The Forgotten Zodiac

Ike lifted Elincia again, transporting her to the pegasus stables so she could prepare. "You know, if it came to that, I'm perfectly capable of defending you." He grinned at her and set her down in the doorway of the stables to go fin dher pegasus. It'd never really taken a shine to the king, and they were occasionally known to bite. It hadn't yet, but he didn't like it all the same.

Syl smiled slightly, glad Leanne had enjoyed it. It had admittedly been somewhat strange sparring publicly this way, but the teen had liked it. "<i>That would be the hope. I am from an alternate universe.</i>"

"Careful Ike," Elincia warned, staying put to appease her husband. "Pegasai only like people with a somewhat gentle bearing, and well..." she smiled slightly, knowing Ike would understand what she was saying. She paused and sighed, thinking to herself, before saying, "You know, your sister might be a good candidate. If we could find her a mount, she might make a good pegasus rider."

The Heroness nodded at Syl. "<i>Yes, that is true,</i>" she said.

The day progressed quickly from there. Those from Ivalice returned to the library for most of the day. Syl and Mewt translated for Gernave and Montblanc when necessary, and Marche simply stayed out of the way. The Tellius citizens were able to return to their regular schedules without much interuption, though they did occasionally stop in to check in on the newcomers.

Nearly a week passed that way. Some progress was made on the return spell, since, other than the exact coordinates of to and from, the spell was relatively easily replicated. To avoid being reformed inside a wall or at the bottom of the ocean, they had to go back and perfectly reverse the spell.

On their sixth day, as a group escorted the Ivalicians to lunch through the throne room, a portal opened again. This one, though it appeared very similar, was quieter and more controlled. When it cleared, two figures and several boxes and bags of clothes were visible.

One of them, a red-headed male, looked around the room with interest. "It really does work," he commented nonchalantly. "I told you it would." He looked over at the group, noting Marche and Syl particularly. "It looks like our timing was perfect."

Soren no longer saw the point of escorting the Ivalicians everywhere they went in the castle; certainly, by now, they knew their way around, and it just seemed a bit superfluous. However, he went along with the wishes of the others, if only because he was so accustomed to doing so.

He led the group through the throne room, but came to an abrupt halt as the portal appeared in the throne room, his hand drifting to rest on the tome he kept in his cloak. His hand poised on its spine, he looked over the two newcomers with a guarded expression. "Who are you?" he asked, stepping back a bit towards the relative safety of the others. He still would not say that he trusted the Ivalicians, though they had been there for near a week, but he had not been escorting them alone.

"Steady, Kieran," the mage intoned as he saw the knight jerk from the corner of his eye - the red knight was most likely drawing steel on the visitors. The mage addressed his next question behind him, to mostly Marche and Syl. "Do you know these two?"

Soren's question, though not answered directly, was immediately answered by the behaviors of those in the room with him. Syl turned; and his right hand reached instinctively for his left wrist, already pulling on the glove to unnecessarily tighten it. "Alexander. You're here." His tone was flat and not entirely welcoming, though he hadn't reacted as if they were a threat. The teen turned to the female who'd come through with Alexander and his tone lifted significantly. "Hello, Ritz. How'd you get here?"

Marche, meanwhile, ignored Alexander completely, focusing instead on the female arrival. "Ritz? Care to explain your arrival?" He grinned at her in a way they hadn't seen from him before. "That was hardly a cautious action, there."

Soren did not lower his guard, but he did seem to relax at the greeting the two newcomers got from the over Ivalicians. He did not turn his gaze from the newcomers, not trusting them to keep their place as he spoke again to Kieran.

"You would do well to inform the King and Queen that we have more... guests," he said. When Kieran seemed to hesitate, Soren quickly added, "I can hadle things here."

With that said, the red knight rushed off as bidden, while Soren remained with the foreigners.

Ike was, unsurprisingly, already at lunch with Elincia. The king looked up at Kieran when the knight barged in and hailed the knight through a mouth full of meat. "Kieran! I thought you went to get the people in the library. Where'd you leave 'em?" He set the chicken leg he'd been eating down and licked the grease off his fingers, acting the very epitome of kingliness.

