The merchantile has been set up for the purpose of comfortably sitting and tasting wines, and smoking cigarillos! All the windows open so that a warm summer breeze drifts through the open shop. Mirari is currently standing near the serving table; dressed in an aeterna dress with a splash of blood red flowers embroidered on it.

In her hand is a glass of crimson wine.

Emerald eyes drift over people have come and are milling about-- There is a copper jar set by the wines; persumably for donation per glass of wine.

By comparison, Mirari may look more the part of a princess than Isabeau Valardin, who arrives for the wine-tasting clad in a significantly subdued sort of gown and without obvious escort. She smiles at Mirari as she approaches the serving table and places silver in the copper cup. "What delights have you brewed for us this evening, hm?" While the beautiful blonde might not be much of a smoker, the wine was too tempting to resist.

Katarina slips into the merchantile with a few curious souls, her golden eyes sweeping over the interior before they find Mirari with a faintly familiar air. "This was a wonderful idea, Mistress Mirari," the princess commends, a small glass of Lenosian white already in her hand, and donation ready to be sown for a greater cause. "Tell me, how many vintages are here? I realized I know nothing about the way the wines are made. Are they all your brews?"

Mirari turns to Isabeau and Katarina as they arrive! Her lips curling upward to both of them, giving a little curtsy. "My princesses." Her fingers wiggle at them. The red lips shaped quartz on her finger glinting under the light. A soft laugh is given as she says, "I have Corsetina Black and red-- our main imports. I also have--" She nods toward the other end of the table. "Some experiments of mine. We have a Black with blackberry. A red with some cherry and pommegranate. And white with setarcan lime and peach."

Eleyna glances up from her perusal of the wines on offer to give Mirari a nod in greeting before her pale eyes rest on the vintages once again. She selects a glass of red wine and lifts it to her nose to delicately sniff, eyes narrowed in contemplation before she actually makes the effort to taste. Jiacomo, the princess' devoted servant, hovers almost protectively near his mistress. Eleyna inobtrusively passes the man a pouch heavy with silver before turning her attention back to the wine and to Mirari's explanation of such.

The door opens, and in steps Mae Culler. Her clothes are drab and rather low quality. She wears no make up. She doesn't smell pretty. She looks like a poor girl from the Lowers, rather thoroughly. Which is good, because she is that. At least she is wearing a dozen satin ribbons tied into her hair at various places. Still, there's no gown, she's not a princess, nor is she a courtesan. After stepping in, Mae's eyes go wide, and she seems so very aware that she is, indeed, in a room stuffed full of beautiful (wealthy) women. Mae swallows, and after a moment she turns, and starts right back for the door. To leave.

Being late to the party is what Mailys does. And even if ehr most beloved cousin is hosting it Mailys shows up late. Only time she doesn't is when she/ is hosting it. In the little Mailys flounces, flashing brilliant smiles to all. When she notes Mirari she moves over to her and places a kiss on her in greeting. Everyone else, she has not seen Eleyna yet in her task of assuring everyone is given a properly respectful curtsy and an ever smile. When she notices the Velenosa princes Mailys shines an even brighter smile to her and moves to plunk in a spot beside her. After, unless Eleyna gives sign of objecting, a kiss of greeting, of course.

OH NO SHE DOESN'T! Mirari touches one of the princesses'-- which ever one is closer --arm and says, "Excuse me, I need to catch a little mouse before she escapes." And then she strider over to drop an arm around Mae's waist and spin her around so she's aimed at the door. "Why hello there, my darling little Mae-Mae. You're looking utterly ambrosial tonight. Won't you come try one of my experimental wines? Hhmm? It's for a good cause."

Eleyna smiles as she notices Mailys settle in next to her. The kiss of greeting isn't only not objected to, but it is returned as well. "Hello, my dear. I was hoping I'd run into you here. How are you?" Apparently, the sniffing portion of tasting this particular glass of wine is finished as the princess raises the glass to her lips and sips from it.

Mae doesn't make it out the door. Soon enough, she's grabbed. Her eyes go wide and she lets out a squeak that does nothing to disprove the 'mouse' title. She looks up, to Mirari, and offers a sheepish smile. "Hi... Um. I was just going..." she starts to say, though there's very little conviction there. It seems she knows she's been caught. "I could try some wine. I didn't know... um. How fancy it would be..."

Katarina inclines her head, her mouth rounding into a soft moue of interest. "That is fascinating," she says aside to Isabeau, the dark-tressed Eurusi gazing up at the blonde with some interest, as it it is the first time they've been in the same area. "Have you had any of those before? The black with blackberry? Or the cherry and pommegranate?" It isn't long before Eleyna attracts her attention, a palm flashed in delicate wave toward the Lenosian princess. "Princess Eleyna, what is that one?"

