Jade bids Ariadne and the couple to enjoy themselves as she moved across the floor to join Jon again. A warm smile to him and the military gentleman.

Ariadne let the lovely musician vibe with the classic song, not wanting to interrupt her moment

"Ah! Well, it's nothing to what a Prince of Amber could summon up... and we've never needed much of a navy... but we're very proud of our swordsmen, pikemen, scouts... and of course our archers and the forces we can bring to bear from the Department of Magic are forces to be respected."

Jon smiles "It sounds like a well rounded set of forces you can call up.  That is very good to know." he pauses and thinks for a second. "I am still new to this, so from a military perspective, what do you think your strongest most renowned unit be?  Legendary Swordsmanship, Archery, Pikemen, Scounts?" smiles "Meaning what would Tanus be famous for?  What military art, which would include magical combat arts, would you say Tanus is best at or known for?"

"Magical forces, that is fascinating. You have that many practitioners here that they chose military service."

"Mm. Of all those I've mentioned, I'd say our scouts... but only for Shadows like Tanus-- jungle worlds. After that, our pikemen.



"Ah, well, we strongly encourage it-- but the benefits for those who do choose such a life are very advantageous. Of course, there are always those who turn us down... They're all off in the mountains and things, doing whatever they do. They're usually harmless... in that they don't usually come back to civilization to make trouble."

Jade's eyes widen just slightly, "Oh."

She ponders mages being somewhat in exile in the mountains.

Nods "I see, jungle scouts and pikemen.  Interesting, I think I would like to return sometime and train with both. If that would be acceptable."


Jon cocks his head to the side, seeing Jade's reaction. "Oh? Are the mages not allowed in the city if they are not in the military? It seems odd that they appear "exiled" to the mountains."

Nods silently at Jon's words.

"I can talk to some people... I expect that such a request would be approved."



"No no, they do it themselves. They might say it's for safety reasons-- in case something explodes, one supposes, or something else dangerous happens. But... well, the common conception is that such mages aren't quite right in the head, and they just naturally seem to become hermits so they can work day and night for months on end alone without interruption. Very, ah, focused on their work."

Jade relaxes after hearing this letting out a held breath.

Jon nods "That makes sense, I know many of the mages from my home often do that as well."

"There, you see? We may be from different Shadows, but certain personality types are the same all over the universe. Or, well, on this end of the universe, at least, surely."

A gong sounds... time to eat!

Everyone heads to the table...

None of the cousins are sitting next to each other, so that they can better converse with Tanusians...

Jade heads to the dining table and waits to see if a gentleman will pull the chair for her, if not she is happy to pull her own chair smooth out her dress and take a seat. Her eyes roamed over the table for where people were sitting and who was sitting next to her cousins especially.

Someone (a Tanusian) sitting next to her, spotting Jade's little pause, takes the hint and pulls her chair out for her.

(I'll let y'all work out the details of who's sitting next to whom. Each of you has a Tanusian on each side (Ambassador Deszo doesn't count, he's not right next to any of you). Otherwise, arrange things however you want.)

Ariadne got her own chair, not really thinking about it, and sat by the musician and her wife. On the other side of her was a person she hadn't met yet, who was an ambassador to yet another golden circle kingdom.  Ariadne introduced herself

Jade who had fluttered like a butterfly among the guests earlier and had no problem sitting near any of them. It ended up that a jeweler sat to her right and a huntsman to her left. Jade smiled at them and said, "I wonder if the food will be spicey ? So are the two of you enjoying the night so far ?"

Jon takes up a seat, where he can at least watch Jade and Ari, luckily next to the General and guildsmember from the City.

After everyone was settled in, Ariadne stood, her drink in hand.  A few people might have misunderstood her actions and tried to stand up to join her, but she quickly motioned, with a smile, that they stay seated.   She looked over the assembled group, and when she thought she had everyone's attention, she spoke, with the loud but soothing voice she'd learned over many years of speech making.
"To the people assembled here, consisting of both new friends and old, I thank you.  Thank you for your hospitality and your welcome.  My cousins and I came here from Amber hoping for a casual diversion and a chance to practice the skills we'd learned from our family in the royal court of Amber, skills both practical and magical.   And we were not disappointed.  In fact, this visit has been a treasured time for us, experiencing your wondrous city and all its Splendor.  We even had a bit of Adventure while we were here.  But Life isn't about Adventure,  despite what the storybooks say.  It's about friends.  I came here hoping to make a few, but can see we have a whole city of them."
She raised her glass in a toast.
"Thank you, Lovely Tanus, for what will surely be the first of many visits, and the start of a long friendship. "
Moving her glass grandly, she took a sip and sat back down

Jade started to clap to hopefully get the assembled to join in regardless she clapped anyway even if they didn't. She gave Ariadne a bright smile.

The Ambassador from Minos is named Marco Vrock, a retired sea-captain with exciting tales of sea-adventures ready to go at the slightest hint of interest.



They both hope the food will be spicy, and they are indeed enjoying things so far.



The speech is well-received, and everyone gets to eating...

The spice level of the Amberites' food has once again been carefully supervised to be very flavorful, but not quite to an uncomfortable level.

Jade is more then thankful for the food not being that spicy. She doesn't say so in present company but will thank Deszo later for being so considerate.

Jade happily chats with the people to her sides though more then once she looks for the mustached man who amused her so earlier.

Ah, there's the mustachioed general, sitting across the table from Jade, next to Jon. Good, she can watch his face easily from here...

Jon chats with the Guild Master, learning what Guild and functions the Guild serve to the City and Shadow.
He does surreptitiously keep an eye on Jade, Ari and the surrounds.  He is still mentally beating himself up over his earlier failure.

He tries the food and finds it different but good.

Remembering the times her father took her sailing in Boston Harbor, Ariadne gladly listened to some of the captain's sea tales.  She remembered her father mentioning briefly "being in the navy", but never going into detail.  Knowing that it was probably the Amber navy was an odd revelation