Chapter Text
Princess Satya Vaswani Reyes crossed her arms and glared mutinously over the shoulder of her traveling companion. "No. I won't learn this barbaric tongue, and I won't stay there long enough for it to matter."
Vizcondesa Amélie said nothing, merely swaying with the movement of the carriage. The silence between them dragged on, long enough for Satya to become intensely aware of the ringing of the metal-rimmed wheels against the gravel road, the rustle of armor and horses as her knights rode alongside.
She risked a glance at the vizcondesa: Amelie regarded her with a neutral expression. She wasn't using any of the hand signals they had developed early on. The lack of any apparent anger made Satya relax. Her adoptive brothers were the tempestuous ones. She was supposed to be calm in her anger and have real reasons for it.
"I don't want to be here," she said quietly.
Amélie sighed. "You've made that clear." The vizcondesa leaned forward and set her hand on Satya's knee. "I cannot say I understand. I loved Gérard, and he came to me. But your mothers would not send you to someone they thought you would hate."
Satya tensed again, barely aware that she'd relaxed while Amélie talked. "My mothers let him buy me."
"Satya-"
"It's called a bride price in their language! They paid timber and fur for me, like I'm property!"
"I am certain that is a mistranslation," Amélie said, voice clipped. "Too literal a term for the gifts exchanged between families. Gérard found that to be a problem often when he traveled."
Satya nodded reluctantly. It likely was a mistranslation. No one really bought people, not anymore. Ilevell had eradicated the practice in all the lands it conquered, and it once ruled from shore to shore.
She pressed her fingertips together to form a loose cage, then began to shift and interlace them. Blue light sparked to life between her palms, forming a perfect octahedron.
"You should not do that," Amélie said softly. "You know what they do to sorcerers in Löwenkrone."
"It's just the two of us." Satya pulled her hands apart, fingers curling to press against her palm. The octahedron came apart, and she pressed each half into discs. Briefly, lines of white light formed an owl on one and a sun on the other. Then she spread her fingers, let the discs dissolve without ever fully being. "This will be the last time it's just the two of us."
Amélie leaned back and said nothing. Her hand shifted to the sword she'd kept in easy reach the entire journey, but she only brushed the hilt.
***
Lena shifted restlessly from foot to foot. Of the dozen warriors sent to wait for the Argian princess with her, only Erika stood unmoving. Most were dicing. Bardulf and Volker were boasting idly, practicing rhymes and kennings on each other in preparation for the welcoming feast tonight. If the princess showed up today.
She was supposed to show up today. She'd sent couriers ahead to let them know, because she was apparently incredibly polite.
But Lena knew better than anyone how travel could slow down in the woods of Löwenkrone. She'd meant to come back from hunting last night with an antelope and some rabbits, not haul a bull elk up to the Löwenburg gates in a borrowed cart this morning. Good thing she knew the local farmers; there was no way she could have brought the entire elk home by herself.
Winston had taken one look at her when she tromped into the castle in her muddy hunting clothes and sent her off to change.
"But who's going to take my elk to the kitchens?"
"I will. Go change, Lena. I need you to escort Princess Satya through the town and up to the castle."
"You’ll haul a cart full of dead elk in those clothes?" Lena looked over the fine clothes her brother was wearing then folded her arms. "It won't take me that much longer to deliver the elk and change than it will for me to just change."
"You need to bathe, too," he said wryly. "What did you do, crawl through a swamp after that elk?"
"Maybe!" She grinned up at him - stupid brothers, both being ridiculously taller than her. "Seriously, love, you can't take my elk to the kitchens in your lawspeaker clothes. You'll get them dirty."
"It's in a cart, Lena. I can haul a cart better than you can," he replied, and he really could. So he'd taken her elk to the kitchens to be butchered, and she'd gotten bathed and dressed to stand out here for several hours now.
