Isn't it funny, what happened to Dunnie? (Klue, please!)

[Hay'aan Benedict]

Timestamp: 1st Brightening of Spring (1st Cryxatum, Spring, Era XV)

Wits End. The house where Klue Malinconoco lived. Hay'aan had said that she'd call by this brightening to see how everyone was following the submersible voyage. There had been the inevitable knocks and so on during the voyage, and she wanted to make sure that Dunnie was alright, having hurt his head a little. It wasn't serious, but then, she wanted to be kind.

And of course, there was another reason, a very very genuine other reason, which was why she was standing outside and wondering whether she'd done the right thing. She had positively agonised over what to wear, and she'd decided, in the end, on a long white dress with a slit up the side of her left leg. The dress had thin straps and a tightly elasticated waist with a v-neck. Her hair was long and loose, as always, and she wore plain white sandals on her feet.

And she was nervous. Not bad nervous, but the kind of nervous that had her stomach doing somersaults and her hands constantly moving. She was smoothing down her dress when she realised that she was being ridiculous. This was Klue, for Kaimelea's sake. She knew him, she liked him and she thought that he liked her too. Of course, she... well, she liked him, but that was just a silly thing that he probably hadn't even noticed, she decided.

So, with renewed vigor (after all, she thought to herself, she was Captain Smartypants in the Weavers Wood Legion, so she must know no fear), she walked up to the door and knocked.

[Klue Malinconico]

It took a second or three, maybe a few more truth told, for anything to come of Hay’aan knocking on the front door at Wits’ End. Meantime though a wildly marked black and white gelding was watching her curiously from under a nearby tree with impossibly bright blue eyes and ears pricked forward, and a small ginger colored cat had found her there and gone to purring loudly while rubbing its side across her calves, back and forth and back again. Carried on the breeze the faint sounds of somebody humming an idle tune on the other side of the house might reach her ears, probably a female voice from the sounds of it and in truth theory was women tended to hum while men tended to whistle, or so would say Klue.

Then faintly, then louder, footsteps could be heard approaching the door on hardwood floors, not so much the clicking of heels or the shuffling of boot soles but more likely the rhythmic slap slap of bare feet running on bare floors, and most probably very small ones. And they stopped just a few yards short of the door and even heard from the other side, there was no mistaking the voice that rang out loud and clear. ”Da! Dere’s somebody at’da door!” Klue had often thought that somebody ought to figure out how to harness this natural talent and use it somehow as an early warning system easily able to be heard round the island in advance of impending disaster. There was nothing like the squeal or even loud pitched shouts of a very small girl…even one asked more than once to use her ‘indoor voice’.

Meanwhile, the doorknob jiggled, then jiggled some more, and finally the door swung open first a crack while wide blue eyes peered out and up, then swung wider in order to reveal the source of all the ruckus. She was a half elven girl and only a few feet tall, small for her age and with a mile wide streak of mischief and stubbornness in her large blue eyes, and an indication that she was probably far too clever for her own good, or for Klue’s either. Precocious, that was Kat from the top of her head to the ends of her toes. She’d a heart shaped face sprinkled lightly with freckles and hair spilling in wild waves around her face and on her shoulders that was as dark a natural shade of red as red could be. She looked like Klue in large part, though the larger resemblance was in both the spark and the color of her eyes, and of her wide smile, that appeared immediately in the wake of apparently concluding that the young woman at the door was no threat. She’d been shy at some point, maybe a half an era ago but running wild on this island had done away with it and she was as bold now as was her sire.

She wore a pale yellow frock that dropped down to the middle of her calves and her feet were bare and dirty on their bottoms, as if she’d spent the better part of the morning outside in the yard sans shoes. Looking Hay’aan up and down curiously while the ginger cat darted indoors past them both and she grinned and leaned her back against the doorframe, using her spine as a pivot point to sway back and forth…she could no more sit still for long than could her father, and declared, ”You’re pretty, what’s your name?”