Isabeau mentally checks the 'All of the Above' box as Mirari goes over the wine list. By the end of the evening, she'll have had at least one glass of each. You know, for charity. The only question is... where will she begin? The Valardin princess regards her family's newest adoptee and pays the Eurusi woman some careful consideration before she confesses, "I have not. I think I'll try..." Isabeau's deep blue-eyed gaze seems fixed not on the selection of wine, but rather, on the other women present. Unfamiliar faces, names unknown unless overheard. "...the red." And so it begins.

Mailys grins at Eleyna as she settles by the princess, "I wouldn't miss it. Mirari is hosting it, after all." For the time being Sameera doesn't touch the wine. She knows what her family wine tastes like.

Upon hearing herself addressed, Eleyna turns her head to glance at Katarina, smiling as she lifts her glass. "Corsetina Black. I'm afraid I'm a dreadful cheat and simply drinking my favorite. Mistress Mailys introduced me to it not too long ago. I've been a fan ever since. Trust me, a single glass and you'll want to order a case of it. Though, I might also try the one infused with lime and peach. I miss the limes in Lenosia. You could smell them and the blood oranges in the gardens. With the flowers." The Velenosan's eyes go unfocused for a moment as some memory or another overtakes her. Soon, her gaze clears and she offers a smile before lifting the glass to her lips once again.

Mirari gives a soft laugh and ushers poor Mae back toward the tasting table. "Come, you can try my lime and peach one-- I'm call it moscato." She nudge nudges the little messenger along and says, "Tips go in the little bowl there." She points. "Half will go the rebuilding efforts." Mae deposited at the table, she glances back toward the Valardin princesses. "Oh, Princess Isabeau?" It's a test-- is that Princess Isabeau?

Katarina watches Isabeau for a moment, the corners of her mouth kicked upward into a dimpled smile of infectious warmth. "The red is a good place to start," she voices in agreement, her fingers lightly plucking at the stem of a wine glass filled with the Cortesina Black. "I think you've tempted my tastebuds enough, your highness," she laughs to Eleyna, raising her glass in light toast before golden eyes set upon her newly-made cousin again. "Oh, have you met my cousin, Princess Isbeau?" she wonders, graceful in her introductions. "Your highness, this is Princess Eleyna Velenosa. I met her briefly in the Salon, a few weeks ago. She's truly delightful, I think."

Mae allows herself to be guided over, and maybe someone (besides Mirari) will catch the way looks up at the other woman. There's just a touch of swooning. Such beauty! Such wonder! But then she's at the tasting table, and there's talk of tips. "Oh, uh..." And she quickly goes for her belt, and opens a coin purse. She starts to count out coins, and then reaches out to drop the handful into the bowl. It's not much. It's so few you can probably count all the coins that go in. "That sounds nice..." Mae says, clueleslly. She'll take the moscato, whatever that is.

Mirari checked dexterity + alchemy at difficulty 30, rolling 38 higher.

"You won't regret the selection, I assure you," Eleyna murmurs to Katarina, an almost mischievous smile curving her lips before her eyes slide past the Eurusi princess to rest upon Isabeau. She tips her head in a nod. "I believe we met, briefly, at a ball just after I arrived in Arx, but I've not had the pleasure of renewing our acquaintance since. It is good to see you again, Princess Isabeau." She lifts the glass to her lips, as he eyes shift briefly to Mae, catching the expression of adoration on the woman's face for Mirari. She hides her grin with a sip of wine.

It is. The test is passed. Princess Isabeau fetches a glas of the red infused with cherry and pomegranate, but doesn't so swiftly bring it to her lips that she ends up caught mid-sip when she's called. She turns just so when Mirari calls her name, only to be echoed by her adopted cousin. The beautiful blonde Valardin slides into a comfortably warm smile and gracefully lifts her glass as if to toast Eleyna rather than render some otherwise mundane reply, "To an acquaintance rekindled and friendship to come."

Mirari checked dexterity + alchemy at difficulty 30, rolling 15 higher.

Mirari smiles in the direction of Isabeau as the woman picks up the red with pommegranate. She says, "Please do let me know how it tastes? That one is experimental and if it goes over well, I'll be working producing more." She flashes a grin down at Mae and says, "Go on, taste it! Let me know it is. It's a little sweet. Good for having with cake." She gestures toward a table with food on it! Cake!

To Isabeau she says, "Mmn, I would love to talk with you sometime, Princess Isabeau-- I offered the High Lords a free perfume and his grace, suggested I might make one for you."

