Hat? Dusted and perfectly set between two washed and fluffed ears. Vest? Freshly washed and neatly buttoned, bright blue with shining golden loops. Sword? Polished, sharpened and sheathed, only to be used in the direst of circumstance yet to be on his person at all times. Gardon was stood before his bedroom's full-length mirror, scanning his personage for the slightest of inadequacies. Were his gloves clean; was there a hint of sleep in his eyes? No, he was fully prepared for this meeting, in body if not in mind.

Blaze wasn't one to call meetings; on the rare occasions, she had information to share she'd come straight to Gardon and deliver it with bluntness comparable to a closed fist. For her to call upon him for, as she put it, a formal introduction was most bizarre. Granted; the Princess had been more open as of recently, ever since her adventure in that alternate dimension, but her stance on formal traditions and practices hadn't changed. Who in the world could she want to introduce to him? For who had she pulled not only him but also herself away from her duties, merely so that they could meet him? He reached into his vest pocket, drawing forth the note she had written. No names were given for this person, the only details the letter gave was a time and place. Her exact wording had been; "I wish to formally introduce you to my partner…"

The Koala's eyes widened in realisation, he watched his reflection's jaw drop. No, it couldn't be; she'd been so isolated until recently! She was only fourteen, that was too young to be dating… wasn't it? And to call this person her partner, she couldn't have known whoever it was more than what… a handful of months? Yet to call someone partner, to arrange this kind of meeting, was it so wrong to assume? He could feel something swell within him, the paternal nature restrained by chains of loyalty and servitude; those bonds were to be strained today. Well, that was assuming he was correct about the meaning of partner… of course, there were other meanings, another guardian perhaps, someone to lessen the weight on her shoulders? But even then that implied the princess had someone she trusted head and shoulders above all others, for Blaze to find such a person so quickly was bizarre at best. Catching his expression in the mirror Gardon brought a hand to his forehead, pushing himself back to a reserved and professional posture. He focused himself on thoughts of prior generations, successful guardsmen and guardians; regardless of his fatherly position rank came first.

Returning the note to his pocket he drew forth his stopwatch, ten minutes remained; he should be early and await the princess and this partner. A last glance to the mirror, he wasn't as steeled as he'd like to be but this would have to suffice. He left his room, arms straight at his side and standing tall, maintaining a wide stride as he made his way through the palace. Bottom floor, the meeting room; it'd been an inch thick in dust but as he closed the door behind himself he was politely surprised; the table was newly polished.

Guiding his fingers over its varnished surface, an aged and wooden round table, he took in the room. It was painted sage with great brown corkboards, hung on the three back walls; matching pillows on each of the seats, four of the chairs were plainer while the fifth had been carved with excruciating precision; depicting the sol emeralds and the jewelled sceptre. That chair sat higher and weighed twice what the others did, naturally Blaze hated sitting in it; not only did it isolate her from the group but it was, in her own words, regardless of how important or ancient it might be it was unbelievably uncomfortable. He wondered if she'd sit in it today, she'd called this meeting after all.

That's right; this was the first meeting Blaze had initiated herself, things had to be perfect. Beady eyes scoured the surfaces, eyes to the floor he wandered the small room; ducking beneath chairs and scrutinising the underside of the table; all the while taking the utmost care to keep his outfit clean. Rising from his knees he took in the walls; it was too late to do any paintwork, and fortunately, there were no clear scuffs but he wasn't content with the straightness of the boards. He scrutinised all three; down to the millimetre, but from the last, an ugliness reared entered the frame. A spider, more than an inch long, ran out from beneath the edge of the board and sought sanctuary in the upper right corner of the room. The koala sighed, his attempts at perfection had exposed a flaw; a flaw that now hid well outside his reach.

Checking the underside of his shoes, making sure they were clean, Gardon lifted one of the standard chairs to the corner and stood atop it. He pulled off his left glove and turned it inside out; in one swift movement the creature was captured, sealed within its confines. There were no windows to this room, his hands were busied bundling the spider; he couldn't check his watch, nor could he pull back the chair. He'd have to be fast. He pushed through the door with his shoulder, attempting to keep his stride as he made for the closest exit… only to realise, if the princess were to come that way he'd have to apologise not only for his lateness but also for seeing this partner before the meeting. He turned on his heel; the gardens were further away but avoiding such a faux pas took president; he'd apologise regardless but he could stomach being a moment late if it meant the meeting ran uninterrupted.