[Hay'aan Benedict]

Nerves and butterflies not withstanding, Hay'aan lent down, bending her knees so that she was squatting there on the floor, scratching the cat behind the ears. When she heard the approaching... noise... and the follow on of the shouting, she stood up, however, and smoothed down her clothes one...more...time.

The young girl that opened the door was beautiful. Hay'aan was shocked that she was a half-elf. Maybe that meant that Klue found elves particularly beautiful, she thought to herself, and felt a slight twinge in her stomach at the thought. But that notwithstanding, she smiled a bright smile at the beautiful girl.

When the door was fully open, Hay'aan smiled down at Kat and spoke in her usual, almost-singing tone. "I'm Hay'aan. And you must be Kat? You're father has told me about you. Is that your cat?"

She smiled and wondered briefly if Kat would like her. She hoped so, she really did, more than she normally would, but that notwithstanding Hay'aan was friendly and cheerful with the young girl. She was good with children and that helped, especially since she genuinely liked them. Maybe Klue was out. Maybe... she banished the thought from her head and looked at the young girl with interest.

[Klue Malinconico]

When Hay’aan spoke to her, Kat straightened up and clasped her small hands behind her back with a coy smile. ”I’m Kateryna,” she said firmly, as if this was an ongoing process already by which she had to instruct her own father frequently to break him from the long habit of referring to her by a shortened name. ”An’ that’s Giggums,” she added proudly of the ginger cat that had darted into the foyer. ”She gets stuck in tha tree but Da won’t get her down b’cause he says dere’s never been a cat skel’don finded stuck up’a tree.”

”There’s not been ye know, as far as I know,” came Klue’s voice then as he appeared from the main room and up a single step through the door of the rounded foyer. He wore a wide grin and no shoes, loose silk trousers in cream and a tunic laces undone in scarlet, his hair was damp and fell in curls around his face as if he’s just come from a bath…which in fact he had for having slipped into the mud at the edge of the pond while trying to retrieve Kat’s ball for her where it floated a foot or so off the shore, and then dashed in to wash up again before Hay’aan arrived…and more than anything he looked as happy as he could be to see Hay’aan there, the pleasure as good as written in the sparkle in blue eyes so like Kat’s.

He’d worried in fact that she might not come, that she might have changed her mind or thought different of it, he’d fiddled around outside for a while, watching for her while pretending he wasn’t so that he didn’t appear too eager to see her…that was, until the mud incident that had sent him scrambling to wash up again before she arrived. And she looked beautiful, there was nothing for it, exotic…beautiful and then realizing he was probably staring he grinned again and invited her in with a wave of his hand. ”I see ye’ve met Kat…Kateryna, I hope she’s not been talkin’ yer ear off. I’m glad ye came…I’d thought you might… well I worried you might’ve changed your mind,” he said quite honestly while Kat stared up at them both with wide and curious unblinking eyes like she was critically eyeing a pair of rare specimens.

”Da’s been watchin’ down da beach for you t’ come,” she declared bluntly, artlessly and so like her and he flinched inwardly. Leave it to a talkative aged three girl to out him. Too late to deny it anyhow, not that he would at all for she'd spoken the truth and his grin was a sheepish one so he admitted, ”I was,” before Kat helpfully added the rest, ”b’fore he fell in th’ mud an’ had ta take a bath in tha middle of tha bright’nin’.”

[Hay'aan Benedict]

"Kateryna?" she asked, with a soft gasp "That is a very beautiful name, I'm not surprised that you want to use it all. I will try to always remember that, Kateryna" she looked at the young girl most sincerely, her own wide brown eyes watching the young one's bright blue ones.

And the cat itself, called.. Giggums? Hay'aan thought, looked to be more than capable of looking after itself, and she smiled at Kateryna as she spoke of her father saying that no cat skeleton had ever been found in a tree. She was about to answer when Klue's voice came and Hay'aan felt her stomach turn over in a flip at the sound of his voice. She stood and looked, craning her neck and then she saw him.

