Well, he is accompanying her for now, so it would be Yazad’s responsibility to be of help should she need it. If she needed it. The fact remained that she is the one who helped him, and that was one more debt that he owes her. The passive did not quite forget that she had let him borrow and try on her earrings all these years ago.
Every time Niccolette spoke, Yazad looked at her with an expression that was more than just a polite smile. She reminded him of a home that he had left behind, in a land that was more beautiful to him than Brunnhold could ever be. Her Bastian accent was even heavier than his, and the man wondered if it is because she had simply lived longer than he did, or because he spent most of his childhood was spent conversing with others in more than just one language.
"My goodness. This makes our meetings, both of them, seem rather fateful now." For what purpose he was meant to cross Nicoolette’s path under such unlikely circumstances twice, Yazad was not sure. The passive merely knew, with a bright smile still dancing on his lips, that he welcomed it. Who is to say that he is not merely eager for company that will not ditch him for theories about roses and plums. If only real roses and plums were involved. But no, it was just theories of them...
A spark of interest instantly lit up in the spring-colored eyes at the mention of Vienda and ‘The Rose’. The former he had naturally heard of, but not the latter. Such a name prompted an alluring mental image of a place swathed in greenery and roses in full bloom. A tea garden somewhere, maybe? The very thought made him inwardly giddy while he relished the view provided by his mind, a hand resting on his round cheek. "I am afraid that I have not been to either one of these, although I would so love to see The Rose." Yazad chimed dreamily.
"Ah, I had wondered back then if you would be present in other balls. Alas, that was the last one the master had attended before he boycotted them completely.” It was not even a well-kept secret in a society entertained by scandal and gossip that Sophronios Logarchon had ceased to show his sulking face in social gatherings ever since that day in the Agathangelou Ballroom. Some whispered about their speculated reason; that the man was far too angry about how a young woman slapped him after he repeatedly -and harshly- refused to return her interest, others shook their heads and said that the Logarchon family denied their son further interactions with the gentry in fear of more humiliating incidents happening. If Niccolette had not been to Florne since then, then there was a chance that she did not get involved in that tattling business.
"We have moved here during spring, as the good master has secured a teaching position in Brunnhold. I sadly did not make myself familiar with most areas in The Stacks, alas." He still, at the very least, got decent at making the trip to the grocer’s and the nearest tailor without taking many wrong turns. Every now and then, Yazad allowed himself a glance at his companion’s motions within the proper limits of not staring openly. She carried herself with such assured confidence that also looked effortless. The passive himself was not lacking in self-confidence, but not when it came to navigating the streets of an unknown location.
They had emerged out of the alley to the low buzz of movement and spoken exchanges. This was hardly as busy as the shops are going to be in the day, so he was thankful to be out at the time of relative calm rather than later. Curiously, Yazad took in his surroundings, in what could be a futile attempt to remember how to get back to this area should he need to for some reason in the future.
"The good madam mentioned a bookseller, so may I ask for what purpose? I must say that you do not strike me as quite mad enough to be a scholar, although I only have one point of reference to make that judgment." Yazad asked playfully with a chuckle, feet still following the pace that Niccolette was setting. She was a smart enough woman to understand whom he was referencing, he hoped.
Now And Then, Here And There