"I see the 'Great Demon' isn't wearing her horns today."
The remark caught the tip of her attention as she eventually stopped in mid-step and turned back around to see the source of the voice. She was in the middle of something right now, she couldn't exactly just stop for a mere conversation. Then again, the sight of who the voice belonged to made her reconsider that option for just this brief moment. The corners of her lips turned downward for a moment as her eyes narrowed on the white-winged figure who walked at a steady pace towards her; his expression changed to mimic her own almost as he carried on with the same frown and slimming of the eyes.
"And how do you know I didn't leave them in some poor sucker's back?"
A sense of amusement seemed to strike him as he offered her a brief chuckle at the remark. "That is correct, I'm sure you're just waiting for them to grow back at this point."
There was a small wrinkle that made its way across the bridge of her nose as she waited for him to catch up to her position before she carried on her way. "Well, I'm certain you didn't come here to trade words of evil with me, so what is there that I can assist you with? Not that I really wish to in the first place."
"Oh, don't worry, I didn't come to speak with you either, in fact if I really wished to I wouldn't have come in this general direction either." he returned. "I was dropping in to visit with Leanne and Father for awhile, and Tibarn insisted that I come and speak with the Apostle as well while I was here. I don't see what kind of good would come from it but he seemed pretty adamant about it."
She gave a light nod at his answer and tried to slow her steps down to match his pace. The outside pathway offered a brilliant glimpse of the morning sun that shined through the open designs that carved the overhanging balcony above them; casting shadows across the smooth tiles underfoot that formed a variety of shapes to follow. The support beams that appeared every five yards or so were wrapped tightly with ivy that appeared more as a decoration rather than a lack of proper lawn care on this half of the castle. A soothing morning breeze kept catching the ends of her tunic and moving them across her thighs; her thin stockings did little against the cooling winds but they were more refreshing than chilling. "I know your standing on it, so I'll try to keep my words to myself. However, I will admit, I'm impressed by your subtle improvement through the years."
"I don't really have anything to say so I'm not expecting to stay long." he continued.
Despite the relaxed relationship and the acts of forgiveness between Begnion and what was left of the Heron Tribe, she knew the younger Prince still had a difficult time accepting it. While he had seemed open to forgive and willing to let the past rest, there were moments where he still held a bit of a stand-offish attitude about the whole matter; more namely so, towards the Apostle herself. She had, at first, seen it as him just being arrogant and acting out- they had shared their moments of heated arguments and rushed words. It was only when the Mad King's War had forced them to interact more than she was willing to do, that their attitudes towards one another changed. She supposed they had learned more about one another than they originally wanted, but in the end it seemed for the greater good. He understood that she had served the Apostle since the younger girl's birth; she served as Captain to the Holy Guards and fought alongside Commander Sigrun to ensure the best security available across Tellius. She had even stepped away from that post to serve as a guide for Begnion in other military units. She did what she had to, to ensure both Begnion's sovereignty and the Apostle's honor. There wasn't an inch of skin on her body that she didn't risk for her country.
He admitted that when she put it into that kind of light, he could understand why she acted so defensively all the time.
And that's when he explained that even though he might've been young at the time, he remembered everything from that night. He remembered hearing all the screams and not knowing which direction they were coming from; the scent of smoke even now still made him nauseous because of the fires. The memories of blood and fallen bodies were etched in the back of his mind, the faint images of friends and family were slowly replaced with the sight of broken limbs, crimson-stained clothing and empty eyes. The sound of soldiers shouting still came into play sometimes and he was still uneasy around some of the Begnion guards; he recounted one moment that brought a hand axe dangerously close to him and left a scar on his right shoulder. It was just a small price to pay though.
It was her turn then to admit that she could understand his reasoning.
They had both been wrong on the matter and were both willing to admit it at least.
So when conversation topics such as these came up, they were able to hold a decent measure of respect toward the other. It hadn't been easy to do at first but they eventually worked their way up to this step and they were both surprisingly alive.
"That's a shame, we haven't gotten the chance to catch up lately." she replied, taking measured steps around the slight bend in the pathway; working her way back towards the opened courtyard that formed a majority of the space behind the palace.
Again, while they came from two completely different backgrounds and were polar opposite of one another, they had their moments sometimes. During the Mad King's War, she had been put in charge of defending him, which only seemed to aggravate the Heron, but he had learned to set the emotion aside. She was surprised when he managed to save her from a brutal encounter with a steel poleax when his eyes detected movement far before hers did. Her slower reaction during one fight ended with blood staining his white robes from the tip of a sword blade moving across his arm; she had tried to joke about the wound to ease her own sense of worry and remarked that it was bound to lower his resale value; he told her she was terrible company and that he didn't want to speak with her again that night.
"There's nothing really new." he assured with a light chuckle. "Besides I'm sure your day is busy enough without me."
"I'm picking up a package for the Apostle and then I'm checking to see if Commander Sigrun has anything for me, other than that, there's nothing else for me today." she answered; listening as he seemed to give into another short laugh at her remark. "And just what's so funny?"
"Nothing just… as a word of advice when you go to pick up this order, be sure to sign off on the delivery, and not just on his package."
Her eyes narrowed once more as a brief pause in her step highlighted her sense of… possibly surprise and irritation at his comment. She watched as he slowly continued on his way and headed towards the pair of double doors that would lead to the inside of the palace. "Prince Reyson, what kind of woman do you take me for?'
"I never would've taken you for a woman to begin with, Lady Tanith."
While the relationship between the Heron Prince and herself remained purely platonic and they shared their rare afternoons of conversations and play, she had to admit that the so-called relationship between her and the Wyvern Rider was… a little more.