Tythra could easily pick up what her sister in law put down. After the adorable congratulations from her youngest, she smoothed back Essa’s hair. “Alright, you and Imeeya go find your uncle now. See if you can have your nap, Essa.”

And with a polite nod to Yanni, Tythra left the group. Truth be told she didn’t want to stand there any more than Yanni did. It was a very long, tiresome day for a wedding many people didn’t approve of. And besides, weddings were events Tythra hated attending the most. If they were ceremonies of ‘love’ Tythra would scoff at the idea, and if they were political well… she cared more about the ramifications of what came after.

Before Tythra could get a word to Yanni, and share with her a sigh of relief, her brother appeared with wine. Oh, thank gods it was as if he read her mind. She took a sip. There was something… familiar to it. She tasted it again. Yes, very familiar.

It’s like a brew we tried when we were adolescents.

Tythra’s eyes shot up to her brother before she too moved it to meet the gaze of Lady Thea. She should be mad. She should be furious. She should be grabbing the girl by her ear and dragging her to her father, telling the man to keep his children in check.

Instead, she giggled and continued to drink until there was nothing left.

Already this was unusual. Tythra had no constitution for alcohol, nor the secrets hidden within it. It was why she was careful to only sip one, maybe two, throughout an entire evening. But she was already partway through the rabbit hole, there was no stopping it now.

But was more unusual was the girlish giggle Tythra had. It was a foreign sound, the likes of which very few people have ever heard. Maybe when she was young she laughed in this way, but certainly not now. She was strict, firm, and with a Kotas mask and Drakos clothes, she knew how to hide her emotions very well. She was not a giggler.

“The one from our parent’s store? I thought it was familiar. Lady Thea has fine taste.” Tythra put the empty mug down. The smile she had on her face, for the first time in the entire affair, was genuine. Her eyes danced around the party before landing on the children in the snow. Noble and common-born alike were throwing snowballs at each other. It looked… fun.

If Tythra was going to be high at a wedding she may as well commit fully to it and regret it the next day. Another mischievous giggle escaped from her lips as she gathered some of the snow into her hand. She shaped it into a ball. And as Tython spoke to Yanni, perhaps to warn her of the cider for who knows just how much Lady Thea put into it, Tythra moved her arm back before sending the snowball straight towards her brother’s face.

Splat!

It always softened her heart each time she watched Zanon's interaction with his siblings, even if it was clear he did not entirely enjoy spending time with them by pure association of name. That her husband was willing to do his best to tamp those fears if only to ensure a neutral relationship between the two families now that they were married.

Smiling as Essa arrived, the young Drakos and cousin to her husband was adorable as they come, and Evras wished the child she carried would be as affectionate as the child they ahd in front of them now. But as Essa tugged at her fabric, a part of Evras's eyes reflected panic. The folds and seams of her dress had been perfectly pleated to ensure it covered enough of her growing belly, and as Essa tugged, it would loosen that soon anyone would see.

Breathing a sigh of relief when Zanon seem to pick up on her growing panic and scooped young Essa out of the way, Evras laughed but with clear affection shining in her eyes as she watched the interaction of Zanon and the young Drakos. While the child she now carried was entirely an accident, she had no doubt Zanon would make a wonderful father with the way he was with Essa.

Putting on a more proper, polite smile as the Queen joined their little knot of people, Evras remained silent, her hands folded in front of her even as her husband addressed his mother. Afterall, while this was her wedding celebration sure, but she was by no means the hostess of the event. No, Evras was quite clear that the Queen was not happy at all with Zanon's actions and choice to marry her, and she had much to do to gain the Queen's trust. Evras still felt a little knot of panic each time she was in the vicinity of the Queen, and she couldn't help but wonder how long it'd take to subside.

Leaning in when Zanon pressed a kiss to her cheek, Evras flashed her new husband a quick smile, but allowed him to drift away as she too turned her attention back to her siblings, ready to resume the conversation they had been having. There were many guests afterall, it was unfeasible for her to expect Zanon to stay by her side the whole time when it would be far better to divide and conquer.

