Elia laughed and returned Alais' curtsy with one of her own.
"Oh, Hester has made an impression on us all. She's gifted with divine taste and she has a delightful sense of humor. I find I often forget she hasn't always been a part of the court." Elia didn't give out compliments lightly- at least not genuine ones, but Hester had proven herself. The maiden would be a leader of the fashions she knew with certainty. She smiled sympathetically at the trials of getting settled in the keep. "It is difficult for a while. On my first visit I spent what seemed like an age getting lost and turned about. Not to mention the rounds of social calls," she added with an exhasperated sigh. "You're lucky you can avoid them but just wait, some of the ladies are part hunting hound. They'll find you and drag you into boring lunches and interminible recitals of poetry." Elia tilted her head in a way that would have signaled her closer friends that she was about to embark on something sure to give someone a terrible headache.
She'd heard rumors of Alais Arryn setting any number of scandals and living on her own in OldTown, where she'd been alleged to be seducing the scholars and being scandalously political, but looking at the very somber maiden before her, Elia was only all the more curious. "Didn't Hester mention you are very fond of books and such? It must be you, as I don't think it could have been your brother or the Queen Regent..." If Kaelyn ever picked up a book it had probably been filled with songs of Northron heroes and nothing more. "I don't suppose you've any acquaintance with anything touching on Lys?"