When she did, the rabble I looked it up - it's the correct collective noun for butterfly of butterflies in her stomach all took flight at the same moment, but all that showed in her face was her delight at seeing him as her smile lit up her expression with absolute pleasure.

"Klue!" she said, her melodic voice rising in pleasure. "And no, this very beautiful young woman has been most charming, a real pleasure and a credit to yourself and her." she said, and she looked at him with a genuine expression. "And... really?"

She looked at Klue in surprise and then as Kateryna explained further, a flush crept along Hay'aan's cheeks. "Well, it seems that we've been sharing an anxiety" she said, quietly "I.. I was worried that you might have changed your mind, too" she said, looking at him with her wide brown eyes. "I... I've been really looking forward to it, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else... really"

That said, she flushed deeply and then raised one eyebrow slightly at Kateryna's final explanation "Fell in the mud?" she said, and a smile crossed her face as she chuckled. "You... how did you fall in the mud?" she asked, amusement causing her voice to lilt.

[Klue Malinconico]

When the smile lit Hay’aan’s face up when he made his appearance, Klue’s widened all the more in pleasure and though he couldn’t pinpoint exactly why it would give him such pleasure although there was no denying it made her all the more beautiful in his eyes, he was beginning to get a darned good idea. Lily had remarked on it in fact while serving him up his rosyun, the way he’d paid special attention to his appearance even though he wasn’t planning to go to the Paedia that brightening, how he’d fussed with his razor and how he’d made sure to remind Kat to mind her manners, no spitting, no cussing…she’d teased him about being smitten which he’d outwardly remained silent, but inwardly, well…he was beginning to expect he was as gone as gone could be.

It was a relief too to learn that Kat had been behaving herself when he wasn’t looking, she was bold there was no denying, like to say just what was on her mind exactly at the moment it occurred and there was never any telling. It was even more of a relief, in fact a happier one than he’d anticipated even to learn she’d had the same worries that he’d had. It had worried him more than he’d realized in fact, until just now when she confirmed the contrary and the relief showed on his face while Kat continued to observe the pair curiously, looking from one to the other and Klue was just sure, gearing up to say something inappropriate.

”Aye, th’ mud,” he admitted with a sheepish grin while inviting her further in and shutting the door behind him. And then leading them down the step into the main room of Wits’ End, she could see that there were no hallways on this floor, that instead a number of doors were scattered throughout the room which undoubtedly led into others with the center one acting much as a central spoke. Here the ceilings were deep and beveled and of dark polished wood, the same of the walls and the floors and a number of windows hung with white gauze curtains let in plenty of sunlight from outside. There was a large fireplace along one wall and around it, above it and on its mantle too, all of colorful ceramic tiles which made up a whimsical mosaic.

There were a number of rugs scattered on the floor and the furniture was rustic in design, upholstered in shades of blue, cream, red and gold and shot through with island patterns. Most of the lamps were on the walls instead of the tables, sat on small shelves and bracketed to the walls as part of his automatic light system though a few traditional lamps sat on several small tables and the low table in front of the couch. There were a few paintings on the wall and several crates sat in a corner filled with toys. ”Kat lost her ball in th’ pond while we were waitin’, a few feet from th’ shore,” he explained with a smile and an embarrassed on besides, ”an’ when I was tryin’ t’ reach it for her, Mime came along and gave me a nudge in th’ backside, in I went.”

A scent filled the air as well, a rich one that seeped into every room it seemed and from an open door to the side. ”Lily’s put on somethin’ t’ roast in th’ oven…I hope ye can stay awhile, I think she’s plannin’ t’ feed us,” he said and surely hoped she would in fact stay.

[Hay'aan Benedict]

That he had taken extra care with his appearance was something that Hay'aan would be delighted with should she have known. The fluttering in her stomach was something that she could no longer ignore or deny, she had the crush to end all crushes and she knew that. But she was also quite, quite sure that he did not feel the same way, not least because she had never been in this situation before and she had no idea of the signs.