With a tilt of an ink-adorned wrist, Katarina inhales the fragrant arouma of her wine before sipping lightly at the brew. A delighted breath leaves her, and golden eyes are lifted to Eleyna with a mirthful smile. "By the Gods, you were right," she confesses with a bubbly laugh. "I'm highly tempted to buy a case, maybe two, to stuff away." A pause, a subtle glance cast down toward the princess' figure, and thre is a girlish noise lost. "How is everything coming along? I was just with Duchess Belladonna a few hours ago, and she tells me she cannot -wait- until it's over. I think she is counting down the days until her trip with Duke Cassius back to Setarco for the birth."

Mirari checked composure + manipulation at difficulty 15, rolling 10 higher.

Mirari totally doesn't wince, or have her features tighten, or look sad AT ALL at the mention of Belladonna. Nope. She keeps her focus on Isabeau.

Katarina checked perception + manipulation at difficulty 15, rolling 3 lower.

"You have sweet wine with cake...?" Mae asks, blinking a few times, as she looks to Mirari once again. This realization seems to resonate with the woman. And not in a good way, but in cementing that nervousness that was already clinging to her. She is so very out of place. She does sip her wine, though. "Oh, this is good," she says, and flashes Mirari a smile. She then steps aside, and backwards, and does her best to blend in with the decor. She's just stand there quietly sipping until such a time that she might be able to escape.

Mae checked perception + manipulation at difficulty 15, rolling 15 higher.

And as Mae stands, and sips, she stares at Mirari. Her head ticks to the side, just so. Something curious is there, for certain.

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Katarina before departing.

The red wine that Isabeau has chosen to start with isn't awful. Not as good as the white moscato, perhaps, but it's certainly drinkable. Sweet, but with a slightly bitter finish and a hint of earthiness. Or some such nonsense. The Valardin princess has discovered her fair share of wines since arriving in Arx and certainly developed preferences, but branching out beyond the honey bottles of Laurent mead or the Mercier stock soon to become invaluable appears to have paid off tonight. "I like it," she declares warmly for Mirari's sake. When the Whisper mentions the potential manufacture of personalized perfume, the blonde princess draws in that much closer and asks, "Did he? So thoughtful of him. I would -love- to discuss that with you. I could come by on the 'morrow, if you wouldn't mind?" Yay! Presents!

Eleyna lifts her glass when Isabeau does, smiling as she responds, "Indeed. I think I should like it very much if we could become friends, Princess Isabeau." Katarina is give a glance, especially with her gaze drifts to her still, as yet, unchanged figure. Eleyna lifts her brows and murmurs, "I find myself inclined to agree with the Duchess. I'm still ill every morning, but my sister says it should pass in but a few weeks. Then I'll just get fat, I suppose. I'll need to replace all my dresses." Eleyna looks down at her stomach in a faintly accusatory way.

Mirari smiles toward Isabeau and says, "That sounds like an excellent idea, your highness." She dips a moment toward the valardin, and then shifts toward Eleyna and Katarina, murmuring, "You do look beautiful, princess Eleyna." She is sure to keep an eye on Mae as well.

There's the subtle hint of a sad shadow hooked into the corner of Isabeau Valardin's smile as conversation shifts towards the perils of pregnancy. The rest of the red in the princess's glass is downed in a single swallow thereafter before she notes to no one in particular, "I should be going." The empty glass is set aside and Isabeau retires from the tasting in graceful haste.

Mae is probably creeper-staring at Mirari at this point. Becuase, really, you can only stare for so long before it's creepy. She blinks out of it, eventually, and then lifts her glass to take a swig. Yes, a swig, because the woman likely doesn't quite recall she's holding wine and not water or juice. She swigs, and then her eyes go wide, and then forces herself to swallow. A moment later she's breaking into coughing. She buries her face into the sleeve covering her arm, as if that might muffle the coughing fit. It probably doesn't.

Katarina glances after the departure of Isabeau a moment. A subtle frown tugs at the corners of her mouth before it is easily transformed into a gentle smile at Eleyna. "Nonsense," she murmurs about the fat part. "Something tells me that you'll be absolutely radiant, once the sickness passes, right? Surely it can't last the whole time you're with child?" She wouldn't know, hence the look of askance hidden beneath her lashes. Mae soon becomes the center of her attention for a brief interim. "Excuse me," she calls upon the Culler girl in soft-spoken summon. "I do not think I've met you before, either. Are you a friend of Mistress Mirari's?"

Mirari shifts to introduce the two. "Princess Katarina this is Mistress Mae Culler. She's a messenger and a dear friend of mine." Mirari touches a hand to Mae's shoulder and says, "Mae this is Princess Katarina, recently adopted by Valardin."

Mailys is totally here just sitting quiet and pretty while her player is still distracted.

"If it lasts the whole time, I'll have my husband gelded, I swear it," Eleyna mutters darkly, her pale blue eyes narrowing, though they are not entirely without humor. She lifts the glass to her lips and takes a final sip of the wine before she swaps it out for some of the moscato. She offers Mirari a smile and nods, "As are you, Mistress Mirari. As always. Seems your fine wines attract the most lovely ladies in the city. You should use that as an advertising lure. I'm sure there are a number of young men who would buy cases."

