Sense and Sensibility

”Ah, I haven’t been in the alchemy shop, but I just helped my friend Samuel set up his bookshop in that area,” the bard agreed with a smile. ”It would be my pleasure to accompany you, and I am not so proud as to say no to some more furs in this weather!” Jigano chuckled, trying to suppress a shiver as a playful breeze sent ice right through him from his wet hair and clothes.

”In truth, a warm fire to dry beside would be even more welcome,” he admitted, smile turning lopsided. ”And I couldn’t ask for better company. If you don’t think me too forward, I’d like the chance to sit and talk awhile? I was impressed with your showmanship and quick-thinking back there. I’d be honored if you’d join me for a drink at the bar, if it isn’t too great an imposition.” He bit his lip thoughtfully, considering, for a moment, her purred words and throaty laughter. The way she seemed to speak with an edge of innuendo that would have Edy cackling in delight. Hurriedly the bard raised a forestalling hand.

”Though – and I mean absolutely no offense, good lady – all I’m looking for is conversation. I would consider myself exceptionally lucky to be counted among your friends someday, but I am sure there are others far more worthy of your interest for any, ah, other pursuits.” Embarrassed, though more for the potential offense he might have caused by his presumption than over the topic, the loreseeker stopped in the middle of the snowy street and swept Rexanna a full courtly bow. ”My deepest apologies if I have misunderstood or offended. I only wish to begin our acquaintance in honesty and full accord.”

Rexanna looked to Jigano as he began to speak of the alchemy shop. Her gaze lingered for a moment on his hair and the starkness of its coloring, so similar to the snow that surrounded them. But she nodded all the same, having not heard of this Samuel but intrigued by the idea of books. She began to wonder, then, if he was familiar with the library and all of it’s expansive history hidden behind those crumbling walls. She didn’t have anything else to say, though, instead offering him a grin as he remarked about her offer of furs. A quiet and sultry laugh escaped her lips at the offer, not exactly picturing herself as good company but deciding that she couldn’t really be the judge of it.

“It would be my pleasure.” She said in her sultry tone, unable to refrain from it – though the honey dipped words aren’t mimicked in her eyes as she looked back to him. “I’ve learned a thing or two.” She added quickly, flashing him a wink for good measure before she chuckled quietly at the implication. What she hadn’t expected, however, is the sudden shift in conversation – of how Jigano almost seemed embarrassed at what he said to her. Her eyes widened slightly, though deep down she knew that it was bound to happen at some point.

Never the less, she grinned to him when he finished speaking and pointed at her throat before she began to speak. “No offense taken! I was cursed by Frey.” She began, her purr never faltering. “It’s the only way I can talk until I get it fixed.” She added in before looking back to the surrounding snow for a split second and how quiet it was outside. “Remi did make me a wonderful quill set that I take with me now and then for more serious conversations.” She hummed to him, looking back at him as they walked. She tightened her outer layer around her as she tried to figure out how to explain it further. “I tried to go to Frey to find out how to fix some things and it went a bit sour, but I’ll take it.” A breathless laugh escaped her lips again.

“So! How did you end up here?” She questioned with a tilt of her head, certain that the conversation would end up drifting back to her encounter with Frey, and she’d be able to answer any questions he might have had further about it. He seemed scholarly and she was intrigued to learn more about the other inhabitants of Caido.

At least she was smiling at his apology, and not walking off in offense at his potential faux pas. One brow arched in surprise at the mention of a curse - ah, but of course, hadn't he heard something along those lines from Remi? His lips quirked up into a rueful smile. He nodded gracious understanding, relaxing as they began to walk again, and taking her sultry tones in stride now that he knew they weren't her choice, or her fault. "I'm an outlander," he grinned wryly. "I was traveling between towns when a portal appeared in front of me, mid-step, and I walked right out of my world and into this one. It's been a bit of a culture shock, to say the least, but I was a wandering bard and lorekeeper before my arrival, so I count myself luckier than some who have arrived against their will."

He looked down at the woman at his side, a little surprised at how short she was in comparison to the lively personality that burned within her. "And yourself, good lady? I'm guessing an outlander as well, since we seem to be the ones stumbling over and annoying the local gods more than the naturals here do. If I may ask: what kind of world did you come from, and what did you do there? Aside from dive athletically into crumbling ruins and rescue sopping-wet fools from watery pits, that is," he added with a mischievous grin.