She blew out a sigh. It wasn't even worth it to duck into the woods and circle around to see what tracks she could find. Not only had she already done that an hour ago, but the only animals this close to Löwenburg would be rabbits, stoats, and foxes.
The distant sound of hooves on gravel reached her, and she perked up. "Oy! Make yourselves pretty! They're coming!"
By the time the first Argian warriors rode into view, Lena was seated on her horse, Erika and Bardulf flanking her. She knew they looked imposing - Bardulf and Erika both were as tall as Jack, and Torbjörn had made the armor and weapons of every person in this escort. The maneless lion of Löwenkrone snarled on their crisp tabards.
But the Argians were impressive.
Each warrior wore a steel cuirass with plate sleeves and tassets covering their upper thighs. Their helmets were open, their boots were shining leather, and their pauldrons were bright brass. They rode compact grey horses with breast collars decorated with gleaming blue gems.
Two of the warriors carried the banner of Argia, the crested solar-serpent baring its teeth. It made Lena wish she'd brought a Löwenkrone banner with her. They'd just have to make do with their tabards.
Behind ten of them came a carriage. At least, Lena assumed that was what it was; she'd never seen one before, but Winston had told her about them from his university days in Ilevell, and Jack had mentioned them in his letters.
It looked like an elegantly-shaped wagon in some ways, pulled by two horses. The wooden frame went up higher than any working wagon would, and the corner-posts were carved into fanciful crested serpents with their eyes and crests gilded. A brilliantly blue canopy arched over the top of the carriage, brighter and bluer than anything Lena would have wasted on her horse when she could have made it into a dress.
Behind it, came a handful of baggage wagons, servants walking with them to guide the horses, and more Argian warriors.
The warriors came to a halt, the carriage rolled to a stop, and a door opened in its side. A woman came out, but not the princess herself. The Argians had sent a portrait as part of the marriage negotiations, and this was not the stunningly beautiful woman who had Winston all nervous.
This woman looked to be half a head taller than Lena on her feet. Her skin was darker than you commonly saw in Löwenkrone, and her eyes were brown. She had her black hair pulled up into a high ponytail that still hung incredibly long down her back. She wore black leather riding boots over silver-grey hose. A close-cut, deep rose doublet ended midway up her thighs, and the laces at the top weren't all the way done up. They didn't look like they were supposed to be all the way done up. Not with the dark lace there, or the two metal rings just between her-
Lena felt herself turning pink, and she forced herself to look the woman in the face. It was a very pretty face, even if her expression was utterly cold.
"You are?" she asked in Löwenkrone, her accent heavy.
"Lena Morrisdottir. Prince Winston sent us to escort Princess Satya to the castle."
She frowned, her cool gaze scanning over the gathered escort. "You carry weapons."
"Yes…?" Lena shifted until she felt the sheathes of her long knives dig into her thighs. "I don't think we'll have any raiders to deal with - it's too early in the year - but I'd rather be armed if I'm wrong."
"Raiders." The woman sounded out the word carefully. "... Land pirates?"
Hoo boy. Well, Jack and Winston both said no one south of them spoke their language. Maybe she should be pleased this one spoke it at all? "Yeah. Raiders. Pirates on land."
The woman nodded, then took a step back and bowed. "I am Vizcondesa Amélie Lacroix. I go with Princess Satya." She half-turned towards the carriage, said something in what Lena guessed was Argian, then looked back up at Lena. "This is Satya Vaswani Reyes, princess of Argia."
Princess Satya was gorgeous.
Earrings of some bright blue jewel shone against her dark skin, and a white-gold circlet delicately rested on her head. Her shining black hair was pinned up in a multitude of braids. Her traveling dress was finer than any dress Lena had ever owned. It was a bright blue, trimmed with gold and white. The bodice was fitted to her, and the neckline was so low that Lena was glad it was lined with lace and jewels. Even if someone was cruel enough to make it gold lace and blue jewels. The full skirt was slashed with black, and its separate sleeves left her shoulders bare.
