Disclaimer: The characters and world of InuYasha are not mine; they are property of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Yomiuri TV, Sunrise, and Viz. The Alien characters and movies are not mine either. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 26

Kitana thought she would have to track Sesshomaru down; it would have been easy, for no youkai was as powerful as him on these grounds. However, it appeared that the taiyoukai had arranged for guards to wait for her at the exit of the training dojos and lead her to his quarters.

The place was not very far from her own room; much closer than the faraway western wing. It was a lone building, smaller than most of the others, but richly adorned. The two story guest house only had one entrance at the front, and the marble and alabaster reigned in all their splendor. A new material distinguished this building from the others; deep green jade adorned the sides of the door and windows, as well as the gutter and columns that held the roof. At the end of the numerous gutters, a carved stylized dog served as a sort of gargoyle to repel the water away from the walls. This place exsuded royalty more than any other of the structures on these grounds.

As they approached, the front door opened, revealing Sesshomaru's waiting form. The guards stopped at the foot of the stairs that led to the balcony and Kitana reached the door by herself.

At her approach, Sesshomaru went back inside the main chamber, walking toward a low table surrounded by large cushions. Kitana followed suit, but as she entered, she was frozen on her feet by an unexpected sight.

The taiyoukai, not hearing her soft footsteps anymore and feeling a strong wave of confusion wash over him, turned around in mild irritation. The girl had wanted explanations since their arrival, and when he was about to give them to her, she lingered on a doorstep?

He paused as he took a look at her. She was looking straight at him, wide-eyed, open-mouthed, with her right hand tightly balled in a fist before her mouth, and she looked as though she was torn between the ideas of running away or tumbling forward. Finally, she did the latter, her legs giving up under her.

Reacting before thinking, Sesshomaru lunged at her and caught her before she hit the ground, snaking his arm around her waist and turning her around so she could sit on his right thigh while being supported by his arm. He stayed there for an instant, kneeling down on his left leg while trying to determine the cause of this ordeal. The intense confusion he felt was becoming his own now, for as far as he could sense she was not hurt nor tired enough to loose her composure in such an unexpected manner.

Not knowing what in his person had caused this reaction, especially since he hadn't changed at all since their last encounter moments ago at the dojos, Sesshomaru fought hard against the desire to cast a look upon his own person. Instead, he adressed the distressed female who was still limp in his hold, her almost panicked eyes fixed on the air behind him.

"What are you doing, woman? Stop being ridiculous."

Kitana's mouth started moving, as if she was speaking, but no word came out of her. As he let one of his brow raise under his bangs, Sesshomaru finally heard a word, a tiny whispered word totally out of context.

"An… Angelus…"

His brow came back down, joining its twin in a severe frown.

"I told you once to stop using that name; I am certainly no angel."

Finally, his words seemed to snap her out of her trance as her confused eyes met with his own stern ones.

"No! Not you! Angelus, there! How?"

And she pointed a shaky finger at him, or more precisely at something right behind him.

He sensed his irritation at her antics growing, as there was nothing behind him other than the very wall of his father's office; not even a window to take a look outside. Feeling as a child who was played a prank upon, he nonetheless turned halfway around to take a look over his left shoulder, almost expecting her to break down in laughter as he played in her game.

But she did not laugh, for it was not just a barren wall that she was pointing at; behind him stood his mighty father in all of his glory, crouched in a fighting stance with his pelts cascading around him, sword ready to clash with an unseen opponent, and his eyes challenging anyone to come closer and attack him.

The artist who did the painting was an excellent one, as every tiny detail of his father's armor and clothing was well rendered; up to his ponytail and the exact tone of his golden eyes, everything was life-like. Even the Tsounga that he held in his right hand appeared malevolent and charged with evil, just as the real one. He remembered himself as a child being impressed by this image of his father, never doing any mischief in his office for fear the artwork would become alive and his father would catch him in the act and punish him. Those were foolish, childish ideas though, and a mere painting should not have such an effect on a grown adult.

Looking back at Kitana, it was clear to him now that the cause of her reaction was the painting. What part of the painting though he couldn't tell; maybe the sword, or the mountainous surroundings?

"How can he be here, on a painting here?"

He schooled his face back into his emotionless mask.

"You are looking at a representation of my father, in his younger days. We are in his office."

She blinked once, then twice, and shifted her attention from the framed artwork to her companion.

