Wayward Path

[Malkavian Riddler]

***reserved for MissusHow***

Joely was at the Grand Feast of the Green Corn Moon held at the King\'s Banquet Hall. He\'d wanted his family to come but they\'d refrained for none of them had been interested in what was mostly a noble\'s night out. The working class was invited, which meant farmers as well, but his parents had smiled and patted his shoulder and insisted he go himself to help his budding business of fur-lined purses and money-pouches.

His mother had sewn him an outfit that would better help him to blend in, with material his money had bought to clothe the whole family. He\'d felt what she made him to be a little too fancy, but now, here in the crowd he was blending in quite nicely. Nobody gave him a second glance, likely considering him a lower merchant\'s son rather than a farmer. Only those that were perceptive would know what he was by his sun-kissed blonde hair and golden tan from working the fields.

He was hoping to see the Captain and was searching the crowds for her, to say hello. There were numerous guards, but they were all the fancily dressed Palace Guards rather than those who patrolled the markets ensuring there was no thievery.

As soon as this thought entered his head, he saw her. Not the Captain, but the other, the one who\'d stolen from him a couple of moons ago. She was a vision of beauty here and now, dressed in finery that heralded her a princess rather than a thief. Her beauty enchanted him once more, along with any other men who looked her way and held their stares for all her exotic appeal.

He froze, not realising how much he stood out in the crowd. He might think he was blending in, but really he wasn\'t. In his own bubble of space he stood, staring at her with an open mouth, unable to believe that she was really here.

Should he cry, stop thief? Any accusations made would no doubt have the guards hauling him out, not her. Did he even want to make such a wild statement? No. He was reminded of the night he\'d described her to the Captain. He\'d wanted to protect her, until enought time past for her enchantment to wear off him. Was she a witch? Perhaps. For it felt magical when she laid eyes on him. A fumbling farmer meets theif turned princess.

[MissusHow]

She was wearing a turquoise dress, a darker more sinister turquoise, it was a color of the ocean in anger. A small silver pendant and two dangling silver earings were all her jewelry, though that did not make her any less fine. In fact it heightened her beauty considerably, as the women around her wore gaudy necklaces, as a show to their wealth. These would probably be gone by the end of the evening, many crafty hands lingered around the feast, all of them Ara\'s. And if they were not hers, they soon would be.

Ara surveyed the room, locating each and every one of her thieves present, who lingered around royalty, or spoke in jolly tones to other well off merchants. She herself was having a good time, it wasn\'t many times of the year she got to wear a dress and feel as if she belonged to highest royalty. She kept in the sidelines, and watched with a half intrigued, half amused expression, as her thieves made their way around the room.

A sudden shiver across her spine allerted her to another presence, she looked sharply to the left, and caught sight of Joely, looking straight at her. Her stomach lurched and she imagined herself turning pale. This was the young man she had assulted on the road... A small crease formed in her face as she mentally checked herself, moving so that the comforting solidity of daggers and knives hidden between her skirts would present itself. Perhaps it was her imagination, perhaps he hadn\'t really seen her...and it couldn\'t really be the same man with clothes fit for a merchant (though perhaps not too well off)...no, the man she had assulted was a farmer, but the golden tan gave him away, and Ara knew who it was.

She caught the eye of one of her thieves, who hurried over. Joely would surely be mistaken for a real merchant (probably considered worthy bait), quietly she had a few private words with him, and he nodded, and hurried off to speak quietly with the thieves. The word was passed around. The thief lord did not want this man being stolen from, for he had nothing save for finery reserved for these occasions. A simple farmer. The people milling around Joely became considerably less, and Ara smiled in spite of herself, a job well done. She cast another glance at him to see if he was still looking. He was.

He wasn\'t calling out, so that was good news. There was a mild embarassed amazement around his person, as if he wasn\'t sure she was really real. With a determined mental nodd, she would make sure that he wouldn\'t find out she was real, and here, and the one who had taken half of his earnings, perhaps a penny or two less. Gently she grasped the elbow of a passing nobleman. "Would you honor me this dance?" she asked in a lower voice than her normal one. The man nodded, and off they were, Ara spared glances at Joely, her frown growing as she made noncomitial responces to the man she was dancing with.

