Not at first, he said. Aral found somewhere to lock up that curiosity before it could weasel its way out into a question. All that he knows is that he's certain he wont have any idea what to do with an answer, assuming Ivan was far enough into the wine to actually give it.

By the intensely ... Ivan look, he was no where near it.

He ends up rubbing his lips, considering Alys' neatly outlined set of questions, goals and desirable outcomes and decided he'd get to it. "I would have bet on Dono. Byerly..." Whatever pithy comment was going to follow that was leapfrogged by the elder Count's political mindset. "How are you planning on handling it?"