"Angelus? Your father?"

She then rose on her feet and approached the painting, before looking back and forth between the father and the still kneeling son.

"Of course" she muttered, "I should have known from the start… You look so much like him…"

"What are you blabbering? You met my father?"

Sesshomaru's face was maybe bland, but his emotions were rolling in a chaos over Kitana; curiosity, anger, happiness, jealousy, sadness, they overcame her and drowned her own confusion. His desire to know more became hers, and fuelled his own back in return.

"Yes, I met with him."

His eyes now fixed upon her, he was waiting for the rest of the explanations.

"I can't believe Angelus is your father. I thought for sure he was… dead. After all the time you said I spent in that cave, it never occurred to me that he could be alive. Is he here? Why are you occupying his quarters?"

"His name was not Angelus, woman. He was the greatest dog general of all times, and would have let no one call him such a ridiculous nickname."

"For me, he is Angelus" she answered sternly. "You talk about him in the past tense, why? Is he alive or … gone?"

Her pleading eyes were daring him to tell the truth about his father's demise, but he did not want to. He wanted to know how they met, in which circumstances, and why he had never heard of her before if his father knew. Then, his memories of the visit to the cocoon cave came back at full tilt; his father definitely knew her. The general had acted stern and even sad all the time they travelled to and stayed at the cave, as if… As if he was mourning a departed friend, maybe? There were so many questions in his head, and so many in her own, fighting to come out first and meet their answer, that neither of them knew where to start.

His hesitation was her answer; she understood. Realization hit her that she had found a link back to her Angelus, but this link was also severed as soon as she stumbled upon it. Sadness and grief overcame her, allowing her memories of times before to come back at full speed, almost knocking her down on her knees again with their unsurmontable weight.

A rattle at the door interrupted them. Not waiting for the people inside to answer, the person outside slammed the pannel to the side, opening the door widely and thus instantly winning the animosity of the taiyoukai and his guest. However, neither of them had time to show the said animosity as the youkai who so disrespectfully announced himself, an ugly old thing that made Jaken a miracle of beauty and charm, claimed the purpose of his visit.

"Our Lady wants you to know that a meeting will be held at the main parlor at sundown. You are expected to be present, Lord Sesshomaru. As for your… familiar, she won't be needed."

Kitana almost shivered when she felt the murderous intent that seeped out of Sesshomaru as he got up; she witnessed as he took the most bored look and tone she had ever seen him take to answer the provocative youkai.

"I heard you, retainer. Tell your mistress that I will attend, as well as Lady Kitana."

"But-"

"That will be all."

That being said, Kitana turned around and in a swipe, she embedded the tip of her tailblade in the door and slammed it shut right in front of the youkai's face.

He nodded, a rare manifestation of his gratitude, then motionned her toward the cushions and the table.

"We have much to share, but foremost you have to know the reason of your presence here. Time is running short; the day is already ending, and we can't be late at my mother's summon."

She sighed audibly, casting a last glance toward the painting hung on the wall before walking up to the table and taking a place directly in front of Sesshomaru. Both of them sat cross-legged on the cushions, Sesshomaru keeping his posture as straight and dignified as ever, while Kitana slumped upon the pillows and crossed her arms on the table, resting her chin upon them. She tried her best to keep her mind and attention upon him, but to no avail; the only thing she could feel was despair, the only beings her mind wanted to acknowledge were the departed ones.

He breathed slowly before explaining himself, gathering his thoughts and trying to push out the dreadful things he received from his partner. He decided that ignoring her misery was not the way to go, for she would be no use to him in that state of mind. As much as he loathed her for forcing him to do so, he summoned calm feelings, hoping to overcome the melancholy that so suddenly affected her. When he felt that a part of her mind was now opening up to him, he started his explanations. Few words came to him, but knowing the inquisitive nature of his ally, he knew they wouldn't be enough and chose to go the lengthy way from the start.

"My mother has access to a wealth of informations; she has eyes and ears everywhere in the country, and could be of a great help in finding the hideaway of the hanyou Naraku."

Kitana shook herself from her memories, pushing her mind not to linger on a long gone and hurtful past.

"She didn't strike me as being malformed or misshappen in any way; are you sure about the number of ears?"

Irritated by her feeble attempt at humor, he calmed his anger before answering; at least she was with him now.