Vizcondesa Amélie said something in Argian. Lena caught her name in there, but the rest of it was pleasant-sounding gibberish to her. The princess replied, then Vizcondesa Amélie turned her full attention back to Lena.
"You ride with us," she said. "The warriors ride around."
"You want me to ride with you two in the carriage? While my people ride escort?" Lena hazarded.
"Yes, princess."
Drat. She'd been hoping they wouldn't recognize her name.
***
"That is their princess?" Satya demanded. "Well, she looks like what I expected of these barbarians. Do they even know what dresses are?"
Amélie didn't respond, instead turning her attention back to the barbarian. She said something, and Lena responded rapidly. They went back and forth, several times Amélie having to hold up a hand to stop the barbarian and make her repeat herself.
While Amélie and the barbarian talked, Satya took the opportunity to look over this Princess Lena Morrisdottir. (If Morrisdottir meant what she thought it did, and Lena's brothers were Morrisons, she was leaving.)
She was pale-skinned, and her hair was dark brown, like the color of a good wood. But it was cut so short! Even her male knights had longer hair than she did. Too long - only their beards separated them from the women. They all had the same general sort of look with armor over their tunics and trousers. But the weapons they used, and even the styles of armor they wore varied too much to be called a uniform!
Only Lena didn't wear any armor at all. She wore a clean white tunic pinned shut at the neck with a silver-white brooch set with a brilliant blue gem. The hem, sleeves, and neck were edged with a bronze braid. An earpiece covered the shell of her left ear. Two bronze arm-bands wrapped around her upper arms. They didn't fully close, and the open ends were capped with fox heads. Leather bracers held her sleeves shut at the wrist. Her trousers were a deep saffron orange with bands of white cloth winding down from her knees to disappear into her riding boots. A tied leather belt with two long knives sheathed at her hips completed the picture.
Of course barbarians would think wearing weapons to meet a guest was appropriate.
"She will ride in the carriage with us while her knights ride escort," Amélie announced.
"What," Satya bit out.
"Don't take up that habit of your brother's."
Lena dismounted, as did the man to her left. She handed her horse off to him and walked up to the Satya and Amélie, smiling brightly.
She's so short, Satya thought in surprise. She's shorter than me!
Amélie looked down at the barbarian princess then turned her back to help Satya back into the carriage. A bit of tension bled out of her then; Amélie would never turn her back on a threat.
Satya swept her skirt up and settled into her seat again. She turned to see Lena grip the edges of the doorway and haul herself into the carriage. The barbarian paused, her eyes going wide. Amélie nudged her from behind, and she moved out of the way, sitting down on the bench opposite Satya.
Amélie sat down next to her sword, which drew Lena's eye. She said something in her barbarian language, which prompted Amélie to pick up the sword and partly draw it. Lena made admiring noises as she leaned forward to get a better look and half-fell out of her seat when the carriage began to move.
They continued to talk, and Satya let it wash over her. They couldn't be more than an hour from Löwenburg, not with their princess waiting to meet them here. No more than an hour until she arrived in her new home and met this barbarian they meant her to marry.
She smoothed her hands over her skirt, trying to focus on the feel of the material.
It wouldn't be too bad, surely. Löwenkrone was a border kingdom of Ilevell. Surely she could find other people who knew what actual civilization was like.
Something in Amélie's tone caught her attention. She looked up to see the vizcondesa leaning forward, her voice hard as she spoke to Lena. The response made Amélie use the calm hand-signal, but it was sharp and fast- Did she want Satya to be calm?
That didn't make Satya want to be calm at all.
Amélie sat back. "Princess. The king of Löwenkrone is dead."
"-what?" She didn't know what she expected to hear, but that was not it.
"He died in a hunting accident two weeks ago." Something about the way Amélie said 'hunting accident' made Satya pleat her skirt material between her fingers. Gérard had died in a hunting accident. The vizcondesa could not be happy about remembering that.