Making his way out to the garden he made toward the first bush he could see, opening the glove to release the arachnid only for it to clamber onto his hand. Sighing he tried to release it with a flick of the wrist but the spider held fast, it took prying the bug loose with a leaf to finally be rid of it. The goal achieved he turned; ready to dawn his glove and speed walk back to the room when something caught his eye. Had his senses not been heightened by this tension he likely would not have noticed but out the corner of his eye, he spotted a figure… no… two figures making their way across the sky. He pushed back against the wall, attempting to use the outcropping of the castle roof to hide.

He'd only catch the pair for a moment longer, not much more than a second, but immediately he identified Blaze. Blaze who was afraid of heights; to the point that, as a child, she'd insisted her board her bedroom windows for fear she'd fall from them, now flew through the sky… in the arms of a bizarre teal form. He'd heard no cry for help but immediately Gardon grew worried, his hand reached to his sword's hilt. What kind of partner would ignore her fear of heights? That was, assuming the second figure truly was a partner and not some kind of threat. If he truly was nefarious, rather than foolish, then had Blaze already been bested? Again that assumed this figure had ill intent, rather than being stupid, but the thought sent a shudder down his spine. He pushed his way back into the castle; glove replaced and conviction in his step.

As he rounded the final corner he heard the heavy door of the meeting room shut; he had been too slow. Gardon took a moment to compose himself; releasing a sharp breath he straightened his vest and dusted his gloves. Was he overreacting? He was certain he was, he hadn't seen this person clearly let alone met them, but given his position, it was only natural to worry. His parental nature was forming an unsteady alliance with his loyalty; he had to face this person, friend or foe to Blaze, and uncover any sinister intentions. Gardon was duty bound to do what was best above all else.

He pushed open the door and, before he could even lay eyes upon the pair, bowed to his fullest and dropped to one knee; staring at the wooden floor. "I apologise for my lateness your majesty, a matter in the gardens required my attention. Please forgive me, Princess Blaze."

His head still lowered he heard a sigh; even in this formal meeting she clearly detested those titles. Before she could speak up though there was another voice, pubescent and a little loud, "Oh, should I call you stuff like that too? I think it'd be a little weird…" The voice was male, not particularly surly and certainly not adult; perhaps close to Blaze's age. His dutiful side loosened, he didn't sound like a threat… improper sure but then Gardon was rapidly finding himself the last bastion of traditions.

The princess' words followed, "Silver, nothing would bring me more displeasure, please don't." Silver; so that was the name of this partner. Gardon's immediate thought was pirate though not a second later he knew he was being too harsh on the boy, the royal guard hadn't even seen him properly yet.

"Oh okay, you make more sense to me as Blaze anyway. I'm still not really used to all this royal stuff." Silver responded, rather perplexing Gardon. Had Blaze not told him of her status until recently?

"Gardon please stand; you're not late, and please no more with the titles. I know I called a meeting but, in truth, it was simply to secure time and space. There is no need for formalities." There was an edge to her voice; making it clear Blaze wouldn't budge on this point. She had arranged this meeting; even if it meant breaking tradition he would try his hardest.

"Thank you Blaze." He slowly rose to stand straight, he tried to remain professional but… he felt himself pause as he sighted this Silver. Gardon was quite certain he was a hedgehog, a white-grey hedgehog; with bizarre teal symbols on his hands rather than being naturally cloaked the colour. His quills were unlike that of Sonic, five thin quills pointed from his forehead while two thick ones hung from the back of his head. The shear fluffiness of this figure was throwing him off, was he truly a hedgehog? He was wearing jewellery, four giant rings with more of that cyan colour, and boots. Gardon knew he couldn't simply stare at the boy, he extended a hand to him; "It is nice to make your acquaintance Silver, I hear you are Blaze's… partner?"

