🐙 Planet Aberat, Kingdom of Selya-Mira 🐙

- Thank you, but I am on duty," the guard declined the cocktail but still accepted the souvenir out of politeness and put it in his pocket.

– We are very hospitable, Sir Derevos. My office is over there,” Keraak gestured towards the opposite end of the main hall, “You can look around if you like. In the capital, no one will keep you better company than my brothers and sisters.

- Understood, I'll meet you in your office," Derevos nodded gently, showing tact, and began a slow tour of the "foyer" to give the gracious host time to clear the table of various folders and documents containing trade secrets - or at least, that's how he interpreted the suggestion. Out of professional habit, he recorded all the new faces (and bodies) in his memory and analyzed the layout of the room, and he felt a little out of place - a long-forgotten feeling that had suddenly resurfaced. Apparently, it was because a heavily armed city guard in full gear didn't quite fit in with the Eden-like setting of giggling, scantily clad foxes elegantly feeding each other grapes. Even without being a poet or an artist, Derevos felt in his heart that there was some metaphor in this contrasting picture, which, however, he could not clearly articulate. Again, he scanned the room, trying to spot their own security - or did they not need it here? "They've done well for themselves," he thought, walking slowly and, for once, trying not to wear a gloomy expression. "It looks more like a branch office in another state than an institution where respected bigwigs retire after reaching a venerable age... Another tradition? Or is this deceptiveness the whole point?" Various suspicions flashed through his mind about the whole situation he found himself in, but at the moment, there was no point in dwelling on them - he should just play along. Thinking this way, the guard made a couple of rounds before finally heading to the office of the most trusted person today.