Banquet: Part 3

JP with Alexis , Gonyaul, Islana, Wim, Nicolaus, Winteroak, Voah, and Hunter:

And now Islana and Gonyaul had returned bearing gifts from the Duke. Voah walked past them holding a cup of tea.

"You two look... radiant."

It was true. Islana was youthful with lovely hair and Gonyaul was... for lack of a better word... beautiful. But she had never seen a man wear anything like this before nor thought to describe a man in such a way.

Nicolaus was escorted into the Keep's Great hall. A heavily laden table of food and drink was the central focus of the brightly lit room. General babble bubbled from the people filling the room. He wove through the throng and selected a likely cider and retreated to the edge of the party. He simply sipped his cider and observed the events unfolding.

Islana was surprised when the Arbiter came to speak with them. She gave the other woman a nod worthy of the woman's station and then responded, "Thank you, Arbiter." Islana responded. "It is good to see you again."

Islana was still clearly not healed mentally from what happened but, for those that could read her, she seemed slightly better than when they had returned to the Keep after the ordeal. She was, for one thing, speaking beyond just answering people.

Gonyaul was surprised by the chameleon nature of the Arbiter. She was fierce and dressed for battle in one instance, an indistinguishable man in another, and now a ravishing personification of grace and beauty. ~Do Arbiters transform throughout the week like seasons?~ he punted the idea around in his overactive imagination.

He politely bowed and signed greetings to the Arbiter. He was so pleasantly distracted by the banquet experience and the wonderful gift he just received that he was less on edge than he would have been. He felt energized as well from the celebratory conversation Islana and he had on their return walk to the banquet hall regarding their prizes.

So caught up in the moment was he, that he just replied unfiltered and unaware he was in his native tongue.

“Atana ag urim nod'an ikayagak om, atana on iaznos arak ukayagak ihsukustu-as on nat'uran nah'ie in nesamigus.”

It sounded like he could go on, but it dawned on him from seeing their expressions that he was being lost in translation. His cheeks blushed slightly as he realized what he had just did. Gonyaul looked down and bowed his head apologetically.

He collected himself, and more calmly this time replied, “Thank you.” It was pretty obvious that all of that didn’t translate to a mere thank you, but he left it at that.

Sir Zane returned with Wim Reise who looked extremely pleased with himself. He excused himself and asked for Voah and Hunter to accompany him to the Duke's office.

Voah bowed to Islana and Gonyaul then looked to Hunter and nodded before setting her tea down on a table and making her way into the office.

After the Arbiter was escorted away, Gonyaul looked to Islana and asked,

“I would like to show good news with Alexis and see how she is doing. Care join me?”

He pointed over to where Alexis was leaning against a wall.