Lucia, who'd just missed Soren at the library, came in just behind them. "Soren, there's news on the-" she broke off as she took in Alexander and Ritz, realizing from the fact that she hadn't seen them before and they were standing next to a pile of luggage that they must have come in the same way Mewt's group had. It made sense that they were in exactly the same location. Without continuing her line of question, Lucia moved up to Soren and turned to take in the newcomers.

The new female had a red cloak draped acrossed her shoulders, which blended with her long, pale pink hair. A thin sword hung at her waist, scabbard visible against the leather of her knee-high boots long, white tunic. This informal outfit contrasted against Alexander. His attire was much more formal: a collared light blue shirt over a pair of light brown pants. Over this outfit was a dark blue cloak, which clipped at the top and hung to his knees. The formal hat had been left off; but, aside from that, the teen was dressed in the formal outfit for a Blue Mage.

Ritz beamed at Marche and strode over to him, draping one arm across his shoulder. "Hello, Marche. Aren't you glad to see me? It got so <i>boring</i> back at the castle; so, once those official mages figured it out, I decided to come find you." She turned her head and grinned Marche, then pushed a finger to his lips before he could say anything. "They promised me it was safe, so don't you accuse me of being reckless and stupid." That said, she spun around to look at Soren and Lucia. "Oh look! There's people here." She waved jauntily at the two she didn't know and introduced herself. "Ritz Malheur, Clan Nutsy, Faction B, head."

Alexander met Syl's gaze, ignoring most of the other people in the room. "Why, Syl! I came all this why to find you, and you aren't delighted? I don't know why you expected anyone better. I am the best." He, too, turned to look at Soren and Lucia and introduced himself. "Alexander De Issand, Clan Cyril, heir to Lord Cyril, and all that stuff. I'm here to rescue or contact as neccessary, those two," he pointed to Marche and Syl, "and take news of them back. Whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

"I've left them in the throne room, your majesty! And there are more of them, come through a portal! Soren sent me to inform you," Kieran responded quickly. He had basically sprinted from the throne room to the dining hall, but he did not show it - all that training of his did serve to make him less exhaustable than most, after all. "They appear to be of no threat, but we thought it best to inform you and her Majesty," he added, turning and giving Elincia a quick bow. She nodded to him in return, then glanced up at Ike, wondering if he'd want to finish eating before they went to take a look at the new arrivals.

Soren glanced over to Lucia quickly as she came over. He did not let it show on his outward expression, but inwardly, he was a bit relieved that someone else from Tellius entered the room. Strangers made him... uncomfortable.

His discomfort grew slightly as the two newcomers were received by the other Ivalicians. Ike was the only exception to Crimea's otherwise rule of minimal physical contact between pairs in public. Therefore seeing a couple other than Ike and Elincia in the throes of such... infatuation left the mage at a bit of a loss. Therefore, he turned his gaze to Alexander as he introduced himself.

"I am Soren, Lord of Felirae and retainer to the Crimean throne," he said. "The knight you saw earier is called Kieran." The mage turned to Lucia then, allowing her to make her introduction.

Ike looked from Elincia, to Kieran, to his plate, and to Kieran again. "I should probably go, shouldn't I?" He sighed and pushed his chair back from the table and stood up. "Can I at least invite them to lunch? I'm not skipping lunch because of them." He walked out of the dining hall and began moving toward the throne room, gesturing for Kieran to follow. "Any idea who they are this time?" he inquired as they moved down the hallway.

Lucia looked at the couple, then turned to Alexander. "Lucia Delbray, sister and advisor to the Queen." She observed the room, before deciding it would be best to move on to practical issues. "Can I assume those bags are for your friends as well as yourselves?" Either way, they would likely be moved to the same wing of the palace that the Ivalicians were currently housed in. It would be neither necessary or effective to try separating them, so Lucia didn't intend to try.

Marche gently removed Ritz's arm from around his neck and eyed the bags skeptically. "So, after accounting for the half of them that will be yours, you brought everyone clothes, right?" As a group, they Ivalicians had been borrowing clothes from their hosts and getting the ones that belonged to them washed as quickly as possible. It would be nice to have clothes that were actually his as well as actually clean. "And it was still reckless and stupid, Ritz. All mages lie, especially palace ones."