She walked in to the central room and looked around with interest. Her eyes took in the details, and her gaze stopped at the fireplace with the design mosiac above it, around it and even on it and she smiled "It's beautiful. You have a lovely home, Klue, it's...I really like it. It's so kind of you to invite me, you know.. I... well, thank you" she said, rather lamely she thought, at the end as she dropped her head and her hair fell in front of her face.

She chuckled at his story "Mime is your horse, isn't it? I remember you telling me that when we met up on the beach before...sounds like it should be called Mischief to me" she said and smiled "I hope you retrieved Kateryna's ball, then, since you were in there good and proper by that point? Would be a shame to be covered with mud for nothing... did you know" she said, walking over to the windows and looking out with interest "That in the deserts, it's well known that mud has properties which help your skin? It makes it soft and it takes away impurities... of course, that could be just something that's said, but my mother has the softest skin I've ever felt, and she used mud masks with herbs and stuff" she shrugged and then turned at the smell.

"I... well, I'd love to stay, but I don't want to be an imposition, Klue.. I.. I'm sure you've got things to do. But you know, I love food, and that food smells particularly good, so if you'll have me, it would be a pleasure, a real pleasure..oh.. that reminds me, I brought a bottle of wine" she said, and looked at him shyly as she rummaged in her bag and brought out a bottle feeling her face flush again and cursing herself for it. "I didn't think I'd need to bring glasses, since I thought you'd have them.. but if not, we can swig, can't we?" she smiled gently, remembering that darkening on the beach. She looked over at him then and considered the way he looked, how his eyes were so bright that they seemed like the most amazing jewels to her, shining blue like a topaz, she considered. But then she realised what she was doing, once again, and she stopped, flushing and glancing at him, desperately thinking of something to say...

"I... I'm glad to see you again." she almost whispered, wondering if he had any idea of exactly how glad she was to see him. But then, of course, she went and ruined it with a "How's Dunnie?"

[Klue Malinconico]

Had Klue the slightest inkling that Hay’aan was experiencing similar uncertainties to his, he’d have been quick to assure her to the contrary, or maybe that was only the part of him that thought straight forward and logical and in truth that was the smaller part of his make-up. The larger part was given to following the daring whims of the marvelously impossible and it was that part that was as clumsy as could be about this sort of thing. That part would have grinned sheepishly and stumbled clumsily over reassurances while coming to genuine risk of breaking out in hives. Give him a cliff and a sheet, a length of rope and three bolts and he’d make a sail out of the latter three and leap headlong off the first. Give him a pretty girl looking back at him, one that he was admittedly smitten with and he was as clumsy as a colt coming up on its first legs. And in his experience too many of those landed straight on their noses.

It was a habit that charmed him for reasons he couldn’t explain, her hair falling over her face when averted her eyes and he smiled while Kat looked on curiously with wide blinking eyes, from one to the other, assessing, theorizing, laying odds, she was her father in miniature in all things but gender. ”Thank you,” he said of the house, ”It’s diff’rent than th’ others on th’ isle it’s why I liked it in part…”Are ye goin’ ta show her tha haunted turret da?” Kat piped up from out of the blue and Klue hushed her with a glance. ”It’s not really haunted,” he assured Hay’aan with a grin, ”It just looks a bit of it under th’ moonlight.” Of course that didn’t account for his honest to goodness ghosts that he’d picked up early on after his arrival on the island, and oddly enough not the first time he’d attracted that sort of company, but they weren’t here in any case, they’d preferred the Paedia.

”And aye, Mime’s my horse…Would ye like t’ sit down?” he asked and indicated the overstuffed couch near the hearth and if she did then he’d sit down beside her. ”I’ve had him since just after I’d joined th’ Legions, with his wild colors and blue eyes he always stood out amongst th’ others and had a mind of his own…I’d say Mischief would fairly suit him better,” he agreed with a laugh and in fact the beast had slyly dumped him out of the saddle more times now than he could remember. I’ve never heard of usin’ mud for th’ skin,” he remarked curiously then, ”I wonder if it’s similar to th’ stuff my grandmother used t’ smear all over her fa…””Why’d ye want t’ put mud on ya I bet th’ ducks been poopin’ in it,” Kat piped in and declared matter of factly before he could stop her and he grimaced inwardly. ”Kat why don’t ye run help Lily with hangin’ up her wash, I bet she’ll let ye help with her bread then.”

