperial Guard, with black trousers polished golden buttons. Atop his head sat, almost as if it were a crown, an engraved band of gold studded with a single large Ruby. A black cape with gold trim was fastened around his neck by an elaborate and extravagant golden broach, a wyvern with a small Ruby for an eye coiling around a crucifix like a possessive snake. On the smallest finger of his left hand he wore his signet ring, golden with his families coat of arms inscribed on the front, and the rest of his fingers were adorned with jewels and metals. From his belt hung a scabbard with an ornate sword. Although in truth the gothic hilted 19th century officer sword was a rather poor fighting weapon, it was aesthetically pleasing - definitely a weapon expected to be admired rather than used in a full blown battle. 
Richard himself fared little better, for he too was clad as though some imperial officer of Old, wearing much the same with the notable absence of a cape or a metal band around his head; it made him look slightly less outlandish and more merely out of time. As he was here as a bodyguard, he still had his sidearm with him, holstered at his side. His broach too was a wyvern, though it had a topaz for its eye, and did not clasp anything but rather sat pinned through the upper right side of his tunic. The two families, Drakewine and Ashleigh, were closely linked and shared a Wyvern for their heraldry. Indeed, it was only due to the Ashleigh family, the traditional dukes of Mercia, that the House of Drakewine even existed; They were raised to the nobility by the Duke of Mercia and eventually superseded them to become their overlords. The Ashleighs had profited greatly from this in the long run. Richard's Older Brother held their kingship back home.
The four guards wore matching uniforms, and although not nearly as ornate or adorned with gems as the uniforms of Edwin and Richard, they were fine in appearence and each bore with them a handgun in a holster and a ceremonial sword, in the fashion of Edwin's, around their waist. From each of their sheathes hung a charm or two, and around their neck they bore pendants of silver and iron.

Edwin couldn't help but grin at the bemused and confused expressions of the guards and servants. It wasn't particularly unexpected- he remembered the staff and the civilians at the airport seeming even more perplexed.

"First we get a knight in shining armour and now this... I thought time was meant to go forwards, not backwards." He heard one of the servants murmur as they passed; Someone in armour, eh? He had a funny idea who that might be...

Finally, this strange procession of men from the eighteenth century arrived at the doors to the palace. With an exchanged glances and a nod, two footmen at the doors pushed open the door. Edwin went in first, stepping in ahead of Richard and the four guardsmen who followed in behind. 

"We are fashionably late..." Edwin muttered sarcastically as he glanced over the palace grounds, they were waved on. 

He passed Princess Ayleanna on his way in and stopped short, raising his hand to signal to his group. 

"My Lady Ayleanna of Aciras, it is my honour to meet with you. Allow me if I may to profess myself a most ardent admirer of Your Royal Highnesses ecological concern and endeavours to promote a more harmonious relation with our Mother Earth and your inexorable battle against deniers of climate change, and to offer your this fine gift, forged by the finest of jewelers on Anatolia and set with a beautiful stone." Edwin said with a long and deep bow, smiling up at her all the way. 

As he spoke his spiel, the chest was being laid down gently behind him and opened with a flow of gold cloth and the clink of tumblers. Richard retrieved and brought a small black box from within and handed it to Edwin, who passed it towards Lea and opened the top of it to reveal the contents; A golden necklace set with a Pink Rubellite gemstone. 18 Karat gold and a 6 carat gem as he recalled, rather precious and expensive. It had cost his treasury about £9000, though he wagered it would have been more under different circumstances. Prices are a bit more malleable when you're the son of the emperor. 

Edwin ran his eyes quickly along the assembled individuals, recognising them from images. As usual, Richard had made him learn absolutely everything he could about absolutely everyone who was expected to be present. Yet frankly, the most he could absolutely absorb could not even hope to cover everyone in the room. There were far too many people for his liking in truth, these social events were far from his cup of tea as it were. Indeed, were it up to him he would have been spending this time back home with a good book.

Not that he needed it, of course, to identify Dom and Liv. Primarily by virtue of Dom having chosen to wear an entire suit of armour; Well, of course, it might *not* be them beneath the suit of armour, but in truth he'd be something stupid to think otherwise. Who but Dom would have decided to wear a suit of armour to a ball? Well, perhaps some of the Britannian nobility might have sought to do so, but he knew all of those who would be turning up here. To say nothing of their neighbours, who were markedly less flamboyant in - that particular manner. He was, for example, at least certain that was not Rhiannon of Wales.

