Her first public event back in Colchis had Iolanthe biting on her lip the entire ride down to the harbor. They had specifically chosen this one for the wide array of people who would be in attendance, this way everyone could see and get any whispers out of the way, and she in turn could properly greet everyone as a grown woman instead of the fifteen year old girl she had been when they last met.

Her was a deep wine red, an intricately worked belt of brown and bronze leather used to show off her still trim waist and give her top half a semblance of curves, the neckline cut with a bit of a swoop to show off her bare shoulders and give the grand necklace a proper place to show. Her sleeves were kept together by several bronze clasps down to her elbow to make up in modesty what the neckline lacked, allowing the rest of the fabric to flow down freely. The maids had worked what felt like hours on her hair until the curls were finally pulled back from her face in the way she preferred, a few loose strands around her cheeks as the remainder hung freely down her back.

Rings and bangles settled on her wrists, she touched the small diadem in her hair self-consciously once before the litter came to a halt and they had arrived. Descending from the litter, Iolanthe pulled her lips into a smile at the sight of some old faces that she recognized slightly. They had all aged so much more than she had anticipated, but she thought she must recognize them all. The Kotas family were handsome as always, and she thought she spotted a raven haired beauty who had to be Evras, one of her distant Thanasi relations with good fortune to marry a man who loved her without restraint.

One young man of many though caught her eye and it was in his direction she moved, wondering if after all of these years he would even recognize her. The Valaoritis boys had been the cousins she remembered most clearly in connection to her mother, and seeing Silanos all grown up nearly brought tears to her eyes. Stopping a slight distance away, Iolanthe called to him, one hand on her heart as she noticed the bruise on his jaw.

"Silanos? Cousin what have you gotten yourself into. Not putting more toads in unsuspecting girls hair I hope?"

Upon approaching the prince, Nike held back her guardsmen as she knew full well that he was in no way a threat to Prince Vangelis. A nod of thanks was given to his fellow commander as he neared them and gave his pleasantries to the prince. It seemed as if he had missed something before he had come over. He dipped his head to the young woman, "Princess Athanasia." He dipped his head to her as well and then Lazaros watched Princess Athanasia's expression to whatever his prince had said. However, the man turned to Lazaros as he and his men neared and greeted him with a small friendly smile. It had been some time since he had seen the other man and wanted to see how he was fairing now that he was better.

Clasping Vangelis's forearm in greeting he too sent a small form of a smile to the other man. They were much alike in the notion that they kept their feelings and emotions away from their features, not giving away a hint of what they were thinking. Lazaros had gotten better at it over the course of the years in the military. "Far too long, my friend."

Lazaros was glad to see him looking healthy once again. Knowing that he had been ill while he was happy to see him in good spirits as he stood before him. "I see your health has much improved. It is good to see you well again." His voice was formal but his worry was there for his friend. It was always something that Laz thought about while the prince was away. Their arms freed after an aknowlodgeing squeeze, Laz stepped slightly back, listening to his words. "I shall do so when I return. Thank you, M'lord." He dripped his head again. They may be friends but Vangelis was still his superior, his prince, and he would always treat him as such.

Standing like a statue, Lazaros did not flinch at the sudden impact of Vangelis's hand on his shoulder, only to be followed by a way towards one of the women, Lady Imeeya of Krakos. The prince was introducing him to her as he stood there. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Imeeya." He then heard Athanasia speak to her brother and then invite him to explose the market with them as well. Lazaros would do as was intructed, as that was his duty. Did he want to explore the market? He wasn't really sure but being here with them at least he knew they would be safe.

Before it was decided where they were going, another familiar face neared them, a small boy in tow. Zanon, another Prince of Colchis, and his wife and son. "Good day, Prince Zanon." He gave a nod to the prince and dipped his head to the little family. Lazaros held back a chuckle. Keep Vangelis in line? Was that possible? The crowned prince was very much his own man and stubborn to boot. Just look at him defying everyone's odds and coming out here. But Lazaros kept his thoughts to himself. "I think we can manage it together, Sire." And with that, he gave the man a nodd in agreement, he was ready for what they needed of him.

Giving both her brothers a smile as they rushed away, Asia found herself laughing when Immeya pulled her hand free, even as she knew that she wanted to go just as much as Asia did. "I doubt it. He is more likely to think that I am the rude one for pulling you away." With a smile that showed just how much trouble Asia could be, she couldn't help but tease her cousin. "Did you want to stay so you could flirt with the commander? He is cute, if you are into older men." Laughing as she made sure to dodge Immeya's swats, they made their way towards the sounds of music playing.

