[h2]Outside Candaeln[/h2]

People looking at Candaeln from the outside couldn't really be considered unusual--it was a landmark, famous, and rather intimidating to approach. It was rather less common for someone to seem so [i]shifty[/i] while doing it, given the reputation of the knights that lived within. Nonetheless, the elf standing a short way from the main entrance was managing that, occasionally moving a bit closer before going back to leaning against a nearby wall, fidgeting all the while.

It might take anyone that met her at the ball a minute to recognise Lilia, but the hair colour was a big giveaway, as was the ornate sword still strapped to her waist. Her clothing was miles away from the militaristic uniform she had been wearing at the time--still dominated by greens, but much brighter in colour. A loose, almost alarmingly short skirt; a sleeveless tunic; and some sort of cream cardigan that had to be entirely decorative, given that it was lacy and almost entirely holes. The glossy, expensive boots had been replaced with some pretty simple sandals.

More than all that, though, there was the tan. The elf at the ball had been as pale as her mother, but now possessed a complexion that wouldn't have looked out of place in the southern reaches of Etrial, on the edge of the desert. Still, there was only likely to be [i]one[/i] incredibly awkward and gangly high elf in Aimlenn at a time.