A New Start

[Kysis]

Kysis was making graceful strides, carried so smoothly by his muscled but not bulky frame, tuned from one too many battles.  He slowed next to her, though, his usual long, airy gait clipped just enough so her own pace could be matched with none of the fluidity sacrificed.  His eyes were focused ahead, even though one was truly not focused, just facing that direction, until she mentioned how her shoes were not great for this, drawing his gaze towards them.  Because of the long skirts, he couldn’t exactly see them, though he could imagine, considering the not perfectly even cobbles.

Romans made much better roads than that.

He made sure not to comment, as surely the Romans had made it that far north, just as the roads in Kreos further south and east were smooth, Roman fare.  The Romans made great roads.  Despite his pride as a Greek, that was where his family really came from, the far northern reaches of the Roman Empire, moved down to take control of those provinces captured in Northern Greece.  Kysis mused on this for a little bit, focusing on the road again as the apology came and—

It was absolutely reflex, battle hardened nerves responding instantly to the change of sound, both of voice and feet, and he spun just enough that when she fell in to him, she wouldn’t just slide off and hit the ground.  If he had been paying better attention, he would have caught her entirely. “It’s no problem…” He murmured under his breath, as her apologizing about falling on him.  Kysis wished he was quicker, had seen it, but that brought a whole flood of other regrets and resentments he did not want to deal with right now, had not dealt with yet but was putting of yet again.

Now was definitely not the time for that heap to come crashing down.

Shutting down the part of his mind threatening with that, Kysis concentrated instead on the sound of the Captain’s voice, on what she was saying, and on perhaps making their conversation a little less awkward.  The formalities of a lord would do him no good here, sadly, so it took some scrounging about his brain to make anything come out.

“You’ve done lovely in heels until now.  I think it’s the surface.” It was a start.  A feeble start.  But a start.

[Existentially Odd]

"I\'m glad we\'re agreed," she chuckled wryly, giving up on being thoroughly independent and ladylike and instead getting a good grip on her skirts and hoisting them a little higher so she could see the road before her.  Displaying her ankles thus was not the most ideal thing to do, but she didn\'t think it mattered in the muted lighting, with her other ankle\'s well-being at stake; she didn\'t want to be facing her few days of work with injuries that might prevent her from taking the lord and his daughter out camping.

Because she was concentrating on where she was walking, she didn\'t initially notice that silence had arisen around them, but she eventually became more confident with keeping in her own space and realised he wasn\'t talking.  Were they awkward together now?  Was it because of the events at the party or because she\'d fallen against him?  She supposed it was the former and decided not to harp on potentially problematic topics.

"Is there anything in particular you would like to do when we head countryside?  Do you enjoy hunting of any particular sort or would you rather Pandora not see such things and we stick to streams, waterfalls and shady glades?" she enquired good-naturedly.  Putting herself in his place, she imagined she\'d have a daughter who was interested in being self-sufficient by Pandora\'s age... but the realised that she really couldn\'t put herself in his place, because perhaps she wouldn\'t.  It was hard to tell what sort of parent one would make until one became one.

[Kysis]

Talk of the planned camping trip, out into the wilderness, brought him out of the thoughts which had been tumbling through his mind despite earlier attempts to avoid such things.  It was probably time he finally mulled over the events of his last days in Kreos, but it did not seem like the right moment, now, when walking Lam home.  In fact, it was entirely the wrong time.  Kysis was glad for the distraction Lam provided, the place it took his thoughts, which was far, far from his lost Greek home.

Kysis glanced up.  His gaze, though one-eyed, had been distant, though it seemed locked on the uneven cobbles.  He glanced over to her, a small smile flickering across his visage.  For a moment, it felt as though a small weight was lifted off his shoulders.

In his opinion, Pandora had seen enough violence for a lifetime, and he did not want her to ever have to see blood or death again.  Sheltering her from everything would get both of them absolutely no where, as death was unavoidable in the end, but still... Mentally he said no to hunting.

"I thing the glades and streams sounds more akin to what Pandora will enjoy." And what I will, for that matter... Kysis did not finish his stream of thoughts aloud, instead deciding how to phrase it, and not saying it at all because of that. "Tranquil and relaxing, yes?"

He wanted to explore the countryside and get to know it better.  Lam seemed the perfect person to help him do such.