[IC] [Ebonfort] Would you, um...?

[RomanAria]

Starting Date and Time: 21st Saffra 301 DM, 12th Stretch

Starting Location: Silent Rise

CS URLs: Ahmal Ervallen and Lyriia Elenye

Just another day in the clinic. Lyriia thought to herself. She tried not to be bitter, though an observant person (As her master was) would notice that she was frowning a little more often than usual, using a little more force than necessary as she went about her chores.

She had been perfectly fine that morning, until right at dawn her twin brother had come knocking on the door. Naturally, she was overjoyed to see him, happy to spend time with him. But her mood had soured as he had introduced her to his fiancée (She was furious that he’d gotten engaged without so much as telling her, and anyway, seven and a bit was terribly, terribly young to be getting engaged…) and then rushed off to go back to Silvermist to get their flowers tailored for the Equinox Ball.

Another fairy had shown up a few minutes after her brother had left, asking for contraceptive herbs, because after all, tonight was the ball and everyone knows what happens when couples get drunk…

On and on it went. Ball this, ball that, what do you mean you can’t fix my black eye, I have to look good for the ball tonight, what do you mean I’m allergic to my flowers, you know how long I spent trying to find them?

Lyriia sighed and shook herself out of her internal monologue. It was fine. It was nothing. It was not going to bother her because she hadn’t even REALIZED that the festival was going on, hadn’t even realized that the ball was today. But because she was a naïve, daydreaming little girl, she let herself wonder if Ahmal was going, and if he might take her—but then she quickly dismissed the thought. He was too handsome to not have some sweetheart or another, and besides, why would he take her, a near-stranger, to the ball?

Master Longarm coughed; Lyriia looked up from her work. The master was watching her, his mouth set in an amused smirk.

“Lyriia, I think you could use some fresh air. You go on outside for a while. It’s too lovely a day to sit in here. Besides, isn’t today supposed to be your last follow-up with Master Ervallen?”

The small girl tried to remain carefully neutral, but she noticeably perked up. Master Longarm stifled a grin. “Go on, Lyriia. I’ll take care of the sorting.”

She shot up from the table and dove into the little niche that served as her bedroom, trying to put on cosmetics quickly with fingers that trembled. She slung her satchel over her shoulder, the satchel with the notebook that she kept her medical notes (and some personal…writings) and shot out the window before her mentor could change his mind.

It really was a beautiful day. Despite her giddy rush she did stop along the way, to pick a few flowers, tiny blue forget-me-nots. She tucked one into her hair and bundled the others together with a piece of grass. Then she stopped to curse at herself for her childishness, but then again, it wasn’t like she could put them back on the plant, so she supposed she’d just have to give them to Ahmal anyway.

Despite the distraction of the flowers, she did quickly navigate the twisting and turning trunks to find Ahmal’s home. Then she paused for a moment to re-compose herself and maybe convince her face to quit resembling a tomato.

She fluttered up to the door and knocked, while mentally talking herself through the upcoming encounter. Just a normal day. Just a normal checkup, and I just happened to see these pretty flowers and thought they might brighten the place up a little bit. There’s no other reason I’m here, I’m only blushing because of physical exertion and certainly not—nope, not for any other reason.

"Ahmal?" she called. "Are you here?"

[Rekaigan]

Given that it was Spring, he couldn't perform any of his usual hunting activities as many of the creatures of the woods were busy procreating. Much like most of the fairies that he knew of, around this time. It was last day of the Blossom Festival, also the last day of his forced holiday given to him by his superior officer. One who didn't like to hold people back from their yearly traditions. Ahmal never really did much on the Blossom Festival. As a child, he'd often help his family with growing flowers and then just wandered around during the festivities, people watching as usual.

But this year was a little different. This year felt different from all the others. For most of the morning, he'd been scouting about the forest, despite his Lieutenant's orders to take a break. No harm in flitting around the canopy to observe new hunters. He had made it back to his home some time before the 10th stretch to attempt to plan out his day, to no avail. But there was two things on his mind. Ahmal had remembered the Equinox Ball, something he'd been invited to on a few occasions by random women he didn't even know. He always declined, much to their dismay. He already knew what they were after, but he was a little different from the seemingly stereotypical fairy. He just couldn't do that kind of thing with someone he barely knew.

