Desmera II

293AC

She could not deny a light feeling of nervousness herself as her father shepherded the young prince of Dragon stone onto the balcony. Intellectually she knew what she was supposed to do, but still, she had never been betrothed before.

The prince for his part looked jovial, though his scarring was quite obvious despite the high collar of his embroidered clothing. His outfit was all black and white and gold and harsh contrast, rather than the bright colors favored by the reach. She wondered if that was a storm lander preference or measly some quirk of the prince himself.

"My Prince," she said, bowing in greeting as her father introduced her, commenting on her beauty in a way that made her smile. "It is a pleasure to meet you at last."

"Indeed lady Desmera, and you as well." He said, not at all breaking his jovial demeanor as he reached down and kissed her hand. "How does this evening find you?"

"Oh quite well." she put a smile on her face as she answered, guiding the prince to a chair on the vine-draped balcony. "The weather has been quite pleasant recently, and my new brother is the cutest little thing." A small lie in truth, her brother was still sort of small and shriveled, but he would be cuter in a few months she knew. "How about you? I hope your trip went well?"

"Oh yes, smooth sailing all the way down the coast, even coming through the Stepstones."

"Well," she smiled and met his gaze. "Your ships are rather imposing, I would not want to be the pirate to try his luck against them."

"Nor I," he laughed but it sounded false to her. Some tone in his voice that indicated he was no more bought into this situation than she was.

As she spied her father descending the stairs, she sighed into her hands. If he was trying to play the game as well this would end up being far too troublesome.

'But how to change the topic…'

"This cheese is excellent," he said as she thought, and she looked up to see him piling a plate of it up. "Honestly I don't know what Lady Ollena was thinking."

"Are you enjoying the food?" she asked, that was something at least, the Arbor was famous for its wine but it's food was also some of the best in Westeros.

"Very much so," he said, and it sounded much more honest this time. "Especially now that I actually have a chance to eat it, I couldn't while I was being introduced to everyone, but I was smelling it the whole time."

"We are quite proud of it here on the Arbor." She nodded smiling. "You should have some of the wine as well, it's vintage Arbor Red."

"Ah, maybe just a tiny bit, but I would very much like to keep my wits about me tonight my lady."

She nodded but inwardly cursed, he would be far more pliable when drunk, she thought, and the sip he took wouldn't intoxicate a cat much less a boy his size.

"It's very good," he said in appreciation as he returned the goblet to the side of his place. "In fact, I would say the entire feast has been excellent. Much better than most of the feasts on Dragonstone."

She smiled at that, it was something at least.

"Do you have feasts often at Dragonstone?"

"Hmm? Not really, only on the holidays of the Seven or name-days. None of us really have the temperament for feasting, and my father is always off in King's landing anyhow."

"Oh, that's a shame. Perhaps you would have more if the food was better."

That elicited the first smile she could tell was genuine tonight. 'success.'

Now if only she could direct the conversation away from food.