[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/SfiukUq.png[/img][/center][hr][sub][color=lemonchiffon]Location:[/color] The Sun Temple[/sub][hr][hr]
Tia’s eyebrows drew together, her smile patient and embarrassed as the guard tried to call her [i]Your Grace,[/i] of all things. She shook her head, a hand raising to calm him. Tia tried to soften herself, giving him a gentle look as his nerves leaked out of him – for how solidly he’d placed himself at the temple door, he fidgeted like a schoolboy as he looked at her. It was… rather endearing, actually. Her smile turned encouraging, as her previous worries about his presence began slipping away. Whatever had motivated the order to bring him here, he still deserved the warmth of a fire and a friendly face. 

But… her worries didn’t disappear [i]completely[/i].

At his question, her smile faltered. She shook her head again – she hadn’t been told that there’d been a guard arriving. The question lingered in the air, prickling lightly against her skin. Tia’s lips parted. Then she reconsidered, before looking down at her robes and retrieving her small notebook and pen from her interior pocket — she’d been sure to grab them from her room upon changing. Her smile when she looked up at him was a little more unsure, a little more nervous. Tia tapped at the scarf covering the skin of her throat in explanation and turned her attention back to the book.

Flipping through the first few pages, her eyes glanced over snippets of writing – previous conversations half-written as she’d moved about Dawnhaven. Memories flashed briefly at stray words, little reminders of all that had happened.

But she stilled when she saw one note in particular.

[quote][color=lemonchiffon][i]You should know that we technically don’t have permission to do this.

Please don’t tell anyone.[/i][/color][/quote]
It was one of the last things she’d written – a hurried confession to the guard just before she’d left Dawnhaven with him and Ivor on their perilous, unsanctioned quest. He’d given her a cheeky smirk, assuring her in a low voice that he could keep a secret.

But Ivor hadn’t.

The realization struck Tia like lightning: [i]Ivor couldn’t read.[/i] She’d never communicated to him that if anyone knew the details of where they’d gone yesterday, [i]the Prince was going to be very mad.[/i] 

And Ivor, exuberant and lively and [i]loud, loved sharing with others.[/i]

Tia was frozen. Any peace she’d found outside in the springs all but evaporated. Wide eyes blinked down at her words. Then back up at the guard.

The guard. The [i]Aurelian[/i] guard. The Prince was Aurelian (never mind that so was [i]most[/i] of the population of Dawnhaven). Did he already know about where Tia had run off to yesterday, when she'd been unavailable to aid the Princess? Was the guard here to keep an eye on her? When had her pulse gotten so [i]loud[/i] in her ears?

Tia's smile was only a [i]little[/i] panicked as she looked up at him.

She tried to take a breath to calm herself – she didn't know the reason why the guard was here today of all days. Maybe it was because of the secret evil-gemstone-demon-cave mission. Maybe it was because of the alarms yesterday. Maybe it was because there should've been a guard here all along but they'd just… forgotten. 

If her hands shook a little as she turned to a fresh page in her notebook… no they didn't. Tia flexed her hand a little before managing to write out another note. Her glance back up to the guard was nervous as she held the page up to show him.

[quote][color=lemonchiffon][i]Is this because of yesterday?[/i][/color][/quote]
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[sub][color=lemonchiffon]Interactions:[/color] Kale Grall [@Theyra][/sub]