A careful outing. [Coretta/open]

[Princess Azabel de Somerville]

I raised my brow, but otherwise smiled as I watched Victoire and Christien banter back and forth like long lost friends. I wasn't quite sure how Coretta would take it, but in the end it really wasn't my place to worry.

My attention shifted, from the twins to Lessandrie, still standing admirably with a bird perched upon her arm, the fingers of her hand reddened from whatever tidbit she'd given him. Grace under fire, surely; was there tempered steel behind that dolls face? Only time would tell.

Leaving her for a time, I guided my gelding closer to Victoires mount, a friendly smile upon my lips. "Cousin," I chimed pleasantly. "I don't believe we've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I'm Azabel de Somerville; it's nice to meet you at last. How does La Serenissima fair?"

[Lessandrie de Mereliot-Romanov]

As the Dauphin slid from his horse I was surprised, but I also felt a bit more comfortable in that I wouldn't have to continue looking up at everyone I was speaking with. There was some intensity to him, but that was to be expected from someone of such high standing, but as he asked about Cyrus I could tell that he truly was interested, and as the bantering started I could tell that there was real warmth in these people, something relateable and approachable.

My father had always told me that, contrary to what my mother believed, knowing everything about a person wasn't the greatest way of knowing how to interact with them. The secret was to find the thing about them that wasn't immediately obvious but was a part of their true self nonetheless. It was a careful thing, and one that took patience, so your knowledge was used anyway in getting to that point, but if you wanted to be remembered well it was important to touch people's hearts in some small way by understanding a deeper part of themselves. That was the key here too, not to be the Duchesse and worry about cracking, but to be myself and look for who these people were as well.

"He's a kestrel, Prince Christien," I replied with a smile and then gave a light laugh for the familial chatter around me, not directed at any one person but more for the situation itself. "His name is Cyrus and he's about two and a half years old." I never didn't want to talk about my birds and that probably showed a bit in how my tone brightened and I glanced at Coretta for a moment, including her in my statement. "I think he flies well but the Princess is the one who spotted him more clearly earlier." With a gentle nudge of my gloved left hand I convinced my bird to peacefully turn on my hand and face out so the Dauphin and Coretta could get a better look.

[Prince Delaunay de la Courcel]

The day was holding fair for an outing and headed over to Azabel's town home to see if she wanted to go for a ride. When I reached her home though I was informed she was already out for the day. Apparently she had had the same thought as I did. So I mounted my dark brown gelding and headed over to the palace.

It didn't take long to find a group already out and standing in a clump out in the field and guessed that Aza was within the group. Sure enough the closer I got the more clear the people became and I began to recognize them. Azabel was there as well as Christien, Coretta and two others I wasn't familiar with.
"Good day everyone." I said as I reached the group.

[Victoire de Trevalion]

Coretta seemed as playful as Chris, and I hoped that she would also share his sense of humor, and thus mine, for we had that in common. The other woman moved her horse near to mine, introducing herself as Azabel de Somerville.

"Well met, cousin," I said, letting my attention stray from Chris and the others to turn instead to this fair creature. "Oh, the usual... boring days at the Palazzo, intriguing night life, Serenissiman men crooning songs underneath my window, that sort of thing." I grinned at her and was about to ask the same question about the City, when someone else rode up. Another handsome prince, perhaps?

[Princess Azabel de Somerville]

I laughed, and silently marveled at her hair; she was the fairest Trevalion I'd ever met before by far, and her locks glimmered like liquid rays of sun. She really was quite striking, something I appreciated from a purely d'Angeline point of view. Before I could respond, yet another rider appeared, this face the last that I'd expected.

Delaunay. My face broke into a dazzling smile, and I inclined my head to him, softly, primly, though affection coursed my veins. "Good afternoon," I responded to his greeting, and after letting the others speak their own, I smiled again to him. "Del, I'd like you to meet Princess Victoire de Trevalion." Smiling, I turned to Victoire, gesturing lightly towards Delaunay. "Victoire, this is Prince Delaunay de la Courcel. Victoire is new-come from La Serenissima, and was just telling me about it there," I added, my gaze shifting to Dels once again.

[Prince Christien de la Courcel]

A kestrel, I should have guessed, but well, my knowledge wasn't such that I wanted to go around and hazard guesses. "Cyrus, hmm?" I said, already making a mental note to explore this hobby a little further as the weather became nicer.

I noticed that Azabel had moved closer to Victoire, welcoming her, while Coretta was still keeping a bit of distance. It did not surprise me overmuch, my sister would take her time forming an opinion, and especially about someone whom I was obviously close with. If it wasn't for Silvana, there might have been something else between Vic and I, but as it was, well, she was like a sister to me, though not as close as Cori, never that.

I was about to ask Lessa more about her kestrel, but we were interrupted by yet another rider. I had to laugh slightly as Delauney joined us. We were in the woods, not the Palace, and yet here there had grown a gathering of royals I hadn't seen since Midwinter.

