---

He'd decided to take a step outside.

The air here was fresh, a distant cry from the purity found in the wilds, but somehow still of better quality than that of Levalles. The city never slept, all hours of day and night the rats ran, the smoke of industry colored and filtered the sky. It merged within the shroud that blotted out the daylight - the very same that he stayed just on the edge of. 

However, to say he was alone would be a lie. The little cream tabby circled around his legs once more, her head bouncing in a silent demand for affection against the palm of his hand. He had long since crouched to give in to her relentless commands for more, along with even capturing the attention of a servant passing through the greenhouse and enlisting her to bring a snack for the feline. A slight smile drifted upon his lips as a purring meal left her as his fingertips brushed in a soft scratch against the tops of her shoulder blades. 

"And what is your name?" He would inquire softly as yellow eyes looked up to him as her small whiskers flexed forward. Her nostrils flared slightly and he would release a soft tsk. "Well, I've no more food for you... though... I suppose I could go ask for more." Unlike Os, there was no change in the mentality of the animal, a simple meow released as he rose to his full height and left her ears now unscratched. Instead, his hand would touch upon the door back into the greenhouse, opening it and stepping out of the outside air which was beginning to get chilly with the descent of night. 

---

He'd found a servant willing to lend him an ear. A nice shiny coin for a few good scraps from the kitchen, tidbits that were unseasoned and a much better choice to give to the feline than seasoned finger foods from the various drifting trays. Though the feline hadn't offered any semblance of a complaint as she'd wolfed down his previous offering. No, he honestly suspected that perhaps she had a litter somewhere as well, though he wasn't entirely sure. It was a brief reprieve, a way to distract him from his own familiar. He couldn't chance risking the little lordling coming to his - a stranger's - side should Avarice be near him. He couldn't risk giving her a chance to recognize him and stir trouble. He doubted she would do such a thing on purpose, but he also held his doubts that she knew who he truly was either. Even so much as uttering his name could be the end of him.

”Oh, I’m sorry…” The unfamiliar voice called softly within the dimness and he would halt mid-step. Seamlessly, he feigned the startled errand boy, a light gasp leaving his lips as he clutched the odds and ends from the cook's line in his hands. He couldn't help but notice the trail the lady's hand took, either. Rather than recoiling to her chest or even her lips as most frightened women's did, her fingers instead reached towards her hip. His eyes remained there a moment before dragging themselves up her figure, a slight flush forced to his boyish cheeks. All things that once upon a very long time ago, he would have naturally done. Those youthful days of his humanity lingering in an act most convincing, or so he'd been lead to believe. His eyes quickly averted down to this own boots as he relinquished a nervous laugh. ”I didn’t realize anyone was out here.”

"Oh, well," again, he would utter a soft chuckle. "I was just, ya know. Stepping out, getting some fresh air." Though this part wasn't at all a lie. His skin had begun to crawl long ago, and the interior had become overwhelmingly suffocating to him. His tie long since becoming loosened and his outermost jacket currently resided upon the back of a nearby greenhouse chair. Many of the guests had also become.... outlandishly rowdy. One woman spinning into him and spilling her glass of wine on him. That had been his final straw. He was ready to go home. Instead, he would raise his hands, slightly, offering the unknown woman a faint explanation. "I just met a friend out here, you know?" As if on cue, the feline would once again embroider herself along his legs and he would give her a piece of the trimmed chicken and a pat to her head, warm smile painting his countenance. 

---

”You don’t like the crowd either.” He would give a light nod of affirmation to her observation. He preferred, even when in subterfuge, to keep from telling lies, even small ones. He felt it was one of many mistakes those of novice skill made for themselves. They tried to be far more different than their true selves, but those lies slowly became a noose. It began at their feet, tripping them up with triggering wires, they stumbled, they fell, and eventually they hang themselves upon the words dribbling from their own tongues. The less falsehoods one spread, the less stories one had to keep neat and orderly within their mind. It also wasn't an inquiry of uniqueness either. Before him stood proof enough. He was not alone in a desire to avoid crowds, it was far from a trait that he held monopoly over. "I find animals much better company." He would repeat, rocking back onto his heels as the feline took the trimmings with a ravenous excitement, offering her own form of thanks on occasion as well. He merely hoped that she would not find hungry, cold days ahead of her once he departed for the evening. Should he perhaps try to simply smuggle her out with him as well? His brow would furrow upon her slightly. If he could find her kittens - if his suspicions were right, of course - he would certainly try.

As the woman took a few steps forward, she would speak once more. ”Do you have one? You seem good with her.” He would nod, his gaze following the trek of the cat as she made content motion towards the dame. "I do. He's.... a bit spoiled." The last of the admittance would depart him on a sigh as his chin rested within his palm. He watched as her fingers tenderly brushed over the sleek fur, eliciting yet another yearning purr and mewl from the small creature. A figure eight path retraced as she made her way back to him, her teeth edging softly against his skin after whatever remained of her snack. ”Sorry, I’m Helayne,” she offered, extending her hand and he would raise to stand once again, wiping his own palm in disregard against his pants leg before he would lightly clasp her digits, bringing them lightly upwards as he bowed his crown in cordial greeting. "A pleasure to meet you, Helayne." He would offer her a genteel simper, finding something oddly familiar. Light emerald finding a sharper focus upon her that he hoped she wouldn't find too harsh. All the while, his benign smile would linger upon the upturned corners of his mouth. "Aevor."