The other thing, or rather person, on his mind. Lyriia. A name hung around his thoughts for a while as he contemplated the Ball. His parents would breath a sigh of relief at what he was thinking of doing.

For a solid few stretches, he thought about how he'd invite her to the ball. Today was the last follow-up check that Lyriia had to do before confirming that his leg was fully healed. They didn't really talk much during these check ups, but he felt quite relaxed in her presence, whereas with other people or fairies he'd seem quite stern or closed off.

He'd be wrong to say that he wasn't worried that Lyriia may already have someone to go to the Ball with. She was quite a pretty girl, very reliable too. He wouldn't be too surprised if she was already spoken for. Perhaps just disappointed.

It was about 12th stretch when Ahmal stood up from his chair, deciding that he'd finally do something. It was also about time that Lyriia showed up for the follow-up. Although sometimes the times were off by a few slips.

"Ahmal?" a female's voice called. "Are you here?"

He hoped he didn't seem overly eager to answer the door when he opened it, giving the younger fairy a small, yet welcoming smile as their eyes met. "Last check up huh?" He asked rhetorically as he stepped aside to invite her in. He noticed the small blue flower in her hair. "The colour suits you." He commented softly, looking at the flower in the girl's hair.

[RomanAria]

Lyriia was rather surprised that Ahmal was home, instead expecting him to be in Silvermist for the festival and ball, and had to force herself to not grin like a little child when he opened the door, instead trying to be dignified. She returned the cute little smile he gave her, and tried to resist blushing as he mentioned the flower in her hair.

Rather than try to answer the compliment, she pulled one of the flowers from the bundle, and stretched up on tiptoe, and threaded the stem through Ahmal’s ponytail, then stepped back and considered it, tilting her head as she compared the colors. The blue flower was a shade lighter than his hair but didn’t make an unpleasant combination. “It suits you, too. The rest of these are for you, by the way.” With that, she grinned and offered him the bouquet.

Mentally she began cursing at herself. She’d noticed Ahmal becoming more at ease with her around; after all, she’d come around every week after his injury to check on him. But she’d just entirely overstepped the boundary that should have been there; that maneuver had been something that would have worked for best friends, or a couple, but not a pair of acquaintances, and CERTAINLY not a physician and a patient. So she tried to backtrack.

Blinking, she attempted to settle her usual composed physician mask over her face, buying time as she reached into her satchel to pull out her notebook. As luck would have it, this was actually the right notebook, and not the one that had all the sketches in it. Sure, some of the sketches were useful, random plants that she’d found that she needed help identifying, but others may have come across in a terribly unprofessional way, especially as a lot of them involved the fairy standing a few inches away from her.

She flipped the chart notebook open to the page that had Ahmal’s chart, and rattled off the normal spiel that she used on follow-ups. “Today is the twenty-first of Saffra of the year 301 DM. This marks our tenth and final follow-up visit after your injury on the eighth of Jadeyan. Since the last time we spoke, on the fourteenth of Saffra, have you experienced any pain, weakness, numbness, or loss of sensation in your leg? Have you noticed a lack or loss in mobility, strength, flexibility, or motor control? Have you experienced any shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, feelings of dizziness when standing, trembling fingers or feet, unusual heart rhythms, pain in your chest, loss of appetite, insomnia, aches, fever, chills, or seizures? Have you experienced hallucinations, rapid changes of mood, anger, irritability, depression, or manic episodes?”

It probably would have been faster to just hand the notebook to him and let him fill out the chart himself, but she didn’t mind it. Besides, this gave her more time to convince herself to quit blushing. Ahmal was a patient, right now. Nothing more, nothing less. Just a patient whom she was, hopefully, anyway, going to be able to declare entirely healed and then not see again until some other injury or sickness came up.

…

Professional physician or not, that thought was a very, very sad one. She almost hoped something was wrong, so that she’d have an excuse to come visiting again.

