A few days later brings an invitation to a party that one of the local nobles is throwing, and naturally this invitation is accepted. The day of the party, another invitation arrives, this one from the King. He wants to show the tourist a true Gravlan experience, and so invites her and her entourage to an Owlbear hunt leaving the next morning. This can hardly be refused. Gaius and Ivar are measured so that the proper armor will be on hand - Sasha declines to actually hunt the beasts herself.
Then it's off to the party, where everyone is anxious to learn from Sasha and Gaius what is cool in the Empire and impress them with local imitations. The team makes the terrible sacrifice of declaring that everyone is peppering their wine these days, and so avoids mint (not that that would be any better) and hopefully starts to sink that little trend. Supposedly the new Empress drinks her wine peppered.
Ivar and Gaius find out a lot about Owlbear hunting, and for Gaius at least it's somewhat dampening on his enthusiasm. Meanwhile Lucia discreetly starts mapping out the loyal/disloyal inclinations of the local nobility, and Baba, acting as Sasha's translator, is recognized by one of the noblemen Sasha is introduced to... one Padagov, and his very young wife. A few years back, when he was married to his previous (now late) wife, Baba sold him some rat poison for his "very large rat problem". It's clear he recognizes her, but nothing is said.
The dawn sees them in the main square setting out with the expedition. Sasha gets to ride next to King Peter, who points out to her all the sights, and talks about them, and his plans, and the ins and outs of agriculture in the fields they pass, and pretty much everything else. He's clearly very knowledgeable, but while he's charming enough Sasha finds him pretty tiresome. It takes all day to ride to the edge of the deep forests where owlbears are found, so a splendid camp is set.
The next day they all get suited up and divide into hunting parties - Section Unicorn is in the King's party, but there are several others with various generals and important nobles and so on. Then they set out into the woods to look for owlbears. They find two, and as the extremely gracious host the King lets the first one go to Ivar and the second to Gaius.
The first one is treed by the hounds and needs to be coaxed down (with thrown rocks). Then it is induced to charge Ivar, who misses it with his set spear (a long heavy spear with a crossbar is just the thing for owlbears) and ends up in a clinch with it. Luckily his extremely heavy owlbear hunting armor protects him from the worst as he pulls a small belt axe and beats it about the head and shoulders until it is quite dead. Everyone is impressed with his muscle if not with his hunting prowess.
Gaius does better (surprising, among other people, Gaius) and manages to catch his owlbear with the spear as it charges. Its two cubs are captured by the huntsmen, and then it's back to camp for a feast and a recounting of the day's deeds. They're not done with the hunt yet though: King Peter still hasn't gotten his owlbear.