---

There was a pricke in his skin, one that warned him that he should depart. That this was not an enconter that he should be willing to entertain. The scent that ligered on her skin was not akin to those within the granduer of the hall. It didn't match or accentuate the dainty garments she wore. It was of the wild, feral, free. It was of beasts and trees alike. However, it wasn't only the base nature that she reminded him of. No. What she reminded him most of, was a night in the past, perhaps it was years ago, maybee it was mere days or weeks ago as time had an odd way of flowing for him now. A young woman, curled upon the floor, bloodied, ruined. That was the faamiliarity that reached to him, coiled about him like the distant fog of the salted sea breeze.

The water that could not drown him.
The cold kiss of iron nothing in comparison to the hot caresss of silver.

Was she the very same? A daughter of the woman he had pried from death's jowls? Despite his sense of caution warring within, it was curiosity that overruled in the end. ”I agree. Animals are far more honest.” To that end, he would mostly agree, as he alas turned his full attention from the feline that circled about their ankles like a ravenous shark and to the woman who sat such a short distance away. Again, he would inhale the heady allure of the towerring pines and equine that marked her. He would release it easily, an amiable smile tenderly affixed to his lips as he mirrored her ease. He leaned back against the table at his back, fingers lightly gripping about its edge, forefinger tapping softly at the softer wood grain beneath. ”It sounds like you’ve tried to amend this… behavior?” In face of her gently posed accusation, he would merely allow a slight laugh to leave his lungs, along with a rueful shake of his head. "I'm afraid not. I've certainly only made it worse," as was proven by his defense of the frail maiden in face of Mithras' inquisition and the fact that the feline had resided in her company for some time. He would not argue it, nor press his familiar to return to his side, after all, the cat did so distaste violence and all that accompanied it.

He could feel it then, this slight mark of unease that plagued her person. Outwardly, perhaps he'd have missed it, she certainly retained her demeanor - but it was only with this unnatural wrongness that he could perceive it. It was the slight hitch in her as a person, the very pallette of the air changing. Had he unintentionally done something that would alert her? He certainly hadn't held his breath, his flesh would imitate the warmth of life when he had briefly taken her hand in greeting. Did she recognize him, then? He had to stop himself from cocking a brow, index giving the underside of the table another tap in thoughtful repose as she released the other after an elongated pause. Interesting. He held no worry that she would deign connect him to the general of Lavalles, but it wouldn't do for her to recollect an entire face all together for 'Aevor' either.

”So what brought you to the party if you’re no fan of crowds?” The lilt of his friendly simper never diminished. "My blame lies with a work collegue." He relinquished a sigh then, along with a low, thoughtful hum. "Said I needed to see more of the city, so, here I am."

---

She was not to be underestimated. That much was certain, and from the first impression of her touch lighting upon the hilt at her hip, she had revealed much and more to him. Perhaps, in truth, she was well onto his ruse, picking the wolf from the flock despite the wool that cloaked him. Despite the quit suspicion that roiled within his mind, she seemed just as curious about him, and if she had indeed gleaned the truth of his person, she had yet to sound any alarm. He had to credit himself, however, he had played this masquerade many times before, and his mask was better placed than many of those among his ilk. Many habits of mortality had never truly died with him as he had at first clung to the precipice of what used to be normalcy for him. ”He sounds well loved then,” he didn't miss the faint softening of her expression. An animal lover herself, he supposed. She would probably enjoy Os and his antics, his charms enthralling despite his clumsy nature. He did miss him, yet he didn't have the heart to call him back, not when he seemed to enjoy the new company he had found himself within. Another factor which was certain to only further his coddled behavior. "You seem to have your own companions." He would briefly gesture towards the stray who had curled a comfortable distance away. "Are you a cat person as well?"

It was a question he already had a partial answer to, but there was genuine curiosity behind the inquiry. It only grew as she canted forward slightly, repositioning her weight as if she had expected something more. He knew there should be some limit to what he should share, ask, and allow. If she did indeed recognize him from some way or another, it wouldn't do to have her discover that here - not if the faces failed to match. Even if she didn't care about the monstrosity that was posed just before her, he also couldn't run the risk of others becoming savvy to his presence. He also didn't dare give the option for Mithras to find out how she knew of him. He couldn't allow the naval commander to harbor any further opinions or suspicions towards him in the face of him running into Avarice here. Her laugh would ring softly through the fog of his mental regulations. A quiet, clarion bell that was accompanied by the movement of a stretch, accentuating the memory of what lay etched across her spine despite having seen the flesh since healed. Had they faded well, he pondered. "The city has its intrigue I suppose. I’ve yet to find it as breathtaking as the wilds though,” he would allow a slight nod of agreement. In truth, he favored the unruly terrain to the large gatherings, but he simply could not shake all of the nostalgia that this place welled within him. It was nearly enough to make his stomach churn with sensational nerves he had not experienced in quite some time. He wondered if the fates had merely placed her here as well to further to plunge into yesteryears. Unnerving. That's what this entire evening had simmered down to. ”So how are you liking the city? Has it met your expectations?” Emerald would avert slightly, away from the playful grin that slipped her mouth. "It's.... certainly something." Anything else may have been too much, and yet he couldn't halt the last of it. "It somewhat reminds me of home."