Athanasia never let go of Nike as they trudged along through the crowds, avoiding bumping into anyone as they searched for the musicians. It was a task to be sure, filled with lots of distractions that Asia found that she wanted to explore. The booths with sweets called to her even as the booths that sold weapons made her wish to stop and explore. Just as she was about to keep going, Asia couldn't help but slow her steps as she eyed a particularly stunning bow that was propped up against the side of the stall. "Want to come in and see all the wares that I have in my little shop?" A small man with an easily forgettable face that could blend into any crowd tried to tempt Asia inside, and she would have followed if not for Nike behind her giving her a light push to move along and keep up with Immeya. "B-But... Nike! The bow!"

Who would have thought that there would be so many things to do this night, unknowing to Asia that her brother thought the same thing, it was very much like a festival. She looked everywhere, her eyes missing nothing as Nike and Immeya guided her towards the music. A familiar face in the crowd having her almost call out to him even as he turned away from her. Did she actually see Silanos, or was that wishful thinking? Well, if he was there, wouldn't he come to dance with everyone as well?

If this event had been held under any other circumstances, perhaps Timaeus would have felt a little more inclined to relax and enjoy the festivities. After all, that's what he'd normally do with the promise of cheap alcohol and a fun evening right in front of him for the taking. Tim wasn't a man to turn down life's simplest pleasures. But that would imply that these were normal times and that just was no longer the case as far as Tim was concerned.

In fact, he doubted if there would ever be a sense of normalcy after what had occurred at the Kotas mansion a few days ago.

Even though the immediate danger had safely passed and, as far as he knew, his brother was now safe from Zanon's wrath; Timaeus innately knew that the Valaoritis boys were nowhere close to fully being out of the woods yet. At least, not while Sil ran around the capital free to drink... and drink... and drink himself into his next round of trouble. Frankly, all the troubles for this family were rooted in the boys love of the bottle and how it made them act under its influence. For Tim, it brought out emotions he would otherwise try to conceal or repress, but for Sil?

It made him wild.

Uninhibited. Unrestrained. This version of Sil only sought one thing; the thrill of a good time. If Sil wanted it, Sil would chase after it until it was his. Or at least this was how Tim saw the drunken version of his little brother.

He knew this side of him needed to be restrained, no matter how high the cost.

Timaeus could see this quite plainly now. He also keenly aware that it was his responsibility as the head of their household to do the dirty work and rein the young colt in. It would be so easy for him to cut Sil off from the things Tim now saw as dangerous. All it would take was an order from him to lock the wine cellars and an instruction for the household to keep the boy inside. It could work, Tim knew that, but he also recognized the possible consequences of doing such a thing. Silanos was very similar to his brother, even though Tim would never admit it, and he knew that he would not take kindly to being confined in such a way. It wouldn't be that great of a surprise to see Sil lash out and run off to wherever Sil had been hiding for the past few years.

He wasn't about to let that happen. Not a chance in hell.

So, Tim put no such restrictions on Sil and voiced no protest when his younger counterpart said he was going to the night market. In fact, Tim had said nothing beyond a general warning disguised as a reminder to lie low for the time being. Off Sil had gone on his merry way, fully believing that Timaeus would remain home, too embarrassed by the matching purple-mottled bruises decorating his jaw and chest to appear in public. Little did Sil know that only a few minutes after he headed out, Tim had set aside the project he had been working on in order to head down to the market himself.

This was why Tim was here tonight, hiding among the throngs of people, but still being close enough to keep an eye on his brother. (Or at least that's what he told himself. He didn't fail to notice how any sign of red hair seemed to grab his attention away from the task at hand...) He just had to be sure that Sil stayed safe. They had already done so much to ensure the boy's safety that he couldn't let himself risk watching it all go down the drain because Tim didn't want to be seen with a few bruises.

With this goal in mind, Tim held back from most of the activities. He didn't approach the Kotas family when they arrived in all their glory, for obvious reasons of course. He was relieved to see that Prince Vangelis was alive and well though. As he wandered through the stalls set up for the harbor's reopening, he didn't let himself be tempted by the various wares that were for sale. Instead, he took pride in how Silanos had seemed to take his warning to heart and was also choosing to lie low this evening. It almost made Tim believe that he had been rather foolish to not trust his brother in the first place. It almost gave him half the mind to turn back and head home until a familiar face approached the baron's brother and left Tim a little shocked, to say the least.