"Do not be a fool; I was speaking metaphorically. She has a network of spies working under her, spread out everywhere and ready to report at the slightest summoning from her."

"Yeah, I understood already. And you think she can make these spies work for you?"

"Perhaps."

"Why ask for help, Sesshomaru? Obviously you do not hold her dear in your heart, and you are not the type of guy to wait for the help of others. Why her help?"

Sesshomaru's disgust at his own attitude, asking for help when he should have been able to act on his own, seeped by every pore of his skin. The creature was insightful; even though she met him only months ago, she knew enough to understand that part of his personality.

"Her resources far outweight those of most youkai I know."

"She will humiliate you; are you ready to pay that cost for mere informations? With enough time, you will find the bastard Naraku by yourself, anyway."

His eyes flashed at the words of the black creature, but he did not uttered a word. Understanding started to dawn upon her.

"It is the time it would take, isn't it? You lack time. Rin… If he attacks her again, he might not keep her alive, isn't this the reason of your precipitation?"

Kitana waited, but as nothing more came, her patience grew thin.

"And why did you think it necessary to grab me and haul me here, where it is evident that I am an unwanted pest? I will only get my ass kicked by your holy mother! What the hell did you think?"

An evil smirk unexpectedly reached Sesshomaru's lips, as he imagined his mother trying to kick Kitana; she would be in for a few surprises.

"My mother, although dog youkai, can be compared to a spider sitting in the center of a web of deceit. She has an uncanny habit of challenging my abilities, and her challenges are the deadly type. I have no trust to loose on her, no more than on any of her servants and spies."

"So… Why come here in the first place if you don't trust any of them? And what place is mine in that big plan of yours?"

He simply stared at her, scanning through her feelings as if he were sifting through the air for scents and smells. Sadness, confusion and annoyance were first and foremost in her mind; but as her anger at his silence slowly grew, the answer appeared to her as clearly as the light of day.

"Empathy… You need me to detect the lies of those around us? Is that your intention? To use me?"

"Hn."

She was shocked by the way he confirmed her doubts.

"You want to use me."

He nodded subtly.

"Your power of empathy will be appreciated in the events to come."

She straightened up on her cushion, sitting upright and putting her elbows on the table, her chin upon her joined fists. Hostility was now pouring out of her toward Sesshomaru, making him slightly uneasy, but what was disturbing him the most was the heavy sadness, the disappointment that settled upon his shoulders by proxy. He did not expect this reaction, and couldn't begin to understand the reasons why his partner would become so resentful at a simple request from him.

"It won't work."

The only answer to her words was a slightly rised brow and an insistent look.

"For your plan to work, I would have to relay you the emotions of the people around us, and I can't do that. Not unless I open up totally to you, and that won't happen."

"What do you mean?"

Sighing, she thought about the correct choice of words to explain an ability that was not well understood, even by the specialists.

"To feel through me and detect the ones lying to you, you would first have to receive the full scope of my own emotions; which won't happen, since your reactions to them are not yet totally controlled. Then, you would have to ignore them totally to tap into the collectivity. It took me a long time to learn how to do that without being drowned by the multitude of feelings coming from everybody around me, and we don't have that time. Finally, you would have to be able to distinguish between the people in the room, to know which one of them emitted which emotion, and it is sure that you wouldn't succeed. It is the hardest part of this ability, and at times even myself have difficulties with it."

"Very well. But that is not what I had in mind."

She redressed on her cushion, her hands now flat on the table.

"No? Then why question me about it if it's not what you wanted?"

"At times it is easier to let you speak than to stop you from talking."

Irked at his effrontery, she had to fight against her desire to turn tail and leave the place.

"You know what, my Lord?" she said in an arrogant tone. "It's not with this crappy "I am higher than thou" attitude you've got that you will convince me to help. You can be a total jerk when you want to!"

Sesshomaru closed his eyes, doing his best not to be affected by her swinging moods. When he reached a total control over himself and felt that she calmed herself a little, he let her in on his theory.

"I was merely hoping that you would convey your own appreciation of my mother's servants to me through our link. I do not need to know what they feel; I solely want to know how you feel about them. Trust, or mistrust. Truth, or falsity. "

Kitana took his words in and studied them. Then, she nodded toward the taiyoukai.

"If it is all that you need, it may succeed. You will have to be very observant of whom I am studying to make the connection, but it may succeed."