Amélie continued, "The queen has chosen to step down from the throne. Her son, the prince you are going to marry, will be crowned king in another four weeks."
"Are you saying there will be six weeks between the king's death and the prince's coronation?" Satya frowned in puzzlement. "That's much too long."
"According to Princess Lena, it was decided the coronation would happen the day after your wedding, as the nobility would already be gathered in Löwenburg."
The implications made Satya clench her fists. "But," she said in a quiet voice, "the wedding is not supposed to be until the week of Sacred Time after Rose Season. Four weeks from now is only halfway through Rose Season."
"They have moved the wedding up."
"I'm supposed to have eight weeks, Amélie. Eight weeks to find a reason to stay in this barbarian land with this barbarian prince."
"It is unfortunate."
"I'm leaving. I won't stay for this. I can't- I'm supposed to have eight weeks. Not four. Eight."
"It is unfortunate," Amélie said again, "but a single death changes everything. The king is dead. His son must be crowned. You will not live there as a foreign princess to be tolerated; you will be queen."
"A foreign queen to be tolerated." Satya crossed her arms and stared hard at the vizcondesa.
Amélie met her gaze without blinking. "But a queen nonetheless."
Satya looked away first. Lena was watching them with interest, but after a few moments of silence, she partially drew a dagger and held it out for Amélie to look at. Soon they were back to talking again, Amelie still having to make the barbarian stop and repeat herself more slowly.
The barbarian's earpiece drew her eye. Satya focused on it, eager for a distraction and a chance to settle herself. It was all lines and curves in a silver-white metal, like Lena's brooch. There was some sort of pattern to it, she was sure. She puzzled over it for a bit, then between one blink and the next, she saw what it was: a rabbit running.
Someone called something in the barbarian language, and Lena twisted around to reach for one of the curtains. She lifted it to peek outside, a smile breaking over her face. It was wide and bright, and looked as natural on her as any of Jesse's smiles.
"Hm?" Satya twisted around to lift her own curtain.
Outside, the woods had given away to pasture, and she could see recently-shorn, brown-and-white sheep contentedly grazing. She blinked. The sheep all had horns! Even the ewes! And they had four of them!
Satya resettled herself so she could stare outside more comfortably. Ahead, she could see the walls of Löwenburg, and the steep roofs rising behind it. That high spire was a temple to the goddesses of Illevell. It flew with bright, streaming banners to honor the goddess of the sky, just like she had read.
Movement drew her eye to construction on the western wall. Part of the wall had been torn down, and a newer, thicker wall was rising in its place. There were farms outside the walls, though they left a killing ground clear in case of assault. Good. She narrowed her eyes and studied the newer walls. They had the same amount of space cleared as the older ones. Very good.
In the distance, she could hear the river Odev and the thump of watermills. Löwenkrone Castle rose above and behind the town. It was ugly to her eyes, obviously built in piecemeal by different kings and repaired without thought to beauty. It was a fortress with no aspirations to more.
This was going to be her home, she thought dismally. This ugly castle in this foreign country with this barbarian king.
She wanted to go home so badly.
***
Winston listened as the thanes and gothar discussed which town should have its walls rebuilt next. His part in the Althing was over for the day - he'd recited an hour of the law-code of Löwenkrone at the opening of today's session. By the end of the Althing, he'd have completed another three-year cycle and recited all the laws of the kingdom.
He shifted in his seat. It would be the last time he got to do this. The king could not also be the lawspeaker. He'd have to find a replacement.
He laced his hands together to keep from running them through his hair. There were good candidates, nothing to worry about there.
The Althing would last well into the afternoon. His shoulders hunched as he leaned forward. Princess Satya and her people should arrive well before then. Of course, as soon as a messenger came to tell him she had arrived, the assembly would dismiss him. No doubt with a lot of congratulations and ribald jokes.
He eyed the door. There was no way he, as lawspeaker, could justify leaving before a messenger came to tell him the princess had arrived.