[Rekaigan]

Ahmal could see the younger fairy's slightly redden face as she failed to conceal a blush. Or rather failed in his mind, considering how often he saw such expressions, especially around this time of year, but he didn't think much of it. Although, the adorable smile that she returned to him made his heart skip a beat. Maybe something for the medical report. Of course, it wouldn't be as amusing as it seemed in his head.

He made no move to avoid the girl as she pushed a flower into his hair. He returned a grin as he accepted the bouquet, "Thanks." He replied in his usual soft voice. He'd never gotten one before, but it was a nice gesture. In the back of his mind, he knew that this was a little odd for a 'professional relationship' that they needed to abide by, perhaps he needed to dial back on the enjoyable 'back and forth'.

He listened to her usual spiel as he put the flowers in a small vase, placing it onto a window sill near the door. Mentally, he checked off the list as he usually would. 'No' was a resounding answer to just about all the questions, but he could think of a few funny things to respond with. Those may come later if he was to... succeed at something he was apprehensive about. "Everything feels fine. My wound has healed up quite nicely." He replied in a placid manner. "Thanks to you." He added with a warm smile.

He realized that this would be the last time they had to see each other, unless he was to injure himself again. It was a sad thought indeed, but it was part of her job as a physician. She had no reason to come back here if there was nothing wrong. But this was possibly the best and only moment to ask.

There was a small silence that hung between them after his answer. His heart beat faster as he mustered the courage to say something to break the silence.

"If you don't mind me asking.." He began, it was obvious that he was getting nervous about something, which was quite uncharacteristic of him. He took a somewhat deep breath before continuing, "Would you... Would you like to accompany me to the Equinox Ball tonight?" He said finally. He could feel his heart pumping hard. He hoped that she didn't misunderstand anything. He was sure that he said it right... right?

[RomanAria]

Lyriia blushed but sidestepped the compliment. “It’s just my job, though I’m flattered that you think so highly of me. If you must thank anyone, thank yourself, as you were probably one of the most compliant fairies I’ve ever treated.”

She sighed internally as she checked all the boxes and scribbled in her final conclusions. No future follow-ups required. she started putting her notebook away with a bit of a sad look on her face, and then noticed a change in the air, like Ahmal had suddenly gotten very uncomfortable or something.

She looked up in alarm… was he… he was blushing. And slightly hyperventilating. She took half a step towards him, concern etched on her face.

”…Would you… Would you like to accompany me to the Equinox Ball tonight?”

Wait.

What?

She froze for several seconds, waiting for the words to process. Then she turned a shade of bright pink. “You, did you--” The words came out as a squeak; she cleared her throat and tried again. “D-did you just a-ask me to go to the b-ball, w-with you? Like, like, w-with you, with you?” She beamed up at him. “I would, I w-would l-love to, Ahmal. I, I hadn’t planned on going but of course I would love to go with you, I didn’t, I figured you would be going with someone else but since you’re not and I’m not and there won’t be any fairies coming into the clinic until the morning and Master Longarm is bound to let me go for the whole evening and…” She blushed an even brighter shade and covered her mouth again to try and stem the torrent of words. When she thought she had gotten herself back into some state of composure, she spoke again, with a huge amount of barely-contained, childish enthusiasm.

“Um. Yes. Yes? Yes. I said “yes” right?”

[Rekaigan]

Ahmal couldn't help but chuckle at Lyriia's reaction to his invitation. Of course it'd be a little bit of a surprise, but he didn't think that she'd be that surprised by it. So shocked that she spoke at a million words a slip. He felt his heart slow and his body relax as he realized that she wasn't going with anyone else, but even then, his face was still a slight shade of pink. At least it wasn't as pink as the younger fairy's, much to his amusement. Her enthusiasm warmed his heart greatly.

He gave her a slight nod and a smile, "Well, since Master Longarm will be letting you off work, that must mean that I'll have you to myself for the whole night, does it not?" He responded smoothly as he took a slow half-step toward his date to the ball, his gaze seemingly seductive. It was hard for him to keep his composure, but he managed to do so somehow. He didn't want her to see him as someone who got all nervous over nothing, not that he was like that..And not that this was nothing. This was definitely not nothing.

