"Prince Droka, it is a pleasure." Jinayah curtsied, ignoring the faintest pop of her knees. "I am Princess Jinayah of Apura. It's a true pleasure. I am sorry to hear about your brother." Not knowing the context behind his death, she could only think of what it would mean to lose one of her own sisters.

"You're luckily still in time for the main ball. Would you prefer to dance, or should I show you to the food table?" Then again, perhaps the Prince would simply prefer to rest after a long time of travel.

There was a moment where Droka's eyes blinked in surprise at her offer to dance. While it was true that back in Tushina there were those who asked him to attend events or take part in something, usually there was an undercurrent of obligation and tradition behind such requests that actually refusing them without losing face or having it used against him unless something truly horrible was in progress.

The chance to actually politely decline was a novel idea... but one that he wouldn't indulge at this time. Taking a step away from the wall, he politely reached out to take her hand somewhat gently. A small smile appeared on his face as he explained "Considering that this gathering was organized in part so that I could meet yourself and your sisters, I feel like it would be the height of rudeness if I refused to spend any time with you. Besides, you were the first to come and speak with me so... I am at your disposal. What would you care to do Jinayah?"

She giggled a little when he seemed shocked she had told him there was no need to apologize. Though the conversation quickly went to where her eyes had landed. “Oh no, nothing like that, more just nosey. I am the eldest after all, I am used to keeping my siblings out of trouble.” It was a lie, she had, for some reason, felt a small pang of jealousy seeing her sister speaking to the Prodzy Prince. Though she couldn’t figure out why exactly she felt this way. They had only just met, and it honestly didn’t matter how she felt since it would be the Princes picking them to be their wives not the other way around. After another moment of two the song finally came to an end and Annalise curtsied to the Prince in front of her. “I apologize, I need a break from the dancefloor, it was a pleasure speaking with you.”

She didn’t even give him a chance to reply, she simply turned and walked to the back of the room where less eyes would be on her, taking a seat and removing the shoes she had been wearing with a sigh of relief. Why her handmaids had insisted on her wearing heels when they knew she would be dancing was a mystery to the Princess. Regardless, her feet hurt and she desperately needed a break. Unfortunately even here in the back of the room nobles wishing to dance found her and pestered her. With the polite smile on her face she rejected their offers and tried her best not to lose her patience with the more persistent ones. After a bit the nobles left her alone, she hadn’t realized one of the guards had slid closer to her and had taken it upon himself to shoo off any coming her way with a simple look. When she did notice she nodded to the guard and mouthed a “thank you” before finally relaxing in her seat.

@LostDestiny
Prince Alexander blinked. But, he nodded. He was respectful. He did not push the subject or anything.
"...Very well."
He continued to dance with her. He did his best to try and cheer her up, to at least be a friend. But, soon enough, the song had ended. Their dance was over. He did his best not to sigh. He glanced at Annalise when she excused herself like that. She had also apologized.
"Very well. Farewell...I suppose."
He watched her leave.

Everyone else:
The prince wondered off to another area. His sister tried to follow him to scold him in private. He was not in the mood and he tried to avoid her. He tried not to look at the other princesses either.

Vyarin continued to wander about the fringes of the party. Occasional snippets of conversation he would catch, then repeat to himself when he was out of their earshot. Always practice, practice, and eventually maybe he'll be the one speaking Apura and a foreigner would be parroting him. He didn't have the heart to ask any of the ladies to dance. Vyarin was a fortified man in his body and his mind, shying nothing from a bout nor a battlefield. Yet, this bravery of the court he found he was completely devoid of.

Eventually he found himself hugging the wall, looking out a window at the now-setting sun. Where were his loyal men? Perhaps in the town, causing who knows what sorts of trouble. One can never say with soldiers, even those reputed to be disciplined. It was a town, it must have some unsavoury pastimes that any man might fall into. And what of the danger? Two unexplainable events had befallen this hall today alone. What would tomorrow bring? Only the sun knows, as it descends past the quaint rolling hills following along the horizon.

@Bright_Ops

Jin had to admit, she hadn’t been asked what she wanted to do since this whole thing started. It was quite refreshing, actually. “Actually, Prince Droka, I don’t wish to dance – I’ve been dancing all night and I’m a bit tired of it. I was just trying to be polite.” She admitted that with a sweet and apologetic smile.

