“I’ve been calling him Cleandro personally.” Lenard said.

“Cleandro?!” Philline said with exaggerated shock. “Isn’t that the name of the man you came with?!”

“It keeps things simple! Less names to remember.” Lenard shrugged.

“You’re so bad, Lenard!”

Lady Mina groaned as her two friends burst into laughter all over again. She’d never seen them act so… so preposterous! Did this man just make everyone loony?!

“Oh Minny, lighten up! He probably just came in with Lord Faren or something. You know how peculiar his tastes in company can be.”

“Lord Faren isn’t even here. He’s off playing in his airship or some such nonsense.” Mina scoffed.

“Didn’t he come in with that young scientist? That Professor Arissi or something?”

Professor Arina, a young scientist from Lion’s Arch whom Mina had only heard of quite recently. Apparently she was a bright talent with a promising career ahead of her in developing tonics. She didn’t really know the details or care. Her invitation was one of many made by Mina’s personal assistant in order to make her party look good. It didn’t really matter who she was personally so much as whether she could brag about her attendance to those who mattered later. She supposed that was as good a lead as any though and made off to find her.

This wasn’t difficult.

As it turned out, Professor Arina had something of an appetite, and Lady Mina found her generously sampling everything from the buffet tables. She was surprisingly short with a childish face and figure—not quite what she’d expected for a scientist. She was rather cute, with her tan skin covered in freckles and her big eyes glittering behind a pair of round spectacles. She wasn’t dressed like a scientist either. Had Mina not had

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