She had been allowing herself a moment of selfishness, living vicariously through a moment as Kes and Mayael had joined up again. The voice of the new arrival almost didn't register. If she'd been any other person, it probably would have passed her by, but Kalleeiha was a listener. It was impossible to disconnect. With the sound of Curzon's praise, her ears twitched, and she carefully tracked her attention from hopeful lovers to something new.

"jYourr prrajisse jiss too much," she demurred "jI ssjimpljy know people wjith meanss, and jI sseldom take no forr an ansswerr."

The man before her didn't hew to the sort that she'd expect at an event like this. He wasn't some preened Carshoulis poppinjay. Like so many men on the frontier, he had the look of a life lived fully; something weathered and handsome despite the wear.

"But jI ssupposse bejing jin charrge of the rrevelrrjy meanss that jI'm left at a djissadvantage. To whom goess mjy thankss?" She smiled with a beckoning gesture as her ears lightly raised.