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather just talk. It’s near impossible to talk and dance. I’d love to learn more about your home country, if it’s not much trouble.” She wondered if him talking about his home would stir up bad feelings about the loss of his brother. “If it hurts to talk about right now, I will understand. We can talk about anything else you like.”

@Mistress Dizzy

It appeared that letting the Princess have a say in what they did was the right option. Droka couldn't help but chuckle softly as he answered "For what it's worth, it's likely for the best. Because between you and me, I don't really know that many dances."

The question about his home country and why it might hurt him to talk about confused him for a moment... before he remembered mentioning the death of his half brother earlier. Perking up as understanding reached him, he chuckled again before explaining "Oh, you're not familiar with how Tushina... okay. I won't go into the full, in-depth details of the history of Tushina inheritance laws because it's so tangled up with religion and politics that I would literally need to give you the full history of Tushina in order to give everything the context it needs to make sense." The look on his face suggested that he was completely serious about that as well, but he took a quick breath as he slipped into teacher mode.

"The short, relevant briefing of it is that when it comes to inheritance, lands and titles are equally divided among the sons of the deceased... with it being split among the daughters only if there are no sons. Now this is all well and good for most people, but when it comes to the ruling family of Tushina it becomes something of a problem because historically it's a fairly fast way to kick start a civil war over succession. So the general practice is that the current ruler will go through their current selection of valid heirs and select one to be the heir of the throne. This decision can be changed with time and circumstance and isn't locked in... until either the ruler believes the end is coming or they suddenly die. Either way, standard procedure is for all valid pretenders and any male offspring they might have are to be executed as swiftly as possible to prevent the possibility of a succession crisis."

Despite the fact that most people would have been horrified by just hearing about such a brutal practice, let alone be one of the people who has to live with the possibility of being caught out by it, Droka seemed completely at ease. "Even without that hanging over our heads, my half brother was a complete ass and we didn't get along all that well. The fact that he's dead and I'm here to marry either yourself or one of your sisters more or less locks me in as the heir of Tushina so... if it looks like I'm strangely joyous about the death of my half brother and the possibility of an arranged marriage, it is because for the first time in my life the shadow of the executioner is not hanging over me."

"I would love to hear more about you and your kingdom through." He added, deciding to try and lighten the mood just a little.

@Bright_Ops

Jin stared blankly, probably impolitely, at Prince Droka for several seconds before she recovered. How brutal, how terrible would it be to have to fight her sisters for legitimacy? Or be killed just so there was no chance of a succession war? She would probably bow out of that whole nonsense and live in the woods if that was to occur. At least he seemed to be taking things in stride – it was second nature to him, likely. Still, it was rather terrifying for her to imagine.

“Ahem.” After a moment of recovery, she smiled at him. “Thank you for telling me about your situation. The history books don’t really mention that kind of detail. While I am sorry for your loss of family, even if you did not get along, I will join you in celebrating the fact that you are now heir. Congratulations.”

What could she saw about her home kingdom? There was so much to tell, and yet… where to begin? “Well, we do a lot of mining and blacksmithing here. A lot of our exports are weapons. For all I know, your kingdom may have used one of our swords or lances. There’s also some very good hunting grounds in our kingdom. Wild elk, deer, pheasant – oh, and you can’t forget the pastries. You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted a fresh out of the oven snowberry tart in the midwinter.” Her earlier horror pushed away, her eyes started to alight as she talked about her beloved home.

Suddenly, midsentence about the finer points of the rapier exports, she stalled. “...I just realized how much I’m going to miss home once I marry.” Her gaze faltered. “If only Father would allow us more time.”

@Mistress Dizzy

It was an interesting thing, watching the contrast between the shock and horror that was on her face as he told her of a sample of the political realities of Tushina to the spark and joy that came into her eyes as she spoke about her homeland. He privately made a mental note that she was somewhat obsessive about weaponry and that if she was to be his bride, it would be a good idea to do some study on the subject.

As she faltered, he couldn't help but feel the need to try and comfort her a little. "Don't be too harsh on him. If it was up to him I suspect he would have let you follow your heart when the time came, but alas he sits on the throne of Apura. It is the nature of thrones that while you may use one to impose your will on others, the throne imposes its will on you in turn."