And she was off in a flash in fact, headed towards the back door with a wave of dismissal followed by the back door shut too hard in her wake. ”I’m sorry,” he said then and turned back to Hay’aan, ”Sometimes she just ups and says what pops into her head.” Not unlike her father of course but it was the same sort of parental ignorance that had him forever wondering where his daughter had managed to misplace most of her e’s, her o’s and her g’s. ”It would be no imposition at all if you stayed, in fact I’d like it if you would, if we could spend some time t’gether…And ye did bring wine after all and I’ve got plenty of glasses t’ spare,” he said with a wide smile, one pleased enough to light a spark in his eyes while he looked to hers. The rich color of them appealed, in fact drew him in past her dark lashes and he could drown there…and then he blinked to catch himself.

”Dunnie?” he asked, as if so complete was his distraction, now fixed on her lips that he’d forgotten the most unique of his fellows and then he nodded suddenly when coming back to himself. ”Oh Dunnie…He’s fine, just a bump on th’ head he made it seem worse than it was for all his complainin’. He wore a bump on his head a few bright'nings and complained of it but t'was all. It seems there’s never an outing that someone doesn’t end up knockin’ themselves around but its usually Digger falling off the rowboat. I keep remindin’ ‘em though not t’ stand up straight inside th’ submersible but at least one or two are forever forgettin’.”

[Hay'aan Benedict]

Hay'aan's nerves were getting worse by the moment, and not just in response to Klue, but also to Kateryna. She was a beautiful girl, no doubting that and as bright as a button. Hay'aan found herself very much wanting Kat's approval and she did not stop to analyse quite why.... because she knew why but was busily trying to ignore it or deny it in herself.

"There's a haunted turret?" she asked, her eyes wide with surprise "That sounds exciting! I hope the ghosts are friendly!" if she was afraid, in the slightest, she certainly hid it well. In fact, the thought of somewhere haunted didn't perturb Hay'aan at all, in fact she found it fairly interesting.

When Klue told her that it wasn't haunted, she smiled at him and nodded, "Well, then we don't need to find out if the ghosts are friendly or.. or not then, I guess" she said and gave Kateryna a wink out of the corner of her eye.

At Kateryna's assessment of the mud, though, Hay'aan had to laugh, letting a small chuckle escape her "well, now, Kateryna, this is mud from the desert, where there aren't many ducks. Lots of camels and not much water, so the mud is very precious... and my mother has the most beautiful skin you've ever seen, so I think it must work somehow, you know"

When Klue told his daughter to go off and she did just that, Hay'aan watched her as she left. Then she found herself in the situation of being alone with Klue, and she shook her head as he apologised "You've no need to apologise, she's a beautiful girl who is interested in the world. There's nothing to apologise for there, I'd say."

Alone with him she felt the familiar flush creeping on to her cheeks again and she smiled at his quip regarding wine glasses "I... I'm glad...glad that Dunnie is alright" she said, shyly and smiled, looking around and then stopping to look at him once again. Her eyes watched his, so bright and exotic to her, and she found herself staring.

Then she thought back and remembered something he'd said. It was that which prompted the wide eyed question from her, looking at Klue with real hope in her eyes, hope that perhaps he meant it, meant what he said.

"You... you'd like to spend time together? I'd like to do that... if you.. do you really?" she asked, looking at him and wishing she was brave enough to ask why. Because her wish to be with him was for a reason that she was quite, quite sure was different from his reasoning for wanting to be with her.