Why was he still looking at her? Well she certainly couldn\'t run away right now. The story would circulate for months, and the Captain of the guard would hear of a certain stranger with a similar complexion to that of her most wanted thief. The dance was ending, and Ara fumbled with a half curtsey, only half noticing she was staring right back a Joely with a vague expression. She was seeing right through him, lost in her thoughts (though from far away it would certainly not appear so).

[Malkavian Riddler]

Joely\'s gaze was drawn to her like a magnet.  She would disappear into the crowd during her dance and he would pull his gaze away from her, trying not to stare like some kind of half-wit, only to find himself staring at her again.

He had no doubt it was her, even though he\'d not seen most of her face the first time they\'d met.  He\'d looked into those eyes and they were what gave her away.  He\'d finished his glass of sweet wine and found a space for his empty glass on the silver tray of a passing waiter.  He stared after it for a moment, pensive.  There was a lot of finery here, many rich people with coin purses and pouches hanging at their hips.  Surely dressed as she was meant she wouldn\'t be working the floor...

He found at this precise moment he didn\'t care if she was or wasn\'t.  His mind told him to fade into the background, to disappear into the crowd as she had, to leave her be and to protect himself, to seek out a guard and point her out.  The rest of him fought that impulse, his gut instinct telling him once again not to make a movement against her, even if he wasn\'t going anywhere near her.

The dance ended and his gaze pursued her presence once more, seeking her out and finding her.  She was the kind of woman his mother warned him about.  She was the kind of woman that intrigued him.  He wasn\'t confident enough to do anything but stare, however.

[MissusHow]

She snapped back to reality, and the idea that it might attract attention if he continued staring like a country bumpkin mighta attract questions about this foreign noble. She would have to do something about it. Her thieves were busy, and she was the only one for the job. They wouldn\'t really understand how nobles competed for attention from the commoners. She could imagine it now. \'Let\'s chop \'im up.\' one of them would suggest, and there would be a roar of aproval from the others.

No, this was a delicate situation. Quietly she wove her way through the crowd, glancing around and checking off people mentally. There was Rosaline Nemein, whom she\'d had on her watch recently, and there was Lord Dagger, and a few other nobles surrounding him, talking in jolly tones. There were her thieves, distracting, and laughing, and some unfortunates drinking merrily.

She came closer to Joely, and readied a story. Her name was Anise, she came from the royal court of Zarandia, and she knew he would not ask questions. She had seven sisters and one brother, she was the eldest and her parents were both alive and well. They had sent her over to avoid trouble with the neighboring communities. Ara smiled mentally, and there, her story was in her mind and on her person. She walked more elegantly, and her posture changed slightly.

Finally she came upon him, staring up at him with a small frown. "Who are you, boy?" she asked, her voice lower than usual, yet more comanding than usual as well. "You\'ve been staring. It\'s not polite to stare." she berated, quietly. Ara looked him squarely in the eyes, and she let a frown grow on her face as she waited for the answer. Joely was quite tall, and the thief lord short, but she was used to looking up to people, and still seeming imperious. Oh yes, she was quite accomplished.

[Malkavian Riddler]

The contrast of their height was more obvious to Joely. He\'d known that the woman who\'d robbed him had been slight of build, but this was rather embarrassing, falling on his ass to someone who was obviously physically weaker. It just went to show the difference between skill and instinct.

When she approached him he felt panicky, but didn\'t allow it to reflect in his face, though his eyes gave him away to whoever bothered to look past his stoic expression. The proximity between the thief and the farmer allowed every nuance in their faces to be observed, and once again he found himself staring into her eyes, feeling like a lesser man because she intimidated him so greatly.

She was pretending not to know him (though it was very possible she didn\'t remember him, depending on how many people she robbed a day). He didn\'t consider choosing the same charade, for he couldn\'t lie to save his life. Literally.