Syl looked away from Alexander, still looking just slightly annoyed. However, the best way to ignore someone is to be doing something else; and so he occupied himself with the situation at hand. "How'd they figure out the spell? Was it the remnants? I'm sure the shielding was bad; the work was pretty rushed."

"I'll join you in a moment, Ike!" Elincia called at her husband's departing form. Kieran followed after the King, prepared to defend him if need be. Not that Ike would need defending, but it was Kieran's duty as a knight to be prepared for anything that could go awry.

"They appear to know those that have been here for the past week," Kieran answered. "I did not hear their names, however," he reported.

Soren listened to the exchange between the Ivalicians, trying to make sense of the theory they were discussing. He had talked more with Syl and Marche in the week that they'd been here, and had gathered more information about Ivalician magic. He had also gathered that he might have learned more had he talked to Roderick, but after the first impression he'd given, the mage thought that that might not be a good idea.

Ike spun around in the hallway to wave at Elincia and nearly walked backward into a column. After that incident, he watched where he walked as he and Kieran moved toward the throne room. While they weren't full-on sprinting as the knight had been, they made good time at the brisk pace Ike set. "I thought the original thing was some sort of accident, though. How would more come through, if it was an accident?" Ike wasn't really asking Kieran, since he knew the knight wouldn't know. The king was simply stating his current understanding; if it didn't make sense to Kieran either, it was something to look into.

Alexander was the one to answer Syl's question, and his explanation was clear enough that Soren would be able to garner a semblance of understanding from it. "Members of Clan Nutsy heard the spell go and saw the end of it. The area was immediately placed under lockdown, and mages flooded the palace to offer their... assistance." His repugnance for these mages was clear as he spoke of their assistance, mostly because he had been stuck selecting which ones were just curious and which could actually help. Three days of only mage contact would make anyone grumpy. "Eventually, some Nu Mou had a breakthrough and realized what you'd done. They were the first group to check outside Ivalice for you; and, after that, it was really more a matter of arguing about who got to come find you." Despite Syl's obvious disinclination to speak to him, Alexander really had no intention of leaving his half-brother be. Using pre-existing crowd favorites to garner favor was an old tactic, but still effective; and, since Syl and Marche did not appear to be constrained, it was somewhat safe to assume that they were pleasing in some way to the people in charge.

Ritz frowned at Marche and flounced away from him. She stood a few feet away from him and eyed the trunks skeptically. "Hardly half. Besides, it's not my fault I had to account for all weather and socio-economic settings. If you'd done a better job coming back, I wouldn't even have to be... here." The woman floundered slightly as she realized that she had absolutely no idea where she was and as she took in the throne room for the first time. The wedding decorations were down by now, but the hall was still grandoise in the extreme. Her jaw started to drop before she caught herself and addressed Soren and Lucia. "Could you tell me where I am? I just <i>love</i> what you did with the windows."

Lucia watched the exchanges going on with Soren, having some difficulty keeping up with the rapid information exchanges and being hindered even more by her lack of magical training. Soren did, at least, have a foundation to work off of. When Ritz addressed them, however, she reoriented herself and answered the question. "This is the throne room of Melior, capital city of the nation Crimea, on the continent of Tellius. From what I understand, you're in a different universe." The noblewoman looked hesitantly at Soren, not entirely sure on the subject of universes. Over the last few days, there had been several detailed conversations about whether or not this was simply a different time line, a universe inside a larger multiverse, or a different mulitverse. To her, it had sounded fairly pointless and boring; and so Lucia had focused on other things.

Kieran was about to reply to the King with the two walked in on the tail-end of the conversation... conversations between Ritz and Lucia and Alexander and anybody that happened to be listening. The red knight motioned for Ike to follow him as the two went over to join the group. Kieran placed himself next to Syl and watched Alexander for a few long minutes. In the week that the Ivalicians had been here, Kieran had made somewhat of a habit out of talking to and sparring with Syl, so it was of little suprise that the knight caught on quickly regarding who he was seeing.

