Fletch snorted at the thought. He'd never seen Theo truly drunk. The closest the man had gotten — that he knew of, anyway — was on that awful wine he'd dug out from beneath the floorboards. And while this was hardly the venue to test him when, Fletch would never turn someone down for needing to drink their misery away. "A man can dream," he replied.

He stood there rigidly, scanning the room as he spoke, before his eye finally rested back on Theo. His ire calmed, his expression was now carefully controlled, though his clenched jaw gave away just how much he hated this, too. "Why don't you go and find yourself a seat, sir?" he suggested. "I'll find you a stiff one and be back shortly."

He nodded his curt guardsman's nod, still hoping that Theo would see past the act just as he tried to see past Theo's. Then, as if afraid to linger there, he marched off in search of wherever these horrid people kept their refreshments table.

Poor Lin looked heartbroken when it seemed that Goblinda didn't recognize her. She seemed to have forgotten everything. 

Morthil could tell that Lin probably needed comfort. He was beginning to make his way over to Lin when he was snatched off the ground and found himself in the goblins arms again. 
"Listen this isn't necess—" his sentence was cut off because Goblinda was holding him quite tightly.
His ears laid back, he gave Goblinda the most exasperated side eye he could.
"I am most certainly not hers! I am my own man....cat....thats besides the point!" 
Then he remembered that she's probably been through a lot worse. She was close to death. She was the reason he was alive. 
"Do you...remember anything? The village...the goblins...you actually rescued me," Morthil explained, gratefulness in his voice. Maybe telling her what had happened would help jog her memory. 
"And then your friend Lin nursed us back to health. You were close to death."
Morthil looked at Lin. 
"Do you know if anything was left of my village?"

He snorted softly. "Not worth muddying your hands," he replied back through his teeth. The blush returned though at the reminder of mistletoe and Theo avoided Fletcher's eyes hoping to avoid explaining that one.

A drink though, it was foolish but it sounded like an excellent excuse to escape this show. "A big one. Maybe if I get stupid and drunk I can go home." Theo nodded with a deep sigh. "Yes please."

Fletch barely followed their conversation. He didn't want to pay attention to it at all, mind, but he thought Theo was worth keeping a closer eye on. The man wasn't in a good state, and Fletch would no doubt be adding to his misery here and there as he kept up the act.

"I'll drag you into your own grave, woman," he muttered beneath his breath as the girl made her retreat to burden some other poor sod with her grating presence. He turned to Theo, his irritation lingering. "The bloody hell is missile-toe? Sounds awful. Erm. You look like hell. Do you need a drink? I can find you one."

He took one, deep, fortifying breath and then plastered on his fake smile and gave Fletcher a nod. "Of course, Mr. Daw. How silly of me to be so nervous. I've seen my fiancé countless times now. No difference between home and work so many watching eyes. Thank you, I'm good now."

Theo gave another smaller headbob of a more genuine nature while meeting the other man's eyes before straightening himself and beginning to escort his mother inside. The noble mask fell back into place but there was a crack in it. His eyes no longer looked as enthused to the point that when Edwina joined them she asked after him, pressing her palm to his forehead to check his temperature. Theo gently drew her hand back down and away and released it.

"I am well, I assure you, Lady Obower. You need not worry for me and might I say your dress is lovely. Red is such a classic color for this time of year."

The woman twittered and giggled, doing her best to cling to him and never being allowed to touch for too long as Theo repeatedly maneuvered her into more polite positions and touches.

"Is Mr. Truckett here tonight?"

"I'm afraid not. After the incident at our last ball it was deemed best to have only experienced guards on staff tonight."

"Oh," she replied, trying to cover up her disappointment before smiling brightly and once more attempting to cling to his upper arm. "We'll have to find some mistletoe tonight. Although I don't think I've seen any in Lady Fjene's decorations. How gauche of her."

"Perhaps for the best. Can you imagine the number of couples taking advantage of it and so early in the season?"

"Oh yes! Best to keep the anticipation up!" Edwina eyed Fletcher up and down with a large grin. "Do you have someone to drag under the mistletoe this year, Jack?"

"—Mr. Daw is from the north. I'm not sure they do that where he's from," Theo quickly interjected blushing deeply at the thought. "Oh is that Lady Diene and Lady Gergene over that? Would you like a moment to talk to your friends dear?"

Edwina squealed and bounded off without being told twice, giving the two men a blessed moment of peace. "Is this ball almost over?" Theo asked exhausted, knowing it had barely even begun.

Clover didn't know how he was expecting her to respond to his comments or questions with only one free hand, not to mention the fact that he either misunderstood or seemingly ignored her signing most of the time. As such, she didn't bother trying to communicate much to him on their way over, instead keeping her eyes trained on the path ahead.

She yelped a bit when she was dropped into the chair without any warning- the first time she'd vocalized anything since having the fortune (or misfortune) of meeting Jin. Of course, the moment he turned his back on her she immediately tried to push herself back out of it, only to find herself lacking the strength and slumping back into it. Apparently she'd been running mostly on adrenaline for the past few minutes, and now there wasn't much she could do other than rest and try to recover her energy- which made it quite convenient that Jin was now offering her a plate of food.

As ridiculous as the situation he'd put her in was, maybe it would actually help for her to eat something and gain some of her strength back, so after taking one of the buns and peering suspiciously over it at Jin for a brief moment, she finally took a small bite. And... it was good. Really good. Her eyes immediately lit up with surprise and delight, and in no time she found herself taking bite after bite. Maybe she was just that hungry, or maybe the bun was just that good, but whatever the reason, she devoured the whole thing in seconds and wasted no time reaching for another. It was almost enough to make her forget why they were here in the first place! Almost.