He was, in fact, itching to ask about Frey and the nature of her curse, but didn't want to push for intimate details of it in case it was awkward or embarrassing for her to speak of. Then, too, Remi had seemed annoyed that he had pried so much into his personal life at their first meeting, so the bard made an effort to use a softer touch with his new acquaintance.

She was relieved as he relaxed a bit, pleased to know that it was over as easily as that. They continued to walk, and she leaned an ear figuratively to listen to his story and how he came about arriving here. A quiet sultry laugh escaped her lips as she turned to him with a look of surprise. “I’m an outlander too, walked across a door threshold and I was standing right outside the Rathskeller!” She chuckled softly, but nodding to him all the same. It made sense – he had that bardish look about him, but she was intrigued at the lorekeeper part. She didn’t ask more, but glanced to him as he questioned her about how she ended up here.

Another amused chuckle left her at his compliment and grin before she spoke. “Well, I was running from bounty hunters at the time. I hid in an abandoned house and they had surrounded it and as I crossed the threshold to leave a back room I landed here.” She shrugged her shoulders, stuffing her hands into her pockets. “I was a bit of a wanted woman back home.” Her voice was soft as she contemplated it, tilting her head at the memory as she looked to the snow that glistened on the sides of the walkway. “But I’d say everything worked out in my favor. Been on the run for quite a few years before I ended up here. It’s nice to not have to constantly look over your shoulder, you know?” She glanced to him, offering an almost sorrowful smile of turning the conversation dark.

Honestly, she didn’t mind sharing her story. She hoped perhaps it might help others understand why she was the way that she was – where she loved vibrant and beautiful things yet could handle her own. She might have carried the appearance of pristine and pretty things, but she’d saved her life on numerous occasions. There was a wolf layered beneath her skin that nobody had seen here yet, and deep down she hoped that nobody would. “Anyway, I met Frey within my first couple of weeks here. Despite altering my voice, they gave me a pretty powerful lesson of being… less self-sacrificing. I have them to thank for that.” She subconsciously rubbed at her collarbone where her brand used to be before Frey had removed it, remembering the ghost of the memory. Looking back to Jigano she offered him a bright smile to try and lighten the mood. “Do you have any good stories? I’m afraid my own tale is a bit… dark. Don’t want to make you want to drink.” She joked, flashing him a wink for good measure.

He listened to her story with an earnest thoughtfulness, raising a brow at the mention of bounty hunters and the adventure she had in escaping them. It was far more glamorous than his own arrival - but undoubtedly far more frightening, as well. "Yes," he agreed softly when she glanced at him, and there was a richness of understanding in his voice as he nodded soberly. "I do, indeed, know." He hadn't been on the run from authorities when he'd left the Northlands for Caido, but he had been before in his life.

"This world has a way of offering second chances," he agreed, his smile a little lopsided. "At least, for some of us. Though I do feel for those who left friends and families and good lives behind them when they were brought here."

He hadn't expected her to share her tale of Frey, but he was glad she did, even as he rubbed at his cold arms while they walked. "So... a gift along with a price?" he asked ruefully. "That  matches some of the other stories I've heard about them." And his own encounter with Ludo, though that was of a more... private nature.

"Well, my personal stories might be a bit on the dark side, too," he admitted, grinning at her wink and offering a half-bow in teasing jest back. "Not that I'd turn a drink down for the telling of them! But hmm... let's see... have you heard about the sentient books in the Atheneum?" he asked, plucking a more recent - and far happier - memory from his store of them.

She glanced to him as he nodded to her response, agreeing and understanding underlining his eyes. She relaxed a bit, perhaps pleased to know that others had experienced terrible things before arriving – having found the confusion of Caido a saving grace of sorts despite the brutality of the world around them. At least there were others, a group of them, willing to try and fix what was wrong here. To go from different backgrounds and come together to create a new sort of civilization. To start over.

She nodded in agreement to his statement, her own soft smile reaching her face as she contemplated it. “I can’t imagine what that must be like.” She agreed with a bob of her head. But as she told him of Frey and they continued to walk, she could see the light of the Settlement twinkling closer now and she breathed a cloud of air before her face, happy that they were at least close. They continued to walk and she nodded to him yet again in response. “They only took the price I think as my audacity to even ask them to fix something for someone else.” She huffed a quiet laugh.

