Jigano winced in sympathy at the queen's demise, though he'd been half-expecting something like that, given the king's apparent indifference to Rexanna until he'd needed to use her as a bargaining chip. But then, the princess had never known her mother, could only mourn might-have-beens, not a person, and so the bard swallowed his useless condolences and simply bowed his head in respect for the woman's passing - whatever her crimes might have been.
"Thank you," he murmured at the offer of a seat, taking the chair and a small jug of water flavored with cucumber for himself. Until he could find someone to make wine, at least, the options seemed to be boiled water or juice - or hard alcohol, of course, but he was wise enough to indulge that in moderation.
Rexanna's sad tale continued, going from merely unfortunate to terrible nightmarish in a few harsh sentences. Jigano sucked in a sharp breath to protest the unfairly cruel treatment, but held it without interrupting as events managed to turn even worse. Blue eyes were first wide with surprise, and then narrowed in anger at the tyrant's wicked treatment of a woman who had only been caught up in events beyond her control. Of course, she could be lying to gain sympathy - he never discounted that possibility when hearing the story of someone he'd just met - but nor was it worth showing his wariness openly. There was no harm to treating her story as true, especially when no one here could really prove or disprove it.
He finally released the breath he'd been holding, slow and controlled, as the king's fulll betrayal became apparent. "Well," he said, giving a shake of his head as he sat back. "You certainly owed him - any of them - nothing more. It was after that, then, that you fled and found the bounty hunters on your trail? How long did you evade them before you were, ah, rescued by the portal?"
"Thank you," he murmured at the offer of a seat, taking the chair and a small jug of water flavored with cucumber for himself. Until he could find someone to make wine, at least, the options seemed to be boiled water or juice - or hard alcohol, of course, but he was wise enough to indulge that in moderation.
Rexanna's sad tale continued, going from merely unfortunate to terrible nightmarish in a few harsh sentences. Jigano sucked in a sharp breath to protest the unfairly cruel treatment, but held it without interrupting as events managed to turn even worse. Blue eyes were first wide with surprise, and then narrowed in anger at the tyrant's wicked treatment of a woman who had only been caught up in events beyond her control. Of course, she could be lying to gain sympathy - he never discounted that possibility when hearing the story of someone he'd just met - but nor was it worth showing his wariness openly. There was no harm to treating her story as true, especially when no one here could really prove or disprove it.
He finally released the breath he'd been holding, slow and controlled, as the king's fulll betrayal became apparent. "Well," he said, giving a shake of his head as he sat back. "You certainly owed him - any of them - nothing more. It was after that, then, that you fled and found the bounty hunters on your trail? How long did you evade them before you were, ah, rescued by the portal?"