After a moment, he was able to regather his composure and spurred him to disregard all previous notions of staying a safe distance away from Sil. It had been too long since they had last seen her, after all, Tim didn't want to wait another moment to not have a chance to catch up once more. As he approached he was able to catch the last bit of their conversation and couldn't help, but butt in, "Ah, but the lady didn't say anything about beds now did she, Sil?" He quipped with a light laugh as a way of announcing his presence to the pair. He couldn't help but seize the opportunity to get a quick jab in at Sil's expense. Call it brotherly love at it's finest.

Turning back to the lady, he exclaimed as he enveloped her in a short hug, "Iolanthe! It's been too long!" Could it really have been ten years since the cousins had last seen each other? Timaeus had been fourteen at the time, so the shock of seeing him shouldn't be as great as it had been for Sil who had been a child when she left Colchis. Though it still may have been one for her, Tim had certainly bulked up a bit from his lanky teen years. Io had also changed quite a bit too, but not quite as dramatically. After all, her signature button nose had stayed quite the same over the years.

Moving on to more customary greetings, Tim somberly said to her, "We're truly sorry for your loss." He glanced over at Sil at the first word, still somewhat unsure as to how the boy was taking his brother's surprise arrival. "But it's wonderful that you've come back home." His tone was a bit more jovial at the end, clearly trying to not let them dwell on the past. They had all suffered serious losses since they had last seen each other and surely it would do none of them any good to focus on that now.

Seeing the two brothers together now, there was little doubt in Timaeus's mind that Iolanthe would be able to piece the basics of the story of their matching bruises together. Thankfully, though, she wouldn't be capable of surmising the whole story. She could poke and prod all she wanted, but Tim had a sneaky suspicion that both of the brothers would be loathe to share the exact details.

Speaking of which, Tim quietly thought to himself as he turned to face the Kotas family who was further away. He wanted to ensure that there was a healthy distance between them and the Valaoritis cousin but instead found himself locking eyes with Prince Vangelis. It sent a chill down his spine, but not because he now looking at a man who half the kingdom believed to be dead a week ago, but instead it was the way Vangelis looked past the baron and stared stony-faced at Sil.

A slight sense of panic rose in him, but he gave no outward indication of what he noticed. Tim needed to act like everything was alright and absolutely nothing was amiss, for all their sakes. So, all he did in response was give the prince a curt nod as a sign of respect. Then he carefully repositioned himself to now stand between his brother and the Prince's gaze making it clear to the latter that the boy would be causing no trouble tonight with a slight shift of his feet.

Turning back to his relatives and forcing a bit of a smile to mask the worry now clouding his thoughts, he asked Iolanthe, "So, how is the Lady of Arcanes treating you, cousin. Well I hope?"

As Sil stood talking with his cousin in the middle of the night market, he couldn't help but feel a cold stare upon his back. He knew who the eyes belong to even without turning around. Oh for the love of the Gods. Shit, the High Prince had found him after all. However, instead of cowering in which his body was telling him to do, he forced himself to relax as much as possible and act natural. Completely ignoring the stare that was directed towards him, he looked calmly at his cousin waiting for her answer.

Just then a voice he thought he might not hear from at least not this early came from his right. Sil let out a muted groan of despair before accepting his brother's quips with a quick jab to the gut of his own. "Har Har, Timmy. Very funny. Cut it out and be still." He calmly replied but winced mentally. He really didn't have to be reminded, but what happened earlier wasn't him bedding anyone. Instead, it was him kissing someone.

As Sil absently listened to Tim talk to Io, he subconsitionly nodded his head along at the part about their condolences for Io's loss. He vaguely remembered that Io's husband had died. But he couldn't remember if it had been recently or long ago. His mind was whirling, all the while, trying to find a way to get back at Tim for his sudden and very unexpected appearance. Damn it; today was supposed to be at least his last day in which he might be free of his brother. He huffed outwardly before brightening as he thought of something.

"Hmm, actually Io, since Tim is here... why don't you let him accompany you around the night market? I'm sure Tim would be thrilled to be your guardian. He might be able to find you a lovely partner as well?" Sil suggested with a wicked grin towards his brother. That's payback for not letting him be. Did his brother not trust him to keep his promise in keeping a low profile tonight? That was mighty rude of him not to. He might not always keep a promise, but that promise was something he intended to follow through.