Her steps were even along the snow as she made her way to lead him toward her home before they dropped by the Rathskeller, aiming to give Jigano a few fresh and dry clothes that might warm him up before walking toward the bar where she was certain his clothes would freeze to him and he’d have to suffer through it. She looked back to him as he began to speak of his own personal stories and how they were dark too, giving her a half bow in jest. A purring laugh slipped her lips as she listened to the rest of what he had to say. “Sentient books?” She questioned, looking back at him with her eyebrows raised and eyes a bit wide. “No… Don’t keep a girl waiting.” She said with a quiet laugh, curious about what other strange things happen in this world.

But they had reached her doorstep as well, the building partially falling apart on the upper levels. The lower levels were admittedly okay, keeping in enough warmth without the outside elements playing a factor in it. She opened the door and left it open for him to enter if he wanted to while she made her way into her living room and to an old dusty trunk – one which she had taken clothes apart to make the dress she wore to the masquerade at the Church of Safrin. “Let me know if anything sparks your fancy!” She called out to him as she pulled out a couple of white furs and a thick wool shirt, laying them out onto a chair while she continued to search and listen to what kind of stories the bard had about the books.

He hadn't expected to find such a connection between them so soon, if it all, and it left him a little bemused even as he tentatively welcomed the small glow of relief at finding someone else who could empathize, at least in some small degree, with the darker aspects of his past. But in more recent adventures, while he had made his trade with the god willingly, it sounded as though Frey had been a bit pushier about what they wanted in the give-and-take game they played with the lovely mortal lady.

They were making good time as they walked, helped in part by Jigano's eagerness to get to some sort of shelter before he caught pneumonia or a fever from his chill. "Ah, you went to intercede on someone else's behalf? That's the sort of nobility I would hope the gods would honor," he mused, feeling a curl of worry over his own deal with Ludo for Rory's sake. Though... he hadn't asked for the god to fix anything. Just to protect the man who lived so far from the safety of the Settlement. "It is less than reassuring to hear that they might punish for it, though you did indicate it was perhaps more lesson than punishment?" He grinned wryly as he followed close behind her, and off to the side so he wasn't stepping on her heels.

"Ah yes, if you spend much time in the Atheneum you might want to keep an eye out!" he warned, though with a roguish grin that was only partially ruined by his chattering teeth. "Most of the books are exactly what they appear to be, but there are some among their number that are bit more... lively, shall we say?" He chuckled as he stepped inside, sighing in relief to be even a little bit warmer as he closed the door behind himself and stood courteously in the entryway, trying not to track wet feet around her home. "I'm partial to white fur," he said, flashing a grin before continuing his tale. "I didn't know about them either, until I learned the hard way. I'd been here for, oh, perhaps a week? And I'd finally gone to the library to try and learn more about this place. It was all going well until a little blue book - jumped out and caught me!" He clapped his hands together gently, grinning as he spun out the story. "And yes, I do mean that it moved on its own, getting close enough that I touched it in order to move it off the book I'd been reading. The next thing I knew, I was standing in a most peculiar summer forest, along with the man who I'd been speaking with!" He shook his head ruefully. "It took us awhile to figure out what had happened. Things inside the book were...unfinished? The nearer details were clear, but things far away were strangely vague. We found a firebird's feather and almost as soon as we began to walk we were transported to a castle courtyard where we met a king. He recognized us as his huntsmen and commanded us to catch the firebird, so we set out with grain and a silver net and sure enough, she came right to us as soon as we were back in the forest and had laid our trap."

As Jigano spoke, she flashed him an amused grin. “You would think so.” She huffed with a quiet laugh, before contemplating it. “But in all fairness, it was to try and replace a curse on another from the same god.” She shrugged her shoulders with a tilt of her head. Perhaps if it were for something else, it would be more of a noble gesture. But to try and replace one offense with another, only seemed to anger Frey more in that regard. But she had learned that despite the curses and the terrible things Frey probably could do, they had shown her some mercy in teaching her not to destroy herself for others – they wouldn’t do the same for her.

But Jigano began to warn her of the sentient books and she continued to search for clothes to suit the bard as he told her his story. She laughed along with him, nodding in agreement to the idea of being cautious the next time she was there. Rexanna had only ever gone once and found little information that she needed. Instead, that was where she had met Archebold and had danced with him for the first time – though it wouldn’t have been the last. She’d found Archebold as a decent dance partner for the time. Regardless, she listened as he mentioned he was partial to white fur and she dug through more to find some bigger sets – even a scarf perhaps. She didn’t know why he liked white fur, but she could see that his hair was white and perhaps it helped to blend in.

