I Don't Want to Talk About The Weather!

Heron had relaxed a lot during the ride. He had gone from being tense to a more relaxed state. It was a bit adorable how noticeable the change was.

Elswyth watched him with a bit of a grin on her face. She felt like she could watch him for hours without getting bored. While Heron might be surprisingly good at keeping a straight face if he wished to, his normal state was rather fairly easy to read.

The simple joy on his face warmed her heart. She rather liked his smile.

She sighed to herself and looked down. A tug on her hair made her glance at the bird perched on her shoulder. Her hawk was preening her affectionately. She kissed its beak happily. Sun was such a good little bird. Much better than boys really. Even sweet boys like Heron.

She still wasn't entirely comfortable with her feelings towards the young man. For one, she had never really been that interested in romance. Another, he was a prince of all things. And thirdly, he was rather younger than her.

He was little more than a kid really. Just on the cusp of manhood. In some ways he seemed older, but then he still had some of that innocence of youth that reminded her of his actual age.

Her eyes contemplated the youth. Despite being sickly, he was still rather good looking. He looked slightly delicate, having a rather pale face. Right now, it was flushed a bit from the fresh air. He was a bit too skinny with very little muscle. He was on the tall side. Not the tallest person she had seen, but he was still rather tall. His brown hair was slightly waved. She liked the way it lay – her hands itched to run through it.

And she couldn't help but find some of his actions really adorable. He wasn't even trying – he just was. His interactions with his snake in particular were always a bit cute. Then there was the way he blushed so easily. She loved seeing that bright flush spread across his cheeks as bewilderment filled his eyes.

She giggled to herself just thinking of it. Yeah, she had it a bit bad for this young prince of a different kingdom. She wanted to tease him constantly – just to see his reaction.

She rode closer to him, so they were only a few feet away, just enough to give their horses plenty of space. She smiled at him, "You seem to be enjoying the ride."

He grinned, "I am. The air here really is fresher than Amriel's. I don't know why."

"We get a lot of rain." She shrugged, "And wind, it stirs up the air and keeps it from ever getting stale."

She had not really wanted to talk about the weather. She wanted to tease him.

"I see." Heron nodded. "Yeah, I was just thinking how stale the air back home is compared to here."

"Mmm. This isn't a bad place to live. It's a rather pretty place to live. Though I am sure that your home has much to offer as well."

"Yeah, though… I think it could definitely be improved." Heron laughed, "Don't get me wrong, I love my home and all, its just… we have some things we could fix."

She knew he was no longer talking about the weather. He was thinking of the laws on magic. She had an inkling that this young prince was going to be very persistent in trying to get rid of the ban on the arcane arts that had been so very much associated with Amriel.