Sometime before noon, Maria Campbell found herself temporarily unassigned.

After lunch, a tea party with the noblewomen of the countries participating in the international Assembly had been planned. It… well, wasn't something Maria was familiar with from her memories of Cainhurst. Lunch tended to devolve into blood debauchery, with a brief lull before dinner to get dressed, clean the dining hall, drag out the bodies, get the maids replaced before dinner occurred and devolved into further bloody debauchery that fragmented into smaller parties of debauchery through the night.

In Sorcier however, these public vents didn't seem to descend to that level of carnality, for which Maria was glad. Private events probably did, but that was other people's business. The afternoon tea parties consisted more of gossip, plotting and machinations than actual tea or tea-related food. It was when the noblewomen had their private negotiations, discussing potentially engaging daughters and sons, subtle power plays involving veiled insults, or simply conspiring against the men in general.

While each of the nations would be well-represented, it was not an event his majesty the king would be attending. Despite his short stature, delicate face, slim build and soft voice, King Artorias Stuart was still most definitely a man, and would not be attending the tea party.

Thus, Maria found herself attending one of the day's events as a guest rather than as a knight on duty. After a quick bath to get rid of the morning's sweat—mostly caused by trying to think of every conceivable vector of danger to the king, who had attended some of the more important negotiations—and some debate, she had decided to wear her formal suit instead of her hunter garb, with only her sword at her side instead of her full build. Given the composition of her hunter's garb, the suit was a suitable formal armor for her. Besides, there were enough women wearing tight leggings, fitted vests, blouses with puffy sleeves, and too-small soft coats that she should reasonably fit in.

"—you know who I am? I'm the Lord Presider of La Sable, the greatest country in the world!"

"Yes, we know, Lor—"

"Now, I've been specially invited to attend this event, and if you don't let me in—"

Maria was among those who arrived last, since she hadn't really been expecting to attend. At the entrance to the hall the tea party was being held, a pair of knights uncrossed their halberds to allow her entry into the hall. She have them a nod of acknowledgement, entering the room, and they crossed their halberds again as she passed.

"Look at that! She didn't even have an invitation and you let her in! I was specially invited, you know! I know your king, you salt-shaker. I'll have you exiled!"

"Lord Presider, this the noblewomen's tea party—"

Inside, the tea party was already in progress. Unlike the day before, when the attendants had keeping to themselves. People were far more spread out and mingling more, and everything looked more spacious since there wasn't as many people in attendance as before. Women were milling about, teacups or small plates in hand, though a few were sitting at the tables that had been spread out along the edges of the room. Most had chosen to stand however, drink and whatever small finger foods they had to eat in hand as they walked about and spoke to other people. Out of habit, Maria glanced towards the long table were food had been arranged, but to her approval her squire Katarina hadn't decided to set up camp there and slowly devour all food in sight.

"Oh, hello,"

Maria quickly turned towards where the voice seemingly addressing her had come from. Then she blinked and inclined her gaze downward a little. A young girl, clad in a white dress with her golden hair a in a mix of braids and hanging free, smiled up at her. She was older than Shana, but her face had the open, innocent look she'd come to associate with young children and Katarina Claes. That meant this was either a young girl who was just a bit tall for her relatively young age, or… she was like Katarina.

Maria took a moment to comprehend the sight, then gave the young girl a polite bow. The knight hadn't exactly seen any other children, but on consideration, she was quite unlikely to. "Greetings, young lady," she said. "I am Dame Campbell. May I have the honor of knowing who it is I am speaking to?"

The young girl giggled. "I'm Trina, King Miquella's ward. Are you really a knight? You don't dress like any of the knights I know."

"I don't believe in encumbering myself with heavy metal, and garb myself appropriately. Are you here alone, young lady?" While she hadn't explicitly said she was a lady, it was best to treat her as such, especially if she was, in fact, the King of Hallig's ward.

The girl shook her head. "Dame Millicent is with me," she said, looking to the side, Maria followed her gaze to find a knight in formal armor—Hallig alloyed gold gauntlets, small pauldrons, some faulds and a cullet over a silky, almost gauzy waist cape—a slim-looking sword at her side as she seemed to lean back on empty air, a cup of tea in hand. Their eyes met, and the knight nodded pleasantly. "I'm supposed to talk to people and make friends, so.. Hello. Do you want to be friends?" Trina smiled brightly.

"I have no objections to being friends with you, young lady," Maria said, slightly bemused, "but why me?"

"You're wearing a hat I've never seen before," Trina said brightly. "Most women wear round hats but your hat is a triangle. It looks more like a helm than a hat."

"I assure you that it is, in fact, a hat Lady Trina." Recalling her interactions with children and Katarinas, Maria reached up and took off her tricorn. "Would you like to try it on?"