So she listened to his tale, making tiny “oh!” sounds throughout at the surprise of it. She continued to search through the trunk until she came up with a dry pair of pants and a couple of comfortable warm shirts he could switch into and layer with the furs and a few pieces of leathers as well. Turning to him, she rested her hands along the soft furs and listened as he finished his story. “Oh my!” She hummed, amused and involved in the story. “So… you have to finish the storyline? Like you’re actually a part of it?” She hummed thoughtfully. “What happened with the firebird? Did you bring it back to the King?” She questioned with a tilt of her head, her eyes open wide in surprise and intrigue. If that king in the book was like the king she’d known, the firebird would’ve likely died after the huntsmen had caught it.

Jigano appreciated a good audience, and even more when that audience was helping to pick out some dry clothes for him to wear! At least her house was warm enough that he was no longer freezing, but standing around in wet things was decidedly more chilly than he liked to be for any length of time.

"Yes, in fact, as we discovered on a different adventure entirely - but yes, you have to see the story through to its end! There seems to be some flexibility in the tales, depending on your choices, but you cannot, say, simply walk off in a random direction to get out." He grinned wryly. "Though, at the time, poor Samuel and I weren't entirely sure what had happened or what was going on. We thought we'd been sucked into a storybook, but we weren't certain. We were worried about taking the firebird back to the king... he was a suspicious and selfish sort, and his vizier was definitely up to no good. But we didn't see any alternative at that point. It seemed to be the way the story wanted us to go so... we convinced her to come with us willingly, and headed back to the palace."

He could see the clothes she had gathered, and his eagerness to be dry again hurried his words perhaps a bit more than he might have done otherwise. "The king offered to grant us a boon in exchange for the bird, and she warned us that her feather could protect us - though from what, we didn't know. Sam took the feather and handed her over - and as soon as he did, we were betrayed!" He clapped a hand to his chest with a flourish, giving Rexanna a roguish grin. "The vizier set us up, framing us for robbing the treasury. We were threatened with execution - by being boiled alive! Poor Sam had ended up the main protagonist, and courageous heart that he has, he managed to slip the feather into my hair just before they caught and bound us both while they set up the cauldron and started the fire beneath it." He shuddered theatrically.

"The king and the vizier, cruel monsters that they were, wanted to come right up to the edge of the cauldron to watch - which was just as well, in the end. The feather Sam had left me slid down my hair to rest against the ropes binding me and burn through them, leaving me untouched - but free! Before they could push Sam into the cauldron I leaped across the distance and used all my strength to tip it over. If it had been the real world, it wouldn't have worked," he admitted ruefully. "It was far too heavy, large enough to boil a bull nearly whole. But the book wanted the story to come to its end, I believe, and so one of the chains holding the cauldron up snapped, and it rolled over onto the king and vizier - and the firebird they had with them, bound in the silver net."

By now his expression had sobered, blue eyes solemn. "We thought all three had perished, but we were still in the book. But when the guards came to tip the overturned cauldron back over - the king and vizier had burned alive, but the firebird-- was gone!" He spread his hands, grin splitting his face. "In her place was a princess in robes of red and gold, with fire in her eyes. She had been placed under a curse long ago, but we had broken it! And she was so taken with Sam's good heart and courage that of course she asked him to marry her and rule at her side." Here Jigano chuckled, blue eyes twinkling. "She was, ah, not really his type, but he graciously accepted, and the moment he did we found ourselves back in the Atheneum, safe and sound, with nary a bruise nor burn to show for our adventure!"

With the tale come to a satisfying close he looked piteously at the dry clothing his hostess had found. "Ah... now... in exchange for my story, would you have a place I could change, by chance? Or if you'd rather, we can continue on to the Temple and I can find a private room in the infirmary to do so."

She continued to pull out items of clothing, laying them out while she listened to his story – pausing now and then to marvel at the insane amount of things that had happened. He was a brilliant story teller, and she wondered if perhaps one time when he wasn’t soaking wet and looking to warm up at the bar if she could sit with him by the fire and listen to all the other stories he surely had to tell. But, this tale, she listened diligently and interested, not surprised to know that the King didn’t seem like the good sort. An amused huff left her lips at that. But with the mention of Samuel handing over the firebird and the mention of betrayal, her jaw dropped slightly in disbelief.

