“So then,” the older gentleman spoke, “what are your names?”

Elera responded first with a polite nod, “I’m Elera.”

“Hi Elera,” the man responded.

The woman replied, “you have very gracious manners.” The man stroked his chin as if realizing after his wife pointed it out.

“Ah, thankyou,” she replied.

“You must have some experience with courtly proceeds,” the man spoke.

“Yes I do,” Elera responded.

"I'm Corvin, this is my wife, Sarah."

“Ah, Narice,” Narice spoke after a moment passed while setting his fork down.

“Nice to meet you- Narice,” the man smiled and shook hands, “how did you come to arrive at Darantis?”

“Oh,” Mika replied for Narice, “We used the port gate from ‘west city’!”

“This is Mika,” Elera put her hand slightly in front of Mika as she covered his mouth.”

“You shouldn’t interrupt in the middle of a question,” she whispered

“Oh… I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” the man replied politely to Mika as Sarah gave a slight smile to Elera.

“We were travelling with Aarock for a little while and then split up there using the port gate set up to the castle," Narice tried to fill in the context a bit to what Mika had said earlier.

"Port gate?" the man spoke.

"It's a portal that allows for an instant travel between places..."

The man stroked his chin in thought, "quite interesting..." he seemed to be thinking about the concept a bit.

“So -tell us about yourself Mika,” Sarah spoke while her husband got lost in thought.

“Ah…” He scratched his head in thought for a moment, “Ah! I’m gonna be a knight.”

“oh, really?”

As they continued talking - Narice looked across the table a bit. It seemed that Sari seemed a little lonely as she tried to sit still and politely listen.

She was sitting next to Venu so she wasn’t completely alone.

Venu- who sat close by her tried his best to entertain her a bit with some playful ideas about the food and she seemed to flash a smile as he distracted her.

“He’s pretty good with her,” one of the women spoke offhandedly to another. It seemed that Venu had impressed a court woman.

Next to Venu- Kale was talking with what seemed to be an Aqayan of importance. In fact if that were the case-it was someone unfamiliar to himself- possibly the Aqayan king. Beside him sat the diplomat that had tested Elera and himself. Upon seeing the man who’d tested him he felt a slight bit of spite rise out from him and turned his eyes downward to avoid showing it.

The couple either didn't notice or were polite enough not to acknowledge it. Elera noticed what had transpired.

“Ah, just let it go,” Elera spoke teasingly.

---

As dinner approached an end, Narice looked around.

"what are you thinking?" Elera spoke.

"I wondered about where our rooms were," Narice replied.

"Ah..." she replied.

Then as if on queue the queen spoke aloud to the group, "Narice and group- we have a gentleman to guide you to your rooms..."