While everyone agreed to go visit Maria, in hindsight, no one agreed on a specific time.

This led to some shenanigans.

Prince Alan, for example, spent a lot of time waiting for his twin brother to come down so they could go together only to finally be informed, when he sent a servant to ask his brother what was taking so long, that the Third Prince had already left as soon as he finished his breakfast, and he'd been waiting for nothing.

Mary Hunt, who'd been waiting for her fiancé to pick her up, thus had to wait some time for Alan to arrive, as they had decided to go together, mostly because it was Maria, who was terrifying. As he was delayed, so was she, so she had a lot of time to keep going back and forth on the idea of not accompanying him to Campbell's or going for the sake of their tentative friendship.

Sophia and Nicol went together, of course. However, as this what she did already for work, Sophia made a point of not going first thing in the morning, enjoying a leisurely breakfast before taking the time to gather some books that might be to Maria's liking. After all, just because Maria had never shown an interest in reading anything that wasn't school work, paperwork or the things her children did at school didn't mean she had no interest in reading, it merely meant she had found nothing of interest to read yet! Nicol, of course, waited for her, taking the time to write his correspondence with Lady Landoor. Of course, this caused him to make the terrible mistake of leaving a book-lover alone with her books. As a result, they were the last ones to arrive.

Diana, unfortunately, had Student Council duties and had already used her budgeted free time for that week.

Duchess Claes, Matthew and Keith all had a leisurely breakfast and then promptly got on a carriage to visit Maria. As a result, they arrived well before mid-morning to be greeted by Rafael.

"Good morning Dame Matthew, Lord Keith, your grace," he said as he met them at the door with a smile. "To what do we owe this visit?"

"Rafael?" Dame Mathew blinked. "Where's Dame Maria?"

"She's a bit occupied right now, so she asked me to greet you," Rafael said with a rueful smile. "Good morning, your grace. I believe we've never been introduced. I'm Rafael Walt, Maria's fiancé. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Maria has spoken very highly of you."

"A pleasure as well, Lord Walt," the Duchess said smoothly, clearly racking her mind trying to place who this man was.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm actually just Mister Walt, your grace," Rafael said. "Vice-Director Walt at work is the highest title I can lay claim to."

"Rafael is a member of the Ministry, mother," Keith explained.

The Duchess' mind twisted as her boulder of thought rolled down different paths to finally run over the hapless undead thought she was looking for. "You are Shadow Director Walt of the Magic Tool Laboratory?"

Rafael laughed. To Keith's experienced ears, it sounded distressingly similar to Mary's socialite laugh. "Oh my, how did you happen to hear about that silly nickname? It's true I tend to represent our department a lot, but only because our Director suffers from a terrible affliction that means he cannot move around the Ministry much, and must therefore delegate such things to me."

"How could I not?" Duchess Claes said. "The spouses of many high Ministry officials have spoken to me of their other half complaining or praising an ambitious new soul who has managed to take control of one of the Ministry's departments and has raised it from ignominy to become a new player in the Ministry."

"Yes, our new director does a fine job," Rafael deflected. "Although given the previous director, that's not exactly hard."

"You seem… familiar, Vice-Director Walt," the Duchess said slowly. "Are you by any chance related to Sirius Dieke?"

Rafael gave a heavy sigh. "Unfortunately, I am, your grace. The late and lamented Sirius was my half-brother. I'm afraid it's a subject I'd rather not discuss. You know how Marquis can be…"

"Ah. I'm very sorry for intruding, then," the Duchess said, nodding in understanding. "Though if you are Dame Maria's fiancé, then I am sure you are a man of good character."

"I try to be," Rafael said. "For her. I know you've probably already eaten, but do you have room for snacks? We have cookies, muffins, the usual."

"That won't be—" the Duchess began.

"Won't be refused," Keith said cheerfully. "Right, cousin Matthew?"

"Absolutely, Cousin Keith," Dame Matthew said. Both said it in distinct 'please take the hint' tones.

Duchess Claes raised an eyebrow. "As they say," she said. "Where is Dame Maria, if she is not here?"

"Sitting room," Rafael said, leading the way as their carriage was taken to the stable. "She had an early morning visitor who came to her for 'medical reason'."

"Oh my," Matthew said. "I hope they're not too badly hurt."

"It was the Third Prince," Rafael said.

Matthew made a rude sound. "Oh, him."

"Matthew!" Duchess Claes exclaimed, looked scandalized. "You can't just say such things about—"

"Rafael's a friend, he knows exactly how I feel," Matthew said.

"What's a little light treason among friends, right?" Rafael said easily.

"Oh," the Duchess said, momentarily nonplussed. "What was the medical reason the little dung pie is here for?"

"He says it's treatment for paperwork-related hand pains," Rafael said, "and I think he might actually be telling the truth this time. But then things got weird."

Keith raised an eyebrow. "Weird how?"

Rafael sighed. "You'll see."

They reached the sitting room, and Rafael led the way. "Maria, we have visitors," he said. "Her grace the Duchess Claes, Keith, and Matthew are here."

Maria looked up and stood, offering a bow in greeting. "Good morning, Lord Keith, Dame Matthew, Duchess Claes. I regret I could not come to greet you at the door, but I was occupied with entertaining my prior visitor."