He was in the middle of helping the Baroness down — and trying not to scowl too harshly at her — when he noticed. Theo hadn't found any relief in the fresh air outside the carriage. In fact, he seemed to have gotten even worse. Fletch glanced between the man and his parents, and it dawned on him that he couldn't be soft in this moment. He couldn't at all. He grimaced at the thought of what he had to say and shut the carriage door to buy himself some time. Then he turned to Theo.

"No, come on, now, sir. We're here, now. You might as well enjoy it. Let's head in."

There was a dead-tone silence-- even the sound of the river was drowned out by the deafening drumming of the thugs' heartbeats as Snarg 'barked' back at them, dogs that they all were. Everyone seemed to freeze in place; even the loudest of them, fueled by the sweltering heat and prior evening's humiliations shut up for a moment's time. Eventually, however, everyone seemed to find their voices again... and unfortunately, that included the mouthy man. "...SPECIFIC!?" Rang out his loud voice, as he now trembled with adrenaline-- his body walking the fine line between 'fight' and 'flight'. "You want fucking specific!? I'll give you fucking specific!" He practically roared, kicking his foot off of the resting beast of a man, before drawing his--

"Enough. Put that toy away."

The desert thug paused-- the curved blade at his waist half-unsheathed. The voice wasn't Snarg's, nor did it belong to any of the other bandits-- twas Kiri's, who, feeling well-enough rested, finally decided to speak up. One of the men, the one closest to her, tensed a little as she slowly began to stand, the river water draining from her legs and thighs as she did so. Close as he was, the thug nearest Kiri took a proper look at her in the process; His eyes naturally drawn toward the curves of her body, tightly compacted by bandaging and little else. He glanced over the blackened metal gorget and tassets on her person-- odd choices of rainment given that she was practically in the nude else-wise, before grinning to himself a little. She had a little fight in her, it seemed! He liked that. Too bad for her that she didn't think to pick up that sword before she stood, he thought to himself before reaching out to grab her by the face with his right hand.

"Hey, hey-- easy there, lil' lady. Wouldn't want you to--"

His hand didn't even make it to her face. Hell, it didn't even make it near to her face. The few fingers that were closest— the three fingers of his right hand— plopped to the shallow river below like little pebbles, staining the waters with thin streams of red. The poor guy didn't even see it happen; Perhaps no one did. The moment his mind caught up to the scalding, throbbing pain in his hand however, he let out a sharp, horrified scream of pain.

"That was three fingers." 

The man stumbled backwards into the river proper— fear flooding his mind and blood spurting from the lumps where his fingers had been. He hadn't seen her move. Her goddamned sword was still on the ground! What the hell just happened!? "In my era, you'd have lost the entire arm— but as you are but a dog, a light scolding will suffice. This one time."

The woman nearest to the camels paled. The calmer of the three men's eyes shifted from his brash companion to the still-seated Snarg, and then to Kiri, who only now knelt down to collect her blade. It was an odd thing; The truth of it was hard to say, but the fallen bandit could've sworn that moment her hands touched the sword's hilt, the very air around them all seemed to still... and grow colder. Magic? Or madness?

"...Wha," Began the 'brash' bandit, eyes wild as they darted between Kiri and Snarg now. "What... what the fuck did you—"

"You are all dogs; Every last one. Dogs riding camels. Dogs barking at resting dogs. Theiving dogs. You are like children... Making noise, biting at one another, stumbling about without reason. Without order. I grow tired of it— and so I will put an end to it." Her tone couldn't have held more disdain if it were a top athlete in a Thanati Weightlifting Competition. Her gaze passed tastelessly over the five dogs in her presence, before landing on the most 'clean' of them... physically. And only because she'd thrown said 'clean dog' into the river earlier. "Speak. What petty theft does this hyena speak of? Do you even know?" She probed, her tone relatively even— if you could call her general RBE (Resting Bitch Existence) 'even'.

Shuffling in the distance alerted the three men to the fact that while Kiri spoke, the woman with them— the apparent 'smartest' of them— made good her escape from the entire situation, having mounted her camel haphazardly as quickly as she could and rushed off in the opposite direction without so much as a word to her comrades. "P-Parkha!!" The bleeding man screamed after her, half enraged at the apparent betrayal, half fearful that she was leaving them to their deaths at the hands of the two warriors. Kiri spared but a single glance toward the escaping bandit before frowning— her mood souring at the sight.

"Feckless mutt."

His eyes snapped up as he drew his legs back into himself thinking he had been in the way. It was only as he caught the moving hands that he realized what Fletcher was doing and a fluttering warmth spread through his chest. Even in public, even in a low moment, Fletcher was there providing comfort. Theo wanted nothing more than to press his knee back into Fletcher's and obtain more grounding contact. But he knew better with the presence of his parents and his lover's own resistance to touch currently.

The carriage had barely come to a stop at their destination though before Theo was practically throwing himself out of it. He earned much admonishment he couldn't hear from his parents for not letting Fletcher go first but his focus was more on leaning against the side of the carriage and catching his breath.

"I can't do this," he whispered under his breath while running a hand down his face. "I want to go home."

Hearing the tartness in her voice was enough to make him realize how disrespectful he was being. No ruler would abide such a pessimistic outlook about their nation. 

"Please forgive me. I meant not to imply that Essyrn's greatness is exclusively a thing of the past. I may fear what the future may bring, but Fate does have a tendency to defy expectations. And perhaps Hakeshna is merely testing us and the trials that are to come will only serve to strengthen our great land."