[Klue Malinconico]

”I s’pose not,” Klue had said of friendly or unfriendly hauntings once Kat dashed off and with a smile that couldn’t help but be a boyish one on an already boyish face, ”but she likes t’ b’lieve it’s haunted all th’ same. She’s an imagination that’s bigger than herself,” and not unlike himself truth told.

”She’s still tryin’ t’ convince Lily and Edgar that Mime and Giggums both of them converse with her in common when nobody’s lookin’ but I fairly think she might have convinced herself it’s th’ case.” Gods why was he talking so much, he was rambling, he recognized it, he knew it and he was simply unable to stop himself for the case of nerves that had taken hold of him and more so when Kat ran off.

Of course prior when mention had been made of camels, her eyes had lit up, her imagination inspired all the more despite the fact that she’d been somewhat skeptical as to the absence of ducks and their droppings. A look had been given to Klue with wide blinking eyes, a question hung in the air if there’d ever been one and it was only the assurance that she’d hear plenty of those at mealtime, should Hay’aan be willing to elaborate, that had kept her willing to run off at all.

”You’ll have t’ tell ‘er all about th’ camels now ye know, now that she knows ye’ve seen ‘em,” he told her with a chuckle and a shake of his head though now he was coming to suspect he was babbling.

But then of course she asked the question that left him stumbling over his words before they’d even left his mouth and his grin was a sheepish as a result while he searched for just the right thing to say. It was more important than ever, he thought, that he said the right thing…though happenstance had it that it was at those moments he was most at risk of fumbling the effort. So he took a second, glanced aside and then back, and then smiled…there it was again, he recognized it this time, this hot under the collar business that was made all the more pronounced when met with eyes like dark pools that could drown a man in them.

”Aye, I do. Ye know I’ve been thinking about…” Now why was this so difficult, he was a grown man after all and it wasn’t as if he wasn’t experienced, he was in fact, well at least in some aspects and he had Kat to show for it. But this was different of course and if he could just get past this first bit of awkwardness, this maddening feeling of revisiting his early teens...it felt as if he was twelve again but he'd been bolder then, if he could past it he'd be fine, it would be like breaking through a wall and he'd rediscover his confidence...unless of course she wasn't thinking anything of the sort. ”Since we met on th’ beach when I nearly hit you with th’ whirligig and you taught me t’ dance, and then th’ ball and th' outing in th’ submersible, well I’ve been thinkin’ that I might like t’ spend a bit more time with you…if ye wanted to of course.”

[Hay'aan Benedict]

"I'd love to tell her about camels..it'll be nice to have someone to bore with my stories" she said with a fond smile as she watched Kateryna leave. "And you never know, the horse and the cat might just speak to her... there's no proof to the contrary, is there?" Hay'aan smiled and then turned her attention back to Klue as he spoke.

He seemed.. well, rather shy really and that surprised her. His grin was a little sheepish and he took a moment to answer her. Maybe he was trying to think of a way to let her down gently, she thought, but she could not tear her eyes away from him as he gathered his thoughts.

And then, he spoke and she carefully listened to what he had to say. He wanted to.. she looked at him and a realisation hit the young gypsy girl. He was shy.. not sure of his speech. Maybe.. just maybe he was feeling what she was feeling and she smiled at him, pleasure lighting up her face.

"I.. I would really like to spend more time together. I've been.. well I've been thinking about that... spending more time together, that is.. I've been thinking about it a lot. Since.. well, since we met on the beach.. and.. yes, please. I want to very much"

She watched him and smiled, her eyes not leaving his. She was completely new to this whole thing and so she felt that she was very awkward, but spend more time with him? Oh she'd like that a lot.