"Nethis? With father?" Evras finally asked Thea, a raised brow flashed in her direction as she followed Thea's gaze towards where Dionysios was indeed being waited on by Nethis and Dysius, although their eldest sister looked obviously disgruntled. Dysius looked similar, yet being the younger one meant the male heir likely had no choice in their father's curt commands for Dysius to remain by his side.

Watching gratefully as Thea departed, Evras wandered the area greeting others who had newly arrived, but remaining close to the roaring fire's the Queen had ensured was stoked. Her fingers had been growing cold, and by the time the warm cider in the bronze chalice arrived, the newly minted princess was quick to clasp it in her hands, savoring the warmth being dissipated through the metallic surface. The spiced liquid warmed her from within as she sipped lightly, as she watched Thea approach her new father-in-law... and hand him a drink? While it seemed normal enough, something about her sister's beguiling smile made Evras raise a brow, catching her sister as Thea walked off and hissing. "What did you do?" It was a mix of frustation and curiosity even as she watched the King take a sip, and then the Lady Tythra giggle before draining her drink, uncharacteristic of the Kotas siblings as Evras had previously kown them to be.

It was clear something was off the moment the snowball sailed through the air and landed against the King, and the Queen's clear outburst had Evras groaning as she flashed her sister a wry look. The new princess wasn't angry per say, for an amused light sparkled in her blue-green gaze - but it didn't mean Thea's actions had made Evras's celebrations any easier to bear, not when she had a perpetual nagging weariness to deal with.

"If I get casted out within a month of my marriage, I'm living with you until I'm old and decrepit and I expect you to pay for me for the rest of my life." she wryly told Thea quickly, before picking up her skirts and hurrying off after the disappearing image of the clearly angry Queen, trying her best to catch up with the royal lady before heaving out, "Your Majesty... Do not be too angry. I think it would be a welcome reprieve for many, to just have a little jovial fun?" Evras tried gingerly, a hint of meekness still clear in her tone for the princess was clearly still fearful of what her new mother in law thought of her.

“That is how it works,” Mihail objected, although he had no real reasoning for his claim. Mother had been a princess, he was quite sure, and she had not been married to a prince but claimed the title through some family relationships, so, surely, he would get the title through his sister’s marriage. If Evras was a princess, then he was a prince. He was not entirely sure what the difference was between being a prince and a lord unless you were going to become king – something which definitely did not seem fun – but the title sounded nice. The crown looked nice too, even though neither his sister did not entirely agree with him. At least his new brother-in-law did. “Maybe it is not comfortable, but I still want one. It’s pretty!” He pointed up at the one on her head in the same way she had gestured towards it a moment earlier. “See, Zanon says I can have one.”

The boy let Thea wrap her arm around him, his lips bunched up into an irritable pout at the way she tugged him away as though he was still a child (which he was, even if not for much longer), but he did not complain. “I have to make sure Evras is always alright. That’s my brotherly duty.” Father had always been rather adamant that he and Dysius were supposed to be the future backbones of the family, even though it tended to come out in a slightly stilted manner, as though he was not entirely sure how to phrase the words in his distorted state of mind. Nethis liked to tell him that he was supposed to be her brave little snake, and it felt as though taking care of the family was included in that request. Now that Evras was leaving to join another family, he had to make sure she was safe, even though that was arguably her husband’s duty now. Marriages could end, but brothers were forever.

Now that all the greetings were over and done with – the important ones, at least, since Mihail didn’t really care about his cousins or any of those annoying distant relatives and other lords – he was far more interested in the fun of this party. Not that it was all that exciting, but there had to be something less dull to do than just stand around greeting people all day. Luckily, it looked like Evras was going to save the day for his lack of attention span. “Yes, please,” he answered with some enthusiasm, suddenly chilly despite his warm coverings, and likely only because his sister had put the idea into his head.

