At the beginning of the celebratory ball being held to salute those that were responsible for destroying the Ash King people in Slothjemia’s capital of Jordrakenschloss were sharing the rumors of battlefield success in what had been Vincasikilia. There was some talk of the group of foreigners that had dethroned the de facto head of the Diosian Lodge of course, if only because only one of those present at the final battle was actually a Slothjemian. Most of the rest were Fanolanian. There weren’t many people even in the elite of Slothjemia’s leadership that knew very much about Fanolania at all.

Of course once the ball was underway everyone wanted to know more about Fanolania. This is because one of the adventurers from that fair land had apparently enthralled the famously fickle Princess Lersha. She had offered her hand to nobody during her brief time in the Royal receiving line, and when Baron Shr Alexander Kovak of Diekirch entered the line and made his way to her she broke this precedent and not only offered her hand but whisked him off to dance. Not just one dance, either. They spent the entire night with one another. Right there in the main ballroom for everyone to see, as if the Baron had no idea about the rules for this sort of thing. Virtually all other topics of conversation went out the window as the Fanolanian Baron and the Slothjemian Princess sent everyone’s preconceived notions spiraling.

The Queen was taken by surprise. The Herzgraf was taken by surprise. The entire royal family with the sole exception of Prince Bortimer were taken by surprise. It seems the three princes (Kolder, Archibald III, and Bortimer) had a running wager on who would captivate their sister sufficiently to see her become engaged. Over the years they had adjusted their guesses according to who hadn’t yet been eliminated from consideration and only recently had Bortimer changed his choice to this ranger fellow Xan that had been running amok up in the Wenigzustand with his compatriots. Bortimer did some research among those that had travelled with Lersha over the last year or so and found that she had reluctantly gone on a trip with their father to Fanolania. But every trip he made that direction afterwards she had cheerfully volunteered to go along without being asked. Putting two and two together led Bortimer to believe that his sister had finally found a man worth marrying.

There might have been one or two other in the company of Lord Xan that had an inkling of what was about to happen, but it can be certain that Lord Xan himself had no clue whatsoever. However, to his credit, he realized that this was just fine by him and by the end of the ball he had sought out the Herzgraf to ask his daughter’s hand in marriage and then went straightaway to propose to Lersha. By every account she said yes without hesitation.

Avid court observers are now flummoxed by the changes occurring just out of view of the public. Nobody has any idea where the wedding is to take place, nor when. Because Lersha isn’t in line for the throne by a long stretch (she is currently ninth in succession) there weren’t many in the empire that were paying attention to her at all. Now there was a frantic need for information and nobody to provide it. One could await for a royal proclamation, and right now that seems the only way to find out for sure. There were no trusted friends to ask, nor servants that might be privy to the Princess’ secrets. Its enough to make a person crazy with curiosity. Hedda Hopper’s head would have exploded.