Those Who Suffer, Those Who Survive

Agnes

" I thought you'd best like to dine privately...so I set your supper here."

Agnes meekly says to the Knight who was, in her and as in any sound woman's eyes "devilishly handsome".
Agnes Urbach, Jefferey's daughter was the only family left to the widowed man.

"Infact, I do prefer to have supper here...away from any more prying  eyes" Noctis thinks. He turns to the girl standing at the door to his temporary room.

She had her father's build. But she wasn't lanky...more like toned. A tall and fair girl with milky skin and jet black hair reaching her hips. Agnes bit her lips,casting her grey eyes to the floor while trying to fight away the blush when she sensed Noct's full gaze on her.

Till now...the girl and her thoughts had been following the exact pattern of "predictable " that Noctis Delacorix was overly used to. How good looking he was...What shiny armor he wore..My what an intimidating sword! And those eyes! Peculiarly marvellous!

All too old for Noctis to spare the girl a second thought. But seeing his food already arranged on the table as he got in with an empty stomach (which was soon to make its complains known ) Noctis felt gratitude to the girl who was not much older than him.

"Thank you-"he said.

But the girl's stammering cut him off, "You can call me Agnes."

Noctis smiled," Thank you, Agnes. I appreciate the concern." With a moments pause he decided to follow the norms and introduce himself. "My name is Noctis Leiheart. Pleased to be of acquaintance" he said planting a kiss on her hand. Introducing himself by his mother's maiden name was natural to him. He possibly couldn't just go around calling himself a Delacorix.

Before the girl could open her mouth again, the half-demon was done peering into her mind. She was a cheerful girl. Friendly and chatty like her father. But beneath the starry eyes and blushing cheeks he sensed something. Something hidden deep in her mind.... Sadness. And pain? Noctis was certain that's what he sensed in Agnes Urbach. She bore a smile on the outside but was on the inside deeply wounded . And for a moment Noctis wondered by what.

"I hope you enjoy your stay!" She smilingly said. Thinking a moment, she added,"But I gotta say...you've got some timing! Angora is swarmed by people any other time of the year."

"Swarmed?" Noct asked with a tinge of amusement. Why would people "swarm" this far out...

Her eyes glistened as if she had been expecting him to question back-almost counting on it ."Well, swarming to see all the fresh snow we have ofcourse!"she said with the zeal of a comedian delivering a killer punchline.

Though Noctis only nodded his head with a curious"Ah... I see." The girl was giggling with laughter.

And when she smiled, the joy somehow seemed to reach from her lips to her eyes. Something Noctis had seen in but a few.

As the girl began to chuckle at her own subtle joke Noctis had another thought."She's a pretty girl." He blankly told himself. It was...a fact spoken to him more than a thought.

People had traits, some, many or less. Vice and virtue both. The traits of people were just pointers to Noct. They were bits and pieces of information which he never really contemplated or considered for long enough to leave any impact on him.
There was a gap between them and him. A distance visible only to his eyes...a wall he himself had put around him to contain his secret from the world. So when it came to socializing with "normal" people, Noctis was awkward at the best of times.

Agnes was pretty. Perhaps the prettiest girl he had seen. And that was pretty much the deepest impact a woman had had on him till then.

But what was exceptional about Agnes was her smile. It was a genuine, carefree laugh which read the person to be one of good heart.