My first Snippet Sunday of the year! Have a pretty rocky first meeting with our (yet to become) dear Bolek!
The man was tall and grave, with a shock of dark hair tied back in a long queue, wearing traditional Gorian robes and a fur-lined cape. He stopped just short of them, as though suddenly hesitant.
"You are the group Anatol ferried from Grobstat?" He said in Imperial, his accent heavy and lilting.
No one answered at first, but Aarna stepped forward at last and replied that they were.
"Where is my wife? I was told she was with you."
Neer was the next to speak, eyeing the man with undisguised suspicion. "You are Renia's husband?"
The man replied that he was, and Neer hummed in thought. "What makes you think you have the right to know where she is?"
There was another moment where the man looked uncertain before he steeled himself, looking down his prominent nose at the Favalan. "She is my wife, and she has been missing for nearly two months. I have every right to ask after her health and whereabouts."
"But you did not ask after her health. In fact, you did not ask much at all. You demanded. And without so much as a good day or well met."
This seemed to give the man pause. He bowed, shallow and stiff. "My apologies Master Favalan. I am Bolek, Baron Nedamov."
Neer looked him up and down before returning the bow just as shallowly. "Neer Haak, Master cobbler under the Honourable Guild of the Cobblers of the City of Bradness, at your service."
"Well met, Master Haak. Now may I enquire as to the whereabouts of my wife?"
It was Fannan who introduced himself next, a more imposing figure than Neer had been, and at least as tall as the Baron. His leaves fell dramatically about his face as he swept into a formal bow. "Baron Nedamov, I am Fannan a Monaru of the Golden Forest. I am here on behalf of the Golden Conclave as ambassador and chaperone. As your wife has been under my care, and therefore under the protection of the Golden Conclave, it is my duty to enquire as to your intentions towards our dear Renia."
The Baron seemed once again taken aback. "Those are pretty words, Ambassador. I suppose I ought to thank you for your care in ensuring my wife's safety, however the last I heard from her Aunt and Uncle she had been shipwrecked off the coast of Outer Goria. That hardly seems protected to me."
Fannan's large eyes narrowed. "Perhaps she would not have been on that ship in the first place had she been taken better care of at home."
The Baron bristled. "Listen, Fannan a Monaru, whatever you believe yourself to be for the Golden Conclave of a place a long way from where we are right now, what dispute my wife may have with me is between us two alone."
"Not any more it isn't!" Luus barked, appearing at her brother's side. "Whatever dispute she has with you, she has us now. She isn't alone and scared any more, and you cannot intimidate her with us here to back her up. I don't care if you're a Baron, I don't think I'd much care if you were the Emperor himself, you won't be getting to Renia until you've gone through us first."