"Good morning Keith, Dame Romani, your grace," the Third Prince said with his usual royal smile. "What a coincidence, running into you here!" The dignity of the expression was only broken a little as he proceeded to immediately bite into a muffin.

"Good morning, Dame Maria," the Duchess said as she stepped forward and sat opposite Maria, Keith and Matthew to either side. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

"Nothing that won't keep, your grace," Maria said. "The Third Prince and were merely having a discussion about hobbies, and how he doesn't have any."

The Third Prince threw a small glare at her. "Why did you have to tell them that?" he said

Maria tilted her head. "Was it supposed to be a secret?"

"No, but the way you phrased it makes me sound pathetic."

"Don't worry your highness," Keith said with a not-smile only Katarina would think was the real thing, and frequently did. "It won't change how I think about you." He got an equally not-smile in return.

"I'd have thought it would be obvious, since you of all people wouldn't have time for a hobby," Rafael said as if slipping back into the conversation.

"Oh?" the Third Prince said, giving Rafael a look that dared. "And why would that be?"

"You probably tried all sorts of things, but were so good at them they held no challenge or enjoyment for you, so you stopped doing them, just letting them rot by the wayside," Rafael said cheerfully.

The Third Prince blinked. "Huh, I thought you were going to make some sort of obvious comment. But yes, you're correct, that's exactly why I don't have any hobbies."

"Not at all because you have a one-path mind," Maria said. "Everyone else I know has a one-track mind, and many of them manage to have diverse and fulfilling hobbies."

"She's got you there," Rafael smirked.

"Ah, there's the light crossbow shot," the Third Prince nodded, as if all was as expected. "But that only proves my point. I don't have a hobby because there's no activity interesting enough to challenge and entertain me, which is necessary for an activity to be engaging enough to be a hobby.."

"Because of your genius talent, which made most hobbies trivial instead of challenging," Maria said.

"Yes exactly," the Third Prince said.

"Then why didn't you create one?"

There was a beat. "What?" the other blonde said, confused.

"If an activity sufficiently interesting to be your hobby does not exist, why didn't you devote your genius talent to bringing such an activity into existence?" Maria said. "Surely such a pursuit would have been a sufficiently challenging to interest you?"

The Third Prince opened his mouth. Closed his mouth. Opened it again. "So, you're suggesting that I should make a hobby of… making hobbies to be a hobby for me? Isn't that tautological?"

"Quite possibly," Maria said. "I avoid philosophy, as its only function is to drive one to madness and violence."

"Huh," Keith said. "You're right, this did get weird."

"Told you so," Rafael said. "I realized they were circling this point when your carriage arrived. I'm so glad they didn't get there without me."

Apparently the thought presented, tautology or not, was slowly ensnaring the Third Prince, as he'd started stroking his chin in thought, staring at nothing and muttering to himself—

"Ow! What was that for?!" the Third Prince glared.

"You were going insane," Maria said. She had flicked his ear. "You have to be careful. Everyone knows talented geniuses are more likely to go insane and start doing immoral experiments on people than anyone else. First you start muttering to yourself, then you start wearing big hats and obsessing about dragons, and before you know it you've declared yourself pontiff and started trying to make yourself immortal."

"You were the one who just suggested I invent a hobby for myself!"

"Yes, but I'd rather you not do so in the same building as my children," Maria said. "If you're about to drive yourself mad, please do it in a place you can be contained." So saying, she turned away from the Third Prince and faced Duchess Claes. "I apologize for my inattentiveness, your grace, Dame Matthew. I have been a poor host, not maneuvering the conversation such that you could provide your input."

"Think nothing of it, Dame Maria," Duchess Claes said. "It was… strangely enlightening."

Maria nodded. "While Lord Keith and Dame Matthew's presence is familiar, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit? I hope his grace is well?"

That made the Duchess smile. "He is, thank you for asking. Actually, I was hoping I could speak to you about my daughter's progress. Anne has been very helpful in her reports, but I found myself wishing to hear it from you, so that you may answer some questions I have. Also, if it's not too much trouble, I was wondering if I may speak with Katarina?" Keith's eyes grew wide and hopeful, and the Third Prince was once more snapped out of his thoughtful funk. "Lately I have found myself missing her and wondered if you could see your way to allow me to meet with her?"

Maria hummed thoughtfully. "Do you have a pressing engagement this afternoon?"

"None," the Duchess said.

Maria nodded. "Then would you be free to join us for lunch? I'm afraid I cannot release Squire Katarina just yet, as she is in the middle of a repetition exercise meant to build muscle memory, but if you are willing to wait, then she should be done in time to be available to have lunch with us. In the meantime, I can answer whatever questions you wish."

"And maybe, if we have time, we can even have some friendly conversation," the Third Prince said brightly. "Why, just before you all arrived, Maria was just asking me to help her practice conversing about non-work matters."

Keith, Matthew and the Duchess suddenly started coughing.

"Are you all well?" Maria asked, concerned. "Do you need Light Magic?"

The Third Prince nonchalantly hummed as he helped himself to another cookie.