After the delegation was sufficiently rested (or more specifically, Alanna was over her seasickness), Jonathan called them for a de-brief. The only news he had heard was a very brief and very confusing letter. Considering the distance, they weren't able to communicate via speech-spell, so the king was left entirely in disarray. All he knew was that they now had a peace treaty and it was all thanks to Daine. When he had them all seated, Jon asked for a report from his champion and Duke Gareth.

"Let me get this straight," Jon said once they'd done, "Daine destroyed the palace, infested it with rats for a year and a day," he turned to look at the Wildmage, "and now we have peace with Carthak?"

Alanna, smirking, made an affirming noise, also looking at Daine. It seemed the whole room was. "You should have seen it Jon – it puts what we did in the Black City to shame!"

Daine was looking increasingly like she wanted the floor to swallow her whole, bright red. When she spoke, her voice was nervous, "S-sorry, your majesty. I- I lost my temper, a little..." She looked down at her hands, not wanting to see the looks on everyone's faces. A chuckle from the king startled her to looking back up at him.

"Don't apologise, my dear," he said kindly, "you have single-handedly overthrown a tyrannical monarchy, created peace and an alliance between your country and another and prevented war. There is absolutely nothing to apologise for." He looked at Numair, sitting beside his student, and grinned. "I'd say 'a little' is an understatement though, wouldn't you Numair?"

"I'd say it was a severe understatement, Jon." Daine glared at Numair reproachfully. "Alas, I'm already in trouble enough for pretending to die without letting Daine know, so I need to tread carefully. What I will say is this," he looked down at Daine, smiling, "I'm incredibly flattered; that Daine should destroy an entire palace in vengeance for my death is a great compliment."

Daine flushed a little but smiled nonetheless. "Well, you did turn Tristan Staghorn into a tree over me...I figured I ought to return the favour." The room chuckled at this. Alanna, never to miss a joke, spoke up again. She also thought it'd probably be best to draw away from the pair of them being so obvious without even knowing it.

"I think perhaps, it was a bit overkill though," she laughed, "A palace for a tree?"

When the laughter died down, Jon moved the meeting onto other members, much to Daine's relief. Numair reached out and stroked Daine's cheek, in encouragement and thanks. No-one noticed when Daine turned to smile up at him and take his hand, holding it under the table for the rest of the meeting. No-one except Alanna and Gary, that is. Exchanging brief looks, they smirked at one another before turning back to the meeting.