#thomas.001

Hunter's betrothal was still something recent, and the Canadian was trying to adjust to his new reality as well as he could by throwing himself deeper into his passion, as often as he could. If he already avoided most people regularly, now he seemed more reclusive than ever. Unless he bumped into someone, and conversation became something unavoidable.

The prince's plan for the day included a quick stop for breakfast, then heading over to one of the far edges of the property to see if he could take some good pictures, but as he entered the dining room, he saw one of those people he simply couldn't brush off, or pretend he hadn't seen: Emilia's brother. He hadn't seen him there before, but he assumed the news of his sister's betrothal would have reached his ears already. Hunter placed some scrambled eggs and pieces of toast on his plate before heading that way. "Thomas," he greeted with a bow of his head.

Getting out of the music room had been a relief, and being shuffled into the tea room, seeing the group already assembled there, had also been nice- but it also hurt.  Thomas had seen families reconnect, seen the anxiety on their faces dissipate as they saw each other for the first time in far too long- but there was still no sign of Mia. The feeling of hopelessness that brought was familiar to him, unfortunately, but it was one that he hadn’t felt for a long while, not since Mia had been safely returned after the kidnapping.

Idly, he watched as one of the others who’d been rescued from the music room- Eamon’s betrothed, he was fairly certain- paced the floor, and then realized, with a start, that she’d spoken. “It’s still winter in Russia?” Thomas guessed. “At least a bit warmer than it was in the music room, though, isn’t it?”

.

Rasa sighed heavily. One could say she spent most of her life living right around the corner, which, surprisingly enough, didn't make her body any more adaptable to the weather, it seemed. "It's not as bad," she pointed mentioned but sighed at the end, giving the sentence a far more morose sound than one might have expected. The princess had run out of her cigarettes a long time ago, so she had been craving for one, except no one seemed to think about one's vices when they gathered everyone in the tea room.

"How do you feel about... This?" She made an idle gesture toward the room they were in before she started playing with her lighter, flicking it open, then closing it. It was lovely to see her sister and to assess that she was well, but it felt as if there were too many people still away and unaccounted for. And much as the Lithuanian didn't wish to think about them, there wasn't much she could do to avoid it happening anyway.