bethen avilla ; the circle mage (bethe) wrote in thedas,
If Bethen had spent years being unaware of the notion that Aurin had any interest in her other than friendship, she was definitely oblivious to any displays of jealousy, brief as the expression might have been. It didn't occur to her at all that anyone could possibly mistake her enthusiasm for speaking of Coan (of which she had done a great amount in the last few days, as he wound up being a common contact between herself and others) for anything more than a platonic interest, the joy of having a new friend with whom there was no stigma or lengthy history attached. She would have said the same of someone like Rhocanth or Falina if there was an opening to discuss them, but her mind had gone first to the polite nobleman. It pleased her to hear that Aurin would introduce himself to Coan -- the prospect of Aurin actually getting along with one of her friends (few as they had ever been) for a change was quite delightful to her imagination.
Her own look was one of daring and she should have suspected what he was going to say; still, Beth protested childishly in response, "Oh, not fair!" He had quite a few inches in leg length over her and she was wearing a dress with a full skirt. On top of her improper attire, running was not an activity encouraged in the Tower and she didn't know the last time she actually needed to go anywhere in a hurry. Aurin definitely had the advantage here, although there was still a chance that she could force herself to sprint. She was overthinking this, though, as she usually did. Better just to go with it. She sighed in mock resignation, "Oh, all right. We'll race. But," she paused, a smirk replacing the frown, "What does the winner get?"