Patience. He needed to have patience. It wasn't as if he found the discussion boring. Rebuilding the walls had been his idea two years ago, after the second time the Terekhans came with cannon.
Even if he had found it boring, he was perfectly capable of looking like he was listening while he thought about more interesting things. Not like Lena. He chuckled at the idea of Lena sitting through a session of the Althing. She'd rather go hunting wild boar by herself than spend even a morning here.
The tone of the discussion shifted. Winston glanced around sharply, wondering at the change.
Ah! Volker stood at the main doorway, helmet under one arm and sweat at his temples. "My prince, she's here."
"Here? Now?" Winston made himself stand up straight. The habitual hunch he'd learned in university was too easy to slip into.
"Just inside the town gates. Won't be much time for you to reach the castle before her. Got to hurry."
Winston inclined his head and turned to the assembled Althing. "I'm going to meet my bride. I'll see you lot in the morning."
"Cheek!" called an old gothi, a grin on her face.
"Cheek would have been not showing up at all," he said jovially, "and not a one of you would have blamed me."
Gothi Robert barked out a laugh, and Winston could see Thane Johanna laughing silently.
"Get, you great lug!" called another thane.
He gestured rudely and ducked through the doorway. Outside, he broke into an easy run, slow enough for Volker to keep up with him. The Hall of the Althing sat in the central square of Löwenburg, at the base of the castle-hill. With the shortcuts he knew, he'd easily make the castle before the Argian princess.
It wasn't a pleasant run, by any means, and Volker was panting by the time they reached the castle courtyard.
"All the way up the hill," he muttered, hands on his knees as he bent over to catch his breath. "Glad your sister's a sprinter. Easier."
Winston chuckled. "It could be worse. It could be Jack here. He can run for days."
Volker shuddered and straightened up. "Lucky me."
"Winston!" His mother Queen Lovisa Sundström came striding out of the gate to the main keep, his sheathed sword slung over one shoulder. "You forgot your sword, my boy."
"Ah, actually, wearing a weapon when you meet a guest is considered a threat in the southern lands… I imagine that holds true in Argia," he said, rubbing the back of his head.
His mother gave him a disbelieving look. "Well, you know their customs better than I do. And it's not as if you need a sword to kill a man."
"I don't want to kill anyone, Mutti."
"No one wants to kill people," she informed him. "But sometimes it's necessary, and that's why we keep our weapons close."
"Yes, but I don't think it's going to be necessary while I formally introduce myself to Princess Satya. Please let Volker take my sword to the armory." He smiled, hoping his mother would pay more attention to that than his shorn beard. Mutti had loved King Morris very much - they all had. The stress of readying their home for his bride-to-be was only worsening her grief.
"Very well." She unslung his sword and handed it to Volker. "Let's wait for this Argian princess then."
***
Satya dug her nails into her palms to keep from weaving something, anything. They had just passed through the castle gates, and once they exited this tunnel, she would have to meet her husband-to-be. She would have to live in this backwater, at least until her mothers gave her permission to come home.
Or she snapped and ran away.
Why had Amélie invited the Löwenkroner princess into their carriage? Satya couldn't do magic with any of them around! Not with- whatever they did to sorcerers. Everyone kept saying she should know, and she didn't want to admit she didn't. She was the brilliant one of Queen Valeria's children, the scholar and magician. She was supposed to know everything.
The carriage rolled to a stop. Lena leapt to her feet, standing half-hunched in the carriage to avoid disturbing the canopy. She waited for Amélie and Satya to half-rise before opening the door and jumping down. She stood and held it open, offering her arm to Amélie as the vizcondesa climbed down.
Satya knew she was supposed to wait until Amélie indicated it was safe, but she needed to see her husband-to-be. She needed something definite to force away her fears.
So she let Lena help her out of the carriage while Amélie was making her introductions.
The prince of Löwenkrone was gigantic. For a long moment, that was her only impression of him - his shoulders were so broad, and he was so tall. Amélie barely came up to his collar-bones!