"When shall I come escort you to the ball?" He asked in a semi-formal manner. Ahmal figured he'd try out all sorts of expressions with Lyriia, expressions that he'd seen other people use when flirting with their 'special someone', but he didn't want to be as uncouth as most of them. As he'd observed, most fairies, especially the males, were quite bold and open about their plans when speaking to a potential 'partner', if you could call it that.

[RomanAria]

Lyriia returned the smile, a little hesitantly. Her eyes might have gone a little wide at the full implication of what Ahmal said but she forced the sudden heady rush down. She’d already made a fool of herself; she didn’t intend to make it worse.

“The sixteenth stretch, or so? That way we’ll have time to go to the carnival and grab something to eat before the dance officially begins. I figure, four stretches will be enough time to find a dress… Not to mention convince Master Longarm to let me go.”

She hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Right then. I guess I’ll see you in four stretches?” With that she let herself out the front door and pulled it gently shut behind her.

And then flew as fast as she could back to the clinic.

“MasterLongarmguesswhatAhmalaskedmetotheballcanIgocanIgocanIPLEEEEEEASEgo?!” she shouted as soon as she flew in, through the window, this time.

“Lyriia, child, calm down! What’s the matter with you?”Longarm stood up from the table. His eyes were twinkling enough that Lyriia figured he probably knew.

“Ahmal asked me to the ball. Can I have the afternoon off? Please? Pleasepleaseplease? I didn’t even ask for midwinter off, not even my birthday either, can’t I just have this one night?”

Master Longarm pretended to deliberate for a second. Then he laughed. “Lyriia, of course you can. I also meant to tell you earlier; I’m not opening the clinic until the twelfth stretch tomorrow.”

She frowned for a moment, but soon realized why. If they opened right at dawn as usual, they’d have hungover fairies out the door. If they waited, the alcohol would get out of the fairies’ systems (after all, a super-small body means a super-high metabolic rate) and then they would be left with the actually injured or sick ones.

She sighed and dropped her satchel off in her room, then took her shoes off and sat on the table, studying paperwork. Master Longarm coughed.

“Lyriia, I’m assuming you told him to meet you at the sixteenth or seventeenth stretch. You have three or four stretches, and no formal dress.”

Oh.

Right.
She yanked her shoes back on and dove out the window, only to come flying back in a second later. “Purse! Pursepursepursepursepurse.”

Then, with her purse in her hand, she went shooting back out the window, trying to contain her excitement.

----

The better part of a stretch later she was cursing her luck. She couldn’t go to Silvermist; the florists would be backed up out the door with fairies come last-minute for dresses. And none of the Silent Rise herbalists had anything that would work that wasn’t wilted or still budding.

Internally she resigned herself to wearing a cloth dress, even though such a thing was virtually unheard of at formal events. But now there was still the issue of finding a tailor who made things in fairy sizes.

She flew back down the row of shops twice more, trying to decide which ones would be best to go into. On her third or fourth pass a young saleswoman came out of one of the shops.

“Excuse me, would you be looking for a formal dress, Ma’am?”

Lyriia nodded.

The seamstress looked a little ashamed. “I’m still new to the area. No one ever bothered to tell me that fairies don’t wear cloth dresses, most of the time. So I have a bunch of gowns that I made for fairies that aren’t ever going to be used.”

Lyriia followed the woman inside. There was a rack of tiny dresses, sure enough. Pinks and greens and golds, gaudy colors that she’d never be able to wear—oh there.

She pulled on a blue dress, tugging it off the rack, and held it up. Blue and lavender, trimmed with… fake flowers? And quite twirly in the skirt. In other words, absolutely lovely. It was also a good deal smaller than most of the other outfits which meant that chances were, it would fit.

The clerk nodded. “The color goes so well with your wings and your eyes. Absolutely stunning. Is there anything else I can get for you, dearie?”

“um… Hair pins, perhaps, and bracelets and necklaces if you have any?”

