Though she was adjusting well to a life of involvement among those of the upper class, Leto considered it simply to be a part of Magnus' doing. Apart from her friendship with Lord Silanos of Valaloritis and Captain Maleos of Eubocris, her interactions had been limited to two courtly affairs - one filled with quiet gossip and polite conversations with Prince Silas and militants, trying to toe the line between impressing them with her knowledge of weaponry and not utterly embarrassing herself.

The second event saw a poisoning, an attempted assassination, and the return of a thought-to-be-dead King. For a brief time there, Leto thought to swear off all interactions with nobles given the severity and intensity of the dramatics involved. It was dangerous to be around so many people that others sought as targets, she supposed. And yet, her curiosity in the intrigue and affairs had enraptured her.

Additionally, her newfound knowledge had the secondhand effect of giving her more to talk about with Magnus and his work, drawing them closer like they had been when they were children. Knowing things about the upper classes now gave her more to speak with him on and even made her useful as he created connections in his investigations, serving as a bounceboard for his thoughts. It felt good to have a purpose...and a distraction.

As the Colchian forces departed the Isle of Kos, the rallying effort of the women in Midas had dwindled significantly. The fruits of their labor now weighted down the bellies of the Colchian ships with supplies that would last them the journey as well for the duration of their time on foreign shores. Her analytical mind had done well to assist in the inventory of supplies gathered. With such meetings and organizing grinding to a halt, the invitation from Lady Imeeya - a noblewoman she met at the feast and had crossed paths with during such civic organization - came as a surprise, but also bolstered Leto a bit with pride.

At last, she was someone other than sister to the Master of Secrets.

The frosty mint green peplos she wore still seemed to stand out in color against the pale ivory of her skin. Her hair had been wrangled and maneuvered, pinned along the crown of her head in delicate plaits and the curls oiled and smoothed to a point of seeming refined instead of wild. Lady Iolanthe had gifted her with several accesssories, and Leto opted for pale bronze fibulae at the shoulders and a few pins in her hair that bore dripping loops of pearls, matching a single drip pearl on a simple bronze chain that rested just below her collarbone. It was simple yet refined.

Trying too hard never looked good on anyone, nor did Leto have all the resources to do so.

Once she arrived at Archontikó Drakos, Leto did her best not to fidget with her appearances too much. Nerves attempted to bubble at the base of her neck, but clearing her throat before requesting admittance, she did her best to convince herself that they were nerves of anticipation and not of anxiousness.

Stepping through the entryway, Leto noted the intricate features of the Upper Levels estate. It was regal as could be imagined, with her hostess being the daughter of the King's sister. Leto took a deep breath and offered a courteous smile to Lady Imeeya as she stepped before her, dipping into a curtsey.

"Lady Imeeya, it is a pleasure to see you again," Leto greeted, trying not to smile overly wide. Quickly surveying the sitting room, she blinked a few times - apart from the household staff milling about, ready to serve, they were the only two present. Offering a soft, polite laugh, Leto tried to keep her cheeks from flushing as she said, "Oh dear. I hope being the first one here does not make me seem too over eager. But, I will admit, that I have been looking forward to this."

Imeeya had been busy preparing for the gathering she was hosting all morning. Comparatively, all Essa had to do was attend. And yet, she thought that she was likely even more nervous than her sister. She had to have changed her mind about her appearance at least three times now. Nothing seemed right. In theory, the gathering should be less stressful than court, but the younger Drakos girl felt nothing but anxiety.

She stared at her reflection, fussing with the details of her attire. She considered changing for a fourth time, but deep down she knew, the issue wasn’t her clothing. It was the dread that clawed at her belly and the insidious whispers within her mind that warned her she was walking into a trap. That no matter what her choice, she would face only mockery and humiliation, and perhaps her sister’s wrath or disappointment.

Her peplos was lavender, edged with a silver embroidary in a leaf and vine design, worn over an ivory chiton. Her dark curls were pulled back into a plait that ended in a thick ringlet that fell over her shoulder. Her accessories were all shining silver and adorned with amethyst. An ornamental band of silver leaves encircled her head. Large clusters of the purple jewels hung from her ears that complimented the brooch that she wore at her shoulder. The same silver leaves atop her head surrounded an arrangement of amethysts fashioned to look like a large flower bloom with smaller more delicate blossoms. The belt she wore was more delicately made, thin chains braided together, with an amethyst at the clasp. Imeeya would be proud. For all that her chosen color palette was her preferred softer shades, her styling still made for quite a grand eye-catching appearance.

