Ted choked on his tea.
It took quite a lot of effort from Mad to get him to function again.
Once he had recovered from his self-imposed asphyxiation, the high cor jumped up, almost angry that his supreme greatness had been upstaged like this.
On the other hand, he now had a chance to look even more imposing. People tended to forget his great deeds easily. He had made kingdoms tremble. He was ready and willing to do it again, as many times as he needed to. Eknie killing a woolphant only served to signify how great a man she had 'married' - if the 'wife' was like this, there was no telling what the 'husband' was capable of!
Yes, that was the way he was going to present this, he would hide in shadows, letting that sweet psychological negative space do its trick.
He was the first to initiate the applause.
