Ridahne laughed. "Good morning. I wondered if I'd find you here." A voice made her turn, and some part of her was prepared to start going off on the guy, when she realized who it was. The Council were smart, and they could not have sent a better messenger. And yet the idea of having someone babysit them irked her, too, regardless of who they sent. Darin didn't seem to mind, though Ridahne took a little longer to come around to the idea. It wasn't Mrixe she was worried about, she like him well enough. It was the subterfuge. 

"I see. Someone to make sure the assassin does not assassinate anyone else." Ridahne thought it unwise to add that she would very likely defeat him if it came to an altercation between them--she hoped there never would be. She didn't want to give him the impression she didn't like him either, because that wasn't true. "I suppose it's as much to cover our tracks as much as theirs..." she admitted with a sigh. "Don't take it personally, Janeel," she said in a kinder tone. "If I could have chosen anyone as an escort, it would have still been you, and I think my companion would agree. But I've been at the mercy of the whims of powerful people for too long, and came out of the experience with too many scars. Naturally, I'm wary of meddling. And while there might be wisdom in the Council's decision, it feels to this poorly-used eija too much like meddling. A wound of my past that has yet to heal, it seems." She was willing to admit that her feelings on the matter came mostly from her own bias and not from any instinct of wisdom. Ridahne had come a long way in healing of her old wounds, but she still had far to go.

But Ridahne joined them anyway, taking one of the proffered pastries. Any wild beast could be coaxed and soothed with food, and Ridahne was no exception. She studied the pastry. "So this is pie? We do not have pie in Azurei," she explained to Mrixe. "Martin has been trying to explain to me what it is for a while now." She took a bite and her eyes widened. "[I]Oh.[/I] Mm, the cinnamon! I never thought to put cinnamon with apples! Give the chef my thanks and approval. I understand why it is one of your favorite things now," she told Darin with a smile. 

She smirked at Mrixe. "I wish I had that philosophy when I was an apprentice. My master was very hard on me, but it made me what I am today, and that is just the Azurei way. We have a belief that when you are comfortable, you cannot grow. To grow, you must be stretched. But I hope to be a better teacher than mine was, and to learn from her mistakes. We do need to resupply, and we both wanted to go to the archives. Martin had something he wanted to look for, but I have something I'd like to research myself. If you have a section on Azurei ojih and its history, I would very much like to see it. But I don't imagine those two things will take all day..."