Giving the pair a wave and an innocent smile he quickly slipped away after glancing about him, as he called over his shoulder, "Have fun you two. I'm going to get some dancing in with these lovely local girls. Oh don't worry Tim, I'm not planning on bedding anyone tonight. I did promise not to get into any trouble tonight you know. Don't you dare try to follow me, or I might force you to do something even worse!" However little did Sil know, trouble was looking for him as he joined in the happy dancing that was happening in the middle of the market.

Imeeya gasped and swatted at Asia at her accusations that she just wanted to stay and flirt with the commander. ”Of course not! How could you even say something like that? I just didn’t want to be rude.” But Imeeya’s tone was playful rather than actually offended by the princess’s implications. She had to admit that for an older man he was easy on the eyes. Not that it mattered, she planned to never get married, but she supposed it didn’t keep her from looking. Imeeya turned away from the conversation, continuing to look for a way to the dancing in more earnest. She didn’t want to give Asia even a sliver of a chance to guess at what she might be thinking.

Imeeya led the way through the market, Imeeya’s sharp eyes jumping from stall to stall with one delight more impressive than the last. On stall was selling confections of all types, another jewelry. The shiny baubles almost distracted her from her goal as she pressed on, trying to find her way to the dancing. She passed a weapons stand that she almost didn’t notice until she suddenly realized that Athanasia was no longer behind her but had stopped to admire one of the bows. If Imeeya hadn’t been so impatient, she would have laughed. It was exactly the kind of thing that would catch Asia’s attention. Imeeya didn’t want to wait to watch the princess admire a new bow, and she kept going. The music had to be somewhere close by, she couldn’t imagine it getting very much louder. Luckily, the next time she looked back, she saw that Nike had dragged Asia away from the weapons stall and the pair were not following too far behind.

Imeeya rounded another corner, and just like that, the narrow, vendor-lined streets opened up into a large plaza. A small platform held a handful of musicians off to the side. They played at a lively tempo, and many couples had already started to dance. Imeeya wanted to go ahead and dance before the plaza got too crowded. Imeeya whirled and turned to face Athanasia excitedly. Come on Asia. We should find someone to dance with. Not only would it be great fun to spend time dancing, the crowd of dancers would be just the thing to give Nike the slip. Athanasia might be content to spend the entire night under surveillance, but Imeeya wasn’t. She was going to find a way to actually enjoy this evening.

Iolanthe laughed at Silanos' defense of himself, shaking her head slightly as she took his arm. She was grateful that the younger cousin hadn't instantly jumped into condolences, and that he hadn't changed overmuch aside from how he'd grown. Ever since her return it seemed like all anyone could say to her was that they were so sorry, it hardly felt as if anyone but Gala was glad to have her back. She'd been about to suggest they follow the pack of royals when another familiar yet different face approached and Io released Sil's arm to hug yet another cousin.

Tim had grown so much in the last ten years, filling out into a man instead of a lanky teen and by the gods he had a beard now! She had missed so much, lost so much time with her family here by being married across the seas and now she had nothing to show for it except what wealth had returned with her.

"I see the two of you keep in trouble."

Touching his cheek at the sight of yet another bruise, the brunette lifted a brow and looked between the two men with her lips pursed. A brotherly squabble would not be out of the ordinary but for both of them to turn up with such marks as this meant she was missing out on part of the story. Whatever the Valaoritis boys had been up to in her absence, it was clearly quite the tale. And then came the condolences. She looked down to the ground for a moment, her customary response to someone's well wishes in this regard.

"Thank you, Timaeus. It was a difficult loss, but I am glad to be home. And, I believe condolences of your own are in order. I know I wrote, but I'm sorry about your brother."

She'd wanted to come home for the funeral but there had been little time and she had been with child, before losing yet another and so it had been decided that she would have to remain and mourn her cousin from afar. Sil's lively excuses as to why he could not stay had her smiling slightly once again, and she waved him off. Let the lad have his fun so long as he didn't return with yet another bruise.

"Go on then. I'll try to convince Tim to re-introduce me to everyone." Iolanthe smiled as she watched him go before turning to the older cousin and gesturing for the now distant party of nobles. "Shall we?"