INTERMISSION - Ari & Seloria
“Thank you,” Ari responded with a smile. She never turned down compliments, especially when it appeared they were genuinely given, and offered without ulterior motives. “You are dancing in the second half?” If her guess was incorrect, it would be corrected, but it seemed a reasonable assumption. “What is it that dancers say, as breaking legs seems a rather dangerous wish to offer?” The ones in her hometown, she recalled, had simply cursed at each other before going on stage. Performers were such a curious breed.
When the girl introduced herself, though, Ari felt her smile falter. Lady Cassul? Now that she was looking for it, there was something a bit familiar about the features, too, and the accent was almost exactly the same. She thought, unbidden, of Lille, of her insistence that Aspel was a Lady; Ari had laughed it off, at the time, as Lille had a tendency to be wrong about such things, but... “It’s... a pleasure,” she managed, using every bit of acting ability she possessed to keep her expression pleasantly friendly and her voice smooth. It seemed unlikely to be a coincidence.
Damn it all.
“You are too kind,” she demurred, accepting the compliment automatically now that her mind was elsewhere. “I am quite glad you enjoyed the performance.”