"Oh yeah, we're partners." That was all the explanation he gave. There was a wide smile on his face, bright amber eyes that seemed to radiate excitement and kindness… that was far more suspicious than even a neutral look, why was he so happy? The hedgehog took Gardon's hand; the shake was vigorous and incredibly informal, despite the koala's tight and professional grip Silver's seemed light. "It's nice to meet you Gardon, if you're Blaze's guard you must be really strong right?" His eyes seemed to light up suddenly, following them Gardon found the hedgehog looking at his sword. "Oh! Oh! Can you actually use that? That's amazing! I've never met a swordsman, most people seem to just punch stuff. Blaze is the strongest person I know, so you've got to be real strong to right?"

The hedgehog released Gardon's hand only for Blaze to chime in, placing a hand on his shoulder as if to pull him away. Such gentle physical contact was an oddity for the princess. "It's more of a ceremonial position Silver, I can't remember the last time Gardon had to fight."

"I keep my skills honed, just in case, but I concede that Blaze is far stronger then me." Gardon conceded as he overcame the rending of what little pride he had. "Thank you though, Silver. Prin- Blaze, shall we take our seats?"

"I suppose but Gardon I said to drop the formalities, we don't have assigned seats and I'm not sitting on that rickety thing." Blaze responded, drawing a regular chair and sitting upon it.

"Of course not, my apologies." It took everything within his person not to ask for forgiveness. He went to the opposite end of the table, the seat closest to that old chair, and pulled himself in. Looking across the table however Gardon's eyes would widen, his jaw would drop and his right hand would slip from the top of the table to rest on his sword hilt. The chair he had used to catch the spider was floating, coated in that teal glow he'd sighted before; it moved from the corner and with a small hop Silver sat atop it, the chair pulling itself into the table. Dangerously close to Blaze, were their chairs touching? If they weren't they couldn't be far from it.

"As you've just seen Silver is psychokinetic, he's able to manipulate objects and people with his mind. It's a powerful tool but he uses it too casually, rather naively." She shot Silver a look, brows furrowed… yet there was a small smile to her face and pinkness as well, what was that expression? Her ears had lowered forward, Gardon only ever seen them twist backward in anger. He hadn't seen this from Blaze before and, even though it exuded positivity, it troubled him.

He laughed a little under her stare; "It's hard to stop, using it for mundane things is just so fun." It was a tiny interaction, miniscule, but from it Gardon could expunge a lot. Most notably from Blaze, the way she acted around this hedgehog was quite different, but there was something beneath the surface. Blaze had always had trouble fitting in not only due to her heritage but the flames she could produce. Pyrokinesis. Was the why he was her partner, because he was like her? Had he won trust through their similarity? Did he plan to abuse that trust? "Do you want tea?"

He was torn from his thoughts by the question; looking down at the table he hadn't even noticed the tea set, a simple flask with some plastic mugs set next to a bag of biscuits. Realising he'd stalled he responded quickly, attempting to straighten his face. "Yes, please." He should have seen it coming but as the thermos rose into the air, wrapped in teal, and began to pour into a cup. He looked to Blaze only for her to gently nod. Bringing both hands back atop the table Gardon accepted the fact that without asking he wasn't going to get any answers. "So, when did you two meet?"

Despite its simplicity Silver's seemed to get a little lost in that question; Gardon could practically see the cogs turning in his head. Blaze too seemed to pause at it but quickly responded; "We were recently reunited after a long separation, we met as children."

That set off a number of red flags in Gardon's mind; if Blaze had truly lost a childhood friend he was certain he'd had known about it. Not only would he have likely seen this child but he also couldn't recall a time when Blaze could have made a friend only to be suddenly separated from them. "Really… I don't remember seeing a hedgehog before Sonic arrived, let alone a psychic one."

"It's… complicated, but essentially I visited Sonic's dimension before my more recent venture. It was then that I met Silver." Blaze exposited, "I only remembered him recently."

"I guess that's true, I never tried to put it into words before, are we not going to tell him about the future and Iblis?" Silver asked, seeming to overcome his delirium only to spout what sounded to be complete nonsense. What was Iblis? Could he also see the future?

Blaze turned to him and, as though he'd spoken sensibly, responded; "Well certainly not today, I think it might be a bit much to understand. We should probably keep that to ourselves, for now at least."

