Smiling, Albus dipped his head a little for Ariana to deliver a kiss to his cheek, and then resumed his typical posture. He was grateful that Gellert left the explaining to him. Discussing their mother could be complicated, and the last thing he wanted to do was imply that her absence had anything to do with Ariana. It was best, he decided, to conform to his mother's own excuse. "I'm afraid she's not feeling well enough for such a large gathering. It's understandable, given the strain arrival and acclimating to Lockewood can pose."
Also best, he thought, to belittle the matter. After all, Ariana was no stranger to the fact that their mother preferred things to be just so, and her reclusive tendencies had run rather parallel to Ariana's.
"Perhaps by the next social event, she'll be feeling more herself," he suggested. Of course, that was hardly a suggestion that he and Gellert would be doing this again.
This particular social obligation they could dispense with easily, and then move on to more reasonable affairs. Glancing over to Gellert, he couldn't help but notice the way Gellert seemed to attend to his clothes with more regularity than was normal. By all other appearances, he seemed quite at ease, but Albus reached over with the feint of brushing a bit of lint from the perfectly straight lines of Gellert's collar. Thin though he was, it was hard to imagine that anything could be done to make Gellert actually unattractive.
Turning his attention to his sister, Albus mentioned, "You do look lovely this evening, Ariana." He expected Ariana would return some sentiment in kind, both to himself and to Gellert, and hopefully Gellert would take that as a less biased appraisal. After all, Ariana had a penchant for blunt honesty.