"I... I'm not sure what to say now" she said, flushing slightly. She thought to herself that maybe they had just agreed to be more than just friends, but she wasn't entirely sure. This whole business was much more complicated than it seemed and she wondered anew how her sister managed it with such ease and aplomb

[Klue Malinconico]

”Well that’s just what she’d say, and has in fact,” Klue had admitted of Kat and her animal companions when Hay’aan suggested it and his grin was indication enough that his daughter’s imagination wasn’t an unwelcome trait with him, in fact it was quite the opposite and one might surmise they occasionally made good playmates despite them being father and daughter and eras apart. ”Ya can’t prove it tha’ dey don’t da tha’s what Mime tells me!” he’d mimicked her rather accurately and with eyebrows dramatically drawn together in mock consternation before chuckling. Clearly if there was a disciplinarian in the house it was likely Lily and not him for the most part.

And it was almost unheard of in any facet of Klue’s disposition that shyness played a part in fact this being likely the only one and one that he couldn’t quite figure as yet to the reasons why. Except that this was a first, this where he’d been compelled to either speak up, or watch his chance slip away. As a result it had been like bringing himself to break through a brick wall, and then wait out the worry over what was on the other side.

The anticipation was agony truth told, like a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, he could be met with an incredulous expression followed by gentle rejection…gods he hoped it would be gentle he wasn’t sure if his ego to take the alternative, or what he dared to hope for on the contrary and some sort of indication that his feelings were reciprocated in kind. He opted to prepare for the former, while hoping for the latter.

So while she seemed to be sorting out her own end of things he began to think the worst was the case, he mentally prepared himself while at the same time wondering if he could save any shred of his dignity in the process so when she finally spoke, he blinked and hesitated to make sure he was hearing her right and then he grinned, both relieved and more pleased than could be measured. ”Aye?” he said nearly under his breath to be sure and then when sure he’d not been hearing things he smiled all the wider and the sparkle returned to his blue eyes as it felt like a weight was lifted and his ordinary confidence returned in force. ”Aye,” he confirmed and reached out to take her hand in his larger one.

”Well ye needn’t say anything, we needn’t…This ought not to be s’ difficult ye know, I shouldn’ve said somethin’ much sooner than now,” he confessed conspiratorially under his breath with a grin. ”I think it’ll be a while till Lily’s got th’ food on th’ table, would you like t’ take a walk outside? I might show ye th’ whirligig forest,” he added with a wink as if that in fact should be a temptation she could hardly resist or refuse. In truth it was the most private locale on the property for the number of trees surrounding the contraptions.

[Hay'aan Benedict]

His blue eyes were like nothing she'd ever seen before and she beamed at him as he repeated his "aye" with a resumed confidence. So he did want to be more than just friends? Hay'aan felt herself grinning not unlike a loon and when he took her hand in his she gently intertwined her fingers with his and relished the feeling. His hands were larger than hers, and stronger too. She caught herself wondering at the feeling of strength his hands held, and wondering whether that meant that his arms were muscular, and therefore so was his chest.... that way, though, lay madness and so she leant in slightly and listened to what he said, almost under his breath.

"You've... I ... well I've been feeling like I wanted to ... well I could have said something sooner too. A lot sooner. Pretty much since the first time we met and certainly at the Masquerade Ball" she said, looking at him "I.. the thing is, Klue... I've never really... well... " her flush was getting deeper by the moment and her head was down, but then she lifted it and looked at him, her brown eyes searching for his blue ones and finding them quickly. Once she had made eye contact, she was more than happy to keep it as she told him something in a matter-of-fact tone "I've never really.. spent more time with a man.... I've never wanted to" There had been offers, but Hay'aan had not even really noticed. Usually, it was her sister who had told her afterwards ~ Hay'aan herself had been more interested in her books, learning and knowledge. "My mother always said that one brightening I'd see someone that I genuinely liked, rather than someone who liked me, and I'd understand what all the fuss was about. I've never wanted to be... with anyone in that way. Until you." she added, just in case he wasn't understanding that bit.

"The whirligig forest? I'd love to see that" she said and smiled, relishing the feel of her hand nestled in his and looking at him with interest. The whirligig forest sounded like the perfect place to her. Not quite the coral reefs that he had shown her but nonetheless somewhere that was unequivocally him and she'd be delighted to go there. So, not taking her hand out of his, she walked with him.