The taiyoukai nodded, imagining how confusing it probably was to feel not only yours and another person's feelings, but those of everybody around you. Then, he looked to his right, as the rays of the afternoon sun entered the chamber and created shadows on the wooden floor.

"We still have some time before sundown. You will tell me what you know of my father."

Her lively attitude died down as he spoke.

"Did he really die?"

A subtle nod was her sole answer.

"How? When?"

Sesshomaru looked again at the puddle of light on the floor.

"About two hundred years ago. He fought battles that he was not prepared for, to protect a simple human female and their unborn half-blood child."

Kitana became pensive.

"It's a good way to die, then."

"It is an utterly foolish way to die."

"I don't know… At least he died doing something that was important to him."

"Hn."

"So… he was not with your mother anymore when it happened?"

His eyes settled on her once again, and his reluctance to speak about this particular subject was heavy in the air.

"He had never been."

A confused look on her face, Kitana pushed him to explain himself.

"How come? You are here, obviously."

"Hn. My father was the greatest dog general of my maternal grandfather's army. He helped expand the Western Lands over century old boundaries, and for that he received the hand of my mother in reward for his services. My grandfather wanted strong grandchildren to come out of this union. But it did not succeed; I was the only child born to them. When the Old Dog died, Father became the new Lord of the Western Lands, by alliance. He was obsessed with war and territory, and Mother quickly became disinterested in him, for her way of winning wars was through treachery and spying, making alliances and pulling strings in the shadows rather than clashing armies on a battlefield. He had been a sire for a child, but he was better as a General. They agreed upon one thing though: through trials, their child would become strong, or die. In that they succeeded."

Kitana shivered.

"That's a sad story. He seems different from the Angelus I know."

Sesshomaru felt the need to roll his eyes as she persisted in using that ridiculous nickname for his Father, but he wouldn't fuss over a detail when he wanted to know the story.

"Did you succeed?"

He turned a questionning glare at her.

"In meeting their expectations… Did you succeed? You do not strike me as a guy who would fit in such an environment… I never imagined you as the master of a castle…"

"Because I am not."

His answer surprised even himself, for he had always considered he was nobility, artistocracy. Kitana was waiting for an explanation, so he continued.

"I am a wanderer. I always imagined taking over my father's lands and possessions after becoming strong enough to claim them back. Becoming powerful, so I could conquer what was rightfully mine by birth, and even beyond that."

"And you won't?"

His silence was her answer.

"So you wander… For what reason, if it is not to take back what is yours?"

With a wave of his hand, he pushed the question away, ignoring her to come back to the sole question that was throbbing in his mind.

"How did you meet?"

"I… It's hard to speak about that, Sesshomaru."

Patient, he stayed still, looking at her until she gathered the courage to go on.

"He saved me from the shipwreck when I crashed on your planet. I hit the ocean near the coast of your lands, and while my ship disintegrated and I was rendered unconscious, your father plunged in the water to examine the celestial object that had fallen from the sky. When he found me, he pulled me out of the sinking remains of the ship and brought me back to land."

"It is not all."

She raised her head and locked eyes with him.

"No, it's far from all. I stayed unconscious for days, as my armour was not sufficient to protect me from the crash. I was so broken down physically that it took me months to recover; he took care of me all that time, even though I didn't want him to. He hunted for me, but I refused to eat anything. He taught me your language, but I refused to speak. He told me stories of battles and armies that he would join someday and I didn't react. He became attached to me, and I couldn't care less."

"Why?"

She blinked once, not really understanding the sense of his question.

"Why what?"

"Why didn't you care? Why did he still care for you when it was so obviously a failure?"

She became somber and her tone took up a darker accent.

"I was…" She sighed. "Even though my physical injuries were terrible, it was nothing compared to how I was destroyed inside, Sesshomaru. I was a total mess; and he insisted because… He insisted… Because he thought he loved me."

A deep frown appeared on his forehead and hostility seeped out from him, along with incredulity.

"It cannot be."

She nodded once.

"Yes it can; do you doubt my abilities to sense emotions, Sesshomaru? His feelings were very easy to decipher, for he did not even care about hiding them. But I couldn't stand it."

"What happened?"

"When it became too heavy to bear, when I wanted nothing but to dissolve in the afterlife, I showed him. I showed him the reason of my presence on this planet, the reason for my desire to die, for my inability to love him back in return. I showed him my memories, the same way I showed you the memories of the tiger youkai on that day."

