[h2]Tyaethe Radistirin[/h2]

"It's the same sort of ball as any other," Tyaethe said, shrugging, "Or any other social event where the nobility and knights have to mingle. Vultures endlessly searching for something to pick at, in the hope that they can pull the knights a little bit more under their control and try to get a new way to show their prestige by flaunting control of a saint's relics and the kingdom's most famous order of knights."

Snagging some pastry or other from a passing servant, the white-haired paladin scanned the crowd once more for something going wrong, or about to go wrong, "Most of the knights have no idea something like this is happening; they lack the experience with the higher strata of the nobility to recognise it. It never helps that the searching only back down for a while when reminded of how strong we [i]have[/i] to be to keep Thaln safe and how easily it could backfire... but Mayon would never accept knocking some sense into their heads every time we attend a social event."

Swallowing the pastry, she looked properly at Jerel, "Shouldn't you be enjoying this, anyway? There's only so many royal balls you can attend in a lifetime."

[@jdh97]