Another day, another walk in the gardens. Rune had long grown bored of this place and it's manicured wealth. Zevran was inclined to agree, but really, what else was there for them to do? Stay cooped up in their room all day? No matter how big and how luxurious it was, it was still inside, and he hated being in there for too long.

He wasn't really paying attention as they walked to the garden. He even ignored any glances cast his way, and there were always many, for various reasons. That was, until a voice called his attention, and he looked up to see a woman walking in the same direction as him. He looked from her to the door that led to the garden and back before pasting a smile on his face and nodding. Another noble in the castle wanting to learn about him, surely. "I am. I've found the gardens are the best place on the castle grounds."

He motioned for her to pass through the doorway first. He'd wait a moment before following her out, Rune close at his heels.

Alinore offered him a pleasant smile and a nod as he commented on the gardens. “I happen to agree. They are a wonderful place to find some clarity of thought.” When he motioned, she stepped through the doorway first with a quiet word of gratitude before pausing, turned slightly back to face him. She folded her hands neatly in front of her while she waited for him and his fox to walk through themselves. “Would you care to join me? I would appreciate the company.”

The invitation was accompanied by a pause, followed by an ostensibly good-humored quirk of the lips as if she expected a denial and had decided upon negotiating the terms of their conversation. “I expect you are tired of answering the same questions,” Alinore acknowledged, thinking of her initial months in Arynn Frey. Not only were the inhabitants of that particularly insular kingdom entirely unfamiliar with Nevermerean magic, they each approached with a list of questions that could have stretched from one end of Terra Nova to the other. “So I promise to not speak of Dresmond unless you are willing, except to say that I have recently returned from a tenure in Arynn Frey myself. I understand our circumstances are very different, but I recognize that it must be difficult to be so far from home.”

Should he agree to continue walking with her, she would smile and then introduce herself. “I am Alinore Thornhill. I work in His Majesty’s court.” An understatement. “May I ask for both of your names?” Her gaze traveled from the Dresmondi’s to the dyr beside him.

Zevran opened his mouth to inform the lady that he would never say no to accompanying someone on a walk, especially one as beautiful as her. Though, perhaps he would leave the second part to himself. But she continued talking and Zevran could only blink as she swiftly dismissed any idea he had that a conversation with her would be the same as all the others he'd already had.

When she finally paused, he blinked a few more times before cracking a smile at her, "I would love to join you for a walk. And yes, it has been difficult, but it's easier knowing I'm here for important reasons."

He fell into step with her, the smile still on his face, "It's very nice to meet you, Lady Thornhill." He hoped he had called her by the correct title. "I'm Zevran, and this is Rune," he responded, following her gaze down to where Rune trotted next to them.

“That would be lovely.” Alinore returned Zevran’s smile with one of her own as he accepted her request that he join her for a walk and then fell into step beside her. Though the circumstances that brought him to Nevermere doubtlessly weighed heavy on his mind, his smile was charming in its own right - perhaps because it seemed more genuine than many of the smiles those in court offered up.

When he introduced himself and his dyr, she nodded her understanding as if she didn’t already know his name. “Zevran and Rune,” She repeated, looking first to him and then to the fox. “A pleasure to meet you both as well.” A brief pause, then, with an invitation in her voice: “If I may, I admit that I am rather curious as to how you have found Nevermere thus far.”