"Oh, may I?" At Maria's nod, most-likely-a-lady Trina reached out and took Maria's hat looking at it curiously. "Ah! it's a bit heavier that other hats…" With a smile, she put it on her head… backwards. The front of the tricorn pointed back over Trina's left shoulder. Maria had thought the tricorn would be a little bit too big for the child, but her hair and braids had so much body the headgear actually settled fairly well. "The brim is so low! I almost can't see!"

While Trina played around with her hat, Maria turned towards Dame Millicent, giving her a questioning look, and used one finger to draw a circle around the tope of Trina's head. Dame Millicent pointedly looked away, not meeting her eyes. Maria shrugged.

"Ah, I wonder if I can get one of those. It looks nice," Trina said.

"If you have time, I can introduce you to where I had mine made," Maria said. "If you do not mind, Lady Trina, I find myself in need of refreshment. Would you like to accompany me to get some tea?"

Maria stared at the servant who was making tea.

Rafael stared back at her, smiling innocently.

He didn't look like Rafael, at least normally. There was a stupid moustache on his face, which was hopefully a fake and not his actual facial hair. She had yet to see him need to shave in the time they'd been together, and she refused to believe he managed to grow that thing in the time they been separated.

"Tea, my lady?" he offered, gesturing to the teapot next to him. for some reason. "It's fresh."

"Please," Maria said. She was surprised at how level her voice was. It had been so long…

Moving with practiced motions, Rafael moved two of the tea cups forward, then picked up the teapot and poured. He even gave it a flourish by raising the teapot up above his head, while the stream of tea continued to flow unerringly into the cup. Not a drop was spilled, and he placed each cup on a saucer, then pushed it forward with a smile.

Maria took one and turned to offer it to Trina, who took it gingerly. "Oh, this brew smells wonderful," Trina said. She blew gently on the cup before bringing it up to her mouth. A sip, and she let out a sigh. "This is the best cup of tea I've ever tasted! Millicent have you tried this? You need to try this!"

The teacup was warm in Maria's hand as she brought it up to her and threw it back like it was pure, sweet blood. It burned her mouth, her tongue, her throat, but it tasted so good…!

And suddenly the teacup was empty, and there was no wonderful, wonderful tea. Maria repressed a groan want and she barely managed to keep herself from slamming down the cup.

"Another, please," she said intently.

"That was… mildly concerning," Rafael said, staring down at the cup, then at her, before belatedly adding, "my lady."

"My apologies. I haven't had tea like that in some time. My fiancé used to make it for me, but lately he hasn't been doing so anymore. Another, please." Ah, everything burned, everything burned! So worth it, but… ah, it burns! Light Magic, Light Magic, she needed to heal!

"Oh…" Rafael managed to keep his face professionally smooth, but the way his lips were pressing together revealed his true feelings, even as he started to pout her another cup of tea. "Ah, I'm sure it, ah, wasn't intentional on his part… probably? I mean, I've never met him before, but he sounds… like he makes good tea?"

"Yes, I suppose he does… when he actually does so." Maria took the newly refilled cup and now managed to resist the urge to just throw it all back. Instead, she raised it to her lips and sipped it slowly.

Ah, so wonderful. It made Maria feel young again…

A Mary Hunt Interlude

Mary had often thought she'd seen every side of her dear Katarina. And yet, every time it seemed that her dear Katarina had become fully known, fully predictable… her dear Katarina would surprise her.

And now, her dear Katarina was surprising her again.

When her dear Katarina had arrived to the tea party, she had seemed… off. Distracted. She'd seemed to wake up when Mary and Sophia had greeted her, but it had taken some time for her dear Katarina's smile to go back to normal. It had gone back to normal eventually, but…

"—and I'm very skilled in embroidery," the latest foreign hussy said.

Her dear Katarina nodded, writing it down on her notebook. It was very blank, since while her dear Katarina had been writing, she'd been ignoring large parts of the what the women had been telling her about themselves, such as their titles, lands, the people they were related to and the people they had influence with. Mary was sure about only a quarter of all those was accurate. "Thank you, Lady Meserole. And… huh. I think that's everyone here. Now, I have some questions for all of you. If you don't want to answer, you don't have to, but if you do, please answer honestly. I can't promise that it will make you more likely to be chosen, but I'll certainly be rooting for you!"

It was… mildly disturbing for Mary to see so many women around her dear Katarina who weren't interested in her. Instead, they were looking at her like… well, like she was a stepping stone to what they wanted, a convenient and useful pawn who wasn't very smart. That last made her want to have them die horribly, even as her dear Katarina merely smiled, not noticing how she was being used. She was just genuinely, studiously taking notes about the women so she could give the list to Keith so that he could find a fiancée. So Mary just sat back and plotted horrible vengeance against these women, sparing a thought that Keith was far too good for these strumpets.

"Now, first question, would you be willing to share your husband with another woman or man?"

… what?