[img]https://i.imgur.com/ZqvH5yq.png[/img] Loreena tilted her head to Lisse when her sister spoke of the Jördanian prince needing to be tested on his handling of liquor. Her eyes widened a little as she realized now what was going on. A drinking game! Lore herself rarely imbibed outside of a glass or so at dinner. She was always afraid of how it would make her behave, having heard the stories of people becoming angry and violent, of saying things they never meant nor remembered, and making fools of themselves by getting sick and clumsy. Nor did she know how it affected her ability to focus her magic. Until she had better control of her abilities, she feared what would result from any senselessness on her part. Such thoughts always worried Loreena, and as a result, she kept her wine consumption to a minimum. Lore was about to respond when Lisse turned to Uriah and asked if his student could be excused from a day of training. This made the smile fade just a little from Loreena's lips, and her gaze passed from Erick, to Lisse, to her mentor. The mage gave a deep, respectful bow to the crown princess as he was addressed. "Your majesty, as I told my pupil not long ago, I am no tattler. I am here to see to the magical welfare of charge. How you choose to celebrate this joyous occasion is not for me to judge. And as for being excused from lessons, the decision has always rested on Loreena's shoulders. I may always be found in the gardens in the mornings, and it has been your sister's decision to attend her tutelage as she pleases. That decision will always be hers to make." Lore's smile widened again and she cast a grateful look to the older man. "We shall see how the night progresses, Uriah. Thank you, my friend." Uriah smiled at Loreena and bowed once more to Lisse before returning to his musings. Loreena returned to the conversation previously with Erick. "I am honored that you chose to wear my jewel nonetheless, Erick. I chose each one in particular from the collection of gems and crystals that resonated with my magic. Although the Astalian blue topaz ended up being the strongest focus of my mage ability, this yellow chrysoberyl was of the purest clarity, and was a focus for me for a time. It still holds a bit of my power, a symbol of the bond you will share with our family." She heard the clatter at the entrance, and swung her head around to see the ruffled appearance of her youngest sister and the lost Prozdy prince. Judging from the flushed countenances, Vyarin had found Jiny's training yard! She watched as her younger sibling swiped a golden cup of wine. As Jiny approached, Lore embraced her warmly. "Feeling any better, dearest?" She queried, fixing a few errant locks of hair by swiftly removing a pin or two and giving the curls a deft twist and tuck. This relaxed the formerly prim and proper coif the maids had yanked Jiny's glorious hair into, and gave it the look of a lovely young woman who kept her hair away from her face as she wielded her sword. "Peace talks and alliances be damned. Sulhana and Lisse have officially declared war on our guests in the form of a drinking competition. Lisse has also bullied poor, old Uriah into being an accomplice to this affair..." she lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "...and if ever there is going to be a night where father cannot insist you drink from the silver cups, tonight is the night." Loreena lifted her head when she heard Vyarin's....protests....against the wine. "Speaking of silver cups it seems..." She excused herself and walked over to a table, retrieving a silver cup, and approaching the man who was muttering angry sounding words in Prozdy. "Dro Vyarin? You are well?" She asked him, hoping he wasn't sick. "Gold cups hold Astalian..." She froze on the next word, struggling to remember. The tense and accent she would use could have a couple different meanings. "...Astalian 'old'...'brewed' grapes." She didn't know if she had used the right word. A glance to Uriah saw his back facing her, indicating she was on her own in this venture. Loreena had studied some language from the surrounding lands, mostly words pertaining to the history of magic in the various kingdoms. Prozdy was harsh for her to speak, the shape of her mouth would never let her pronounce the language perfectly, but she could converse a little. Offering the silver cup, Vyarin would see a golden amber colored liquid within. "Silver cups hold 'new'...'young' spiced apple." Lore hoped she was making sense to him. Looking to the others, she encouraged Vyarin to join closer to the group. "It seems Dro Vyarin will be the judge of the contest. We do need at least one person clear headed enough to determine a champion among this contest."