"The Captain is here somewhere, but I won\'t be calling her, if that\'s worrying you," he said, keeping his voice low and discreet. He fumbled for his next few words, not wanting this to be the only thing said between them. She might look upon that as a promise or a threat, and disappear. "If you care to sit, I can usher you to one of the benches," he said, trying to be polite while making a suggestion that he\'d like to talk.

He was in over his head, he knew it and felt it, but pursued this behaviour anyway.

[MissusHow]

He was a shy boy, which made Ara feel doubly guilty for stealing from him, and his eyes had telltale signs of being a bit frightened. She had seen it before, but this was more of a suprised frightened, it was not terror. His fear was the fear of a child who is afraid of the monster under the bed. He had no idea she had cut peoples ears off if they stepped slightly out of line... had no idea that she had even once killed a person. To say the least, it was appealing to her. She looked away from them, to keep the guilt from swamping her.

"Oh no, boy. I don\'t think I would worry about that at all." she purred to him in amused tones, but carried a hint of the thief lord she really was. She did, however, smile at his offer, "Well...I suppose we could do that. I am tired from so much dancing." she pursed her lips thoughtfully, and then nodded again. Suddenly she felt the need to look into those eyes again, and she reached up and cuped his cheek in her hand, staring into such blatant innocence. Now there was a sight worth seeing. Living among thieves, there was no innocence, and no eye was unhaunted. She held them in a strange facination and confusion, for just a few seconds.

Finally she broke away from the gaze, and walked to the chairs he had indicated. They were more secluded from the rest, and her gut instinct told her they would need all the seclusion they could get. He obviously wanted to talk to her about her trade, and she wasn\'t about to denny anything. He wasn\'t about to tell the captain of the guard, she knew...or hoped.

[Malkavian Riddler]

As her hand found his face, his lips parted and he gave her an incredulous stare, surprised by her gentle touch.  His cheeks reddened and grew warm beneath her palm.  When she left him, her fingers trailing off his face, leaving his skin tingling from her touch, he followed her, feeling as though he was a mouse and she was the pied piper.

He waited for her to be seated before he took the space beside her, swallowing dryly and wishing he\'d taken a drink for them both, if only for his own sake.  His mouth and throat had suddenly dried up, making it hard for him to talk.

He sat for a long moment saying nothing, building up the courage to ask the questions he needed to ask of her, the first one dancing on his lips but not jumping off.  He opened his mouth to see if it would blurt out, but he just remained as he was, though now he was looking at her with his mouth hanging open.  Self-consciously, he snapped it shut and cleared his throat.

Would she start speaking in the meantime?  He almost hoped she would, it was likely going to take another long moment before he could push forth the words from his lips and start this conversation, now that he had her to himself.

[MissusHow]

Ara waited expectantly, trying to be patient, but her eyes kept roving to her thieves, again and again. There he oppened his mouth, shut it, cleared his throught. At every movement, Ara looked at him hopefully, but he seemed to be waiting for her to begin. With a sigh she finally focused on him, "Well, boy, what do you want to know? You\'re obviously dying to ask me questions...who I am...What am I doing dressed like this..." she paused, glancing at her thieves again, "I shall not tell you who I am, so don\'t bother asking that, as to why I am dressed like this...because I can. Now ask me something worth my time. What do you want to know?"

[Malkavian Riddler]

The questions she asked and answered for herself were not the kind Joely had been after.  His were a lot more personal, for he knew she was a thief (perhaps not the ringleader, but a thief was all he needed to know about her - his thief, the one who\'d taken from him), and he figured she was dressed as she was to make stealing at the banquet a great deal easier, for nobody would suspect a noble from stealing other nobles, not when there was the poorer contingent around - people like him - to blame.

"Why did you give me back half my earnings?" he finally said, staring at her in case the answer was written on her face and he hadn\'t spied it yet.  He\'d had a lot of time to think about it, and had his own theories, but didn\'t wish to prompt her with an answer she might take only because he provided it.  He wanted her to tell him why, in her own words.

