Re: Festival of Journeys - Aerial Pavilion
Thalia had in no way intended to place herself as Desus' equal in trade, knowing that quite apart from his extensive skill in that arena, he also had the contacts and connections that only centuries of effort could develop. Trade would only ever be a means to an end for her, not a passion. So Desus' offer of some advice later is more or less all she was hoping for. "My thanks for your kind offer, I shall see you later," she says as he bids his farewell.
The talk with Lilith didn't go quite so well, at least to start, although Thalia is not such a bore as to continue talking about something the other party does not care about nearly as much. And she has little or no combat prowess of her own to speak of, her place not being on the battlefield. It's a brief conversation, which ends on a further note of thanks to Desus for his offer, which should hopefully please the ancient Lunar at least somewhat. Peregrine Altair allows her to make good her escape.
Beyond the welcome exit from the conversation with Lilith, the conversation with Peregrine is refreshing, as she tended to find with the ancient Solar. It was always interesting to get her ideas on fashion--although they rarely saw entirely eye to eye--and the general state of all things Twilight. Not that she spoke with her that often, generally restricted to times such as this. In fact (somewhat unusually for a Solar of her age) Thalia still found that much of her interaction was filtered through her prior incarnation's recollections, probably because there were so many more of them. She is fortunately saved from too much interrogation about Goldfinch when she points out that her teaching position is one she has very recently taken up. She bids her a pleasant farewell.
Only a short conversation is exchanged with Vanileth, complimenting him on his appearance and on the precision of his escort's flying. She engages him with a brief word about her latest flying commission, a Warbird for the Copper Tiger Nine Harmonious Blades.
"It would be my honour and delight to accept such an invitation," Thalia replied to the Queen of Nyuada, after the invitation was extended. "We shall have to converse later when I have more of an idea of the demands of my teaching schedule," she clarified. Some things, after all, were more important than royalty and responsibility was one of them.
"Uniforms, hmmm?" Thalia mused out loud with a thoughtful air, after extending her condolences for the necessity of a fortress home. "They are not exactly my forte," she continued. "Although ..." she considered further. It would be challenging. To design something like that which would fulfil her own demanding aesthetic standards whilst still being flexible enough to fit across a whole army and practical enough to be useful. Hmmmm. This would be something to think about.
She had been entirely in ignorance of the affair between Leviathan and Amayana. By the time the Queen had finished listing all the things he'd done for Luthe, Thalia was almost sure that there was something going on between them. She would have been certain, but for a desire to make a measured judgement and the fact that this was the first time she'd met the Queen of Luthe in several decades... Not that there was anything wrong in something going on.