bethen avilla ; the circle mage (bethe) wrote in thedas,
In all of the dog's excitement, Beth had been terribly oblivious to the other young lord until she glanced back up at Coan to answer his question. She felt incredibly rude for ignoring him, especially since his decorative dress marked him as another member of the nobility, even before Coan had introduced him. Her smile faltered just for a second as she thought to make an apology, but found that he had barely noticed, and was looking at her in a fashion that she wasn't too familiar with -- or perhaps she simply had never noticed. It didn't make her uncomfortable, just...surprised. She glanced back at Coan with uncertainty, curious as to what he had actually said about her, but forgot the notion quickly. Was Brannan about to say...'beautiful'? She'd never really been described in that way to others -- usually words like 'smart', or 'bookish', 'precocious' and maybe even 'cute' when she was a child, but she'd long outgrown that phase. A blush rose to her otherwise pale cheeks. Brannan had a really nice smile, she observed, wondering if he was always this friendly to everyone.
"Oh, hello," replied Beth as soon as the cousins had finished bantering, intending to answer the questions that had been directed at her. But the Mabari was persistent in getting another treat from her, continuing to nose at her palms until the mage relented, breaking a piece of crunch off and holding it out. After the dog's jaws latched on to that little bite, Beth pulled her hands away from Noa, but not fast enough to avoid getting it coated in a film of dog slobber. She glanced around helplessly; there was nowhere to put that slobber, either. She looked back up at Brannan with a slightly embarrassed half-smile, "I would shake your hand, but um...as you can see..." A mental note for next time: bring a napkin when trying to give Noa a treat. "Still, it is a pleasure to formally make your acquaintance, Lord Rowe," Beth continued, tipping her head in an awkward bow. It felt impolite, but he hoped he wouldn't notice or mind that she had just wiped her hand on the skirt of her robes.
While there was an obvious flirtatious tone to his voice, Beth had no skills whatsoever in that arena. She could only answer in her typically polite, straight-forward manner, "I've been here for about a week now, though it's such a large fortress, filled with so many people, I'm not entirely surprised that we haven't run into each other until now. I've also been trying to spend as much time in the town as the Templars will allow me." It was a bit unfair, as most qualified mages could be allowed to travel unescorted when they had permission from the First Enchanter to leave the Tower on Circle orders, but their situation here was somehow different. Cullen was understandably untrusting, and she didn't feel quite as sorry for herself as she did for the templars, like Aurin and Alderic and Kendric, to have to be glorified babysitters. Still, it was not something worth discussing with Brannan -- he would have been bored to hear about their squabbling, she thought. She remembered Coan's first question, breaking her nervous attention away from the other man to answer him, "It went quite well. Our trip, I mean, though we took the North Road, across the Bannorn. I still have yet to see a city, though Amaranthine is a nice way to ease into highly populated areas, I think."
She then noticed that Coan was looking entirely elsewhere when she spoke, and turned around to see a pretty, young blonde woman, about her own age. It took a second for her to realize that she recognized her from when the Warden-Commander had visited Kinloch Hold two weeks ago. That was the lady from Orlais, wasn't it? Lady Leveque, if her memory of the introductions made by the First Enchanter at their welcoming assembly had served her correctly. She had seen her twice that day, but didn't have the opportunity to speak to her before the group had left the Tower. It was only luck that Beth had found the chance to meet Coan that evening, though she looked forward to being able to meet her now. "Greetings," she said politely, waving as well.