[MissusHow]

Ara froze, and her face remained immobile for a few seconds. Thiscaught her off guard...slightly. Finally she shut her eyes, roaming through the posibilites, and deciding that this man wanted honesty. "I know what hunger feels like, Joe. I know what it is to skitter to get your money, and I know how hard it is to make a living. Now I am...slightly...succesful, I\'ve enough money in my pocket to buy bread. What I did to you was mostly for sport. To keep in practice, perhaps. I\'ve always kept what I take, because I\'ve earned it..." she paused, and looked out at her thieves again, without really seeing. She was remembering, "But you fought back...a rare show of courage, and stupidity. Most of the city people run, and they\'re right to. It was...how I knew. You weren\'t really from here...the outskirts. You\'re naive, Joe, innocent, too. And only hungry men fight back for their money. Hungry or greedy...you don\'t strike me as the greedy kind."

Again Ara stopped, and looked back at him, "I don\'t fault you for being...inocent. I concider you quite lucky...and it was that naivity that saved you. Or as my friends would say, your stupidity and my soft heart. And I\'ll finish my little speach off with a warning, of some sort. Not all thieves have a soft heart, and they wont answer well to foolishness, Master Flint. You\'ll be dead before you know it, or you\'ll have nothing to show for your courage but an empty purse and a deep wound." she finished icily and her eyes challenged him to say something. In truth she meant it kindly, but it came off more as threatening.

She refused to let him scamper away like a rabbit. He had called for her, and she was here. "Say something, Master Flint...Joe. Your silence is deafening, and I want an answer." she snapped, scanning his eyes quietly.

[Malkavian Riddler]

She might have wanted to have said all of her speech, but in reality she couldn\'t get it all out, so he never heard her word of warning because he interrupted her before she could say it.  In fact, as soon as she accused him of being innocent, he interrupted her.

"I\'m not innocent," he said a little too sharply, enough so that he attracted stares from people nearby, then dropped his voice after dropping his gaze.  He peered back at her.  "I\'m not innocent, I\'m hard-working.  You might not know the difference between the two, because you haven\'t bothered to investigate either."  He was angry for she\'d angered him, first by telling him she\'d stolen from him for sport and then to call him innocent, something he considered very close to gullible and secondary to stupid.  He was flirting with danger, he knew (at the very back of his mind) to speak to her so strongly, but she inspired such passion in him, both good and bad.  "You didn\'t earn a single coin that you took from me.  I earned it all.  The only skill you seem to have is to attack those who don\'t carry a weapon, which is hardly a fair or noble fight."

A weapon would hardly have helped him fighting her, he knew, but it wasn\'t the point.

After these few sentences, he paused to take breath, intending on unleashing the rest of his fury upon her - though it was a private fury that he didn\'t wish to call the guards attention to.  In a way he wanted this disagreement between themselves, for like she\'d stolen from him, so he would address her.

[MissusHow]

She had been speaking, giving him a warning but he interrupted, and Ara stopped talking. Oh what guts this man had! Her mind was both enraged, and enjoyably suprised. It was a change of pace, and quite refreshing, though it still angered her that she had been interrupted. It didn\'t happen very often, and when it did there /was/ consequences. Her face showed nothing, but the back of her mind was telling her fingers to stop moving her hand towards her knives. He\'s stupid, her mind told her, from the farmlands. Let him speak, he\'s not your thief. So her fingers stopped twitching, and she listened, an aloof expression posed on her face.

Finally he stopped to take a breath, and Ara held up her hand, placing her fingers over his lips juts in case he didn\'t get the message. A smirk had taken place of her aloof expression, "Your anger towards me is like a small gust of wind trying to fell an oak." she remarked, "Spouting more of it would do no good. Now listen what I have to say to you before you continue your enraged fantasy." she finished sharply. Her hand remained upon his lips, so that he would not try to interrupt her again. The smile vanished, and this time she kept her eyes upon his face, instead of glancing at the crowd.

