Alys had found dinner, eating enough to ease the tightness of her stomach but not so much as to feel bloated and needing slumber. At least, not needing it in the digestive way. No, the long day of scouting ahead and back had secured that for her, though one wouldn’t know as she went about setting up a tent, something modest in size considering who she was. But it made for easier pack up when she needed to leave before the others.

Yet she was restless. The weight of what, or rather who, sat back at home was clouding her mind. Several different who’s. So she exited the tent, with almost exceptional timing as she turned and almost ran directly into a soldier. No… a guard. As she trained an eye on him, her hands ghosting his arms as she steadied the both of them. He had been at Cassian and Regan’s sides. A royal guard? Curious. She knew most of them yet she couldn’t place him. “Oh it’s quite alright. I think the wind still has my head a bit… distracted.” She gave a small smile before she found herself smirking.

She ran an eye back over him. “Surely not the worst you have seen…” though maybe it was. Alys didn’t do things half ass.

To anyone else, maybe they didn’t notice the small things that stood out to Alys. Was it a hint of the way he formed his words? The way he held himself… but he seemed confident in himself without having it pour from him like many others. And when he confirmed that it wasn’t the worst, her head tilted slightly. The extended hand was what confirmed it to her, and she took his hand. A solid shake from a woman, but nothing to try and prove dominance or something too soft to suggest she had grown up knowing luxury.

“I don’t know you,” she mused. “But Ive heard of a Coheedsman amongst our guards. A first.” It was a compliment, her words lifting slightly as she said it and nodding. “Walk with me?” She asked, gesturing in a general direction for them to go. Her hands then tucking behind her as she walked with her shoulders back and the grace of a feline.

“How are you liking Nevermere? It’s been a while since I’ve been in Coheed, but I was there long enough to know the differences.” She mentioned, allowing a small kernel of information linger to be latched onto if he wanted.

Their stroll was casual in gait, not with a pointed end location but rather a content lap that gave her the freedom to stretch her legs and to also look over the camp. She planned to be packed and moving before they loaded the first carriage to carry on. But knowing the full company here would help her know the dynamics within that she was protecting. Not just the King, but nobles. Plenty of them from what she had seen already.

From her periphery, she saw the turn of his lips, which held her attention for a moment longer than anything else she had taken in so far. Even turning her attention more towards him to note that he was different than some of the others… most of them actually in Coheed. Not that she had too much trouble with anyone in particular. Most of the men seemed to mellow out when a woman could almost match them blow for blow… and her magic seemed to win over the children. She could remember the squealing laughter at the small summoning she had once produced for them.

The thread she offered was pulled, and he seemed to reveal more than she had expected. He stole her complete attention as he went on. “Nothing to be afraid of. I think you will find a lot has changed to mirror something closer to Nevermere. At least what I’ve heard. I haven’t been back in a few years myself. But the women are… more free.” Her polite way of putting it, had he had wives? She knew it could be a potentially touchy subject in an array of ways. But the takeover of Cambria… she remembered the ships being sent out then. She had just been a royal guard at that time. But she had already spent time in Cambria itself. “Our people are starting to learn how to coexist amongst those who remain open minded. The tension between our kingdoms is still very much there to some.” Both sides had experienced loss from the other.

Alys eyed him from the corners of her eyes. “Well, it seems Coheed’s loss, is our gain.” Her features softened, though her freckled cheeks pinched slightly with the smile she offered him. Only to glance around them again at the ask. “I know their new chieftain, Rian Cyrilson, is brother to the prior. Kaalim.” That made her almost grin out right. “I taught him to read, you know.” Then she paused, laughing slightly. “I barely knew how to myself at that time, but while in Coheed, we spent time together doing just that. Reading. I still send him books occasionally.” A fondness in her tone to suggested she liked the mountain of the man. Not in any other way than having something so similar between them.

“But Rian is… different. He’s not quite like his brothers. From what we heard is he’s not actually blood related, but they treat one another as such. He spent time in Nevermere after he had been taken by the Eldouir’s. Learned some of our ways and adapted many before returning back. Married the ambassador to Coheed… And became chieftain within the last year.” Not long ago indeed. “He seems open to the merging… but a lot of habits and suspicions are hard to break sometimes.”

Though it might have looked like a casual stroll to the others within the camp, Alys was utilizing her time wisely. The way her eyes would scan the surroundings, noting whose tents were lit with a light from within, whose were not. The dull chatter coming from a few while utter silence from others. Nothing on the horizon beyond the outlines of forest and mountains. Yet she was fully focused on what he was saying, asking.

“You can’t read?” She asked, turning those dark eyes to him with a pondering look. “I’m sure we could arrange something.” Her head dipped as if this was her making it so. And she knew if he didn’t already know, he’d come to find that she did her best to connect with others in a genuine way. If she didn’t like someone, it was usually noted in her lack of conversation. But her face? Always a mask to outsiders.

“I hope they will see it too,” she looked him over, though found herself glad that she could still see a bit of that Coheed edge. History. “Dont loose yourself though. Change is not bad, but you are only who you are because of the past you.” She gave a small laugh. “Cryptic I know. But you are who you are because of the Isaac yesterday. And the day before that. We grow, we learn, we adapt.” She raised a hand to try and tuck back a loose curl. Still wild from the wind earlier.

“I am excited to see the lands again, to see the women and how they’ve progressed… and even some familiar faces.” Kaalim, perhaps a few others who she had conversed with. Maybe some of the children had grown up by then, though she knew of at least one she wouldn’t see. Sadness struck her at the thought of Kaalim’s son, and it made her chest ache with missing her own children. While she knew they were in good hands… she missed them. “Do you have family in Coheed?” Then she turned a sly smile, “Nevermere?” Had he fully accepted one of their women that she knew… could be very different than their own. She remembered the wedding, and the way her face burned at some of the acts seen. Even now, color kissed her cheeks.

She’d blame that color on windburn if asked.

Alys let her gaze linger for a moment as he laughed, and found herself at ease with the little moment. Two kingdoms, two very different upbringings in the sense of their kingdoms and thoughts and influences around them. Yet coexisting, holding a pleasant conversation that she was finding herself enjoying. Not rushing to find an exit to.

Though she seemed to hit a sore spot the moment she asked. She had been aware of the possibility, and yet she asked. Family was important, and it was also a good gauge for where his head may be at with them approaching the kingdoms in the coming time. But she wasn’t expecting so many to be possibly awaiting him. “And are you prepared to find out?” Even with his shrug, her voice was low, gently prodding. The conversation meant for them and no lingering ears.

He seemed to shift the conversation to her, and she accepted it. It wasn’t the first time someone had been curious. “No, one doesn’t.” She confirmed, smiling slightly, a sense of pride lit her freckled face. “I grew up a commoner. My family owned a ship and we went to sea to provide for our family.” She swallowed hard, the only sign that it had very rough times. “I was reckless after loosing my brother and mother. But I threw myself into training, I took every chance someone gave me to be better. I became a royal guard, I worked with the King,” though her memory was muddy at best with that, “and one day he asked that I match with the previous King’s Witch. I hadn’t realized at the time what it would mean… but when I won.” She shook her head slightly, as if still in disbelief. “I took what the our King offered me. I’ve been his ever since.”