Silence was heavy in the room; Sesshomaru's image of his father was changing, and he did not like it. Sensing his trouble, Kitana continued.

"He was very young at that time, Sesshomaru; much younger than on the painting. Younger than you are now. At that moment I did not know about youkai, but I thought he was a boy of roughly sixteen years old."

"You met him before I was born…"

"Yes, it probably is true, for he was not a general yet. Furthermore, he was totally engaged in my care and surely if he had had a child to raise he wouldn't have stayed by my side for months. But he was also naïve and impressionable, and what he saw in my memories was a shock to him; so much that he left me, at last. When he didn't return, I crawled deeper in the cave where we had settled, going always further in the shadows of the earth. I was exhausted, famished, and it didn't take long for my body to put me into stasis. What happened after that, you know better than me, Sesshomaru."

Neither of them could withstand to look into each other's eyes at the moment; Kitana was somehow ashamed of her behavior, now that she could see it from the point of view of a child who apparently worshipped his father. Sesshomaru was stunned; for him, it had always been clear that the bitter side of his father, the side of him that only melted away when he met with the human princess Isayoi, was his own fault, the fault of an unwanted child that distracted the father from his quest for power. Could it be that he became that way when he lost Kitana, rather than when he sired a child? Could it be a lost love that burdened his soul, and not a powerless youkai infant?

"I said only one word to him, and it was Angelus. In the language I spoke then, it has a different meaning than in yours. Angelus is a savior, a benevolent soul who helps others out of pure compassion. Angelus is good hearted, maybe naïve but true to himself. For me, he was Angelus."

"In my language, Angels are sacred spirits of the afterlife who look after the living, protecting them and caring for them."

"Maybe he is both, then. Now that he is no more."

"And This Sesshomaru? You call me Angelus. Is it by mistake, because I look like him?"

She smiled at his question.

"At first, yes, I tought you were him. But you are Angelus too; maybe not as naïve and far more prudent with your compassion, but you are nonetheless."

A moment of silence passed before she asked him something that was on her mind.

"Did he… He never told you about me, did he?"

A pair of golden eyes met with her own, and he shook his head.

"Never. He simply showed me the cave where you laid in the cocoon, but did not explain its nature; except that it killed evil creatures, feeding upon them, and could heal worthy ones."

She smiled sadly.

"Yes, it is true. I have not much control or memories of what I do when in stasis, but I do sense the touch of the wicked and the cocoon forces me to feed on them. However I plainly refuse to take the lives of the pleasant souls; healing their wounds seems a natural thing to do when I am in stasis."

Both of them shared a companionable silence for a while, reminiscing about the lost Angelus, who became the great Dog General. As the sun got closer to the horizon, Sesshomaru rose to his feet.

"There is a small freshwater pond in the garden of my father's office, would you wish to clean up more thoroughly before the meeting."

"What? Why?"

Kitana was not ready to hear such words from him; he was definitively a mood-breaker.

"Let's say you still reek of the marten, and blood; the barracks' shower is reputed for never being used long enough to really clean anything."

That being said, he walked away and she followed suit, wondering if she should obey him or kill him for his impudence. He opened a shoji screen that separated the small, cozy front office from a larger reunion room which could hold at least twenty persons and then turned right, opening a last screen that led toward the said garden.

"I left real soap on a rock," he said, accentuating the word real in a disdainful way.

She stormed out of the room, knowing that if she couldn't put some distance between them, he would be as good as dead meat. Or she, for he would surely retaliate and she would end up dead. But as usual he was right, with Sai's overbearing presence she didn't take the time to clean up thoroughly, and she still had some blood caked under her feet.

As she sat in the cool clearwater pool and started scrubbing her toes and talons, she felt Sesshomaru's presence lingering nearby.

"Can't a lady have some privacy while she bathes?"

"Hn. You are not a lady, and your clothes have not been removed from you; you are in no need of privacy."

Her temper was boiling.

"Let me be the one to decide about that."

She turned her back to him, continuing her tidying up; the blood really got underneath her claws and was hard to scrub away.

"Well, what do you want? Are you just gonna stay there and watch me? Pervert!"

He rose an eyebrow and sat on a rocky bench, the branches of a weeping willow creating a shaded area under which he could wind down a little to digest the surprising informations he received earlier about his partner and father.