“Gods!” She exclaimed, eyes wide and hanging onto his words. Then as soon as he continued to tell the tale of the books, her head tilted at the impossibility of it all. Soon enough, the story was drawing to a close as the cauldron tilted and enveloped the bird. A wide smile crossed her face too – feeling oddly connected to the cursed princess in a way she couldn’t accurately describe. “What an adventure!” She hummed to him with a light laugh. “I would’ve had to sleep for a week after all of that drama.” She added in jest with another laugh.

But then he began to speak of the clothes, and she nodded her head to him quickly. “Ah, yes, sorry. There’s a bathroom over there down the hall to your left!” She purred, gesturing with an arm toward the bathroom where he could change and letting him pick which clothes he wanted. “I was too caught up in your story.” She added with a grin. Once he had picked out which clothes he wanted, she piled the bigger pieces into a little bag. The clothes were certainly made for men and she had far too many of those kinds of clothes here to ever accomplish anything with. Finding a small bag, she placed the bundle of a few more furs and a shirt or two in it before tying it – willing to give them to Jigano should he want it when he returned. As for her, she removed the knives she had stashed onto her person and removed her fairly thin leather shirt for a wool one, layering on another few pairs of furs before letting down her dark hair.

Rexanna gave him something to work with, reacting to his words and cuing him for how to pause to heighten the drama or to raise or lower his voice as the story called for. Normally he performed for an audience of a dozen or more, but there was a joy in sharing a tale for one person, too, tailoring the gestures and pacing to their individual taste. When he finished he bowed to her laughter, rising with a rueful grin. "I believe my friend did," he admitted. "But since we escaped without injury I found it far preferable to other adventures where I wasn't so lucky!"

He gladly rifled through the clothes she had found, plucking out a long-sleeved shirt and a woolen sweater to go over it, and finding some leather pants that risked being a bit on the tight side, but at least were warm and dry. It wouldn't be his finest ensemble, but it would be comfortable and for that he was grateful as he took the items with a bow and retreated in the direction his hostess had indicated.

He returned a short while later, his wet clothes folded into a damp bundle and with his hair brushed back and rebraided. Seeing the extra bag his eyes lit up and he offered one of his courtly bows. "Kind lady," he murmured, "I appreciate that you've gone to this trouble for me! But I'd hate to be so churlish as to do all the talking. Even if your time before coming to this world was dark, have you had any interesting adventures in Caido that you would share?"

She laughed to Jigano as he mentioned that his friend, Samuel she was guessing, had more than likely slept for a week after their adventure. She didn’t blame him, and as she previously stated, she certainly would have too! But she was curious, and she found herself wondering if she could be part of something like that. But she’d need someone to make sure she could get out – to go with and see what it was like. There was a part of her, however, that worried about getting a terrible dark tale of a story and how she didn’t really need to experience it just before Longnight.

So she put it on the back burner of her mind to find out more about later, once everything had changed.

As Jigano returned and she hoisted the bag for him of extra clothes she didn’t need, she grinned to him as he bowed. He was such a gentleman! “I have no use of them, I’ve been making my own with the other scraps.” She announced, pointing with a finger to the trunk she had searched through for him, and one that was a bit cluttered next to it with a quiet laugh. Moving to hand him the bag and toward the door for their trip to the Tavern, she bobbed her head to him. “Oh, I have plenty. I don’t mind sharing the darker parts either, but perhaps it’ll be a bit easier for the both of us with a few drinks in.” She admitted laughing, a wide grin splitting her face again.

She made her way outside and closed the door once Jigano had exited and looked back around at the dark street covered in snow. “Well, I’m afraid aside from meeting that gorgeous god, the adventure with you and Bastien had been the most interesting thing I’ve done.” She shrugged lightly, flashing him an amused smile. “I’ve mostly spent my time meeting people, some dancing, and… a few other things.” She added with a quiet cough and a laugh. “But my Kingdom back home was very exciting! I grew up a servant – having been orphaned from birth. I learned how to be quick on my feet and how to get information around the castle in any way necessary. But when I turned eighteen, it all changed. It seemed like something in those story books. Our King hosted a celebration, supposedly for the servants to reward them for their hard work. But it fell on my birthday, and as it turned out, I was the heir to the throne.” She turned to him to feign surprise with a quiet crooked smile on her lips.