While he waited for Thea to fetch them some warm drinks, the child lingered awkwardly by his older sister, not wanting to break away from the small group that had gathered by the fire in case he somehow get dragged back into conversation with Nethis and Dysius. At least his brother looked like he wasn’t having much fun, which was just the way Mihail liked things, and he stuck his tongue out in the older boy’s direction as if to mock him further, though careful to ensure that Father didn’t see. He wasn’t about to get in trouble for teasing the other and then forbidden from taking part in any further activities.

The cider was hot and delicious when it arrived, and he clutched the drink between his thin fingers, glad to feel its warmth before he ended up freezing, turning his attention to the antics going on among the other party, particularly the king and his sister. Huh. He had always thought they were rather dull and stoic individuals, but now they seemed to be acting just like any of the small children – bar himself – present. Clearly, something was going on, else he did not think that Evras would question Thea like that. Mihail sipped his drink, raising an eyebrow at his middle sister in confusion. “Is there a secret drink that’s better than apple cider?” he questioned; his tone excited at the prospect that something might be better than his current drink. Maybe if he had some of that, he could go and play, and nobody would question it or make him go stand by Father, and it wouldn’t even matter that he didn’t have any actual friends with which to play. “I want some of that!”

When Imeeya was told that she was going to get to dress up in her prettiest clothes and go to her cousin Zan’s wedding, she didn’t expect that a wedding would be so utterly boring. She sat and watched the ceremony willing herself to stay awake. She wasn’t a baby like Essa, who had been nodding off on her shoulder throughout the entire event. She was seven years old now, almost eight, which made her a Lady, and that meant she had to act like one, even if she didn’t like it. By the time everything was over, Imeeya was decidedly grumpy.

The next part, however was to be outside, and it had snowed the night before, the ground still covered in the soft white substance. Here she could talk to people, and show off her pretty new dress that her mother had had made just for the occasion. The pale pink chiton went almost to the ground unlike the shorter clothing she normally wore. That’s how grown ups dressed and she was clearly very grown up now. The color faded to a darker pink towards the bottom of the gown, the elegant coloring hiding the more practical concern of a concealing any dirt a child might pickup on the hem of the fabric.

Imeeya’s mood had considerably improved by the time her mother led her to where her cousin and his new bride were receiving guests. At her mother’s instruction Imeeya dipped into a small courtesy trying her best to act as grown up as she possibly could. She imitated the way she had heard adults talk before. “Congratulations Zanon, Evras. It was a lovely wedding. I hope the gods bless your marriage.” She thought Evras looked very pretty, even though she knew her mother wouldn’t want her to say it. She was a Thanasi, and they weren’t supposed to like the Thanasis. Of course Essas was still a baby and didn’t know they weren’t supposed to just say such things out loud.

Then, since she was now responsible enough to do such things, her mother sent her off to take Essa to her uncle so that Essa could take a nap. She was too old for naps now, but she didn’t mind going to visit her uncle. Imeeya turned to her sister, answering her question. “Of course you can be a princess some day!” Imeeya answered excitedly. They were Drakos women, they could do whatever they wanted. Imeeya was not sure she wanted to be a princess herself if it meant that she had to pretend she had fun at these kinds of things.

Imeeya grabbed Essa’s hand and wandered off to try to find her uncle, but before she found him she saw a streak of white wizz past. She looked up to see her cousin Asia throwing snowballs with an older girl who she hadn’t met before. Immediately Imeeya set up her dastardly plan. She dropped Essa’s hand and began packing a snowball of her own. She crept closer to her cousin, hoping that the fact that she had not yet been involved in this snowball fight might mean that she wouldn’t not be noticed.

Imeeya aimed the snowball at her cousin, “Surprise attack!” she called out as she unleashed the snow in Asia’s direction. She burst into giggles as the snow hit its target, with what little strength a scrawny seven year old could muster. It didn’t occur to Imeeya that now she would need to run or else face a counterattack.