Her hands restlessly smoothed over the fabric as she stared at the door, willing herself to put one foot before the other and descend the stairs. If she didn’t join soon, she wouldn’t put it past her sister to come drag her down. That would guarantee a miserable night. It was that thought that finally spurred her into motion.

She was surprised to find only one guest had arrived. Apparently, she had drastically overestimated the time it took her to prepare. She had expected things to be in full swing already, rather than just beginning. Of course, she had begun her preparation a bit early since her nerves hadn’t allowed her to think of anything but the impending party since she had awoken.

“Greetings, I hope I’m not interupting anything,” she said softly, glancing over at her sister briefly, hoping for reassurance that her timing wasn’t too poor. She turned her gaze to the other woman. She remembered Imeeya pointing her out as the sister of the Master Informer, but she had only glimpsed her at a distance before. She moved forward slightly with a smile, offering her hand. “Forgive me, I don’t believe we’ve officially met. I’m Lady Essa of Drakos. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Yanni was pleasantly surprised when she received the missive from her niece, inviting her to this small event. She was proud to see her taking initiative towards such things, as a woman of her station should. Imeeya was much like her mother, and Tythra had said that her daughter was too much like her. Yanni thought there was no such thing, her sister in law was a strong and powerful woman, the essence of the Kotas family.

Yanni of course would not have attended such a minor event under most circumstances, she would have sent a letter back wishing the host well and regretfully declining the invitation. The Queen did not have time to waste on such small things, her attentions were needed elsewhere, for more important matters.

But for her niece, she would attend. Tongues would really be wagging at her presence, that the Queen had attended the event, and that it was a small gathering with only a few privileged enough to receive an invite. She assumed that was the sort of attention Imeeya had hoped to gather upon inviting her aunt.

So she dressed herself in a Kotas red dress, custom made for the Queen, it was cinched at the waist with a small golden chain, the only jewelry she wore was a small diadem in her brown hair, along with her wedding ring which she had not taken off for a single moment since her marriage to Tython.

She knew that she might be a bit later than expected in the time it took her to tend to her morning work and dress herself appropriately, but she was sure that her niece would be more excited that the Queen had come and her lateness would be excused.

The trip over was a short one, and Yanni took only minimal guards with her, hearing Tython’s scolding in her head as she refused a larger escort. She knew her husband hated when she would travel without a larger attendance of guards, especially when most of the men who were capable of fighting were off at war, but Yanni hated having to take any guards along to start with.

Upon her arrival, she stepped into the much familiar building, a place where she had visited her sister in law many times, where she had watched her nieces grow up into fine young women.

A regal smile was plastered on her face as she stepped into the room where the guests had begun to gather, both of her nieces among them.

“I hope my arrival is not too late.” She said as she entered.

“Lady Imeeya, Lady Essa.” She greeted, sure that her nieces would not want their aunt to embarrass them and address them casually among the other woman who was in attendance.

Their guest was someone that Yanni vaguely recognized, but could not put a name to her face. She wasn’t sure that they had ever met before, she was normally great at remembering people. Perhaps she had only seen the woman in passing.

“I do not believe we have met before.” She stated, clearly expecting an introduction from the third woman, and fully expecting she would not need to introduce herself.

It was fortunate that there was more than one royal carriage. Athanasia had missed the one her mother had taken to her cousin’s party. She had meant to ride with her but she had lost track of time while trying to perfect a new acrobatic knife-throwing technique and had almost forgotten about the event she had been looking forward to attending. Imeeya had never thrown a soiree of her own before, or if she had, she had not invited her best friend. They’d had several misunderstandings lately, so the princess wouldn’t have been surprised if she was left out of any gatherings that occurred during those times. They were on good terms now, though, and she hoped it would stay that way.

After returning to her chambers, she had a bath drawn and sank gratefully into the steaming water. Every muscle in her body ached and her bum was sore from landing on it so many times. She would probably have bruises but at least nobody would be able to see them. Athanasia lifted one long leg out of the water and studied it, then did the same with the other. They were not cut or bruised so she could wear a peplos if she wished.

