"Oh, gosh! Yes! I can't believe the way you hit that one note and didn't even need to breathe for like forty seconds!"

Lissa's hands clap over her mouth in delighted surprise, as Dorothea laughs politely.

She immediately notices the gemstone on Lissa's ring, however. Their princess is usually so adorably modest that it seems incongruous.

"It's just how I earn my living," she said lightly, although she could feel the time slowly ticking away on her ability to do so. "Meanwhile, Princess!" She winked. "What a lovely ring you have there... gift from our most magnanimous sovereign lord?"

Had it been a diamond, she might have thought differently, but...