---

Lyriia had a small panic attack at the checkout. “That’ll be 126 Gold, dearie.”
“Isn’t the usual cost for a courtier’s outfit 30 gold?”
The shop owner shifted uncomfortably. “Yes, but it’s so hard to sew; the stitches and cuts have to be so tiny and precise, that it takes me easily four times as long to make a fairy dress as it takes me to make a human-sized dress.”
The girl hesitated for a moment. Why are you hesitating, Lii? It’s the night of a lifetime, you’ll have the dress forever… And plus you’re earning a very respectable wage and you don’t have any other expenses to cover.
She counted out the coins, and scooped up her purchases.

Back in her room, she squinted at her tiny bit of polished metal that served as a mirror. Her hair was hanging down in a cloud of disarray; disarray that she only excited as she brushed it. She splashed water all over her head and then combed, with much better success. She braided just the front strands of her hair back and secured them with a pin, leaving the rest down in its usual waves. Then dress on, necklace, bracelet, earrings, touch-up the makeup, throw on the shoes, spray on perfume, and she was ready to go.

She checked her appearance in the mirror one last time and then went out onto the porch to wait for Ahmal.

Only to duck back inside a moment later.

She grabbed two of the fairy-sized packets of contraceptive herbs and stuck them in her satchel, before going back out to the porch.

Better safe than sorry, right?

Purchases

Total=126GP
120GP: Dress
4 GP: New satchel
4 SP: 10x hairpins
4 SP: Wire Bracelet
4 SP: Wire Necklace
8 SP: Wire Earrings

[Rekaigan]

"Alright, I'll see you then." He replied simply before she left through the door. The young fairy slumped into a chair, his face turning a shade of red. He couldn't believe he said that. She's probably got some weird idea in her head now. He sighed, getting up from his chair. Now wasn't the time to worry about such things, he needed to go back to his family's home and retrieve his outfit, that he never really wore.

It didn't take very long to fly back to his old home, but when he got there, he found out that his suit had been borrowed by his older sister, whom had supposedly just found herself a boyfriend who didn't have his own clothes to wear. "What do you need it for, dearie? You never go to the Equinox Ball." His mother asked, to which he responded with, "I'm going to the Equinox Ball with.. someone." A response that earned him a flurry of questions from his now excited mother. "Who is it? By gods I hope it's a young girl! How old is she? What does she do? Does she like hunting like you? Oh my gosh, I thought you were going to be single forever!", he hesitated for a moment, letting a small silence hang in the air. It was as if his mother's eyes were sparkling with happiness. A lot of things excited his mother, but it usually it wasn't him that caused her joy.

"She's a physician. And I'm meeting up with her.. In about 2 stretches. Talk to you later." He said briefly before flying out the door. This was something he did very often when talking to his mother. Avoid half the questions, answer one of them, exit the house before she could stop him. She'd usually forget all about it later anyway. She probably won't forget about this though.

---

He avoided most of the shops around Silvermist, since they'd naturally be packed with young fairies that wanted to buy something last minute. He'd never get anything in time. Unlike female attire, male attire didn't emphasize as much on floral things, but there was still the aspect of nature in them. He couldn't worry about finding something of that style, since hardly anyone outside of Silvermist sold such clothing.

As he wandered around, he noticed a small seamstress store that sold what appeared to be fairy sized attire. Mostly female, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. He slowly fluttered in, he didn't get very far before he was greeted by a young woman. "Another fairy customer? Welcome! I assume you're also looking for some formal wear?" She asked cheerfully. Ahmal wondered who the other fairy might be, but he didn't dwell on it for very long. "Yes. I was wondering if you had any male attire?" He asked simply. The seamstress nodded, "I do, but I only have a few. Most of my wares are for females." She responded as she produced a small rack of male fairy formal wear. "I apologize for the style, I wasn't aware that Fairies didn't wear cloth for formal outings..", Ahmal gave her a dismissive wave, "Don't worry too much about it. I'm not that picky." He said, giving her a slight smile.

