Cinderfall

Luce

Iynx padded her way up onto the wall where Luce had already sat perched.

"Anything new?" The bird muttered without looking up.

"With our little prince? No, just the regular willy-nilly of court." The cat stretched her back languidly as she settled beside the bird. "They have finally gotten rid of those infernal hoop skirts in the court. All to the good I think, that phase lasted utterly too long. Those poor girls couldn't even get through the expanded doorways without two helpers to push them through. Can't say I am fond of the new ribbon tassel things the dears are tying to their ankles, but at least it can't be considered a safety hazard."

"I'm glad to see you are observing the important matters." The bird replied dryly.

" Oh yes, I have been quite the impartial observer." The cat chuckled, "And I can see you have been just as low-key. I didn't know that little maiden of yours could use telepathic speech. Certainly I haven't heard any memos of this development. I wonder why Miss Seraphine would hide those reports of yours from me? I would've thought some form of notice would have been relayed, but it seemed the poor thing was just as shocked about my existence as I was of her?"

Naturally birds cannot blush, but the golden spots on Luce's wings brightened to the point where that was the only natural conclusion.

"It wasn't my fault," Luce muttered, "The boy could see me plain as day, and even outed me! I had to give him something. What would you have done?"

"Told Seraphine for starters." Iynx purred.

Luce ruffled his feathers anxiously. "I doubt that."

"Then me at least." Iynx temporized. "Having someone stare straight into my eyes and threaten me is not the most comfortable feeling in the world, and I had just come from the most amazing sunbeam patch. So nice and warm, and a little freckle-faced boy to scratch my back. I swear he scratched an itch that had been irritating me for decades."

The bird simply shook his head at her as Iynx stretched herself into the best position to feel the sunlight.

"You changed forms again." He commented slowly.

"Of course! Can't sit and relax at all in that castle as a mouse. Too many angry scullery maids with brooms. I couldn't get one minute of peace. Far too hard to do any real sleuthing. So what are you doing about our little maiden? I see you made a bond with the lass, I assume that means you have a plan for her?"

Luce shrugged his wings. "You know he's a man right?"

"Pish!" The cat made a mock swat at the bird. "I'm referring to one's heart, not simply what's between their legs. Your duke is just as much a maiden as my prince is a love-struck fool."

Luce glanced down at the two men in question. It was at times like this where he was annoyed by the limitations of a bird's form, for he could not grin in the way a mammal could. His beak twitched slightly at the attempt to move muscles foreign to the form.

For a dullard, the boy could sure be interesting sometimes. He was already adapting the skills he had learned on the trip here to increase his fighting capacity. Thin little wisps of energy were wound along the hilts of his daggers and his wrist like invisible threads. The confusion could be seen on the prince's face whenever he tried to forcibly push the knives out of Ashford's hands and found that they would not budge. Without the use of magic, it was doubtful that the blades could be removed from the duke's grasp regardless of whether or not he was holding them.

He was curious how long Ashford could hold that ability up for as it seemed to pulse erratically depending on what action the man was taking, but the fact was it was holding for now. The prince's face looked nothing like a love-struck fool but was instead sweating with the physical and mental effort of fighting Luce's truly adept little pupil.