Shady

"I'm doing well, thank you." She flashed a quick smile, hesitating again. Was he not intending to stop? Did that mean she should keep walking? She wished Father or Rana ...

"Um... hello." She gave a quick curtsy. "How do you do, sir?"

Lia hesitated, body tense and eyes flicking around. Then she forced herself to square her shoulders and take a deep breath. She was a noble. She needed to act like ...

Lia rounded the corner, stopping as she saw him walking towards her. Her social anxiety kicked in immediately. Should she leave? Or... speak? Gods, not that. Had he seen her ...

Lia wandered down the hall, brushing her fingertips along the wall as she hummed quietly to herself. She looked at the floor as she walked, counting the cracks between the ...

(omg how did I forget about Ricard, my man) (want him and Lia to run into each other in the hall or something?)

Rana and Lia both settled in, to varying degrees. Rana spent most of her free time in the library. Lia took every opportunity she could to play board or card ...

(Ah that makes sense, the same is true for Celtic religions I’ve been trying to dig in more to ancient Irish beliefs to connect with my heritage and literally everything ...

(Sounds good to me! Take it away)

“I wanna see the library!” Lia piped up as soon as they were alone. Rana hesitated then shrugged. “Sure. I wouldn’t mind going back to poke around some. Let’s go.” ...

“Uhh… n-no, ma'am,” Rana said quickly. “We can manage it. Thank you.”

Lia and Rana both scrambled to their feet, looking after the Reputations, then back at the Ashes, then at the door again. They were anxious and awkward and didn’t know ...

“Mine is amazing!” Lia chimed up happily. “There’s so many furs!”

Rana didn’t believe that for a moment. But she was glad that this lady had the good sense not to further agitate her father.

Both girls looked between them with big eyes, then quickly looked down to their laps. They knew that tone. That was the tone that came when they were in danger ...