Awkward Introduction

Jien gave everyone a light smile and greeted them back as he took a seat among the other noble children. Despite being asked what had happened he refused to give a straight answer, instead stating that the stress of the summoning had gotten to him and caused him to collapse. He did however mention that the summoning itself was a success and that they would be able to meet his summon in a while.That particular statement piqued the interest of all those present who were not in his bedroom during the final negotiation. Of course they had seen the grey skinned, crimson haired woman who had appeared from the summoning but given everything that happened they hadn't spent much time thinking on the topic. They were focused more on Jien's health and recovery, the children feeling guilty for suggesting he attempt the summoning in the first place and the adults about whether he would ever wake up and if so if he would have lasting injuries.Jien drank tea that was provided and reassured everyone that he felt quite fine after the few hours of rest he had had. He wasn't concerned with his health and made sure that everyone knew that the specialists who had examined him had found nothing wrong with him. He didn't particularly want to be the center of attention, so he focused more on his tea than he did on the actual conversation, at times trying to lead it away from the topic of himself. Much like Barret, he would have rather sat there quietly and listened to the conversations around him, but nobody wanted to let him have that peace.Both fortunately and unfortunately it wasn't long before Runa walked into the room followed by a beautiful woman with bronze skin, straight crimson hair that reached the small of her back and eyes that flickered in shades of gold, red and orange like live flames. She wore a simple but elegant emerald dress with gold accents, a black headband that seemed to be formed of countless interweaving knots and a pair of matching black high heels.As Anuva stepped into the room, she immediately became that center of attention. Nobody quite knew what to make of her appearance at first sight. They could immediately tell based on her general characteristics that this must be the demon that was summoned, but if they didn't know of this, they likely would have thought her to be the daughter of a noble from the southern port towns. This was nothing like what any of them knew about demons and summoning them.Once Anuva had entered and approached the catch behind him, she kept a calm but silent demeanor in front of Jien's guests. He had informed her of the importance of this event, and it wasn't like she could understand anyone but Jien, nor could they understand her if she were to try and talk to them. This led to many long moments of silence before Jien was forced to clear his throat to get their attention.Though he really didn't want to be the center of all of this Anuva was his contracted demon and thus his responsibility, especially because she refused to take a form akin to that of the other contracted demons in the room. "Everyone, this is my contracted demon, Anuva. Though you likely will not be able to understand her or the other way around I hope you will treat her well in our interactions going forward." Anuva gave a calm smile that could be considered lukewarm at best and most definitely didn't reach her eyes, but everyone treated it normally. This was a demon; they didn't expect her to act as they did or know their customs. In fact, they really had no idea how to interact with her at all, so they tended to act almost as if she was just another person in the room, neither coldly nor warmly but without serious interaction.Like this, things gradually went back to normal with the addition of the one extra person in the room. Though the noble children tried to be friendly and have their contracted demons converse with Anuva in their stead they found that their summons seemed to shy away from doing so. The demons didn't explain why, but when the children tried to convince them to do so they tended to act as if they hadn't heard anything. Jien didn't even try to convince Anuva to do so. He had gotten the hint about her opinion of the other summoned demons and didn't wish to have to explain it to anyone because it was both rude on many levels and had nothing to do with the noble children themselves that he was aware of.Soon enough a few hours had passed, and the children and their parents left to get ready for the final two parts of the festivities. They would have a formal dinner and a dance into the night, followed by the guests staying the night and taking off in the morning after a breakfast.