---

It didn't take long for him to find something, given that there were only three or four choices on the rack. The seamstress charged him 127 GP for his purchase. It was quite expensive, but he could understand the amount of effort this woman went through to make such a small outfit. He was just glad that it fit him perfectly, although it was a little extravagant for his tastes.

After returning home and quickly changing into his new clothes, he figured it was about time to go meet Lyriia. The travel distance made it so he landed at her porch right on time, or what felt to be right on time. He'd saw her fly back into the house a moment before he got there anyway.

"I'm here." He called briefly. There was nothing else he could really say.

When Lyriia eventually appeared, he offered his hand to her with a small smile on his face, "Shall we?"

Purchases

Total=127GP
127GP: Suit

[RomanAria]

Lyriia tried to think of an excuse as she rummaged around for the herb packets; after all, Ahmal called just seconds after she’d gone inside again. He’d had to have seen her go back into the house.

She shook her head at herself and stepped back out onto the porch, with a rueful smile. Intending to make some excuse about forgetting her coin purse or something. Then her jaw dropped open slightly.

My goodness, he’s gorgeous. she thought, before mentally slapping herself and putting her jaw back where it belonged. Well no shoot, Lii, it IS a ball, he’s supposed to look fancy.

She took his hand with a bashful smile, letting him lead the way upwards. The silence was thick, but she didn’t mind it. Observing the forest was always interesting, after all.

As they flew into sight of the hanging flower gardens, Lyriia stopped flying for a moment and just gawked. She’d seen the festival before, of course, but it still took her breath away. So many flowers, and all the merchants displaying all their brightly-colored wares—

She was jolted out of her thoughts by a small object colliding with her back. She went tumbling through the air, but soon righted herself, and turned around and looked down to see the grinning face of her little sister.

“Lii-lii, you’re so preeeetty!” she sang, flying around in circles. Then she noticed Ahmal, and jumped backwards in the air, then fluttered close to him, circling around him.

“Are you Lii-lii’s boyfriend?” She asked.

Lyriia blushed and reeled the toddler back a few steps. “Um, Kierie, no. No. Kierie. No he’s not. Or I don’t think he is. Um, no. No. Maybe? No. I don’t think so…”

Kierie frowned, then seemingly had an epiphany, and grinned up at Ahmal.

“oooh, I know… You’re her flower-friend!”

Lyriia choked. “Kierie! No! No! No, nononono, no, no, he’s not my flower-friend, no, no, no, why don’t you, um… Where’s Gaeven?”

“In his new house. With his wife. I’m not supposed to bother them.”

“Wait, you mean he got married and didn’t tell me about it?!” Lyriia squeaked indignantly. Then she sighed. “It doesn’t matter right now. Where’s Mykiel?”

“He’s away on his honeymoon. They went to ee-loo-mee-ray, or something like that?”

“…He got married, too?…Tell me Kinny’s here.”

“He is but he said he’d be… indisposed for a while. I’m not supposed to go knock on the door. His girlfriend got angry and dumped him the last time.”

Lyriia shuddered; the idea of her younger brother already fooling around with people was not a pleasant one. “Lyellan, then?... He's got to be here, tell me he's here...”

“Nope. He’s out with his flower-friend-soon-to-be-wife. Or at least that’s what he told me about her. He says he doesn’t much like her anymore but now she’s got a little fairy in her belly and so he has to marry her so that things don’t look weird.” She shrugged, happily ignorant.

Lyriia rubbed her scalp. Gods save me, my whole family is getting married and they didn’t bother to tell me. Or ask for advice. Or even talk to me.

Again Kierie looked up at her and hugged her. “I didn’t think you were coming, Lii-lii. I’m glad you came, even if you did bring your flower-friend-who-isnt-your-flower-friend. Wait, if he’s not your flower friend, is he just your bed-friend?”

She blushed even more. “Kierie, that’s enough.”

“Or if he’s not your bed-friend, is he just your public-friend?”

“Kierie…”
“ooh! Is he your tie-up-friend?”

“KIERIE! THAT’S ENOUGH! How did you learn about this anyway?!”

