Xaviers!

"American! How egzotično. And a dancer! You are so small, but you beat Antonie very good.

Why do you come to Symkaria? And why here, and not Aniana?"

She looked back over the crowd. "We will find your...escort? The other stranger, yes? Another American?"

Full of questions, this one.

Fortunately for Jez, Nika had no problem navigating a crowd and has stuck somewhat close to Jez without being too obvious.

"<The silly American is my friend. I should probably make sure she continues to not embarrass herself or our customs, yes?>" Nika speaks up first in Symkarian before switching to English. "I wanted to show her some more authentic things than the big city tourist spots. And how well she's taken to it, eh?" she adds as she steps up to Jez and elbows her 'friend' in the side.

"Well, maybe Prince Alex will get her to stay and be the queen, yes?" the other girl smiled. "He is very...convincing?"

"Wouldn't that be something." Nika laughs politely, although once she thinks about it for a second, that would solve all of her problems...

Saved by the bell. Though she didn't understand what Nika had been saying in her own language, it seemed to answer a lot of questions. "Yeah, that's right. Like how if I took you to New York, I'd wanna show you the real city and not just the spots where there's nothing but tourists." She let out a little "oof" at the poke but went along with it.

"A prince? A real honest-to-goodness prince? Wow, that'd be amazing!" She tried to play up the oblivious foreigner angle a bit, hopefully not too much.

"I think his English is mostly good? So maybe you can be a charmer of him, yes? " the young girl said, teasingly.

The carriage had gone through a small loop of the town, with people cheering it on, and was now headed up the long pathway to the imposing castle up above.

"I don't know. If I'm not careful, someone else might beat me to it." Jez teased in return, trying to use the banter to steady her nerves. To outsiders it might seem like she was just overwhelmed by her win and the prospect of meeting royalty. But Nika at least knew otherwise. She leaned forward to get a better look at the castle, taking it in as they approached.

"Whoa..."

Castle Sablinova overlooked the town, looming over it and the nearby river with a sense of superiority. Decked out in blue and white, matching thc color of the clothes Prince Alex normally wore, the entire castle had a faux-welcoming atmosphere to it, the bright colors, shining walls, and flags of Symkaria and House Sablinova flapping in the wind somewhat offset by the artillery batteries and defensive ramparts surrounding it. Not quite a Cinderella castle out of a storybook or anything, but fairly impressive to behold.

To Nika, of course, this was maybe the eighth-most-impressive castle she'd been to.




It'd be too stereotypical to keep the captive princess in the tower, right?

The guards cleared a path for the carriage, saluting the incoming queen -- all very traditional and formal, one was sure. The carriage went through not one, but two different gates as they were led into the central courtyard. If not bustling with activity, per se, there were plenty of people in uniform tending to the gardens or cleaning the area -- and some who were doing things that Jez couldn't quite put her finger on -- busywork, maybe?

Nika might be able to diagnose this a little more accuratley -- having all of his servants in uniform when people arrived probably made Prince Alex feel all the more important and enhanced his image. Making everyone work on a festival day was a downright rude thing to do, as well. A little man attempting to look as big as possible, and attempting to prepare himself for Bigger Things.

Jez's uneasiness began to show a bit more, evidenced by her becoming more quiet. Now they were out of the public eye she had less leverage if things went awry.