"Your brother," he said to Syl as he gestured to Alexander. "No, sorry, half brother. Alexander, isn't it?" he shifted slightly to look at the noble. "Kieran, Captain of the Fifth Platoon and Vice Captain of the Royal Knights," he introduced.

Soren allowed Lucia to explain the what and where of things to Ritz and Alexander while he busied himself with trying to catch Ike up on everything that had just happened. Of course, trying to explain something you didn't quite grasp yourself was a bit of work, but Soren felt that, of all people, the King would want to keep on top of everything going on. When Lucia mentioned the seperate universe theory that he and Bastian (mostly Bastian) had discussed at length with the Ivalician mages, he decided to chime in.

"It's still rather unclear. Perhaps you two can shed some light on the connection between our realm and yours?" he asked.

Syl looked at Kieran and nodded, somewhat resigned to his fate. He'd hoped to avoid bringing his relationship to Alexander forward until another time; but, considering they had the same surname, it wasn't really avoidable. "Alexander and Ritz," he said, gesturing to the two of them. "Lucia, Soren, Kieran, and Ike, the king of Crimea." There were enough people here that it made sense to do the introducations for everyone, rather than one on one.

Alexander nodded and began to respond to Soren's question; but Ritz interjected before him, moving over to Ike with a fanatic light in her eyes. "You're the king? So you can tell me who was responsible for this wonderful decorating?" She waved a hand to indicate the room before setting it on her hip and staring at Ike. "I'll have to take notes before we leave; Bervenia Palace is in desparate need of help, and this room inspires me so." She spun around flamboyantly, then leaned against the wall and gazed at the windows, mostly ignoring the conversation.

Ike stumbled backward as Ritz leapt toward him, having hardly expected such an energetic person after the expectation set by the first group. However, he recovered himself quickly and answered her question, in the vague hope that it would calm her down. "I believe my wife had something to do with it; she'll be here shortly." He watched her nod aimlessly, then turned back to the rest of the conversation in an attempt to forget the interaction had ever happened.

Alexander, once Ritz had finished interrupting, continued with his explanation. "I believe the current theory is that we are in the same multiverse, but separate universes. According to this theory, all universes in this multiverse will have compatible magics and peoples, physically; but they will have separate deities, physical attributes, cultures, and so on. Other multiverses, existing out there somewhere, would have completely different and incompatible dwellers. The spell was originally designed for immediately transportation between two locations. A slight change of direction causes you to go to the same place in a different universe. Thus, from one palace to another." The mage held out his hands slightly and shrugged. "It should be reversible fairly quickly, as soon as major spell working differences have been accounted for."

Lucia listened to this explanation carefully, nodding as it made sense in a way that none of Bastian, Soren, Gernave, Montblanc, Syl, or, occasionally, Mewt's arguing had. Of course, Alexander had the benefit of not being spoken over or bickered at before he could get his words out; but he seemed to know what he was doing all the same. "In that case, assuming you mean us no harm, shall we move to the dining hall? The trunks can remain here for now; I'll have servants relocate them once I have a better idea of where your quarters will be."

The corners of Soren's mouth turned slightly upwards as Ritz spoke to Ike, and the mage let out a soft half-sigh that would have been a chuckle had he been a more well-spirited person. He listened to Lucia's suggestion, then nodded in agreement.

"Right. Kieran, will you see to their things?" he asked. The knight quickly assented and proceeded to pick up as many of the trunks as he could without danger of dropping anything.

"To the same wing with the others?" he asked.

"For the time being, yes," Soren agreed. With that, Kieran trotted off down the hallways, and the mage turned back to the Ivalicians.

"...right, then. Shall we be off?" he asked, heading in the opposite direction Kieran had gone.

...only to meet Elincia on his way. Soren sighed, wondering how many more interruptions there would be and just how many more introductions needed to be made.

"Oh, hello," the Queen said, smiling gently at Alexander and Ritz. "You two must be the newcomers I've been hearing about. A pleasure, truly," she said, inclining her head slightly to them. Any less would be considered rude by Crimean standards; any more would be an affront to her own standing. "I am Queen Elincia Crimea."