A chiton would be more appropriate for a party, though, and she chose one made of cream silk embroidered all over with bright red flowers and green leaves. All the edges had gold silk borders. It was held up by ruby fibulae and pinned along one arm with alternating emerald and ruby fibulae. Her belt was made of gold liberally studded with rubies and emeralds. Her jewelry matched the fibulae as did the circlet upon her forehead. For once, she let her maidservants arrange her auburn-gold hair in an elaborate updo with a few short curls left loose to frame her face, along with several ringlets that tumbled down her back. Rubies and emeralds decorated her coiffure.

After her makeup was applied, Athanasia looked at herself in her full length mirror. She was still becoming accustomed to looking like a princess. In truth, she would have preferred simpler attire, but she had made a promise to herself to please her parents and she knew that they wanted her to look like a part of the royal family. One day she would be married and have to dress like this all the time. She made a face at herself before turning away.

By the time she was ready to go, her mother was already on her way so she took another royal carriage to the house of her aunt and cousins. As a servant ushered her into the sitting room, she wasn’t surprised to see the Queen already there, surrounded by Imeeya, Essa, and the sister of the Master Informer who had been at the temple the day the remains of a young woman had been found there. Athanasia didn’t know the woman’s name but she hoped that she would be introduced. Strolling up to the group, she grinned at her cousin. “Better late than never,” she quipped. “Have I missed anything important or entertaining?”

When Asia had not arrived with her mother, Imeeya had been worried that perhaps she was angry with her over what she had divulged about her meetings with Silanos when the had last talked. Or maybe she had somehow learned about her kiss with the man. Though if anyone other than she and Sil were privy to that information she had much bigger problems than she thought. When Asia turned up smiling and happy to see her all those worries left her head. Imeeya should have known that Asia was simply running late, it wasn’t something entirely out of character for the Princess. Formal events had never really been her preferred activity.

“As….Your Highness,” Imeeya made a quick course correction in her greeting of Asia. It had been so long since they had talked in mixed company instead of visiting in private. “I’m so glad that you made it to the party. I was really hoping to see you here today.” She smiled broadly. “May I introduce Leto of Chaossis, sister to the Master Informer.” Imeeya nodded her head to the woman. As the only non-noble woman who had been invited to Imeeya’s party, Leto had had to be introduced to all of the others. Imeeya watched Leto to see how she handled meeting such prestigious people. So far at least she seemed to be handling it better than Essa, who should know better.

Imeeya was disappointed as Essa had originally “No Essa, stay, please,” Imeeya had hoped that her sister would be able to relax at a smaller gathering in her own home. It was nothing like the court events that they were used to. “I was hoping to have your perspective on some things.” While Imeeya didn’t always understand where her sister was coming from, she had found her advice very helpful as of late, especially since she had been the only one she had felt she could confide in when it came to her troubles with men. Well one man: Silanos of Valaoritis. He, however, was not here and she wouldn’t let him take another moment of her thoughts when she had company to attend to.

With most of the guests arrived if you didn’t count the Thanasis, who she had invited purely as a courtesy, Imeeya began to settle into the flow of the event. She had the servant offer refreshments to her guests before they brought her a plate of figs and honey and had them pour her a glass of wine. Imeeya relaxed on one of the low couches in the room, letting her guests similarly allow themselves to relax in the room.

Once people were settled in with seats chosen and refreshments distributed, Imeeya picked up a topic of conversation that she had hoped to discuss. She only hoped that it would interest the others and not entirely kill the atmosphere of the party. However, she knew that if she ever wanted to venture into politics she had to learn how to take risks. “With most of the men away at war, I thought it might be time to take some things into our own hands,” Imeeya said firmly. “I was hoping that some of you might be willing to share your opinions on the problem of pirates that is facing our kingdom.”

Imeeya could only hope that the women were up to date in their knowledge of the problems ongoing with pirates raiding the coasts and stealing people to sell for slavery. “In my own province, they have been growing bolder, and the mine owners have seen a significant increase in the number of miners who have been going missing.” That such miners were slaves to start with was not mentioned. It did not matter if the people were slave or free in order to demonstrate her point. “Thus, we need to consider better methods to defend our shores, especially with our army away.” Hopefully that would be enough of an explanation of the problem to start a discussion. Imeeya had no idea if the others would enjoy such a conversation, or if they would be bored by the topic turning to politics, but she knew if she wanted to find political support, she would have to start with her fellow women.