Having grown up in the cold peaks of Eubocris, snowball fights were not unfamiliar territory for the middle Valaoritis son. How could it be when every winter his mother Periella bundled up both her boys and their oodles of cousins up into winter gear and turned them loose to the snowy valley to keep them out of the way? From the time he could toddle properly, Nicomedes and Isidore had made sure the boy knew how to built a makeshift fort and stack of projectiles at a moment’s notice. He had learned the rules as a babe - particularly that there were no rules beyond not putting stones or ice in the snowballs. Timaeus in turn had taught Silanos and Roxana. It was just the sort of thing that children in cold places did during the short days that came with winter and the desire from their parents to make sure that the children were not underfoot all day.

However, as familiar as he might be, that didn’t stop him from being taken by surprise when Silanos decided that the ‘no rules’ bit of snowball fights applied to the Kotas wedding celebration as well.

When Silanos suggested a race to go meet up with the other boys that saw this as a chance to play rather than just standing around like stiff, little dolls, Timaeus couldn’t say no. It was physically impossible for the young boy to say no as this was the sort of thing that Tim loved more than anything in the world. After all, even though the boy was only eleven years old, he was already proving himself to be the athlete of the family. Tim was every mother’s worst nightmare as he was constantly running up and down the halls, trying to scale the rocky mountain walls, and just generally getting up to this sort of mischief on a daily basis. With Silanos being smaller and not as eager as his brother to spend every waking moment on the training field with a sword in hand, there was no way that his brother was gonna win. Timaeus knew it, Silanos knew it. This was just a simple fact of the matter.

A wicked grin grew at the corners of his mouth as Silanos took off. His brother didn’t really give the boy much of a chance to accept the challenge, but that didn’t matter when Timaeus went speeding after his brother. Given that the middle son had longer legs and was faster than the eight-year-old, it was only a matter of moments before Timaeus was neck and neck with Sil. Tim was half tempted to stick his tongue out at his brother as he started to pull ahead, but he decided against it as his mind was solely on the goal. He had reach the other boys first. Tim couldn’t let his kid brother beat him.

He would have definitely won this race had Silanos been playing fair, but it seemed that the boy had been bested by Tim one too many times to let him have another victory today. Just as the elder boy was nearly assured that he would have his victory, he felt a sharp jab at his back as two smaller hands shoved with all their might. Although Tim was fast, he really wasn’t that hardy, so it wasn’t all that surprising that the boy went tumbling into the snow as a result of the shove. A startled noise escaped Tim as he fell to the ground, his face growing bitter cold and wet as he didn’t have much of a chance to cover it in time. “Hey! No fair!” He cried out as he tried to scramble to his feet, brushing away the ice and snow from his face. However, this was easier said than done with the thick mittens that Periella had shoved on his hands earlier in the day.

In truth, it just felt like that he was shoving the snow around as he tried to clean his eyes from the stinging snow, loosing valuable time in what should have been an easy victory. Timaeus was obviously upset by this, but not in some childish sort of way that involve tears freezing to icy cheeks. Instead, it was more of a grumbling bitterness that was bothering Tim as he struggled to shed his hand of the furry glove that had cost him the race. Even though it was likely that the boy would forget the whole thing in a few moments anyway, Tim was silently promising himself that he would get Silanos back for this mean trick. It wasn’t fair that he had to lose because Sil couldn’t play nice. His brother should just be a good sport instead of just shoving people into a snow bank like the little pain that he was.

“You cheated!” He called out as he finally got the mitten off his hand and went about clearing the snow from his eyes. Tim probably wasn’t even looking in the direction of his brother as he had them screwed shut in order to keep them clean. Had he not been preoccupied like this, maybe the boy would have realized that another was on a collison course right towards him and luckily for Tim, this new challenger was not his pesky brother.