She was shorter than Amélie.
He'd noticed her. So had the older woman with him. Satya swallowed and forced herself to finish looking over the barbarian prince. His hair was dark, long, and loose, but his beard was cut close to his face. He was as pale-skinned as his sister, though none of the Löwenkroner were the alabaster her books had led her to expect.
He was dressed in a white high-collared tunic. Hems, wrists, and collar were all edged with yellow silk braid. Bands of embroidered runes ran alongside the trim, while an embroidered pattern of the moon and stars ran across his chest. His trousers were a rich brown - the same brown as the sheep she had seen. Bright yellow stitching showed at the seams, obviously intended to be noticed. Patterned white-and-black wraps ran down his lower legs, and his shoes were shining leather held closed by toggles.
He wore three twisted gold armbands that didn't close all the way, two rings mounted with gems, a signet ring, and a gold earpiece on the shell of his left ear, shaped like the crescent moon with a wolf curled along it.
The older woman with them looked enough like Lena to be their mother. Well, possibly just Lena's mother. She wore a dress - an actual dress! It was extremely plain compared to the fashions of Argia, but Satya supposed it suited Löwenkrone. It was actually two dresses, now that she looked at it. A sleeved under-dress in a rich red with a sleeveless white brocade over-dress. It was pinned at the shoulders with a pair of golden brooches in the shape of the maneless lion of Löwenkrone.
The brooches weren't her only jewelry, and her jewelry was not plain. Bracelets of gold and silver, most studded with stones, ran up her arms. Strings of beads made from precious and semi-precious stones rested atop her chest - Satya could pick out pearls and all manner of tourmalines, at a glance. A fall of garnets hung from each ear, with the shell of her right enclosed in a gold earpiece shaped like a fruiting vine.
"Satya Princess." The Löwenkroner prince stepped forward and bowed. "I am Winston Prince. You are welcome in my home."
She blinked. He spoke Nision! No one had told her he spoke Nision! With a very different accent than they used in Argia, but that was to be expected. Jesse had said their Nision didn't sound like the actual Nision of the Nisos Isles.
"Greetings," she said after a too long moment, dropping a curtsy. "I am pleased to-"
She fumbled for words. She had not planned what to say to him, she had not thought they would be able to speak to each other at all!
"I am pleased to be in your home," she said at last. "It is beautiful country."
That was not a lie; she knew she would like Löwenkrone if this was merely a state visit. The forests were dark and mysterious, the architecture and art strange.
He smiled. "It is bettered by you being here."
She felt her cheeks heat, and she was so glad Lena piped up to say something in that barbarian language. It drew everyone else's attention away from her briefly, long enough for her to get herself under control.
No one had told her he could speak so nicely.
***
"What did you say to her?" Lena asked later, after Winston had escorted Princess Satya to her quarters and made sure she didn't need anything immediately. She had asked only for some time to herself to recover from her travel, so Winston had left her alone with her people.
Of course Lena had found him almost immediately when he decided to check on the progress of the wall-rebuilding personally.
"I welcomed her to Löwenkrone, that's all," he said.
"You couldn't have," Lena insisted. "No one gets flustered over being welcomed someplace!"
"Well, she said it's beautiful country here, so I, ah, said it was made more beautiful by her being here," he mumbled.
His sister laughed. "Where did you even get that from? You've never been that quick with a good line before."
"I read it in a book."
"Oh, Winston!" Lena laughed so hard she had to stop walking. He just rolled his eyes and kept going; she was more than fast enough to catch up.
When she did, he asked, "Do you have any letters you want to send Jack or anyone who went with him? I'm going to send a message-carrier to Argia in three days. That should be long enough for Princess Satya to write any letters she wants to send."
"Yeah," she said, "I've got a letter for Jack. I always have a letter for Jack."
