[i][h2][color=MediumSeaGreen]Lora Kadar[/color][/h2]
[/i]

Another man cut into the conversation before the Prince could manage to. He was enormous and scaly, and very obvious in his disgust for Cade. Lora watched as he spit his words, talking down to Cade in every sense of the word. He affirmed falseness in Cade’s quick and “humble” switch, and hearing it from someone else made her believe in her earliest assessment of the man. Scaly didn’t spend long on Ennis, turning instead to her when he was done with his rampage. His words were still sharp, and they met her ears with an annoyed twitch. Humans were always either completely disinterested or all too ignorantly curious. She might have snapped if she hadn’t remembered her present company, and held herself back until she found a way to politely formulate a yes. 

Right as she was about to speak, the Prince swiftly dismounted and she snapped her mouth shut. His landing was loud and dismissive, as were his following gestures. Her hands found each other and clasped together, anticipation of the Prince—The Prince—finally answering her straightening her back and making her palms sweat. Her smile mirrored his (if perhaps a little more overexcited than grateful.) 

He spoke to her, and the sound was so familiar but also so off, like a memory of the past being retold by someone who hadn’t actually been there. The soft politeness was the same, but the deep authority was new.  Lora started to nod the moment he stopped talking, mouth opening and then stopping in pause as he turned around to address the others. She closed her mouth and watched him, letting the tickling nostalgia dance around her while she waited for her turn. He turned back to her as the others split off, and her deep breath to answer him halted once more at his look. 

Cobalt eyes turned on her with curiousness, and she froze under them. He seemed to be searching for something on her, with a sort of determination that was extremely intimidating. What was he looking for, and what if he didn’t find it? Her ears drooped into her hair slightly, burying themselves with the thought of disappointing her Prince. But then he lit up, his fist slamming into an open palm and recognition dawning. He spoke her name, and the following words may have been the best thing she had ever heard—No—they were the best thing she had ever heard, without a single doubt. 

She brightened immediately, her ears standing straight and her eyes wide (her smile wider) and her cheeks flushed. Her lips moved in the semblance of words, but her grin kept pulling at them and her voice was nowhere to be found. She knew what she wanted to say but the words would not come out, because he remembered her, her remembered her back when her tail was scrawny and her fangs had yet to come in. She thought she might throw up. But if she did it would be on him, and she doubted he cared to see the contents of her stomach at the present time, so she shoved that thought down and pushed up her voice. “Yes! Yes. Yes—“ she broke off and winced; she was definitely over doing it. “Yes—“ No, that wasn’t what she meant to say. “Sorry, please. Yes, I would definitely remember the woman, and perhaps the man too. I didn’t see too much of him, but—He didn’t look like any of the villagers, so—I’ll try my best. Of course,” she added, “I would never give you any less. Than the best, I mean. You’re the Prince, after all—“ she winced again, far too aware of her rambling. “Yes. Sorry. I just—I never dreamed in a million  years I would see you again, much less this close and much less that you would actually remember me—I’m sorry. I’ll stop. Yes, I would love to accompany you all, if you wouldn’t mind one more and if I haven’t just ruined my chances of being good company.” She chuckled self-depreciatively, the smile still stuck on her face. “I have my own horse and pack, and I promise I will never talk this much again if you don’t want me to, and—Oh! My goodness! Please, excuse me, I’ll only be a minute. Sorry, sorry.” 

She bowed and whirled, skipping through the dispersing crowd as fast as she could and coming upon the boy and those she had left him with. The words didn’t even need to be said before they were nodding, assuring Lora they would watch him until his mother returned because the Prince—the Prince, of all people!—wanted her to accompany him. She thanked them with a brief hug and kissed the top of the boy’s head, wishing him well and asking him to thank his mother for her generosity. She raced back to the Prince with her still-present and too-bright grin, stopping before him and bowing for the third time as she remembered herself. “You wanted to look around, right? We could head towards the inn—we’ll pass a little bit of town and if they stayed a night or even stopped in for a drink at any point I’m sure the keeper would remember them. And I kept Pax there last night, I could pick him up so we won’t have to stop later. Unless you want to look elsewhere, of course. You know best. The inn is that way,” she pointed and smiled at him, before quickly adding, “Your honor.”