"You are innocent, Joe. Or perhaps I am mistaken... Have you killed a man? Stolen from somebody poorer than yourself? Have you been bedded by a woman yet?" she asked the last question with a half amused smile, as Joe seemed too bland to even approach a woman, though he had approached her, it seemed to Ara that it was more because he felt richeousness in himself. She removed her hand, sure that he had understood by now that he was not to speak. "Joe, you\'re innocent. I don\'t think it\'s a bad thing, but it\'s a true thing. You work hard, and that is an entirely different thing. You earn the money you get, and keep it, but so do I."

Now her expression turned colder, "Or do you think it is easy tossing a man that is both stronger and taller than you? Your weapons are your hands, they are strong, if I\'m not mistaken. You\'re a farmer and quite tall, and yet here I am smaller and most likely weaker than you, and I manage to toss you on your back. I\'m sorry if I\'ve given you an inferiority complex, but do you think I learned that just for fun? I\'ve lived on the streets in the cold, alone, and hungry, but I learned how to work past that. If you could do as much as I have in my life I would be surprised. I earn every coin that I get, because every coin, every triumph pays back for every moment that I spent beaten, cold, and hungry." she hissed at him. Her eyes were alive with memories, things she had not wanted to recall, but here they were, and the rage still burned within her. Again her mind rose and qualmed her anger.

Ara closed her eyes and sighed, letting her anger seep out of her body. "I\'ve earned every gold piece, Joe..." she repeated, trying to convince herself more than anybody. His question posed doubts, and guilt rose to scratch at her back door. How many had she taken from that did not deserve it? She had earned every piece, and had taken the sorrow from each one with it. Still she closed her lips and tightened them, too stubborn to ask for forgiveness.

[Malkavian Riddler]

As she asked her questions, Joely was silent - both by the finger on her lips and that the wind had been taken from his sails.  The big speech to tell her off had fury in its spontaneity and now the spell was broken by a simple pause.  No, he hadn\'t killed a man, no, he\'d never stolen from anyone let alone someone poorer than himself, and no, he hadn\'t yet bedded a woman and he blushed obviously at this.

You could\'ve got a job, he wanted to say, but this was untrue and he knew it.  He might be innocent, but unlike his bias towards that word, it didn\'t mean he was stupid.  He knew the world was harsh and that people had to make decisions that would keep them alive.  He knew one person sometimes had to kill another, even if they didn\'t want to, in case they were attacked.

She was right, she\'d fought him hand to hand, the blade had been at his throat after he\'d been defeated.  She\'d learned how to do that because of a hard life.

"You blurred the line to survive," he told her, trying to show her he understood that she hadn\'t a choice in the matter.  "But now that it\'s blurred you stand on the other side of it, and that is when you made your choice," he said quietly.  "First you had none, then you gave yourself some options, and you continued doing what you did.  What are you going to do now?  To me?  Now that I\'ve shown you I recognise your face?"

She was ruthless, and he was scared, but he was also brave.  He would not cower, even if she ended up slicing his throat.  His main regret would be never seeing his family again, and secondary to that, not having the time to experience some of the things life had to offer - including bedding the woman she\'d mentioned in passing, whoever that ended up being.

[MissusHow]

"There was never a line, Joe. I was thrown into an empty space, and the only thing I knew was survive. I know no other way of life, and can\'t know any other way of life any more..." she paused, digesting what she had said and knowing that half of what she was saying was a lie. She could change now, she could get a job, start over... she could have changed even before now, and yet she knew she would never get the same sort of satisfaction she got from a thievery well played. She had the thieves to take care of, and the fact that going from her life being a constant danger to something bland would never cut it. She /could/ change, but it would be hard. The thief lord felt she had lived through enough hard times, she was quite content where she was.

With a grim chuckle Ara shrugged, "Oh what am I saying. You\'re right... I did make a choice to live the way I do. But it\'s how I live, and there isn\'t anything that will change that but my death... you are a farmer, if you were thrown headfirst into, say, the nobles court, you would have no clue as how to begin. Not a clue... I\'m a survivor, I could survive almost anywhere, if I managed to find a way, but I\'m far past the point where I /could/ get thrown somewhere." Her hands reached for her hair, tugging at a strand that had gotten loose.