Mae is coughing, and when Katarina addresses her, she just waves a hand at the woman. Then coughs some more. That must be a sign for... something. Surely! Mirari comes over, and that buys her a few moments of time. She finally sucks in a breath, and seems able to hold it. Her eyes are teared up, her face is red. "Hi," she squeaks out, then takes another breath. "Sorry, I... uh... I breathed the wine I guess..." she explains, as if Katarina might not know what causes coughing. "I, uh..." She blinks a few times, as if finally focusing on Katarina fully. "You talk very strangely," she decides. Then her eyes flick to Mirari, and back to Katarina. "I mean, um. In a good way!"

Katarina's eyes widen at Eleyna's dark humor, a hand flying up to smother the quiet titter she loses. "I will pray that your pregnancy is easy, for his sake then," she promises in good humor, before her attention is pulled away to Mae and Mirari anew as introductions are made. "Are you alright?" A flash of concern is traded for a hint of sympathetic mirth. "You, too? I've done that once, maybe twice, at the most embarrassing times. Only, ah, I sounded like a -- what do you call them here? -- A piggy." A golden-eyed wink accompanies the dimpled grin of infectious warmth toward the Culler woman. "You speak strangely, too. I'm going to assume you're Crownsland born and bred, then? I'd like to think I'm getting a little better at picking up on dialects and accents of Arvum with Lord Rook's help."

"That might be cutting off your nose to spite your face, my dear princess." says Mirari with a soft laugh at Eleyna. A glance is given in the direction of Katarina and Mae, smiling but not interrupting their conversation now.

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Katarina before departing.

"I'm okay," Mae says, to Katarina, with a sweet smile. And then she blinks a few times. "A piggy?" she asks, both brows going up. She stares at the woman, surely trying to imagine that. Piggy snorts from the foreign beauty. And then that looks of wonderment is dropped as Mae's brows furrow, and she squints at the other woman. "I don't sound funny! You sound funny," she says, modestly defensive. "I-... I'm from Arx," she says. "From the Lowers. And I talk just fine," she says, combative despite her shyness and awkwardness just a minute ago.

Eleyna sips delicately of the new glass of wine and nods in approval, noting with a murmur, "That's nearly perfect for summer, isn't it." She spares a sympathetic glance for Mae's choking fit before she grins between Katarina and Mirari. "Perhaps, but he will still have his tongue," Eleyna replied dryly before she lifts the glass to her lips against for another sip.

"Then if you don't talk funny, I don't talk funny," comes the humored quip of Katarina after Mae turns mildly defensive with her words. Her eyes are bright with silent laughter, and then she is catching onto Mirari and Eleyna's side conversation. Now, she's the one having a coughing fit mid-sip of her wine, cheeks ruddied with embarrassment. "O-Oh, excuse me... That just caught me off guard!"

Mirari eyes the conversation between Katarina and Mae but decides to leave them be for now. She turns back to Eleyna and gives a little bit of a laugh. "That is true." She picks up a glass of the white wine with peach and lime, and gives it a little sip. A small sigh is given and she says, mildly, "Perhaps I should tell my Costas he needs some practice."

Mae makes a face at Katarina. No, that's not satisfactory. But before she can say further, Eleyna is being Lycene all up in the place. Mae gives a laugh, and looks to the woman. "Oh! Wait! You... Um. Did we meet? Are the one with the husband-fought-sister with nettle poison because they're both idiots...?"

Eleyna wears a beatific smile as she lowers the glass from her mouth and says to Katarina mildly, "Small sips, dear. It should be savored, not gulped." As if she doesn't know exactly why the Eurusi princess is coughing. To Mirari, she only offers lifted brows and a grin before Mae captures the Velenosan princess' attention. Pale lips turn down in a mock-frown as she says, "The one and same. The whole 'dueling for the blessing' is definitely a Lycene thing. The nettle poison was pure idiocy, though. I'm convinced the gods only keep me around to keep Serafine and Talen from killing themselves with their own brash stupidity."

Mailys Stirs from her drinking from her flask and idly listenign but not really listening to the talks going on around her.

"Well, at least you know your purpose?" Mae offers Eleyna, with a hopeful smile. She lifts her glass, and finishes off whatever's left. "This was very nice... thank you, Mirari... but I should go."

Mirari is about to say something else to Eleyna when someone peeks in and makes her way over. A small tilt of her head is given and she says, "Oh, I see." A bob of her head is given and she says, "I'm sorry, ladies, but uh-- one of the assistants at my shop well." A shake of her head is given. "I should go check on things."