Elias stood near them and from the movement of his lips and their swapped looks, he could tell that they were speaking to each other. Yes, he knew of this one too; the Pólemesian Prince who was something of a military man himself. The Pólemesians were quite the people, a strange mix of modern and traditional in a manner he quite approved of truth be told. And a very old people at that, their history stretched back several thousand years before his own peoples and given how long they had held themselves together, that was no small feat.

He crossed towards them, brushing past one of the staff as he made his way towards the Duo, Dom in their armour and Liv with a bird on her shoulder. He gave them a small smile as he approached and then raised his right arm into the air with his left hand behind his back. He crossed his legs before him, bending over into a bow and bringing his arm down in a swift arc before him, keeping his head tilted to look at them as he did and going fairly low. The pendant swung aimlessly back and forth in the air around his neck until he righted himself again quite suddenly.

"Well met again, my friends; You both look spectacular this evening and we are most pleased to see that Domitus does bear the uniform of a warrior! A bold statement to wear amongst the others, commendable indeed!" Edwin said as he moved himself to be more at ease. He looked towards Elias and gave a short bow "Prince Elias Kokinos, it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance; Everyone in this room is a lot safer for your presence as I understand, Commander Supreme. I hear you are very brave and have endured more than most men already. Nasty business, assassination attempts. But I shall not darken the light of day with more talk of such things, forgive me."

And with that, Edwin righted himself and snapped his fingers to his guards in a fluid manner. Everything in Britannia worked like this, overly theatrical and garish in its extravagance. 

"Amongst my people, a gift is a sign of courtesy among strangers, and affection among friends. Among strangers, a thoughtful gift is a sign that you are cautious, considerate, and aware of their wants and needs. Among friends, it is a private and subtle thing- the test of the gift is how well it is tailored to the receive." Edwin explained as two of the guardsmen came forwards, carrying between them a large chest and opening it up, drawing back the golden cloth that covered it. Richard turned towards the contents and handed Edwin a small plastic box, which he then opened.

"I understand that the both of you like different sorts of music, I saw fit to- well, prowl social media for you Liviana- and although it took us quite the while to find it, you as well Dom. So I decided to buy for each of you a selection of the music from the genres. Orchestral music for Liviana- Dom was far more difficult to choose for. If I failed you in my choices, you must correct me." Edwin spoke as he handed them both a small card; the digital age was a wonderful thing, was it not? Of course, he *did* have to hope that his research into the technology and compatibility and the likes had actually been correct. One could never tell with the byzantine mess that Lusitania had become, somewhere between brutally protectionist and overwhelmingly dominated by the Athenians, although such a thing might be considered itself a strange contradiction.

"And as a gift to your country, although I am certain your Senate might not see it that way, I am making a considerable donation of two hundred thousand in gold to the Lusitanian Women's Forum; Lustiania is well overdue some reform. I chose the most modest and polite reform group there is, and if the Senate cannot even tolerate that, then frankly I have no time for those so-called leaders. Well, whatever your senates objections at least I didn't decide to donate my armoury to the Foeda Flammae; Though perhaps that FF would find some quote pickaxes more useful, what with all the mining they do, hm?" Edwin gave a playful smile and nod to Dom; As he understood, this 'FF' had done quite the hatchet job on them. No matter how many times Dom tried to bring some nuance into the matter, the FF had decided to mine out only the most positive quotes while ignoring all their disavowing of their more- dangerous radical elements. Restocking the fires of war and all that wasn't something they were particularly fond of and he could see why; War had never been nice to women and the FF promoting it was what he would describe as horribly shortsighted.

"Now Elias, I am afraid you will not escape my grasp; As I said, a sign of courtesy amongst strangers. Yet I have done what research I could; A military man but an avid reader besides. And so please, accept my gift of a collection of my peoples most well known poems, finely bound and with handdone lettering and decoration by some of the finer artists of our realm." Edwin said as he took a book from the hand of Richard, who had removed it from within the box the guardsmen carried; he drew back the silk it was wrapped in to reveal the finely bound cover, the lettering silver and decorative silver leaves along the edge as he gave a light bow to offer it to the Pólemesian Prince.