"What am I to do with you, Joe? You know my face, know who I am, what I do... I believe you know the captain of the guard as well, but of that I\'m not entirely sure. You could very well meet her, if you havn\'t. You could tell her who I am, and emerge the hero, maybe even become a guard yourself..." she paused to let the words soak into Joe\'s mind. "Oh yes, you\'d be a fabled person..." with a pause she sighed dreamily, "It would be pleasant for all but me..." she refrained from saying her thieves, because she knew quite a few of them who would rejoice at her death.

"I wont kill you, Joe. I may slice your ear off, but I won\'t kill you." she told him, perfectly seriouse. "Every time you come into town you\'ll be watched, if you come anywhere /near/ the guardhouse... it can\'t end well for you. For now, because I believe you are the kind of man that can keep his mouth shut, I shan\'t do anything more than have you watched, and leave tokens along the way to make sure you remember that I\'m watching. So really, I shan\'t do a thing unless you try to... and if you do prepare for Talons claws to reach you, because that is what will happen... even if it wont be by my hand." she told him merrily, though in reality she was quite serious. "It wont inconveniance you, if you know how to handle it."

In Ara\'s mind, the conversation was done, and allready getting stale. She had been sitting for too long, dealing with this /person/ who was really quite cute, but it was starting to itch at her nerves. "Allright. You\'ve taken most of the night away from me, and while I\'ve enjoyed it, I really want to get back. Dance with me. You owe me." she told him blatantly, arching her eyebrow coyly.

[Malkavian Riddler]

As she spoke, his mind and heart nattered through a variety of responses and emotions, though he didn\'t have any compulsion to speak up as she both explained how it was in her life and then confessed that yes she could\'ve changed but it was easier not to.  At this incriminating comment, he found himself conflicted for he admired her honesty with him but at the same time was dissatisfied with the decision she\'d made.  Of course there was relief when once again she showed him mercy (even if it came with a threat), for someone as ruthless as she could very easily order for his throat to be cut.  The thing was, this was the second time she\'d shown him a leniency that she admitted nobody else received, and once again it confused him (more so, for he wondered what it was about him that she appeared to like).

He wasn\'t particularly sure why she thought he was supposed to dance with her but it wasn\'t an invitation that he found unwelcome.  At her demand, he stared at her for a brief moment, his gaze flickering from one of her eyes to the other, then upon that arched eyebrow and then dropping to her lips, taking in her face and wondering what it was about her features that magnetised him so.

Without a word, he stood and offered her his arm to take, so that he could lead her out onto the dancefloor and do as she wished.  He knew some of the more popular dances, and the music that was playing was something he could step to without fumbling.

[MissusHow]

It was silence, he said nothing, merely stared, and finally got up. With slight admiration, Ara took his arm and he led her onto the dance floor. She was sure the nobles would whisper about the pretty little thing in turquoise dancing with that peasant boy, and wonder what it was all about. Nothing more than wonder. It wasn\'t common, but neither was it outlawed. The dance picked up slightly, and the thief lord changed her steps, avoiding Joely\'s eyes, and looking for her thieves amongst the crowd. Most were probably done, but a few here and there lingered among the peasant women. Some with a hungry look in their eyes, other with a quieter mirth.

Now she twirled, her dress swishing out nicely, and then she was back in his arms, and finally she met his eyes. The confusion that held her was still there, still as puzzling to her as ever. It didn\'t seem possible. Here she was, Talons angel, dancing with what seemed to be Adoras angel. While poetic, it was still confusing, and she didn\'t understand it at all.

How was it that she managed to feel guilt free for most of her life, and then this /man/ walks in with those eyes, and swamps her with guilt. Plagues her. Not only that, but confronts her about it, as if he wanted her to redeem herself. Ara shook her head internally. Redeem herself of what? She hadn\'t done anything wrong but live well.

[Malkavian Riddler]

He twirled her and stepped around her in a circle, taking her hand here and her arm there whenever the music dictated that he was supposed to do so.  He knew she was avoiding his gaze because he wasn\'t avoiding hers.  His blue eyes met her dark ones, averted this way or that way, depending on what she chose to look at instead of her dancing partner.