((Do you want to bring in Mewt and Bastian? Mewt would wander around with Bastian to discuss magical theory,  but he wouldn't want Marche knowing, because of security concerns. Also, since Alexander thinks Mewt should be dethroned and sent to live on an island, conversations between them are awkward.))

Alexander bowed slightly to Elincia. The full bows that had been given to her at her first meetings with those from Ivalice had been appropriate in the circumstance only, as some level of submission had been necessary due to the awkwardness of the situation. However, Alexander wasn't in such an unfortunate situation; so a half bow, which marked him as below her but not under her authority, was entirely appropriate. "Alexander De Issand, heir of Lord Cyril, and head of Clan Cyril. Delighted to make your acquaintance." After that brief introduction, he glanced at Syl and motioned to the remaining trunks. "You wanna help me get those?" He inquired, something more of an expectation that an actually question. The noble strode over to the trunks and lifted several of them, leaving exactly one less for Syl. It wasn't hard to pick up on the tension between the two brothers, though it appeared to simply be the common competition that exitsed between siblings.

Syl shrugged and turned, lifting the rest of the boxes with ease. Quickly, he and Alexander set off after Kieran; and they soon overtook the man. This worked well, for any words to be said would probably be from the red knight. Neither of the brothers was really interested in talking to the other; they went more than six days without speaking in Ivalice. Syl looked over at Kieran and, as a way to break the silence, asked an easy question. "Kieran, Alexander was just saying how curious he was about the defensive infrastructures of Crimea. I was hoping someone as involved as you are would have time to explain it to him." It was a complete lie, but it wasn't one his brother could get out of without making them both look bad. If Syl knew anything about Alexander, it was that he would never deliberately make himself look bad.

Meanwhile, Ritz curtsied slightly and smiled at Elincia. She would have skipped up to the queen and taken her by the arm, but Marche foresaw this action and took her by the arm. "This is Ritz Malheur, my fiancee." He held onto her firmly, despite the nasty look he got from her because of it. After a brief moment, she stopped trying to subtly slip out of his grip and slipped her hand into his, frowning at him anyway. "As you know, she just came through from Ivalice."

Ritz looked from Elincia, to the windows, then back to Elincia as the newcomer's eyes lit up. "Wait, you're the queen?" She gasped and bounced slightly, immediately fastening back on the positive thing, as opposed to Marche's vexatious behavior. "Are you the person responsible for those windows? I just have to tell you, I <i>adore</i> this color scheme. Do you think those colors would work Bervenia?" she demanded of Marche. Without quite giving him time to answer, she shook her head. "Oh, it wouldn't. Mewt's such a white and gold boy, but it would be so much more fun if I didn't already know. I supposed there's no way for me to forget. Oh well."

It was obvious that Syl was a quick learner; if his goal was to annoy his brother through Kieran's tireless rambling, he'd asked the right question. It didn't take too long to learn that Kieran would prattle on endlessly about his beloved home country, especially concerning his service to it. "Oh! I'm delighted you thought to ask!" the red knight began, then shot into his normal speech regarding Crimea's military and political traditions, adding that, though the knights of Crimea were peerless, they had little need to fight because of the country's peaceful intentions. He rambled about that for a while, but some how he got his words turned around and the conversation led to one about his horse.

"My comrade-in-arms is he! And, not many know this, but besides being my faithful mount and stalwart ally, he is a great listener!"

"Ah, have you gotten our loquacios one into a fervor again, Sylvester?" chimed in a voice as the trio passed an ajoining hallway. The Count of Fayare smiled at the three, then moved into a sweeping bow. "Count Bastian, Crimean retainer, at your service, my good lord," he said, pointing the words in Alexander's direction.

Elincia smiled, somewhat fascinated by the girl's animated greeting. "Green, gold, white, and pink are the colors of the Crimean flag and emblem. As this is the capital, it only makes sense that the palace would be decorated as such," she explained. "We are a country founded mainly on agriculture, so we prefer bright colors that harken to spring and summertime," she added. "If you've an intrest, I could show you the courtyards at some point. The gardners pride themselves on their landscaping abilities." The Queen was quick to warm to Ritz, but it was hard not to; the girl was obviously very good-natured and friendly.

