What a night! And unlike its predecessors one in which we actually made some progress! Despite some minor hinderances I would like to refer to as “the diva”. But first things first.

The evening as such was quite pleasant. Good old Shiraz seemed good company. There’s talk that he might be trying to become primogen of his clan. That is, if the Countess is kept out of the picture, which seems to be the big question right now. Either will be a good option for our clan, if for different reasons. The fellow still seems distant. Sometimes I wonder if he’s scared a bit. Him and the others provided good entertainment for the night. Friendly one too. Didn’t feel the urge to make a fool of either of them, for a change.

The fools we had expected to be in attendance for some odd reason never showed up. Part of me had expected that their hurt pride would have them do something stupid. Never could I have guessed that they would be stupid enough not to show up at all. There was something at stake here for both of them. Now they have lost their prize and their reputation, merely by being absent. Truly fools, if ever I’ve seen one.

Jacob, who had gotten a serious beating two weeks ago, seems to be fine again. I offered my help in terms of etiquette and the traditions. Of course he suspected that I was merely trying to get a favor out of him. Which is bull. I wouldn’t be so blunt. Then again… He is the type of guy who wouldn’t forget who helped him out once. Aiming for favors? No. Just trying to make a connection. For some odd reason most of the others fail to realize how important that is these days.

Freddy, my saviour of the night, had my back when I had a slip of tongue with primogen Anila. I had adressed her wrongly. Fortunatly she didn’t notice. But he gave fair warning. I asked her about the whole matter later, which seemed to please her endlessly. So what the heck. Another connection of sorts, I guess. Can’t hurt not to have her think that I’m trying to piss her off.

Also Freddy held word and brought the cake! And the sherry! And the music! Was a very good combination. All hail the cook! Now I’m curious to see whether or not he’ll come up with a counter challange…

So there’s two people remaining on my list. One clearly thinks she’s a better singer than she actually is. Though she does have education working for her. On top of that though she also has an attitude, thinking that she’s better than anybody else – lacking the good reason for thinking just that. Educated perhaps, but not intelligent. And that would eventually break her neck. At least if she’d be staying for longer. Since she’s not, I’ve decided to put my own pride on a leash for a bit and play nice for an evening. Was hard enough.

The best part of the night? Clearly when a plan finally works out. Now, I can’t say that it was my one and only plan, nor that I was the only one crafting it. Still I like the result. He’s relying on the information I provide – which I do as best as I can. And in turn I’ll have someone on top who’ll look at what I have to say favorably. Someone who has my back. As far as our kind does, I guess. It’s likely that he’ll backstab me at some point. And since fortune is a bitch and he might get lucky I hope that by then it’ll have been worth it. That my pride could handle.

However. Fortune is a bitch.