[h2]Tyaethe[/h2]

Whatever plans Gertrude had for the morning or the tournament as a whole were suddenly interrupted by Tyaethe grabbing her by the wrist and outright pulling her along without explanation – beyond "We'll be late." Gretchen, when hunted down, escaped the same fate simply because the vampire's other hand was lugging her sword along, merely getting encouraged to follow along.

Their destination became obvious as she pulled them through the gathering crowds streaming towards the gates and onwards into the tournament grounds proper, leading the way past stalls and tents without once pausing to gather her bearings. Soon, the constructions stopped looking so temporary, more effort had clearly gone into the carving here, and someone had even erected proper ranks of seating.

But still she kept going, leading her way through to a door flanked by two armoured figures in the gold and purple of the crown knights. 

"I was [i]asked[/i] to keep an eye on you," finally, Tyaethe stopped to explain, the weight on asked leaving little doubt [i]who[/i] had done the asking, "But I already have other duties today. Try to not cause trouble."

The posted guards didn't make a move to stop them passing through into–

It looked like a sitting room. A very expensive one at that, with anything normally burning – from the fireplace to the lighting – replaced with magical equivalents instead, in some deference to the way it had appeared to be nothing but a well-built wooden box from the outside (and the lack of a chimney, one would assume). Rugs, comfortable seating, small tables… and the far wall was completely open to the oldest and most permanent of the grounds' fixtures.

The crown's role in hosting the yearly tournament was comparatively new in Thaln's history, but they had stuck to this particular site from the beginning; expanding from it as hosting [i]everything[/i] in the one field became infeasible. Half jousting lists and half duelling arena, it was now used for the most prominent events – the crown's favourites, the favourites to win, and so on. And this room had the best view by far.

As Tyaethe conducted introductions, it was quite clear [i]why[/i].

"Gertrude, Gretchen, this is her highness the First Princess Elisandre, his highness the First Prince Enrich, her highness the Second Princess Maletha," she pointed out the three blondes in order, for the moment ignoring or not noticing how the younger Maletha had brightened up at her entry, "And this is Haizea."

The last gave them a cheery wave – a pink-haired hundi girl in the same gold-trimmed red as Tyaethe; common paladin vestments. Considerably below the station of the local Reonite high priestess. "Oooh, Yaya, you brought guests!"