Just as Tim was about to lob some half-hearted threats at Sil for what he had done, the Valaoritis boy once again found the wind being knocked out of him as a young girl, about his age, ran right into him. Falling back into the snowbank, but luckily landing on his backside this time. It must have been a funny sight, seeing the lordling practically eat dirt twice in a row, but Timaeus was far from laughing as he looked up at whoever knocked him over this time with a deep scowl on his face.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” He called out instinctively, but immediately shut his mouth once he saw who had knocked Tim over. A girl. Even though his brother was very quick to cross off all girls that were not blood relatives as icky and gross, Timaeus was… not willing to do that. At least he wasn’t going to when he was at the right age to start taking an interest in the fairer gender. Where he would have yelled something about Euterpe having cooties a year or two ago, Tim found himself stuck in a weird mixture of uncontrollably blushing and being mad that it had been a girl to knock him down. His face was a beet red, but that could have very well been from the cold as a pair of sullen arms crossed his chest, more fake sulking than anything.

Quickly scrambling to his feet as Tim nervously glanced over at the group of boys nearby --worried that they had seen him being taken down by a girl-- the eleven year old dared to take a glance at her. She was awfully pretty, even in bulky winter clothes that made everyone look lumpy and dull compared to the bright white snow. Tim could see long red hair peeking out behind her head and there was a light rosy tint to her cheeks, brought on by the chill of the afternoon. Even though everything was just as cold and icy as the ground beneath them, Euterpe seemed to be a bright flame against it and Tim couldn’t understand why there was now a strange fluttering feeling in his stomach… like a bunch of butterflies had gotten stuck in his chest.

Timaeus was about to stammer through an awkward introduction, but Euterpe accidentally spared him the pain of doing so by deciding that standing around and talking would be boring. Instead, it would be far more fun to continue the snowball fight that was unfurling all around them. With little warning, she swooped down and made a clump of snow that she tossed directly at Tim’s chest, bringing an startled laugh to his lips from the weird feeling in his stomach. “Hey!” He called out as he scooped a snowball of his own into his hand and tried to toss it in Euterpe’s direction.

For all his great childhood athleticism, snow was a tricky thing to manage and poor Tim couldn’t land any of his shots. What he did manage to do was lob a snowball at poor Princess Asia as the two older children zoomed past her. Tim barely registered what he had done as he kept chase with Euterpe, but he saw the snowball crumple against the young girl, covering her in white as two of her cousins joined the fray. “I’m sorry Asia! Didn’t mean to!” He called over his shoulder, not pausing for a second as he weaved in between people in the crowd, truly taking Euterpe up on her offer to catch her if he could. Tim just couldn’t help it, he felt less like he was chasing after the priestess in training and more as if he was trying to catch that butterfly feeling again as it felt so good and nice after it faded away. He wanted to feel it again and if catching Euterpe was how he was going to get it, then so be it.

The acolyte certainly gave the boy a run for his money as it was a few minutes before Tim finally caught up to her and reached out to push her slightly, hoping to end the chase by knocking her down. It was a mean thing to do, especially as Timaeus had just railed against Sil for doing it to him… but that was a different circumstance anyway. Either way, that didn’t stop Tim from giving a hearty laugh as he prepped a big snowball and lobbed it at her the moment she turned around, calling out all the while, “Ha! I win!” His voice was filled with all the childish glee that a snowball fight could muster.

With his victory assured, Timaeus saw no issue in going over to her and helping her to her feet. After all, this was what his mother would expect him to do and hadn’t Tim already done enough to upset her today? “That was fun. I’m Timaeus by the way.” He sputtered out, too breathless from the chase to care about the awkwardness that might come from this introduction. He really wanted to know her name as she was just vaguely ‘that girl’ while he was chasing her and given that she seemed to be just as rough and tumble as the boys were, Tim had every interest in becoming fast friends with her. Who knows, maybe they could be on the same team if other children joined on the snowball fight?

