"I'm intrigued," Savil adds. "Better than tea?" 

"I prefer it personally but plenty of people swear by tea even if they have access to both. If you like your tea with milk and sugar you might like coffee that way too, do you?"

"Milk but no sugar is how I drink tea." 

Vanyel, after a beat of staring vaguely at nothing, shakes himself a little. "Right. I'm still getting used to being able to get milk and sugar. Didn't have it out on the Border. I'll take both." 

Savil gets a latte and Vanyel gets a mocha.

"Huh! This is...odd, but it's not bad." 

"I like it!" Vanyel agrees. 

Footsteps at the door. 

"Thank you for coming, Cam." Randi exchanges nods with the other Heralds as well. "It's my pleasure to introduce you to Princess Karis." 

Karis looks about Shavri's age; she's a bit taller, and more sturdily built, dark-haired and eyed. She also looks very, very tired, in a deeper and more thorough way than just lack of sleep. 

She inclines her head to Cam, but doesn't say anything. 

Randi ushers her to a chair. 

The room is silent, except for Savil slurping from her latte. 

"Your Highness," Cam acknowledges.

This gets a flat, tired look from Karis. 

"Not yet," she says in accented Valdemaran. "A queen with no country, a title is not -" a pause while she visibly hunts for the word she wants, "- deserved." 

"Sorry, I didn't speak this language last week and don't know how to address princesses."

"You can say 'my lady'," Karis answers, in Karsite this time. "It is not important though." A piercing look. "King Randale says you are very powerful. And - good." 

She says the word like someone who is highly suspicious of the concept. 

"I mean, I try."

"I want this war to be over." 

"Don't we all. Is there anything you need from me on that?"

"Resources. Of various kinds. I escaped with only a few dozen of my people, so - I have no army to add to King Randale's, not until we win." 

"I cannot make people - or even animals smarter than bugs - and if I could I'd need to know a lot more about where they'd be fetching up than I currently do. I've been leaving wagonsful of food everywhere plausibly affected by famine."

This earns him the first genuine smile he's seen from her! "Yes. King Randale mentioned. Thank you." 

"You're welcome!"

She thinks for a few beats. Glances over at Randi. 

"Would you be willing to make weapons for us." 

"...I don't need to know much about a situation to decide that nobody in it ought to starve. I do need to know somewhat more than that there is a war on to decide that somebody in it ought to have - what's the state of the art here, various polearms?"

"Swords, crossbows, pikes." Shrug. "Nevermind. Are you willing to make - items for us that are not weapons, but that could help support our logistics."