Gardon allowed himself to push in; "I will not pry if you are unwilling to disclose such matters, though I am surprised you'd been to Sonic's dimension before; without my knowledge and as a child no less." None of this made the slightest sense to Gardon, he resumed eying Silver as he poured the last of the tea; a cookie floated from the bag into the white hedgehog's grasp, taking an overly large bite he seemed somewhat overwhelmed by the flavour and slid to slouch in his seat. Psychic powers… could he do more than had been explained? Could he affect people's minds? He couldn't see teal on Blaze anywhere…

"As I said it's complicated. I'm sure when you're better acquainted we can have that conversation in full." Blaze waved away that conversation, taking a long sip of her tea. By the frown on her face and the way she'd put emphasis on certain words, it was clear that she'd noticed Gardon's distrust.

With that in mind the koala decided it was best to define the fact that confused and troubled him most; assuming there was no foul play afoot then Blaze clearly wanted him to trust this fellow. "Forgive me for being so blunt your Maj- Blaze but when you two say that you're partners, in what sense do you mean? Are you two involved…" It was outside his jurisdiction as guardian to ask this but fatherly instinct had long broken free from its chains; "…Romantically?"

The response was immediate, both of them were awash in red; eyes snapped from him briefly to each other and then as far from one another as possible. Silver seemed to choke a little and was now looking at the cookie in his hand, his excited chewing had halted; the smile was still on his face but it was incredibly shaky. Blaze's eyes had gone to the upper corner of the room, her hands held together she released a sharp sigh and spoke; "I-I… I'd say we're closer than friends but we don't have that kind of relationship… we don't…"

"Y-Yeah…" Silver finally spoke up, "We've fought together a lot and w-we look after each other but it's not like we…" His tongue seemed to get lost in his mouth; he made a sound like a stuttering sigh. "K-kiss and stuff."

"I see, I apologise for prying once more Blaze." This wasn't an emotional state he'd observed in Blaze before, and he hardly trusted this boy let alone knew him, but there was clearly something there they either weren't telling him or weren't telling each other. He'd never seen Blaze like this, not just this embarrassment but she said he was closer than a friend and in all of the little actions it showed. It would be wonderful if he weren't so worried. Gardon finally sipped his tea; it was a little sweet for his taste, the concoction of distrust and happiness tending more toward the latter.

To his surprise Blaze continued, pushing through the embarrassment. "There are things I can do with Silver I am incapable of on my own. A lot of my fears and anxieties are alleviated by or through his presence, for example, my fear of heights vanishes whenever I'm with him." And then, eyes locked with Gardon's own, she put extra emphasis on those next words; "I trust him more than anyone else." That stung a little but Gardon knew it was an attempt to further hammer home that he was to trust Silver, what she had said about heights gripped him slightly more, however; the idea that around Silver she grew more comfortable and confident struck a cord within the guardsman.

The hedgehog's eyes finally rose back to Gardon, "I'm basically lost without Blaze. She's a whole lot smarter and tougher than me, I feel a lot stronger when I'm with her! She's the best." It was far simpler than what she'd said but in its wake, there was a smile on the princess' face, fangs peeking out as if noticing she took a sip of her tea… but something bizarre happened. Blaze's tail was usually rather still but Gardon could see it, rather than hanging behind her it lay along the back of his seat.

That had instilled some confidence in the old guard, he finally felt comfortable enough to take a biscuit. "Well I'm glad to hear it, I may not understand all of this but it seems benign and I'm glad Blaze has made such a close ally. I trust you to guard one another to the fullest."

Between mouthfuls of his biscuit Silver quickly responded, "Of course, she's my partner after all! She doesn't really need me to look after her but if she does I'll be there. I'm just really happy I'm with her again, I wouldn't trade it for the world." The smile on Silver's face was wide, what had once been a confusing yet alien presence was slowly warming to Gardon. Well… not significantly, putting blind trust in him so soon would be a failure of his position, but he couldn't help feeling glad his little girl was growing closer to others. If she fully trusted this Silver then Gardon was sure he would with time. If they were dating, however, or if things ever came to it, he'd have to far better his manners; he could foresee an exhaustive talk in the hedgehog's future.