Although Tim was having a great time making friends, it seemed to be that someone was rather jealous that their older brother wasn’t paying much attention to them. Out of nowhere, Tim felt a cold snowball hit the back of his head. Whirring around his feet, the young noble saw his brother disappear into the crowd, cackling all the while. “That little…” He muttered quietly as he bent down to make more snowballs (hard-packed ones too) in order to get revenge. He was about to make chase when he remembered that he wasn’t alone. Turning to Euterpe, he offered a few snowballs as he quickly explained, “And that was my brother, Silanos. Little twerp. Wanna go get him with me?” There was a hopeful glint in his eyes. Tim liked Euterpe and hoped that he would get to spend more time with her today. What batter way to do that than get revenge on stupid brothers?

However, maybe Timaeus would have given pause had he known that Silanos was already getting his comeuppance and that if him and Euterpe gave chase… they might just end up throwing snow balls at the newly-returned crown prince of Colchis…

The redhead lobbed a snowball at Athanasia. The little princess leapt sideways, lost her balance and fell into the snow. As she got up and dusted herself off, she noticed that the girl had run into a boy close to her age. He was dressed too finely to be a commoner, but she had no idea who he was. Memorizing the names of the noble families in Colchis would be part of her education eventually, but at six, her lessons were aimed at improving her reading and writing skills and teaching her the basics of mathematics.

The older girl threw a snowball at the boy and then ran in Athanasia’s direction. Was she going to team up with her against him? That would be fun. It could be a fight between girls and boys. Others could join them. The girls would win, of course, because boys had cooties that made them itch. Or she supposed that was what cooties did. She wasn’t even certain what cooties were, but she pictured them as little itchy bugs. What she did know was that all boys had them.

As the girl ran toward her, the boy threw a snowball at her but it missed and hit Athanasia square in the face. Noticing his error, he apologized and called her by her nickname. How dare he! Nobody but family and close friends called her 'Asia.' How did he even know it? Scowling, she took the snowball the girl handed her and hurled it at the offending boy. “That’s Princess Athanasia to you!” she yelled.

A pout turned down the corners of her lips as they left her behind. They didn’t want to play with her. Was it because she was a princess or because she was six? Before she could feel properly sorry for herself, a wet plop hit her from the back. She grinned at the sound of Imeeya’s voice. She would rather play with her cousin anyway.

“Prepare to be conquered!” she shouted, forming a huge snowball that was almost too big for her small hands. With a mischievous smirk, she ran toward Imeeya and flung it straight at her.

Evras may not have been trained to be a princess, but her mother had been one, and the youngest Thanasi girl had learned quite a bit simply through observation of her mother when she had been younger, in mannerism at the very least. Despite so, she was quite aware she had much to learn still, but it somehow felt she shouldn't have left her new mother-in-law fuming from something occuring. It wouldn't look good on anyone, now would it?

Still, it would appear she had a long way to go when it came to finding a middle ground between herself and the Queen.

Internally grimacing when Queen Yanni stated her displeasure in a sharp tone on the behavior of her husband and his sister, Evras knew better then to comment, and merely nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the statement. Evras herself quite enjoyed engaging in childish behaviors sometimes, finding great fun in reminding herself of how children saw the world. But perhaps it was now time to dispense of such foolhardy notions?

Nodding quickly in agreement of the Queen, Evras trailed behind towards the kitchen, averting her eyes when the Queen briefly greeted her husband. Instead, her eyes searched for her own newly wedded groom, smiling as she saw him with her brother. Evras had been half afraid Vangelis wouldn't be able to make it back. Oh, she wasn't particularly close with the crown prince. On the contrary, Evras was still quite skittish around the prince with a reputation, but Zanon had always spoke so highly of his elder brother, Evras knew he'd want his brother back at the wedding.

Seeing as Zanon was occupied, Evras quickly followed the Queen into the kitchens. With the cold season, she remembered the Queen had mentioned something about ensuring the kitchen made and served enough warming broth for everyone, and with how efficient they were, Evras assumed it all would be going well as it usually did.

So the princess all but froze in surprise when they had barely gotten two steps into the kitchens, only to find a large pot overturned, steaming soup everywhere, and cacophony throughout the stone walled kitchens, with things clearly in disarray.