Alexander nodded at Bastian and extended a hand. "Alexander De Issand, heir to Lord Cyril, and head of Clan Cyril." His smile locked into place when he saw Mewt walk up behind Bastian. "Mewt... You can't imagine how thrilled I am to see you alive." The lack of Mewt's title, prince, was deliberate. Unlike the others Bastian had met, Alexander wasn't a Young Roylist. He wasn't a Royalist at all, and the teen had no intention of acknowledging Mewt as above him in anyway. "Not that I was all that concerned, I admit. You did have Marche and Syl here to keep you alive."

Mewt jumped slightly and flushed when he saw Syl and Alexander. Unknown to Bastian, the young prince had deliberately slipped out of the library to talk with Bastian, to get away from the constant annoyance of being under the supervision of bodyguards. However, he recovered quickly and greeted all three. "Syl, Kieran... Alexander? However did you arrive here? And yes, they are rather good at their jobs." His political face also slid into place at Alexander's appearance; and, to Bastian at least, it would be obvious what was going on.

Ritz sighed and blinked her eyes up at Marche, managing this despite being nearly the same height. "The entire palace is currently in white, gold, and red. I could do something with the red, but red and gold are the colors of Cyril, and white and gold are the colors of the Desares, and white and red make Mewt look like he's bleeding." She shrugged, brightening up as she thought of something that pleased her. "At least, once Marche marries me, ours will be the green and bronze of Koringwood, combined with the blue and silver of Clan Nutsy. She reached forward and tugged on Marche's ponytail gently, smiling only at him for a brief second. "Marche looks good in all of those colors, of course; but I'll probably have to replace my whole wardrobe." The woman said this mostly to see the frozen expression cross Marche's face, at the idea of paying for one of her shopping sprees. They were, actually, legendary.

Marche changed the topic, deliberately latching onto something that would keep Ritz occupied other than how she would dress him and herself once they were married. "You would adore their gardens, Ritz. I mean, I couldn't care less about plants; but even I think they look good." He guided Ritz along the hallway, watching as Ike took Elincia by the arm and led her back toward the dining hall. Awkwardly enough, this left only Soren and Lucia to be the non-couple in the group.

Lucia took advantage of the opportunity and dropped back, gently touching Soren on the arm. As it was so conveniently possible, she wanted to use the opportunity to discuss the most recent events with Soren. Alexander and Ritz changed the current situation somewhat, mostly because they provided so much more information, by their reaction to those already here and by the reaction of those already here to the new-newcomers. "Any particular thoughts, Soren?"

Bastian quirked his brow at the detectable shift in atmosphere created by Alexander's appearance, but did not say anything of it quite yet. Though he himself could talk on about most anything, he knew enough to know what topics to stay away from. "Headed to the guest room, are you then? Ah, Kieran, permit me..." The count reached to take a trunk from the red knight, but he jerked back, bellowing,

"I Crimean Knight needs no aid!"

He would have gone on, Bastian knew, so the count cut him off with a wave of his hand and filled the ensuing pause with something much more pleasureable that Kieran's tirades - the count's own voice.

"Do as you will, then. I shall not interfere, but mayhap you will permit me to accompany you on this walk? I believe Mewt needed to retrieve something from his quarters, and so we will be heading in that direction as well. Shall we join you?"

Knowing the count would follow no matter what he said, Kieran assented with a nod. "Aye, then. Make yourself useful," the knight indicated that Bastian should take a trunk from Alexander. "And do not tarry! We have much to do on this day!"

Elincia regarded the topic of wardrobe with a smile. "Oh, you should have seen the protest Ike put up with faced with formal attire. It took Kieran and Geoffrey a good hour to help him figure out the suit he wore for the wedding!" she jibed lightly, grinning at her husband.

Soren appeared to be a bit surprised that someone was asking after him; not only was there the fact that there was so much going on, but there was the fact that he went through life unnoticed a good bit of the time. He in fact preferred that - interaction on the part of the mage more often than not led to conflict - but he usually had better luck when speaking with a select few. Lucia numbered among them.

