[center][h2]Zakroti Unalim[/h2][sub] 
Interacting with: Aymiria Unalim [@Amethyst], Aurora Liesma [@WeepingLiberty][/sub][/center]

Despite everything Zakroti was half disappointed to see that the girls of the court had withdrawn, robbing him of his encounter with Evey. Perhaps he would be fortunate enough to see her again next year, or sooner depending on what the royals had in mind after today. He wondered whether they were in the business of selling if one felt it suitable-

He immediately pushed the thoughts out of his head. Why did he so dwell on her? She was nothing. It would only serve to infuriate Miry and waste his money; while he had the latter in spades, he hardly felt it appropriate. Besides, he was getting another bride today. He glanced down to the ground in a strange mixture of shame and disappointment- and anger. Keregar had been lucky, perhaps, that Zakroti had managed to maintain a mostly cool head throughout their encounter, something he hadn't been sure himself would happen, for he had longed to see red. Still, he Keregar was an old and respected Warlord and ultimately Zakroti preferred to leave an impression on him than to murder him in cold blood in some back alley. In future, perhaps, they might need to work together and in spite of his posturing in their encounter, he knew that the old warlord likely had a few tricks up his sleeve that Zakroti could learn from. He wouldn't burn all his bridges based on nothing more than emotion.

He had missed his opportunity to fight in the arena upon returning, but he knew that there would be time for more duels or sparring later that he could vent his frustration on. He was still pensive in his thoughts when the guardsman approached with his new bride; Zakroti looked up and nodded to him, opening his mouth to speak as he glanced to the girl- but no words came out and his mouth hung open for a few seconds.

He paused. Zakroti turned the same shade as his silver-white armour, his reptilian eyes widening in shock as if he had seen a ghost. Surely it could not be? For a moment he mistook the girl for Kasari herself, she certainly looked close enough. A hint of guilt leapt into his throat as he recalled the events of the previous year, the clashing of Steel and the moment Kasari had been slashed by Aery. A disaster, one which he bore guilt for as well as honour for having defeated Lugft. 

"Vivarieiz varlas..." He murmured to exclamation to himself as he looked upon the ghost of his past.

But this girl was not Kasari; he picked out the differences in her appearance; She was a little younger and slightly shorter, for example, her eyes too seemed more vivid. She bore a strong resemblance to be sure, but she was definitely a different person. A relative of some kind, or else astronomical cosmic coincidence. The former was slightly unsettling as a thought; he wondered how many others of her family there were, whether it had now been deprived completely of its next generation or not. He cared not for the fortunes of minor Gem families (nor, for that matter, for many of the major ones), but he did feel that he somewhat owed this family his thoughts for having cost them the lives of one daughter and now the presence of another. He had heard that the Gems treated those who were reaped as being as good as dead, and he could understand such a position. The discomfort turned to disdain as he remembered that even if this was the case, the Gems would be too weak in spirit to try and do anything about, and too weak in body to succeed even if they did.  

"Pass the message to his majesty that he has my gratitude and I am awed by his apparent sorcery." Zakroti joked with a thin smile as he approached the girl. In his surprise he reached out to place a hand against her arm, having half expected his hand to phase through her like she was some kind of ghost. But now, she was quite solid. What a replacement indeed... The Prince had done him quite the service, he would have to see it repayed in time. He did not like being indebted. But perhaps that was the point, it was no secret that the King was an old man and his sons may well come to blows at his passing. The influential lords of the realm made good allies and terrible enemies, Gaelnesh was old enough and wise enough to see this.

As the guard backed away Zakroti glanced down towards Miry, then over his shoulders towards his men, their stance steady for a fight- but this was not something that they could protect him from, the sudden difficulty and excitement of encountering someone who so resembled his lost bride. He looked back to the girl who was not Kasari. The expression on her face showed that she had all the same fire burning inside her, however, which he thought was a good thing overall. If looks could kill...

Perhaps he was getting ahead of herself, perhaps she merely looked the part. Was it within reason that the Prince had perhaps seen a girl who had resembled Kasari and had thought that she would make a suitable replacement? No, that didn't make any sense. He seriously doubted the Prince would have known what she had looked like, so no, it was almost a certainty that she was related to Kasari and had been taken based on her name and beauty. 

"Let us not delay, for there is much to say. I am Zakroti Unalim, I have the honour of being your new husband." Zakroti said with an inquisitive expression sitting on his face, his brow clocked slightly and his eyes examining her carefully. She glared at him harshly enough as it was, and he hardly expected it to get any better once she learnt precisely who he was. He had ordered that the body sent back to her family, as he recalled, that they might bury her properly according to their own ways and customs and mourn her loss - although in hindsight they were just as likely to have considered such a thing a provocation or mockery as they were to consider it a remorseful gesture- and it hardly made it any better in any case, they likely blamed him all the same for what had happened. At the very least, he was sure that they rightly considered him to bare some of the responsibility for what had happened.

He felt the need to explain himself to her, almost to seek forgiveness from her on behalf of her family. He would very much have liked to get to know Kasari better, she would have been a fine addition to his household and while he had not known her well enough to truly mourn for her passing, he confessed that it had still been something of a blow to him all the same. Perhaps this was an opportunity to right those wrongs, to get to know this Gemmenite better than he had known the one to whom she had a resemblance. He wondered for a moment whether she too could dance- he never had gotten to see that before Kasari had died, and had in truth been looking forward to seeing it. The Drakken were not exactly known for their mastery of art and dance, unless it was the art of war and the dance of death.

He paused for a moment to stop his disorganised and rambling train of thought, and glanced to Miry to gauge her reaction. Then he looked back to the girl before him and asked the question which in truth he was sure he already knew the answer to. "Am I right to take it that you are of the Liesma family? What is your name?"