077. Forbidden Stars

The motley attend a ball. 
"There's a big difference between playing a game as an exhibition: sportsmanship matters more."
The motley continue to enjoy High Queen Lenore's ball in honour of Sophia. Braum takes a moment to approach the new head of House Gwydion, Carendlyth, a tall and severe sidhe. She is quick to keep up appearances with Braum so as not to appear to be playing favourites, although she does ask to see Patches at their earliest convenience.
Sophia is having a great time showing Peeps off to any and all who want to meet him, and the toucan is quite haughty, claiming to have mastered many different impressive feats of strength, dexterity, or intelligence. Away from Sophia though, the toucan asks Patches to do him a favour and keep an eye on her. He's worried about her, but not because she isn't capable, but simply because he watched over her for so long and now misses her.
When Helena catches sight of a House Scathach satyr dancing with Patches, she gossips with Braum about some of her previous lovers, asking as well about his relationship with Kyoko; "Is everything alright between the two of you, with all that history over your heads?" Patches learns more about Darius, the Scathach satyr, who is excited about a Liam so close to the throne of Concordia. Seeing as Scathach are also outcasts, he hopes his house will be able to get closer to the rest of the Court now too. Two more Kithain vie for dances with Patches, who leads Jasper off away from an Ailil squire, berating him for trying to "save" her.
As Braum learns from Fala that the new knight of the Golden Braid is leaving once again, this time for a long time, Sophia invites Incisor outside to get some air. They bond over having had "imaginary" pets as children, and Sophia suddenly hopes that Incisor will one day "let her in". Incisor is sincere in her response that she isn't a charity case, and that she doesn't miss how they used to be together. They do agree, though, that they need to be closer again, and Sophia immediately jumps on the opportunity to remake Incisor's Tinder profile (which she finds woefully lacking).
Back on the dance floor, Braum hears how Helena could have "anyone she wants", but decided against pursuing Sir Xaeron, not wanting to "cloud her judgement" on missions (as she implies that Braum did). She does let on, though, that she would be interested in seeing more of Countess Weyer. The group dance the night away, laughing with friends: Sophia helps Incisor build a more "personal" Tinder profile, Patches goes home with Darius, and Braum and Kyoko talk about the future. But it is Sir Xaeron who dances with Sophia to prove that he stands with House Liam… and who admits that he got his ear pierced in order to impress Sir Braum years ago.
Category:CTS-Ep