Arshalous rose from her kneeling position and made way to the banquet hall. There would be much food there, and she was not hungry. Thankfully, there would be too many people for anybody of importance to notice her rudeness when she did not eat anything. Besides, there was the Emissary to occupy everybody's full attention.
As her sandals tapped lightly on the stone courtyard, she saw a man leaning against the wall. He was robed in black and purple, dark hair fell in waves to his shoulders, his eyes were a grey blue like a river whispering on a foggy morning, and, wonders of wonders, he was beardless, though his skin was dark from the cruel sun. If she had not known better, she would have thought him of the Avari kindred.
She stopped and said, "You are the Emissary, are you not?"
He pushed himself from the wall and kissed the back of her hand. "Indeed I am, fair lady --? He glanced enquiringly at her.
"Arshalous," she said, with a small bow. She swayed uncomfortably on her feet. There was something about him....something powerful about him that she had only felt in the king during the few times she had met him. Pity that none of the other nobles had such power coursing through them.
"It is very noble that the king has prepared this banquet in my honour," the Emissary said with a smile.
"It would have been rude for us not to," Arshalous said.
He looked shrewdly at her, a light flickering in his blue grey eyes.
"I am surprised that you journeyed across the desert to us," Arshalous said as she slowly strolled toward the banqueting hall.
A smile flickered in the Emissary's face and he said, "My lord is anxious for an alliance."
"It is my opinion that alliances do not often end well. I wouldn't be surprised if our countries were at each other's throats like snarling dogs in a few hundred years," said Arshalous sourly.
The man smiled politely. "That will not happen here."
"They always say that," Arshalous replied, staring at him. "The feast is about to begin," she said abruptly. "I would invite you to sit with me, though I am assume that the King has already offered you a place by his side, since, in fact, the banquet is in your honour."
"You are correct," the Emissary said, kissing her hand once more.
As Arshalous swept down the hall toward a seat in the twilight, she thought of the Emissary, how strong and noble he looked, how confident he seemed in an alliance between the East and the West. He was so different than the nobles here -- the image of Korak flitted through her mind -- in his wisdom and his kind face.
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