Azabel took care of introducing Victoire, so I included Lessa in the gesure. "And this lovely young lady is Lessandria de Mereliot, the Lady of Marsilikos." Just in case they were not already acquainted, but I knew that I for one had never seen them together and I would rather err on the side of etiquette.

[Prince Delaunay de la Courcel]

I looked to Azabel with a secret smile just for her, my eyes locked with hers for a moment but I didn't want to be rude so I eventually looked to the girl she was speaking with.

"It is a pleasure to meet you cousin," I said looking to Victorie. Though we were not directly related, all the royal houses were in some way connected either by blood or marriage; likely we shared an ancestor or two. It was a familiar greeting but considering the company I assumed it wouldn't cause a stir. Once I had addressed her I looked to Christien and the girl he was with who was holding a kestrel.
"And it is a pleasure to meet you as well Duchesse. You have a beautiful bird." I said smiling then turned to look at Christien and Coretta.
"Its good to see you again cousins, you look well."

With my greetings made I pressed my heel to my horses side and pushed him side ways till I was standing along side Azabel. Once I was next to her I reached out and took her hand. With my eyes locked with hers and a little smile on my lips, I reached out my hand and took hers in mine before raising it to my lips and kissed her knuckles gently.
"Well met your Highness." I said softly, my eyes still on hers as the whole world fell away and only she and I were left.
"If I may be so bold as to say you look resplendent, as always."

[Princess Azabel de Somerville]

I fell silent as Christien spoke, placid and waiting, my eyes going politely to Christien and Lessandrie before moving back to Delaunays again as he made his greetings. Very cordial, very pleasant, it was not hard to see that he was comfortable and at ease with his position in the court. Once that was done, he shifted his gelding towards Vic and I, moving effortlessly in a side pass til he was beside me, taking my hand in his.

I blushed - there's no way I couldn't have, even if we'd been married. No one else could have affected me like this, and with the lingering memory of his kiss upon my hand and the private look in his eye, I had to struggle to remember there were others with us. "So do you, Delaunay," I replied just as softly, my thumb caressing across the side of his hand. "I'm very happy to see you here."

AbruptlyI rememberd Victoire, and, blushing still, I managed to break my gaze from Dels and look at her again. "All we need now are a few violins for music and servants bearing trays of joie, and we've nearly enough for a court function," I laughed; who'd have thought so many royals and nobles would have found one another out here?

[Lessandrie de Mereliot-Romanov]

Another Prince joined us but this time I wasn't so nervous I fell back on formality and dropped into a slight curtsy, doubting he'd even notice with the way he was looking at Princess Azabel, held it for a moment, then rose again. There was history between the Prince and Princess, and I well remembered when they'd been married, then the rumors of their separation. Now it seemed that things were going along the same route they intended to when they were announcing their engagement. I was happy for them and gave a slight smile before and nod. "Thank you, Your Highness."

There was so much going on that even Cyrus could feel it and shifted his weight between his feet as his head started to move sluggishly between the noises. The horses weren't exactly on top of us, and we were on the grass, but the sounds were still enough to make any bird nervous through a hood. While they were calmer when they couldn't see they were always wary, somewhat-wild creatures and could easily be taken too far. I was enjoying the conversation but sometimes responsibilities came first, as always, and I could always come back to it once he was in his leather traveling-cage.

Bringing my gloved hand that wasn't holding the tresses up I lightly brushed the feathers of the kestrel's chest and gave those assembled a smile. "I'll be back in just a moment; I think he's starting to get a little jumpy," I told the assembled royals in a polite, soft tone before I turned and walked back about fifteen steps to where my horse was and made sure the hunting-bird was comfortably put away before I checked his cage ties and returned. "My apologies, sometimes they need their solitude. Can I ask why there are so many people of importance in the forest today? Did I stumble on a family hunt?" My words held a hint of jest to them, though it was carefully subtle as I didn't want to accidentally offend anyone. The smile on my face was a bit wider, enough to reach my eyes and that was a rare thing outside of the house as well.

[Prince Delaunay de la Courcel]

I smiled to Azabel as I felt her thumb brush against my hand before I released hers. I didn't want to make others uncomfortable by having a private moment in the company of the group. When Aza spoke I had to chuckle since it seemed very true. I wondered myself how so many managed to congregate in the same area.
"Personally I came looking for Azabel to see if she was free for a ride." I said chuckling as I looked at the other.
"Some what ironic that I found her out riding."

[Victoire de Trevalion]

It was obvious within minutes that this new handsome prince was off the market ... he and Azabel were looking at each other with stars in their eyes. Ever pragmatic, I dropped him from my list of eligible husband material even while I curtseyed in the saddle and greeted the newcomer.

"Well met, my lord cousin," I said, returning his informal greeting in kind. "It does seem that today is the perfect day to be out of doors, and that we have all had the same idea." I paused, glancing down at Christien before continuing. "Well, in truth, Christien and I had the same idea, to find Coretta, and here she is. We have horses and a falcon, if only we had some hunting dogs and some weapons, we could have a hunt." I often attended hunts in La Serenissima, but they were usually drunken affairs that never resulted in actual game, except by accident.