The next morning, Mirabelle was escorted by a servant to one of the dining halls.
The other females were already seated along an enormous table bending beneath the sheer amount of food that had been prepared.
The scent of warm herbs, fresh fruit, and sweet baked roots drifted heavily through the air.
Morning light stread through the enormous arched windows, turning the pale stone walls golden while dozens of conversations blended into a constant gentle hum beneath the high ceiling.
Elowen waved at Mirabelle the mont she entered.
"Mirabelle! We saved you a seat!"
The rabbit female’s bright voice echoed through the hall.
Smiling gratefully, the lynx female walked toward the group and slipped into the empty seat between Elowen and Lysandra before imdiately loading her plate.
A female needed food, okay?
Mirabelle sat quietly between Elowen and Lysandra, focusing entirely on eating.
Mostly because it prevented people from asking her questions.
At the sa ti, she listened carefully to the conversations around the table.
Around her, the other females chatted easily while servants moved silently through the hall refilling drinks and replacing empty platters.
Occasionally Mirabelle caught snippets of conversation.
Cultivation.
Politics.
Males.
Mostly males.
Not far away sat Nessa together with several mouse females from her territory. The skunk female looked almost unbearably smug this morning, one leg crossed elegantly over the other while golden jewelry glittered against her dark dress.
One of the mouse females leaned closer excitedly.
"So it’s true? You officially accepted the lion?"
Nessa smirked lazily while lifting her cup.
"Obviously."
Several of the girls around her imdiately squealed.
"Oh my god."
"You’re already mated?!"
"How was it?"
The skunk female’s grin widened further.
"Loud."
Mirabelle nearly inhaled juice directly into her lungs.
Beside her, Elowen started choking on laughter.
anwhile Nessa continued with the confidence of soone who genuinely enjoyed public suffering.
"Very loud," she clarified proudly.
One of the mouse females covered her burning face.
Another whispered, "I would literally die."
"You say that now," Nessa replied smugly, "but wait until a lion male looks at you like he wants to ruin your entire bloodline."
Mirabelle aggressively focused on buttering a roasted root.
She was absolutely not listening.
Absolutely not.
Elowen watched the scene across the table with enormous interest while slowly chewing on a piece of fruit.
Then she leaned slightly closer toward the others and whispered dramatically,
"That was a terrible decision."
Beside her, Lysandra imdiately nodded.
"Absolutely horrible."
Caelia made a soft agreeing sound into her tea.
"Mhm."
Mirabelle blinked between them in confusion.
"...Didn’t you all literally say yesterday that the lion males were attractive?"
"They are attractive," Lysandra corrected instantly. "That’s the only good thing about them."
Nyria calmly cut a piece of roasted root before speaking.
"The one Nessa accepted is Cassian Valebane."
The owl female said the na with the sa tone scholars probably used while announcing natural disasters.
Elowen groaned dramatically and dropped her forehead against the table.
"I heard he challenged three males during last year’s sumr gathering because one of them smiled at his female cousin."
Mirabelle paused mid-bite.
"...His cousin?"
"Second cousin," Lysandra clarified.
"As if that sohow improves the situation," Nyria muttered.
Caelia quietly nodded again.
"He also broke soone’s arm over seating arrangents once."
Mirabelle stared.
"What kind of seating arrangent requires violence?"
"All of them if you’re a lion," Elowen replied imdiately.
Lysandra sighed while swirling juice in her glass.
"The Valebane lions are powerful, but emotionally exhausting. They get possessive incredibly quickly."
"And territorial," Nyria added.
"And loud," Elowen said.
"And dramatic," Lysandra continued.
"Mhm," Caelia contributed helpfully.
Mirabelle slowly looked back toward Nessa.
The skunk female was currently laughing while one of the mouse girls hid her burning face behind both hands.
Honestly...
Nessa looked thrilled.
"...Maybe she likes that?" Mirabelle suggested carefully.
All four females turned toward her at once.
Then Elowen pointed dramatically across the table.
