Never early nor late. Around the table he comes--for Verity, he'll relax his dignity a little and grant a hug. "Well, I could call organizing this a triumph, but I'm also fairly certain of your success," he answers, before putting up a forestalling hand, "not that I'm having anything to do with it beyond casting a single vote."

The remark about queens in golden chains and Iphigenia nearly gets a saucy reply about those Greeks, but she's a classy young lady and not there to defend herself or play along, so he simply remarks, "you don't strike me as the conquering sort, anyway."