Unexpected Companionship

[Idrial]

Malken paused on his walk and complimented her on her beauty and kissed her hand lightly before directing her hand back to his arm. She listened as he talked about the female being deadlier than the male; she spoke in a neutral tone towards him.

"Yes well males can be just as deadly I\'ve learned. They can use there charm for bad instead of good which can get a woman in a trouble. But you are very sweet and use charm for good. By the way you look very handsome in those bright colors that you are wearing tonight. Brings out your eyes."

She grinned at him and kept walking; she then noticed that there was next to no people within this part of the garden. It was semi-dark within this part, it did not bother Keara. In fact she had always liked the dark better than the light. She looked up at the stars and smiled.

"They\'re beautiful aren’t they Malken."

[DeathsAngel]

Malken chuckled slightly at her comments about men. "Trust me, my lady, men are but humble servants to the whims of ladies. Thank you for you kind complement." He smiled brightly. A complement from a Ranger to the King was no small thing.
 
He blinked a couple times, confused be her comment. Then noticed she was looking up, so he, too, looked up. "That they are, Keara. My mother used to say that they were gifts given by the gods. That both worked together, Dark and Light, to create them." Then shaking his head slightly, he patted her hand.
 
 "Now, shall we continue?" He asked, he hid the plea from his voice. He hadn\'t looked at the stars in a long time, they were one of his mother\'s favorite things, and he did not like to dwell on the thought of his mother for very long.

[Idrial]

Keara still stared at the stars as Malken spoke; his mother seemed to be a woman full of wisdom beyond her years. She wondered what it would be like if her mother was still alive today, would she be leading the life she had now or would it be totally different. Would she have little brothers or sisters to play with, all these questions would never be answered. Her father made a vow not to re-marry and he had kept his vow.

She looked down from the bright stars as Malken patted her arm once again. She gave him a little smile; it was more a mischievous smile than anything else. No one was around in this part in the garden, if fact they were all alone. Why not make the best of the situation; she spoke in a playful voice.

"Let us continue then Malken. Care to play a little game while were out here by ourselves in this part of the garden?"    

She looked at him with playful eyes, and gave a small mischievous smile.

[DeathsAngel]

Noticed the mischief in Keara\'s eyes and gave a mock sign of suspicion. This was a very interesting lady, he thought. She had a strange mixture of many different aspects. An almost child-like joy, wariness, confidence, and a number of other things.
 
  His mock suspicion got sharper as she asked if he would like to play a game. "It twould depend on the game my lady has in mind." He cocked a single eyebrow in question. "But I have little doubt that I will enjoy anything you have in mind." He added.

[Idrial]

Keara unhooked her arm from his and walked backwards a couple of paces, with a bright smile on her face. There was a clear sign on his face that he was a little suspicious of her and that did not surprise her at all. Most people were suspicious when a Ranger asked someone to play a sort of game with them.

"Ever heard of the game hide and seek Malken?"

A simple yet fun game, she wasn\'t going to play anything that would put any mistrust towards Malken. After all she was beginning to like the man, and wanted to keep him as a friend rather than doing something that would scare him off.

[DeathsAngel]

Malken couldn\'t help but chuckle when she mentioned his childhood game. "I haven\'t played that since I was a young boy." He smiled. "But if my lady wishes, I shall indulge myself." He bowed slightly mockingly, but his smile was not hidden.
 
 "Shall I hide and you seek, or do you wish it the other way, Keara?"

[Idrial]

Keara smiled at him before speaking.

"I think I should hide and you should seek, don’t think it would be a fair advantage if I was looking for you. I was trained in tracking after all. Now no peeking... Let’s say you count to thirty."

She lifted her skirts and swiftly started down the long pathway before taking a sharp turn to the right. Out of sight out of mind, her eyes dodged back and forth looking for a place to hide. After many twists and turns she finally found a suitable spot, a bare spot within the hedges and she quickly climbed in. She then pushed the branches together so that she would not be seen so easily.

“Now we play the waiting game.”

She looked inbetween the branches keeping a look out for Malken.

[DeathsAngel]

Malken couldn\'t help but laugh softly as she ran to find a good hiding place. Slowly he counted to thirty than went on a search for her.
  She would probably make it easy(compared to her standards) for him to find her, but that didn\'t mean it\'d be easy. Slowly he checked in every hedge and every tree.
 
