[h1][CENTER][color=fff79a][u]Eleanor[/u][/color][/CENTER][/h1]

As soon as the man in the bear mask recognizes her, her eyes grew slightly misty with sadness while her gaze meets his. The sadness is evident, but she did her best to retain her polite demeanor. If only things hadn’t come to this…

She noticed how he mouthed words to Mortimer and fiddled with a ring. Was he simply being silent, or was the ring magicked in some way?

Eleanor is able to recover, and set her question aside, as Mortimer speaks. She tilts her head slightly in response to Mortimer’s words at first.

The fish girl is first to respond to his answer to her. Eleanor mentally noted that the woman with the Eagle Mask is a mage. They’d have to be especially cautious of her. She also notes how kind and sweet the aquatic woman seemed to be. When the young woman smiled shyly at her, Eleanor returned a kind smile back. Her gaze had softened towards her as well. 

[i][color=fff79a]I’m sorry you got caught up in this mess,[/color][/i]

Eleanor thought as she looked at the young aquatic woman.

She then takes her opportunity to answer Mortimer’s words, “[color=fff79a]How generous of you. But really, you should teach Stefan the meaning of the word, ‘No’,[/color]” Her polite face is still up, but her eyes towards Mortimer held a more defiant light.

She then chuckles lightly, as though she was about to tell a joke, “[color=fff79a]But then, what do I, a savage, barbaric, and primitive druidess, know about proper language, etiquette, and the finer things in life?[/color]”

As she echoes the rhetoric she’s heard in the past, her practiced actions not only deliberately answer the questions, but they also spit on that rhetoric.

She uses what she learned about the very topics from him. She uses the correct silverware and table manners as she eats some of the food. 

Her words were threefold in purpose: She wanted to make sure that Mortimer can’t say that she agreed to join this game as prey to her father, and he also can’t dehumanize her as a mere savage. She also hoped that she gave her compatriots a good idea of the rhetoric spread about them.