Although Ves requested the Terrans to make the reception ceremony as subdued, small-scale and restrained as possible, his hosts had a very different interpretation of what that meant.
The Terrans were steeped in ceremony and traditions. Everything from the length of the carpet to the various greeting rituals had thousands of years worth of weight to them. That made it difficult for these people to deviate from these steps.
While it was not a big deal to make minor deviations, any enemy or rival could easily exploit any major break from the established script. This was why the Devos Ancient Clan took great care to hold a formal and proper reception under the circumstances.
Ves mostly ignored all of this useless pomp and circumstance. He practically ran on autopilot as Master Laila Devos introduced him to a variety of high-ranking figures that governed the territory, port system and planet.