"...my first thought is to question how many more of these guests Crimea will receive. We can only be glad that the laguz and most of the other wedding guests returned home right after the wedding. Melior is expansive, but I do not know how some of those nobles would have reacted to sharing rooms," he finished, a bit sarcastically.

Sylvester watched Alexander trade one off to Bastian, then sped up slightly to reach the rooms faster. "I would welcome the company. To answer your question, Mewt," here Syl entered onto a restatement of Alexander's story of how he and Ritz had arrived there, as well as a summary of the events since then. "I'm thinking we'll just drop these into the main room until we get them sorted." 'The main room' was a reference to the way the Ivalicians had sorted the bedrooms. Rather than leave one person per bedroom, they had moved two beds into the largest room, two beds into the second largest room, and left one bed where it was. This had enabled them to put Mewt in the middle, with a bodyguard, as well as putting two bodyguards closer to him and between him and the rest of the world. The two empty bedrooms had been filled with all desks and such, since there had been very little use of them.

Mewt nodded acceptingly, but Alexander spoke up faster. "I could just sort them for you. I packed half of them, and I had to listen to Ritz's description of what she had packed and how she had packed all the others. I know who they belong to." This was somewhat of an offer and somewhat of an offended statement. He wasn't one to be unusued when he could be useful, especially not if he thought those in charge incapable of putting him properly to use. In Alexander's opinion, 'De Issand' should be synonymous with 'person in charge or nearly there, anyway'.

Ike protested Elincia's statement loudly and crossed his arms. "It didn't take us nearly that long. Thirty minutes at the longest, and that was only because you insisted I look like a dandy. If you'd let me have my way, we would have gotten married quite a lot faster. I still suspect you of stalling." He turned away from her slightly in mock annoyance, though everyone there could tell he was joking. It wasn't hard to see that feuding would never be one of this couple's problems.

Ritz laughed and looked Marche up and down. "I intend to hand him over to Syl and Mewt, who've both been coaching him on appropriate palace dress already. I'm betting on somewhere between half an hour to an hour, but my future maid of honor thinks he'll take at least an hour to get ready." Before Marche could protest either of those statements, she pulled his hair around his neck and stuck it in his mouth to keep him quiet. "There is one benefit to that, I suppose. It'll make me look much more moderate."

"They seemed to think this would be about the end of it." Lucia laughed slightly as she pictured Soren explaining to any of the nobles that they would be sharing a room. It was almost funny enough to try. "But you're right, we're lucky that most of them departed. Nearly all of them were only invited because of politics anyway. No one could possibly have that many close friends, could they?" She frowned, contemplating briefly what was required for someone to be considered a close friend and how many were possible in a lifetime. "You won't have that problem, of course. When you get married, it'll just be your wife's friends, Ike, and Elincia, unless I'm very much mistaken.

Bastian nodded in agreement to Alexander's offer. "Most good of you, sir," he said. "If you would find yourself so inclined, I'm sure it'd be a help to the others. Some of the servants are a bit... unaccostomed to sorting through the things of a people so strange to our land," he explained. "But if it please you, I can send a few your way to offer aid."

Elincia smiled warmly at Ike and gripped his arm a bit tighter. "How could you think such a thing? It's only <i>you</i>, after all." Here, she laughed, then teased, "The sooner it was over with, the better!"

After that, the young Queen turned to Marche and Ritz. "So you are engaged? Congradulations," she said, smiling at the couple.

Soren scoffed lightly. "<i>When</i> I get married?" he asked, looking slightly suprised that she would think to bring up such a topic. "I pity the girl unlucky enough to be stuck with me," he said, sneering slightly at his self-depriciation. He paused for a moment, thinking, then said, "Maybe a couple hundred years from now. When the Branded are better established." He kept his voice low as he spoke, not wanting Marche or Rtiz to be pulled into the conversation. It was no longer a secret to Lucia about Soren's lineage - she had found out herself some time ago. Still, this might have been the first time he'd brought it up as a topic of conversation with her.