As the evening continued on, the crowd grew a bit more relaxed. Penelope guessed it had a good deal to do with the wine that was served with the meal. The nobles began to mingle a bit more as they finished with their dinner, chatting a bit more casually amongst each other. The knight eventually left her table to find her father amongst the crowd. While Cedric seemed to be decent enough company, she had no intention of spending the whole evening with him and the next available friendly face was that of her father.

However just as she spotted him amongst the crowd, she was cut off by a slightly more unpleasant person. 

"Well, well look who's back in the inner kingdom." Dimia forced a smile as she stepped over to the female knight, followed by Merek who seemed uninterested. "Penelope, dear, it's good to see you."

"Hello Dimia." Penelope greeted with an equally forced smile. Her gaze shifted to Merek and she gave a nod in acknowledgement to him as well. 

"I was hoping I'd catch you tonight." Dimia mused. "I wanted to ask you about how our little brother is doing. He doesn't write me much."

[i]I wonder why...[/i] Penelope thought with a touch of bitterness. She was well aware that Gavin and his sister didn't often see eye to eye. They had very differing values. He cared for people and she cared for wealth. And she certainly didn't approve of Penelope when they two had been courting. Perhaps it was silly to hold a grudge towards her now that the two had split but the knight couldn't help it. "He's doing fine. He's actually filling in for me while I'm here at the castle." she explained. 

"You don't say. Good for him." Merek said with a nod of approval. 

"I see.." Dimia eyed her for a moment. "And why exactly are you here at the castle? Wedding plans soon?"

"No... I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that we're actually not courting anymore. I broke it off." Penelope crossed her arms over her chest as she met Dimia's gaze evenly. "And I'm here representing my baroness to push for the end of the war. Speaking of which," she smiled at Dimia. "I'd be grateful if you put in a good word with your husband for me. I certainly wouldn't mind the additional support." Glancing past them towards her father, she dipped her head to the other two nobles. "Now then, excuse me as I have to go speak with my father."

Penelope slipped past the two, smirking faintly as she notice Dimia watching her leave with a confused expression. She quickly focused ahead though and slipped up besides her father, letting out a small sigh. "Gods the people here are suffocating." she muttered to him. 

"Be polite." John corrected her quietly as he swept his gaze over nearby nobles before looking down at her. "I'm surprised you haven't hurried off to your 'friends' yet." He glanced in the direction of Naida and Crow. 

Penelope frowned. "I would but I don't know how that'd look to people right now... William's already got a target on my back." she explained looking over at the two with a hint of longing.

John studied her for a moment before letting out a gruff sigh. "Just go over to congratulate him. I've seen a couple people do it already so people shouldn't dwell on it. As for William," he swept his gaze around before shrugging. "if he says anything, just say that I sent you to represent our family. He can't say much once he realizes you're friends with the princess."

The female knight looked up at her father and smiled. Though he was clearly hesitant about encouraging her to speak with Crow, she glad he was willing to cover for her if William tried anything. She nodded her head and gave him a quick word of thanks before heading off towards Naida and Crow. Even if she wasn't able to stick around them for long, she was at least grateful for the opportunity to congratulate Crow.

She slipped over to them and offered a smile to Naida. "Figured I'd better stop by to congratulate the new viceroy." she explained to her friend before looking over to Crow and dipping her head slightly as her gaze subtly softened. "Congratulations on your new title, Collin."