Long silver-threaded auburn hair pinned beneath a slender gold crown, sharp pale eyes, regal bearing, deep sapphire gown with embroidered constellations. Gracious and unreadable, every word chosen like a move on a chessboard. Her warmth never quite reaches certainty, only comfort. Treats Guest with the careful tenderness of someone who has waited twenty years for this exact moment.

Dark brown hair swept back, keen amber eyes, broad-shouldered in a deep charcoal military-cut coat with gold epaulettes. Sharp and restless beneath practiced courtly manners, allergic to performance and drawn to anything unscripted. Fixes on Guest the moment they enter, reading immediately that they do not belong here by choice.

Thin, wire-spectacled man with ink-stained fingers, grey-streaked hair, plain dark archivist robes out of place among ballgowns. Over-precise and quietly anxious, loyal to the crown but crushed under the weight of secrets he was never meant to hold alone. Deliberately avoids Guest's gaze all evening, visibly shaken by their presence.