L’Evallier, as leader of the Council, tends to keep Council meetings to a time limit given everybody thinks these are boring. This is one area where the Queen is in full agreement with the Chief Elf. But circumstances often conspire against the ruler and her advisers and they have been known to have all night sittings. There were several of these around the time of Eileen’s defection. Her departure caused enough tension - the all night sittings made things worse. The Council did blame her for this, rightly, and anybody who might’ve given her some leeway wouldn’t just due to being put through this. Eileen would’ve liked them not to bother on her account but knew full well there was no chance of that.
The ballad writers are highly respected but are limited in what they can produce. Their works have to be song versions of the classic fairy tales or to say how awful humanity is (with examples) and that’s it. Songs criticizing the way the Kingdom is run are definitely not welcomed. Favoured instruments are harps, guitars, lyres, recorders and flutes (though one or two balladeers have their own portable piano - it’s on wheels!). The Queen invites the balladeers to the Palace for her birthday, at Christmas and Easter and she chooses different ones each time. She wants to make sure they’re all obeying the rules. Performing for the Queen is a nerve wracking event, as it would be when performing for our monarch, but the rewards are high. Not only is the balladeer well fed and watered, they can embroider By Royal Appointment on their tunics if the Queen is happy. To date she has been.