[color=lightgray][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/wpUjo4c.png[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/YkGU2zv.png[/img]

[sub][color=DDB775]Interaction:[/color] [@Remram] Askel [@AuthenticTomb] Aslam
[color=DDB775]Mention:[/color][@Tae] Ranya [@Infinite Cosmos] Munir [@samreaper] Kazumin [@Potter] Kira[/sub]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/sPIxd99.png[/img][/center]

The ballroom was loud enough to irritate him.

Caesonian balls were always noisy things: in their splendor, in their music, and in the audacity of those invited to mistake themselves for important.

Hafiz stood near the edge of the room, his face composed into the same unreadable mask he usually wore. His gaze followed [color=#32CD32]Kazumin[/color] as the boy danced through the crowd, ridiculous with sunflowers in his hat. The nobles laughed, charmed by the performance, eager for anything that would let them forget the burning sight of their queen.

Fools were always grateful for distraction.

Yet something about the way [color=#32CD32]Kazumin[/color] pranced about began to irritate him beyond reason. The cowlicked boy-man felt like a living caricature of everyone around him: bright, absurd, aimless, convinced his little movements meant something. Around and around he went, over and over and over, until the sight of him became nearly unbearable.

Hafiz nearly bit the inside of his lip.

The season had not gone as cleanly as he would have preferred, to say the least.

Too many of his blood, and too many of the Sultan’s children, had mistaken distance from home for freedom. Still, the season had only begun. Failure was a temporary state when one had patience, and Hafiz had built much of his life on allowing others to underestimate how long his hand could remain still before it closed.

His attention shifted to [color=#6B8E23]Ranya[/color].

She was playing her part well enough: veiled, golden, radiant… holy for those who needed holiness to be beautiful. Yet her eyes betrayed her. They kept gravitating toward one of the [color=#C84808]Camilia princes[/color] as he spoke with Hafiz’s nephew, [color=#FEF698]Aslam[/color]. Hafiz’s grip tightened around his wine glass as his attention settled on the [color=#C84808]red-haired prince[/color], who seemed foolish enough to return those yearning glances.

As if that were not irritating enough, [color=#6495ED]the curly-haired fool[/color] who had been sniffing around Nahir at the banquet was here as well. That problem, at least, had been almost insultingly easy to correct. A few carefully placed words had been more than enough to spin the story and send Nahir back home.

Then [color=#FFCE00]Munir[/color] approached [color=#6B8E23]Ranya[/color], and that took his attention.

He looked upset, which irritated Hafiz almost as much as the glance itself. The boy could charm a hostile room when he wished, but distress made him careless. Hafiz had always thought [color=#FFCE00]Munir[/color] perhaps the least promising of Raif’s offspring, all beauty and appetite with too little discipline to sharpen either into power. But perhaps even [color=#FFCE00]Munir[/color] had grown curious about [color=#6B8E23]Ranya[/color]’s choice in men.

Hafiz drifted closer, interested enough to hear the conversation, but the dancing couples too often walled him off before he could get near enough. 

No matter.

He found himself nearer to the other pair that had caught his interest, and was even able to take a moment to inquire about [color=#C84808]the red-headed prince's name. [/color]

[color=#FEF698]Aslam[/color] was too close to [color=#C84808]Askel[/color] for the timing to be innocent. Hafiz could not help but wonder how much [color=#FEF698]Aslam[/color] knew about what was transpiring between [color=#6B8E23]Ranya[/color] and [color=#C84808]Askel[/color]. If [color=#6B8E23]Ranya[/color] had confided in him, then she had forgotten herself more deeply than Hafiz had hoped. If she had not, then perhaps she feared he would guess.

Either way, it required attention.

And [color=#C84808]Askel[/color] required examination.

A sentimental foreign prince would have been easy to handle. But [color=#C84808]Askel[/color] did not carry himself like a fool. It meant he knew enough to hide what he wanted, but not enough to stop wanting it.

Hafiz adjusted one sleeve of his blue robes and crossed the ballroom.

When he reached [color=#FEF698]Aslam[/color] and [color=#C84808]Askel[/color], his smile was pleasant.

[color=#B39700]"Prince Askel."[/color]

He offered [color=#C84808]Askel[/color] a shallow incline of his head, courteous enough for diplomacy, then turned his gaze to [color=#FEF698]Aslam[/color].

[color=#B39700]"Shehzade Aslam."[/color]

His eyes lingered on [color=#FEF698]Aslam[/color] a moment longer than required.

[color=#B39700]"I see you have found a new friend."[/color]

Then Hafiz looked back to [color=#C84808]Askel[/color]. [color=#B39700]"A wise choice, perhaps. The louder parts of this room are beginning to test my patience, so I thought I might seek more worthwhile conversation...Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Grand Vizier Hafiz Kadir of Alidasht... And you, Prince Askel, have drawn more attention tonight than I suspect you intended."[/color] A smile curled on the Grand Vizier's lips.[/color]