About twenty minutes, he was actually starting to get really into it, it was almost as much fun as when he had played it with his childhood friend and his mother. She had been the kidn of tomboy, which was probably why he liked Keara. She was like his mother in some aspects, but completely different in others.
 
A good ten minutes later he finally had a bit of luck, the colors on her dress were not the best for hide and seek, he separated the hedge and smiled at Keara. "Thank for making it easy, Keara." He smiled. If she hadn\'t, it would have been a lot harder to find her.

[Idrial]

She did know how long she was in the small and cramped space before she heard footsteps. At first they were far off in the distance, over time they became closer and closer to where she was hiding. She slowed her breathing not wanting him to hear her, even if her breathing didn\'t give her away the dress surely would.

Suddenly the branches of the hedge parted and there stood Malken with a smile on his face, she laughed and pulled herself out of her hiding place.

"Who said I was trying to make it easy. Now your turn."

She turned her back towards him and began counting, she hadn\'t remembered a time when she had this much fun.

[DeathsAngel]

He walked first, back to the main walkway, that would make it harder for her to track him.
  Then, staying on the main track, trying to make a little prints as possible by stepping on rocks and such, he found a tree and climbed the near the top.
 
He knew it would be easy for her to find him, but it was still fun to try. He couldn\'t help but smile and waited...

[Idrial]

Keara finally reached counting to thirty and swiftly turned around looking for any sort of sign of which way he would have headed. She looked carefully on the ground and found a very light dust print and smiled and started to walk north. Her heels were making noise against the stones and she silently slipped them off, only her skirts swished silently against her legs as she looked for Malken.

She was then lead towards the main walkway, she smiled and put her hands on her hips. He was a clever boy indeed; there was many footprints within the dirt. She kneeled on her knees and examined the dozens of footprints that were imbedded with the pathway. She looked for the freshest ones and began eliminating them one by one, after several minutes she spotted his footprint, only half of the print was there and she set off eastwards.

She walked slowly keeping her head on the ground, at first she could see no footprints what so ever on this pathway and wondered if she had gotten it wrong. She turned to go back when she saw a footprint on the rock and smiled broadly. So that is how he did it, instead of walking on the path he used the rocks. She whispered to herself with a smile.

"Clever Boy."

She looked along the side finding a footprint here and there till they simply vanished from the rocks. She screwed up her face a little and began looking around the surrounding area, nothing could be found and she placed her hands on her hips and began to think. She then slowly turned around with a smile on her face and looked towards the tree.

"Oh your a very clever boy aren’t you Malken, Come down here before you break you neck."

She was smiling at him as she spoke.

[DeathsAngel]

"Clever?" Malken asked he slowly stood on his strong branch. He jumped down, landing on his feet as he had done a boy. "That is one word that has not been used in a sentence regard myself in a while. I am flatter that you think I am clever." He smiled and noticed she had disgarded her shoes.
 
 "You had better not loose your shoes, Keara. I do not think your maid would approve of that." He joked. He would have said her father, but her being a ranger, he was mostly likely one himself and that would mean he actually mightn\'t have minded it at all. So he joked of the maid instead.

[Idrial]

Keara looked down at her feet; she had totally forgotten that she had taken off her shoes. She shrugged it off as nothing with a broad smile on her face. She put her hands up high in a sort of shrug and spoke to him a playful voice.

"Oh well and besides I don\'t have a maid."

She walked towards him with a smile on her face, as she got closer to him her foot got caught on the edge of a stone that was sticking out, she tripped and fell right into Malken’s chest. Her arms in instinct wrapped around his neck so that she wouldn\'t fall any further. She looked up into his eyes with a neutral expression on her face. She gave a small smile and looked downwards for she was blushing a little, not being able to say anything.

[DeathsAngel]

Malken smiled at her playful tone. He was about to reply when she tripped over the upright root and fell on him.
 
He quicly grabbed her as he was pushed back a couple of steps. He helped her stand up again, "you alright?" He asked, his arms still around around, and would probably stay so until she removed her.
 
"For a Ranger you\'re an awful cluts." He joked, finding the silence slightly disturbing, but he couldn\'t but smile a little when she looked downwards, that usually meant she was blushing.

[Idrial]

She looked up at him and smiled for she was no longer blushing.

"Yes I\'m fine thank you; usually I\'m not this big of klutz."

His arms were still around her, it was a very nice feeling and she had no intention of telling Malken to remove them at least not yet. She looked deeply into his eyes with a slight smile still on her face.