She was beautiful, he\'d seen that already even with the mask she\'d worn when robbing him.  She hadn\'t hidden her eyes and they were what had held him entranced with her enough to not wish to make a detailed report of her to the captain of the guard.  Now, for what he had said, he felt guilty, and despite the fact he knew she was criminal and that he owed her nothing, when their eyes met and he felt an electrical surge responding in his body to that look she was giving him, he felt guilty.

He wanted to say sorry, he wanted to please her, he wanted to take back his harsh words to her before this dance, he wanted a fresh slate with her.  None of these things would happen, he knew, he was just some farmboy and she was a highly organised castle thief and after this dance she\'d probably let him go and laugh at him with her ring of criminals while he went back and worked the fields.

Still, it was nice to look at her face and dream, and his gaze dropped from her eyes to her lips as he thought about another wish he knew he wouldn\'t get.  Of all women in the entire castle, in all the land around the castle, why was he responding so passionately to her?

[MissusHow]

The look had in fact lasted almost all of 7 seconds, because Ara turned again, and she was dancing in front of him, with him behind. Which was just as well, because it would take a few more seconds for her confusion to fade. She turned one last time to face him, and the dance ended. Ara curtsied, her eyes on his face, and she got up. "Thank you for the dance, Joe." she told him, as her eyes flicked from one of his to the other.

There was some more silence, and the thief lord felt a chill as the wind blew one of her hairs into her face. She removed it from her face, and sudden inspiration struck her. Something from the way he\'d looked at her. Her hand reached up to touch his face, and she slowly pulled it down, hardly aware that the wind was blowing now. Her face tilted and as soon as he was low enough she let her lips touch his. It had started out as a cruel plan, something to gain his heart as well as his trust, but this was something else.

Warmth spread into Ara\'s cheeks, and she blessed the gods they were near the edge of the dance floor, and almost fading into the crowd, as new people were starting to fill it. And then her mind stopped working, stopped trying to figure out who was watching, and she just let the moment stand still, instead of analizing it. She didn\'t notice the thieves who happened to glance that way, or the whispers of the few nobles that had been enviously staring, or the couple who were trying to take the spot where they were standing. She didn\'t notice any of it, and /that/ was a good thing.

[Malkavian Riddler]

When she curtsied and thanked him, he knew that his night was over, that they would go their separate ways and he was unlikely to ever see her again.  He was sorry that things would turn out that way and believed that this dance would be burned into his memory and she would be revered in his memory.

But it went beyond that.

When they were at the edge of the dance floor, she held his cheek and slid her hand past that to his neck, pulling his head downward with a gentle urge.  He gave in to her, his heart pounding.  A part of him thought that she wanted to whisper one last threat in his ear, and another part of him hoped it was something else.  As their lips met, his heart hammered in his chest and blood rushed in his ears.  He closed his eyes to fully appreciate the tingling in his lips when they kissed, his tongue strangely bold and swiping across her lower lip.  His hands had naturally moved around her waist to hold her lightly in place.

When they pulled back from one another, the look in his eyes was now a mixture of confusion and reverence.

[MissusHow]

The only sign of the deed that had been done on Ara\'s face was the tinge of color that was allready begining to leave it. The world came back to her in a rush, and she was again aware of everything, but it almost seemed that she cared about none of it. "I\'ll see you later then, Master Flint." she told him, curtsying yet again, though it was less prolonged, and rather hasty. She could hardly fade into the crowd as she was so used to, so she made a few quick handsignals to her thieves, who walked by, breaking the eye contact for those few moments, and Ara used them well, walking behind other people, and soon making herself moderately lost, if not completely.

She took a few moments to collect herself, debating on whether she should leave or not, and finally deciding she\'d have to explain things to her remaining thieves, who were glancing at her haughtily. She called them, or walked by them, explaining that it was a plann. He had recognized her, she had his head, his heart, and his fear. This she told them, omitting that he had the same things from her.

And she was doing her best to pound those feelings down.