Trigger warning: mentions of food, mention of sex(not smut)

    The next morning, Biana woke up to Amy shaking her awake. She usually woke up on her own, as breakfast was typically a small, private affair in her parents sitting room, at nine o'clock, but she had promised Linh and Marella that she would eat with them in a guest lounge at seven o'clock. She glanced at the clock, and saw that it was already six thirty.

    With Amy's help, she quickly got dressed in a puffy sky blue dress. Biana found this description a bit ironic, as it was pouring hard outside. She would have to bathe in the evening, as she no time now. Quickly pulling on her gloves, she ran out of her room to be escorted by whatever guard was stationed outside her room. Today, it was her good friend, Jolin.

    Jolin smiled when he saw Biana exit her room. "Hello, princess."

    "Hello to you, too!" Biana greeted. "How are you?"

    "Quite well, thank you. My sister has come for the festivities, and I haven't seen her in quite a while."

    "Oh, yes!" Biana clapped her hands. "Sophie, isn't it? We've met!"

"That's wonderful! I've always thought you two would like each other!"

"We do. Well, I do. I'll never truly know if she likes me, you know. It's not as though I could read her thoughts," Biana rambled, which was a bit strange for her, as she was typically very put together.

Jolin laughed. "Well I suppose you will never truly know, but I think we can safely assume she likes you. Anyway, here we are." They had reached the lounge. A couple people lingering outside the doorway paused to bow to Biana as she walked by. She called farewell to Jolin and opened the door.

    Inside the lounge, there were about a dozen tables with varying amounts of people. In one corner, a buffet was set up, so guests could fill their plates with all the breakfast foods they desired. A few servants were there as well, serving tea to the nobles. Biana spotted Marella and Linh sitting at a circular table near the middle of the room. She waved at them before going to the buffet to heap her plate with custard bursts. They were not really a proper breakfast, but Biana could not care less.

    She approached her friends table, and sat down in the seat next to Linh, who was eating some fluffcreams . Marella was directly across from them and had a hazardous amount of mallowmelt.

    "Good morning," Linh greeted as she sat down.

    Marella held up her hand as if to say "Hold on, my mouth is full". "Hello," she said when she had finished chewing.

    "How was your dinner?" Biana asked, attempting to find a graceful way to shove her custard bursts into her mouth.

    "Pretty good," Linh replied. "We sat together."

"And these two blokes tried to flirt with us," Marella jumped in. "But Linh threatened to duel with them and they shut up." Biana had to laugh at that. Linh was the best swordswoman in the entire kingdom and no one would dare to challenge her to a duel unless they wanted to give up their honor.

The ever modest Linh blushed and punched Marella on the arm lightly. "I think what really scared them off was you threatening to bed with their mothers."

    Biana stared at Marella, her mouth agape. "You did not."

    Marella scowled at Biana, but they were both laughing. "Anyway, how was your dinner?" Marella asked.

    Biana told them of the people she sat by and of Sophie Foster-Ruewen.  "Have you heard of her?" She asked Marella, who was a gossip database.

    "A bit," She replied. "She has two or three older siblings, can't quite remember, and a younger sister, Amy, of course. She and Amy are adopted, though no one knows what happened to their parents. And Lady Edaline and Lord Grady never talk to anyone after some sort of incident happened a while back."

    Linh shook her head. "I don't understand how you manage to know everything."

    Marella shrugged. "It's a talent. Oh, look Biana, it's Sophie. She's sitting with those guards. I'm going to go get her."

    "Don't-!" Linh tried to say, but Marella had already stood up and was making her way towards Sophie's table.

    "What's wrong?" Biana asked, curious.

    "Those are the men who flirted with us earlier," Linh explained. "The ones we threatened. I just know Marella's going to start some sort of drama and get us in trouble."

    "Don't worry," Biana said, rubbing Linh's shoulder reassuringly. "If she pulls anything, I'll talk to my mother. She's good at that sort of thing." Linh still seemed worried, but she nodded as they watched Marella talk to Sophie. Sophie stood up and Marella turned towards their table and winked at Marella and Linh. The two girls walked towards their table, Marella sitting at her spot, and Sophie sitting on her left.

"Hi," Linh waved. "I'm Linh Song of Choralmere. I don't believe we've met?"

    Sophie shook her head. "I don't think we have. I'm Sophie Foster-Ruewen of Havenfield." She bit into the the slimy green balls on her plate and grimaced.

    Marella smiled. "Too sour?"

    Sophie nodded vigorously, causing Biana to laugh. "Don't worry, the only person I know who likes those is Dex."

    "Figures. I'm not familiar with most of the food here, so I just copied off of what Dex had gotten. He's my cousin and the only person I really know here. He had to leave though, so I went to sit with those guards-"

    "And then I saved you!" Marella finished.

    "They didn't try to flirt with you, did they?" Linh asked.

"They did a bit. Why?"

    Biana explained what happened to Linh and Marella earlier.

"Wow," Sophie said when she was finished. She glanced at Linh. "Would you really duel them?"

    "If I had to," Linh replied. "I don't support violence, but I am quite good with a sword. And if your going to ask—yes, Marella would undoubtedly do that."

    Sophie laughed, and looked as though she was about to say something when a guard suddenly burst into the lounge.  "Princess!" He shouted when he saw Biana. "Come with me, quickly! The castle is under attack!"

1079 words

Sorry for this chapter being late. At least it's way longer!

Question of the chapter: Where do you think Dex went?