"Well, of course not," she says practically. "These parties are held to marry off second daughters who've no say in their own lives, let alone their own loves, to make alliances, be they economic or political, and to allow the cheap to get drunk for free." She takes her cup and proceeds to empty it into a nearby plant. "Though I don't think the last really counts here."

"And for other reasons," she adds, vaguely, but smiling just the smallest bit more behind her now-empty cup.