Caleb moved through the crowd with the particular ease of someone who had spent their whole life being the most important person in any room they entered, and had never been given a strong enough reason to doubt it.
He reached Cynthia near the far edge of the hall, where she had stopped to accept a glass from a passing servant and was looking out across the gathered crowd with an expression of mild and entirely impersonal interest, as though she were observing weather rather than people.
"Queen Cynthia." Caleb said, settling beside her with a smile that was doing a great deal of work. "I was beginning to think you had left entirely. You disappeared for quite a while."
Cynthia took a slow sip from her glass and let a moment pass before she acknowledged him, which was not rudeness exactly, just the unhurried timing of someone who answered things when they were ready to answer them and not before.
