[color=peru][center][h2]Knight Devout
Captain Stratya Durmand[/h2][/center]
Time:[/color] 10th Ignis, Evening
[color=peru]Location:[/color] Castle Ballroom - Starry Night Ball
[color=peru]Attire:[/color] [url=https://i.imgur.com/EmYn6ku.png]Military Dress[/url]
[color=peru]Accent:[/color] Thick Scottish
[color=peru]Interactions:[/color] [@Redking0380] Fareed
[color=peru]Mentions:[/color] Askel [@Remram], Marina [@princess], Ambrose [@Oso]

When Stratya had followed Munir to the table of Alidasht cuisine, it seemed as though her next guide had gotten impatient for her to appear and wandered off on his own. [i]Three[/i] love-struck fools, was it? Sounds like an old rhyme or story the village Wisdom would know. The knight shook her head, picking something that looked appetizing from the Alidasht table and munching on it before she began to wander, herself. Whatever she had picked, it went well with her mead.

She needed to snap out of it. She had to see this as a battlefield, of words and poise and etiquette. As the Prince had killed the Queen with his words, so too could words or misgivings kill any one of them. Perhaps, even, the right words could kill the King.

Such musings would betray her. No, she must look forward, grief would have to come later. Askel had been a great help in distracting her long enough for her to get her wits back, she’d have to thank him somehow. She could not have asked for a better distraction than the beautiful Marina and her handsome knight, Ambrose. Stratya stole another look at the stunning figure in a daring dress, flanked by her dashing monolithic shadow. The princess was approaching a man she could only assume to be her brother, the Crown Prince of Varian.

In a moment of something that felt like clarity, Stratya felt suddenly out of place, like she was trying on her father’s shoes as a little girl. Princes and princesses and kings and queens. The realization that she needed to ground herself was followed by the thought to do so; even if these people were powerful and wealthy and knew how to wear it, they were still fallible.

All those flaws came together to build the problems facing the kingdom. The root of the evil she’d been finding over the past two years was here. She had entered the room in perfect form, but the sight of the King without the Queen had broken her poise. Askel had helped her recover, and now it was time to go back to work. She could not let his effort be wasted.

Captain Durmand hid her pensive thoughts behind her mead, and returned from her swig with a pleased sigh and a smile,[color=peru] “ooh, Sean sure knows how tae make a good mead.”[/color] She hadn’t really paid attention to where she was going in the room in particular, and found herself next to one of the Alidasht delegates. Was he? Somehow, he gave a different impression than that of royalty, but his heritage was hard to miss.

[color=peru]“My squirre found a small keg of my favorrite mead. Care fer some?”[/color] Her glass flagon full of honey-gold lifted to her lips for another sip while the squire she mentioned watched on. As the knight had requested, Garcian found a handmaid that would fit well as her squire. She carried Stratya’s decorative sword and guarded the velvet mantle behind her, folded neatly on a side table. The mentioned mini-keg was there next to the mantle.

[color=peru]“I must say, the clothes of Alidasht are verry bold. Perrhaps I shall see one of your tailorrs, my own wardrrobe is a bit stale. I’ve never felt right, wearrin’ the frrilly things Caesonia’s ladies seem tae love.”[/color] She stole a few glances at some of the examples around the room, also trying to behave herself as she did. Maybe if she channeled Regan just a little bit, that’d help her cheer up. Just a little. She still had to behave.