"I know he appreciates it," Winston said carefully. Apart from the few months Jack spent in Löwenkrone while he readied himself to live in Argia, he hadn't been back in his homeland for well over a decade. Lena had been ten the last time she saw her eldest brother.
Winston had attended university in Ilevell, so he'd seen Jack as recently as four years ago.
"Of course he does," she said, as if he was being impossibly silly. "He always writes back, doesn't he?"
"Yes, he does." Ahead, a crane hoisted a stone block and carefully swung it into place on the partially rebuilt walls. Workers hurried forward to lever it into place, and he could hear the happy heckling of the girl keeping the oxen plodding in their circle. "Any chance you'll actually take the forester tests this year?"
"Not even a little bit!" Lena said cheerfully. "Have fun inspecting the walls, Winston, I've got places to be!"
***
The Löwenkroner gave Satya her own suite of rooms with a smaller, attached suite for Amélie. As soon as she could, Satya retreated to the bed, pulling the drapes closed and leaving herself in darkness. It only dulled the noise of Amélie directing the servants about where to put their trunks and furniture, where to unpack her dresses, so many picky little details Satya would probably change tomorrow.
Just. Not right now. There were far too many people, and it had been a long day full of surprises. She was just going to make a few lights right now.
Twisting her fingers together, Satya pulled light out of the air and wove it into the shape of a diamond. She held the magic, keeping it as light rather than bringing it fully into being. She let herself focus on it, twisting and pulling it into new shapes until it was quiet outside her haven.
She let it vanish, never fully made manifest, and slipped out of the bed.
Amélie sat in an ornately carved chair. She flashed the hand-signal to show she wasn't feeling any particular emotion, and Satya relaxed before realizing she'd been tense.
"There is a welcoming feast," the vizcondesa said. "I unpacked your silverware."
"That's not the way they do things in Löwenkrone," Satya objected. She'd seen how they ate, back when they visited an acquaintance of Amélie's in Metsakond, an independent duchy bordering Löwenkrone. It was messy, just knives and trenchers to hold the food off the table.
"You are a princess of Argia. You do not need to fit in, not tonight," Amélie said gently.
Satya took a deep breath, then another. "As you say." Another breath. "Will you help me pick out a dress? Something easy to clean? I don't know what a feast will actually entail."
***
The feast was noisy and full of strangers. Satya found herself flinching when people yelled across the table at each other, and everyone was so boisterous and loud, it seemed like everyone had to yell just to be heard. Her shoulders hunched, and she tried to focus on the food in front of her-
The clatter of someone dropping a pitcher startled a distressed "ah!" out of her.
"Satya Princess?" Winston reached out as if to touch her forearm then drew back. "Ah- If the noise- If you're not enjoying yourself- We could leave."
She blinked at him, trying to find the angles in that. In Argia, no one would have minded if she left during a function. No one who mattered anyway. But surely it was different here. The foreign princess couldn't just leave during her own feast-
He had said 'we'.
"I'd like that," she said finally. "It's… loud."
"Very," he said and smiled. Then he stood up, and the very act of standing up drew every eye to him. He spoke in the Löwenkroner tongue, some of the words repeating, and the people cheered as he offered her his hand. She took it, and they left as the cheering grew louder.
She wondered what he said as he led her out of the feast hall, but it wasn't as important as being Away.
He released her hand when they were out of the hall, not dropping it but not forcing her to hold onto him either. Unsure of what to do, she left her hand in his. It felt… nice.
"I, uh, I'll be sending a messenger to Argia in the next week," Winston said. "Isla, probably, she's reliable, and she enjoys traveling. You haven't met her yet, she's one of Lena's friends. Um. If you have any letters you want to send home, just tell me so I can make sure she gets them."
Satya nodded. "Very well. I will have my letters ready by tomorrow evening."
"Tomorrow? You don't need to-"
"I want to, Winston Prince," she said calmly. Writing letters to each of her brothers and to her mothers would let her get her mind in order and actually think about the situation. She looked forward to it.