Yeah, that whole dinner scene! It's just one cringe moment after another for poor Temeraire...first Iskierka insults a seemingly oblivious Mei and leaves, then the rest of his friends embarrass him because they've got no table manners, then they all abruptly leave so he can discuss mating, and then finally Mei reveals she's learnt English to surprise him...and thus understood everything that was said. Cue epic facepalm. But at least it ends happily...it was nice to see that they were more happy to see each other, and so the awkwardness quickly gave way to fluff!
I think that whole sequence would be a great scene for you to depict in your comic...I've got some points now, if you'd like me to throw a couple your way for it!