“The older girls at school told me. Well, and I guessed, about tie-up-friends, when I came home from school one day and Lyellan had some random girl tied up to the ceiling in the living room, all naked, with a big knobby stick in--”

Lyriia thought she’d explode if she turned any redder. She quickly put her hand over her sister’s mouth and said, “Oh, look over there, Kierie! Miss Asandre’s setting up for the scavenger hunt! Why don’t you go see if you can help her?”

The little girl looked a little crestfallen, but then brightened up. “Okay, if you buy me a sugar crystal at the carnival! And then promise to tell me exactly what’s going on between you and your flower-friend!”

Lyriia was in such a hurry to get her sister to go away that she didn’t think about the agreement before she spoke. “Okay, Kierie. You go have fun now.” She hugged her little sister, kissed her on the cheek, and sent her off. “Wait, what? What did I just agree to?...”

She rubbed her temples and tried to will herself to quit blushing, not daring to look at Ahmal as she spoke. “As you may have guessed, that was my sister, Kierie. As you also may have guessed, it is unlikely we will be seeing any of my brothers here today. And as you may have finally guessed, I am not sure which one of them I am going to murder first. Or maybe I won't murder them, maybe I'll just pay the schoolteacher to keep a leash on them, since Mom and Dad aren't here anymore to do it...” The words trailed off, and she shook her head to clear the thought. “Aaaaanyway.” She said, with a perhaps overly-enthusiastic tone, dragging the first syllable out. “What’s our plan?”

[Rekaigan]

His eyes scanned over the young girl's attire, or rather her overall look. She.. was quite beautiful. No, she was beautiful. Even thought her dress wasn't a traditional one that was made of petals and flowers, it looks great on her.

Taking her hand seemed very natural to him, like it had been in the forest when they first met. However they hadn't done that since that time as it was mostly visits of the professional kind. The silence was rather noticeable, but he didn't really know what to say without making heart beat soar faster than they were flying.

He noticed that Lyriia had stopped flying, so he followed suit and stopped before he ended up dragging her around. The hanging flower gardens were always quite amazing every year, it was quite a common sight to see other fairies just stopping and staring in awe at such a sight.

Suddenly, his partner was launched through the air by something, their hands separating as they drifted apart, good thing she didn't end up flying too far. Ahmal looked at where the source of the force came from. A small child. Obviously one of Lyriia's relatives judging by the sudden excitement generated in such a tiny person.

His gaze followed the child as she circled him. Her question was quite sudden, but a little expected. Children were always funny ones. His face went a slight, but mostly unnoticeable shade of pink as he went to answer, but it was interrupted by the other fairy's unconvincing denial. However, what came out of the mouth of the child, whom he now knew as Kierie, really surprised him. Flower-friend.

Such a term wasn't really something children should know, but he figured that most of them knew the term anyway due to how public some.. or rather most, fairies are about their exploits and whoever they're doing.

He listened to the back and forth that Lyriia was having with Kierie, noticing that her family was pretty.. disconnected from Lyriia. It didn't seem like she knew a lot about what was going on in her family. But the same could be said about Ahmal. As far as he knew, one of his sisters was going out with someone, the other 5 were doing.. something. But what he did know, was that they were all going to be at the festival. And the Ball. Hopefully he didn't run into any of them.. Although it seemed inevitable.

Bed-friend, public-friend... tie-up-friend.. "I think friend has lost it's actual meaning somewhere.." He mumbled to himself, his face a little more pink now, but it wasn't noticeable since he had chosen to turn his head away slightly.

"If you do choose to murder them, I'll have to arrest you." He responded with an amused look in his face, still blushing a little. "I think we should enjoy looking at the merchandise and generally going around the festival grounds before going to the Equinox Ball." He added with a warm smile. A rather uncommon expression for him, but it seemed he was all smiles tonight.

He gently took Lyriia's hand again and began to lead her to the festival grounds. He turned slightly to look at her, "I believe we'll inevitably bump into.. my brothers and sisters at this festival. I'll have to keep my wits about me." He sighed. It was quite obvious that he wasn't fond of them, they were like Kierie, except.. Not children.