[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/630508873102655513/668933551269478431/sigi.png[/img]
[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/630508873102655513/668932450663137313/Sieglinde.png[/img]
Mentions: [@PaulHaynek][/center]

Even though she couldn't see the other woman's face the way her head jerked was unmistakable and it was enough to make her frown.

It wasn't something she did. Or, well, it was a normal reaction to something she did. It was possible something about Sigi's greeting reminded Jane painfully of someone else, but just a greeting? She'd get set off all the time. No, so it wasn't something she did. But maybe something about who she was? Maybe, but Sigi had a feeling she was reading too much into [i]her[/i]. But she wasn't entirely wrong.

It was something in Jane's voice, the only chink (almost literally) in the woman's armor. The one thing she couldn't really disguise. You didn't get to be a Four of Swords by being [i]that[/i] meek, not at your core. To pick up a sword at all required a choice. To learn to use it required discipline. To learn to use it [i]well[/i], well enough to be a Four, required... Well, heart. All the technique in the world meant nothing if you crumbled as soon as someone stood across from you to spar. Or across from you on a battlefield. It took guts. Not limitless. Good people could come up against something they just couldn't find the strength to overcome. But that didn't change the spark in there, however deep. And standing here, in this forest, prepared to explore a forgotten ruin, Jane had to have that spark of courage.

A heart like that didn't break, not easily. But it could be weaken. Wounded, trod upon, made to feel diminished. And [i]that[/i] was what Sigi heard. She knew the stories, of course, about why Jane wore the mask. And the people in her homeland must have been truly cruel. It took a long to diminish someone so, it took years of constant pressure to wear them down like this. And in a second Sigi decided, even more than exploring the ruin, that building this woman back up even just a little was her mission.

[color=darkgoldenrod]"Mm mm."[/color] She began again softly, smiling wider than before. Her words lilted in dialect of her home, gentle and warm. She extended her hand slowly, without sudden movements, palm slightly up for the woman to shake. [color=darkgoldenrod]"I just wanted to talk to you, if that's alright. I've worked with Tristram and Cass before, and Finn is pretty talkative. I don't know Leon and Maribel that well but they're busy. I was hoping to get to know you a little. At least introduce myself."

"I'm Sieglinde."[/color]