The time with the horses that Sage and Ella had spent was nice, and to her, strangely relaxing. Whilst she hadn't paid much attention to him in the 40 or so minutes they had been at the barn, she still did her best to acknowledge him as she neared his side, giving a polite smile every time they passed each other. Soon enough, it was time to head back to the palace, to the big hall, and it was clear Ella was dreading it. "We should probably get going now, i know they'll be mad if i'm late. Again" she sighed, her voice coming off slightly shaky. Without letting Sage give an actual answer she started off, giving one last pat to the light bay mare she had settled next to, who seemed pleased for the attention. She had no idea who owned the mare, nor what her name was, but she seemed to gravitate towards just that horse whenever they went there. Ella started off across the snowy field toward the big palace doors, making sure she stayed in step with Sage, doing her best to be polite. "Are you okay?" she asked nicely, titling her head as she spoke.

Sage had relaxed a little bit once he'd settled into the barn. He'd sort of gone right back to the stallion he'd met and befriended the other day, and was more than content to sit there for as long as he possibly could. He half jumped when he heard Ella's voice behind him, but nodded silently and scrambled after her when she moved to leave, though not before giving the horse one last hug. He'd tensed back up again just thinking about going to the dinner...and the closer they got to the hall, the more tense and wary he became. He nodded once, shortly, in response to her comment and kept walking. Then, he decided that was probably sort of rude so he threw her a rather apologetic glance. "these people just don't like me," he admitted. "I'm pretty sure at least 90 percent of them have forced me into something at some point," he grumbled with a shrug, looking at the ground as his cheeks heated up just thinking about all the times that had happened. "it's better than something happening while I'm alone in the room though," he admitted. "I'm going to assume they'll behave at least a little bit around you and all the other high and nighties that are attending

," He thought out loud. He certainly hoped they would.

Ella felt a slight pang of sadness at Sages words, though she was too hung up with nerves to really completely understand what he was saying. Still, she did her best to reply with what she was actually able to acknowledge. "Well people of high..prestige or whatever, like these tend to be like that. If you're rich, you're a prick, straight up" she said, giving a slight smile as they entered the building. She knew she had included herself in that statement, after all she was the queen, but hoped he would at least see she wasn't exactly the same. Sure, she could be like them at times, but at least she somewhat, maybe, actually cared about Sage. As they walked down the long corridor, she turned her head to look at him, fiddling with her dress. "Like I said it's their nature, sometimes you have to deal with it" was all she got out as a couple loud children wandered past. Ella was aware it was coming off as her defending the people, but in reality she was just..seeing it how it was.

Sage hummed lightly and then grunted in agreement. "Well poor people will kill you and steal from your corpse then leave you there for the rats to eat," he mused. "I think I'll settle with being friends with the horses," he commented after a moment, though he fell silent when they entered the building, closing his ears to all the comments that immediately started and directed at him. Well, as best he could. It was more like he ducked his head and shuffled along.

Ella didn't reply to Sage as he spoke, instead nodded again in acknowledgement, wandering down the large hall to the food hall. She didn't pay much attention to the people she passed, she didn't need to. As far as she was concerned, she was going to eat with some other high prestige people, then leave. That was that. Ella opened the door to the hall and wandered in, waiting for Sage to follow before sitting down at the nearest chair she could actually see.

Sage didn't care too much when she didn't respond....he probably wouldn't have heard her anyway, since the room they went in was rather loud. Of course, he could hear the snickers and murmured comments about him...he somehow always heard those, no matter how many conversations were happening in the room. He settled down in the chair next to Ella and sort of just fidgeted with his fingers, not really willing or wanting to make eye contact with anyone. They really didn't need to make everyone mad and ruin the first dinner like this she'd have as queen. Then again, if they were locked out they wouldn't have to go to anymore. Which may not be too awful. But she'd need this, so he didn't mind sitting there all that much...it was better than the other option, at least.

Most of the talk before the dinner was the same as always- boring, uninteresting and useless. Ella has zoned out after a good ten minutes, and only looked up once the mention of the stables was brought into conversation. Of course it was nothing too interesting, horses to most people in royalty were seen as machines, things to pull carts around or get you from one place to another. But, still she managed to catch a couple words about them. Still, no information about whose the nameless light bay mare actually was. Soon enough the food was brought in, and Ella sat back and stared at the fancy, strange concoctions, her polite smile dropping. She was a picky eater, so all the fancy caviar looking food was definitely not up her street. "You okay?" She asked as she pointed her gaze in Sages direction, away from the sickly food.

Sage hadn't really paid much attention to the conversations around him either....he just didn't have the mental energy to deal with the comments about him. He did hope she wouldn't get a bad rep for bringing him along...though maybe of he cleaned her plate up and all they'd think he was just here as a servant. That was rather normal, actually. He glanced over at her when she spoke up though, nodding silently. "Yeah," he hummed. "There's just not much to do." He said thatw ith a slight shrug.

"Mhm, it's boring. As i suspected obviously" Ella said, her tone a low whisper. She looked up and gave a polite, rather fake smile to a servant staring in their direction, before looking back at Sage. "It'll probably be over soon anyway. We can get clothes and then just..go back, i don't mind" she said, surprised at her full conversation. It was the first actual conversation she had managed to get out since sitting down, and surprisingly with Sage rather than anyone else.

Sage chuckled slightly at her comment and nodded. "What was this even for anyway," he asked, glancing around and wrinkling his nose slightly. "Nothing much is happening," he mused. He nodded in response to her comment about clothes and gave her a smile. "That's fine with me," he chirped.

(Short I'm out)