"You are the one who was so aroused while fighting a woman half-buried in gore, and I am the pervert. Fascinating."

"Don't start Sesshomaru; I fought her for fun, she was the aroused one. See? You can't even start to distinguish my own feelings from what I perceive from others."

"Hn".

He stayed silent, half hidden under the tree branches while she ended cleaning up. He had never thought it could be possible, but he was entertaining himself by feeling the broad spectrum of emotions that crashed upon the ebony predator that was his companion. Underneath the strong sadness that didn't seem to go away, anger, even rage, fought with shame and annoyance in her heart. Once in a while, an emotion almost erased the others, and it was like watching dancers evolve on a dance floor. And he was the one who provocked it all. It was much easier now for him to detach himself from what he received from her, for he was becoming skilled in the art of relaxing and accepting feelings rather than burying them away. Still, as he knew the effect that could have upon her, he did not indulge in that relaxation already for she would have calmed down and he would have lost his entertainment. It was not as much fun as a real fight, but almost.

As he watched her ablutions absentmindedly from afar, Sesshomaru's thoughts wandered toward the reasons why his father left Kitana; what had he seen that pushed him to flee with his tail between his legs? Was he an easily impressed teenager at the time, or was the vision so strong and shocking that fleeing was the only option? More, if he was to see the same vision, how would he react? He reasonned that he had had plenty of occasions to leave Kitana and yet, the impulse to stay with her had been stronger; that he had already been shown and told éterrible things that many youkai couldn't have dealt with and never once fleeing had crossed his mind. But he never figured his father as a coward, young or not, on the contrary he had always been solid like iron in face of terrible foes.

With his mind turning and returning the possibilities and questions again and again, he didn't see Kitana emerge from the pool and approach him.

"Well, are you gonna stay here all night long and let me handle the meeting by myself?"

He snapped out of his musings and turned his attention toward his companion; taking in her silhouette, his brows went up and his eyes opened up in surprise before he could school them back into their usual bored expression.

The girl was stunning; never once he had seen her exhibit such a level of beauty and dignity. Gone was the wild creature that he rescued from a gloomy cave, the savage predator who eviscerated and tortured without any hesitation; in front of him stood a royal person, shining with a great presence. She had manipulated her body suit in a totally new way. The small tiara that always adorned her head had changed into something much more intricated; the spikes over her forehead and brows were still present, but now the jewel descended along the sides of her face and two new pointed spikes followed along her high cheeks and jawline, outlining them brightly. The collar that hid her scars was now a chest plate descending upon her shoulders and chest down to the base of her breasts, and decorated with linear patterns similar to long, bony fingers, as if a long-legged spider was nesting upon her neck. It could have been gloomy, but the fact that the ornament was pure gold and in a strange way similar to the natural ridges visible on the skin of her neck made it perfectly fitting.

Her chest was now tightly clad in a long tunic that evased at her waist into two panels, one at her front and one at her back. The material appeared to be silk, midnight black silk that contrasted wildly with the rich gold of her chest plate. Her belt was also included in the design, encircling her waist where the fabric of the tunic loosened to create the panels. The tunic was sleeveless, and although he knew for a fact that her arms were still covered by the peculiar bodysuit, someone not knowing would be fooled. Her snakelike wrist and ankle bracelets had not changed, and she kept her long flowing pants underneath the tunic; the only difference being that they were not slanted on the sides anymore. Her back spines were free from the material and proudly erected, their upper edge cast in gold, and her tail emerged from under the back panel with what appeared to be a golden chain of rings encircling each dorsal spike up until the very tip of the tail blade, which was totally encased in gold. On the front of the panel, a pattern of golden spirals encircling a vertical oval shape was repeated five times along the left side of the fabric, giving him a strange feeling of dread. The contrast of the black outfit with the shining gold of her eyes and ornaments was stunning, and it was difficult for him to remove his prying eyes from her person.

"Sesshomaru. You are staring."

He looked her up in the eyes, looking absolutely indifferent although he knew she could read him like an open book; he could do the same however, and knew that she was embarrassed by something.

"You changed your… clothes."

"Glad you noticed. We are in some royal court, aren't we? Is it appropriate, or too much?"

He looked again for a couple of seconds before rising and starting to walk inside again.

"It will do. Come; we will be late."

Rolling her eyes as he had been the one dreaming away and forgetting everything about the passing hour, she followed after his retreating back.