The moment King Jonathan stood, the great hall was completely silent. The king smiled, took a deep breath, and began his speech.
"Greetings royal ambassadors from the court of Galla, ladies and gentlemen from the royal court of Tortall. This night marks the start of what hopes to be a fantastic conference. If all goes well, we shall see the bonds of friendship grow between our two countries. It is my sincere desire as king and as a citizen of a peace loving nation to quell the Scanran uprising at our northern borders and I honestly believe that with the help of our Gallan brothers, we can achieve our ends. Mithros guide us in our endeavors." The king sat down and all the guests stood up, applause echoing off the stone walls of the banquet hall. When all the guests were seated, the chief ambassador from Galla stood up and announced a toast.
"To our countries, may there never be a moments animosity between them." There were many shouts of "hear, hear" and a smattered clinking of glasses after the ambassador took his seat. The meal continued with a feeling of goodwill in the air, followed by dessert; which increased the level of goodwill as chocolate has been known to do. The dinner portion of the banquet was officially ended and the musicians took up their instruments and began a lovely waltz. Daine took leave of Erik politely, with a slight curtsy, and walked over to Numair's table, in hope of a dance. She observed on her way over that he was still absorbed in his conversation with Master Ahern.
"Excuse me, Numair, may I have a word?" asked Daine.
"Of course Daine, just please be brief, we're actually getting somewhere." said Numair, completely oblivious to Daine's intent.
"Oh, well um… never mind, I can wait." said Daine, sounding as happy as she could.
"There's a good girl." said Numair absentmindedly, and returned to his conversation with Master Ahern. Where are his manners, thought Daine, he didn't even introduce me to his professor friend. She looked towards the dance floor and happened to notice that Erik was dancing with a gloriously elegant noble girl; probably from Galla. She sat down nearly putting her elbow in someone's mashed potatoes and waited for Numair to finish talking; which she realized would take until the music stopped.
She sat with her elbows propped up on the table and her head resting in her hands until much to her surprise, a hand lightly tapped her shoulder. She turned around to discover Erik standing behind her.
"Would you care to dance?" asked Erik. Daine was plainly surprised, with one look towards Numair she stood up.
"Yes, please." she responded.