Althea POV
The metallic tang intensified sharp and unsettling, cutting through the usual comforting scents of the Aethel Grand Hall. My gaze usually sweeping over familiar faces, locked onto her the instant she appeared. She was a jarring splash of modernity a dress the color of a summer sky, shockingly out of place amidst the silks and brocades. Her milky ash-blue curls framed a face undeniably beautiful, but it was her stunning, luminous gray eyes that held an unnerving intensity, drawing every eye and holding them captive.
"Did you see that, Orion?" Alric's voice was a low growl, laced with genuine alarm. His hand instinctively went to his sword hilt.
"She walks like she owns the very air, yet there’s a quietness to her, a stillness that screams danger."
Orion grunted, dissecting her attire.
"That material… I've never encountered anything like it. And those sandals? Too practical, too light for court wear. She moves with a deceptive grace, the kind that only comes from rigorous training."
I and Zaria's vivacious chatter died. I stood frozen, awe and trepidation warring in her eyes. Zaria instinctively pressed closer, her hand gripping my arm, mesmerized by the woman in blue. A low murmur rippled through the guests, a collective whisper of disquiet.
Even Sebastian and Owen, the palace's usual mischief-makers, quieted. Their laughter died, replaced by a fearful curiosity. There was a flicker in their eye of something powerful something other.
At the magnificent round table, the Queens, usually the epitome of unshakeable composure, were equally affected. Queen Seraphina paused mid-sentence, her hand hovering over a crystal goblet. Her eyes, usually radiating authority, were clouded with chilling apprehension. Beside her, Queen Isolde pressed a hand to her chest, quelling a frantic heart.
It wasn't just her appearance. An aura radiated from her, a silent, potent force, a chill that had nothing to do with the evening air. It was a pervasive sense of inevitability, as if the very fabric of their world was about to unravel. As she slowly turned, her sharp, piercing gray eyes swept across the royalty, and an almost imperceptible shiver ran through the room.
Then, her gaze landed on Queen Seraphina. In that terrifying moment, pure terror spread across the Queen's face, as if the woman had looked into her soul, plucked her deepest fears, and held them up for all to see. A collective gasp escaped, and the air crackled with a tension so thick, it felt as though a single spark could ignite an explosion. 
This wasn't just a suspicious stranger; this was a force of nature a storm brewing in the heart of the palace. The silence that followed was deafening, pregnant with unspoken dread.
"By the Ancestors' light, who is that woman?" Queen Isolde's whisper was barely audible, her voice trembling slightly as she instinctively leaned closer to Queen Lyra.
"Her very presence… it feels like a premonition."
The Queens in their face still pale,
  slowly lowered her hand from the goblet, her grip so tight her knuckles were white.
"I do not know,  But I have never felt such… power radiating from a single individual. It is not of this land, I assure you." Her voice, usually firm, was laced with an unfamiliar tremor.
Across the hall, Alric's eyes never left the woman. 
"She's not moving towards us directly," he murmured to Orion, his voice low and guttural. 
"She's observing, cataloging. Like a hunter assessing its prey." He subtly shifted his stance, his hand now firmly around his sword hilt, ready to draw.
Orion nodded, his own gaze sharp and calculating.
"Her focus seems to be on the Queens. And that dress… it looks like nothing from the Known World. No embellishments, no layers. Utterly foreign." He subtly signaled to two of the Royal Guards positioned nearby, a silent command for heightened vigilance.
"Did you see the Queen's face?" Zaria whispered to me with her eyes wide with a mixture of fear and morbid curiosity.
"She looked like she'd seen a ghost! 
Who could make that look so… vulnerable?"
Althea, though visibly shaken, found a spark of her usual analytical nature. 
"It wasn't just fear, Zaria. It was… recognition. As if this woman embodied something the Queen already knew to dread." She tightened her grip on Zaria's arm, a silent plea for reassurance.
Sebastian, ever the one to break the tension, though cautiously this time, nudged Owen. 
"Think she's a new envoy from the Moonstone Isles? They always have strange customs, but this?" His voice trailed off, even though he was unable to find the humor.
Owen shook his head, his usual smirk absent
"No Seb. This is different. The air itself feels… charged around her. Like before a thunderstorm." His gaze, usually mischievous, was now wary, fixed on the mysterious woman.
The Queen’s chief advisor, Lord Valerius, a man known for his unflappable demeanor, approached Queen Seraphina cautiously. 
"Your Majesty, is everything well? There is… an unusual atmosphere." His eyes flickered to the woman in blue, a hint of unease in his own usually steady gaze.
Queen Elara finally met his eyes, a desperate plea for understanding in their depths. 
"No, Valerius. Everything is not well. There is something  wrong. Look at her. Tell me what you see."
The woman in blue as if sensing their conversation finally took another slow step. Her gaze, still fixed on the Queens, seemed intensifying the unspoken terror. It was then that a low and almost a hum began to emanate from her.  A sound that seemed to vibrate not just in the air, but within the very bones of everyone present. It was a sound that promised immense power and utterly terrifying.
What will happen next?
Is that woman an ally or a foe?