"See? THIS is why sheltered females are dangerous."
Mirabelle looked offended.
"What does that an?!"
"It ans," Nyria said calmly, "that you still think ’possessive lion male’ sounds romantic instead of being a danger to the harmony of your territory."
"Don’t you have a lion father?" Mirabelle asked, turning toward Lysandra.
The fox female frowned over a piece of beef jerky.
"How do you know that?"
Mirabelle, instantly thrown back to the scene she had witnessed the night before, hid her flushed face behind her glass and took a long sip.
Then she pretended to be intensely interested in the food on her plate and mumbled, "Ah... I think Leontes ntioned that yesterday."
Satisfied with the explanation, Lysandra turned back toward Nessa.
"The difference between my father and her new partner is that my father is the adopted son of a royal soldier. He was raised here, not among the Valebane lions."
"So basically," Mirabelle concluded slowly, "Nessa ended up with exactly the kind of partner she deserves."
A beat of silence followed.
Then all four females nodded at once.
"You summarized it perfectly," Lysandra sighed.
"Tragically compatible," Elowen agreed.
Nyria took another sip of tea:
"So unions are simply ordained by the gods."
Across the table, Nessa suddenly narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"...Why do I feel insulted?"
"Because you probably should," Elowen called back imdiately.
The skunk female looked deeply offended.
Unfortunately, she clearly had no idea why.
Mirabelle hid a grin behind her cup before glancing around the enormous dining hall again.
"So..." she asked carefully, "does anyone actually know what kind of activities we’re supposed to do later?"
The reaction was imdiate.
Elowen gasped.
Lysandra looked delighted.
Even Nyria’s expression shifted slightly toward pity.
"Oh no," Caelia murmured softly.
Mirabelle imdiately didn’t like that reaction.
Elowen leaned forward eagerly.
"The bonding trials."
"The what?"
"The noble bonding activities," Lysandra explained with the enthusiasm of soone discussing public executions.
"They hold them every year during courtship season so unmarried nobles can interact naturally."
Mirabelle already hated the word naturally.
Caelia tilted her head slightly.
"...How do you not know any of this?"
Mirabelle took another slow bite of roasted root.
"In my defense," she said after swallowing, "food was probably more important to whenever soone tried explaining it."
Elowen snorted loudly.
Nyria looked entirely unsurprised.
Mirabelle sighed dramatically and pointed her fork at them.
"Or maybe," she admitted, "my brain simply decided this information was too horrifying to retain."
Nyria laughed and then began listing them calmly.
"There’s mounted archery in pairs. Territory negotiation gas. Partner dances."
"Boat races," Lysandra added.
"Poetry exchanges," said Caelia.
Mirabelle blinked.
"...Poetry?"
"With audience voting," Elowen confird happily.
"There’s also the moonlight masquerade challenge," Lysandra continued. "Pairs have to identify each other while wearing enchanted masks that suppress scent recognition."
Mirabelle stared at them in horror.
"And then there’s the final activity," Elowen announced dramatically.
Everyone in their group suddenly beca very interested in their drinks.
Mirabelle narrowed her eyes.
"...Why is everyone avoiding eye contact?"
Lysandra coughed delicately into her hand.
"The ballroom endurance trial."
Mirabelle waited.
No one elaborated.
"...Which ans?"
Elowen looked her directly in the eyes.
"The males carry their chosen female partners through an obstacle course while the females give strategic instructions."
Mirabelle blinked.
"That sounds normal."
"It includes combat simulations," Nyria clarified.
"...I’m sorry, what?"
"And territorial sabotage," Lysandra added.
"Last year two tiger males threw soone into a fountain," Elowen said cheerfully.
"Soone lost consciousness," Caelia contributed quietly.
Elowen suddenly lifted one finger.
"Oh. Did I ntion the males are blindfolded?"
Silence.
Mirabelle slowly lowered her cup.
Okay.
Mirabelle was looking forward to this.
Not.
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