Yanni was in no way upset with her niece’s slip in starting to call her aunt. It wasn’t that big of a deal, and definitely not anything to get upset over. But she was proud that she had caught it and instead referred to her by title. She wasn’t sure the exact reasoning behind this gathering, but clearly her niece had one, and so she would attend this get together not as her aunt, but as her Queen.

Yanni nodded as she was introduced to Leto. She had thought she looked familiar, both in shared facial features with Magnus, but she also thought she had seen the woman with the master informer in the past. She wondered curiously what her connection was then, with this event. As far as Yanni had know, it was nobility and higher invited.

“A pleasure to meet you. Your brother is a fine man and a close friend.” Yanni said, giving her a small smile. Magnus was not a friend in the most traditional sense, but he had served them loyally and in his own way, held the friendship of the Queen. And then Leto was saying that they had met, at the banquet. But she trailed off, and Yanni couldn’t help the small raise of her eyebrow at the boldness of the woman. To bring up such an event in front of the Queen was surely daring, considering the events of that day.

Then Imeeya was offering her some refreshments and her attention turned back to her.

“Thank you.” She said at the offer, moving over to the seating area, she took her seat, her movements graceful. She sat straight, the epitome of the stone Queen that Colchis had known for longer than most of the women in the room had been alive.

Yanni looked up as her daughter entered the room, and she felt her chest fill up with a bit of pride upon seeing her. She looked everything like the princess that she was. She knew that Asia did not enjoy dressing up and looking the part, and Yanni couldn’t blame her. She didn’t like it either. Despite the title and means for her to have fine things, Yanni was still the Taengean woman who preferred to have only what she needed and no more. If she had not had to keep up appearances as Queen, she would have been dressed in much different clothing.

Yanni took an offered cup of wine as it was brought to her and waited for the other women to settle in the chairs. She was curious as to why Imeeya had called this meeting in the first place.

And then the topic was broached, directly and with no hesitation on her nieces behalf.

Yanni couldn’t help but turn her attention back to the master informers sister, listening to the conversation around her, Yanni’s gaze turned to the woman. And there she spotted something. Something very familiar. The bracelet that the woman was fidgeting with. It had been the one that Silanos had purchased the day Yanni had the man escort her to market.

How absolutely curious.

Yanni wanted to question her on it, but right now was clearly not the time. She would catch her at the next appropriate moment, and she would ask her about the bracelet. Curious to see what story she would tell.

For now the Queen sat silent. She wanted to hear what the collective group would have to say on the topic of pirates, though Leto had been quick to give her opinion. She wanted to hear the rest. She had her own ideas, but Yanni sipped at her wine and waited.

As the group settled in the sitting room, Imeeya made sure that everyone was supplied with adequate wine and refreshments. This was meant to be a party after all, even if she had had ulterior motives in inviting everyone there. Just because she wished to discuss politics didn’t mean that Imeeya was going to overlook her duties as a hostess.

As she opened up the topic of piracy on the Colchian coasts, Imeeya eagerly awaited the opinions of those who had gathered there, and Imeeya wasn’t disappointed. Leto’s suggestion was something Imeeya hadn’t even considered. She was nodding along at the idea. “An interesting idea. Though normally that kind of watch would be a job for the military who aren’t here to man those towers. Maybe if the villagers did some sort of rotation…” Imeeya trailed off in thought.”

As Asia voiced her own approval of the plans, one of the things she said raised a point that Imeeya hadn’t considered. “Well them plundering in secrecy is exactly what we don’t want them to do. It doesn’t help if all it does is drive them underground. While we don’t want them stealing from us, we still have to deal with pirates. If they sell their wares on the black market, we no longer gain any income from their sales.”

The queen kept her opinions on the matter to herself. Perhaps that was only polite or perhaps it was strategic, to wait to see what others said before she weighed in. Another person may have seen the queen as wise for not jumping in and saying whatever came to mind, but Imeeya found it somewhat irritating. She had hoped to hear what everyone else thought, but, on the other hand, there was nothing Imeeya could do to insist someone should participate.

“What I was considering was a better record keeping so that people could be made aware when they were buying stolen goods.” Imeeya proposed her own solution to the problem that she had been considering. It did have its own flaws, not least of which was that it required people to do the record keeping. Perhaps the others might have an idea that would help improve it. Or maybe it should be scrapped altogether in favor of something one of the others suggested. Perhaps this was too heavy a topic for a party at all, but Imeeya was curious to know what the others thought.