“Imagine my surprise! Cleaning rooms and dishes and suddenly having to learn history and all the fancier reading and writing lectures.” She gestured with her hands in an open way, as if to explain that it was so open and that there were lots of it. “Didn’t make a lot of sense to me at first, but later the pieces kind of fell into place. He said it did it to protect me, to hide me from our enemies when the King turned me around and sold me to the Prince of the neighboring kingdom to try and relieve tensions between my kingdom and the one we'd been at war with for centuries.”

He was glad that he wasn't putting her out with the clothes. She had so far seemed a lovely and charming woman, and her generosity was something to be rewarded in some way, not to be taken advantage of. Though hearing that she was a seamstress was good information. He was building a list of people with useful skills for his various projects, and someone who could sew well was never a bad friend for a bard to have!

He took the bag and offered his arm in return, smile tilting wryly at the mention of drinks. "Sometimes it makes the telling easier," he acknowledged. "Though I would be honored to listen even without alcohol involved." Collecting stories was his business, after all, but listening with a sympathetic ear was something that came naturally, for all he could be accused of lecturing at other times.

Keeping her curse in mind, he didn't take her words the wrong way this time as they walked down the snowy path towards the Sanctuary. He wanted to ask about her dancing, but she started a story of her past that had him biting his tongue so he wouldn't interrupt. It all started simply enough, but her previous warnings of a dark past had him a little on edge as he waited for the twist it was bound to take. He hadn't expected her to be a princess though, and his brows arched in shock even as she pretended her own surprise. "But... how..." he said faintly, then shook his head, grinning ruefully. "Sorry, please go on!" He could imagine her consternation - the feeling of drowning - at being thrown into a world so different than the one she had known. Having to learn - and having the opportunity to learn - so much of what had previously been out of reach. Before he could do more than nod in empathy, though, the king's excuses started coming and Jigano frowned, already mistrusting them. Especially when Rexanna continued to call him 'the king' and not 'my father.' Something wasn't right at all...

"Ah," he said, a little grimly. "A forced marriage, then? I know it happens, but that doesn't make it rest any easier in my mind. It's just glorified slavery, in the end. But... forgive me, I truly don't mean to interrupt." He glanced up at the Temple's bulk before them, then back to his new friend with a raised brow. "Is this a story you mind telling in the tavern itself? Or would it be easier shared somewhere less, ah, public?"

She took his arm happily as they walked toward the Tavern, and while she told him the beginnings of her story, she continued to glance to him to see how it was settling. He hadn’t really interrupted her, and she offered him an amused smile in between. Had he voiced his confusion with the idea of her calling him the king and not her father – well, that twist would be realized later. But as he spoke of a forced married, she nodded quietly. Her eyes leaving him and moving back toward the Tavern they were surprisingly approaching quickly.

“It was great, for a time.” But she agreed nonetheless. Helpless in her endeavors to keep her people safe when in the end it was a useless cause anyway. But he asked her whether she’d prefer to tell it in the Rathskeller where prying ears might hear or a place more private. Her eyes lifted back to the door of the Temple and returned to him with an almost awkward smile. “Let’s grab a bottle of wine and head back, if you don’t mind? I can start a fire to keep us warm.” She added with a quiet yet honey-dipped chime of a laugh.

It didn’t take long to snag a bottle of wine and some more refreshing, nonalcoholic drinks, and soon enough Rexanna had offered Jigano a relieved smile as they began their walk back toward her home. “But anyway, he didn’t really give me much information on my birth. But it was common knowledge that the Queen, my mother, had died when I was born. I was completely unaware when they sent me to Asciend, a country of winged people.” She made a contemplative face as if she could see them before her. “They had giant wings, looked like angels from some of the stories I’ve read upon leaving. They were ruthless, though. They came from mountainous land and were envious of our fields, which is why the war started in the first place.” She shrugged lightly, her shoulders rising and falling as she glanced back to Jigano.

“The Prince was beautiful and sweet for a time. We were married quickly, and peace had been granted between our nations. But behind closed doors, the Prince became more of an interrogator over time.” She finally said, the seriousness of the conversation coming through her eyes even if her voice sugar coated everything. “Always wanting to know about how I grew up and why the King would hide me away. I never had good answers for him.” Her empty hand reached up and she absently rubbed at her collarbone where her brand used to be. "It went on for... A year or so?" She squinted as she tried to recall the information.