She didn't respond to Isobel's words, only poured two glasses of chilled wine. Elia sighed and leaned back against her seat, her posture relaxing. She gave Isobel a measured glance and the ghost of a smile played at her lips. "You're welcome, although you shouldn't thank me. Before this you would have simply been ignored, but now... well, you won't be ignored." Whispered at, invited as a novelty, poked and prodded and needled, yes. But not ignored. She offered the second glass to Isobel. The girl looked as if she might cry and Elia felt a pang of sympathy.
"Your father must be very desperate to send you here, Isobel," she said frankly. "I knew he wasn't having luck finding you a husband, but I didn't realize he was willing to throw you to the sharks..." Elia paused and gave Isobel a worried look. "Are you really that unfit to hold Starfall?" she asked in near-genuine puzzlement. "I don't understand his actions in the least, otherwise. You aren't used to court life and he sent you with barely enough men-at-arms to keep you safe on the roads let alone in the court. You were lucky to meet Lord Arryn's party and not some others." Walter Dayne had to be mad- only a fool or someone hoping to lose his heir would make such choices.