bethen avilla ; the circle mage (bethe) wrote in thedas,
It was more of a relief than she realized to find Kendric on the opposite side of that door. Beth exhaled slowly and felt her own smile come easily, actually amused at how flustered the young man was, even though she pitied him just a little for it. She wasn't sure how he was supposed to address her now, either, though she would have settled simply for her name. Upon further inspection, he looked like he had either been roused from sleeping or...crying, maybe? His face looked a bit puffy, hair messy and his shirt was on backwards, and she wanted to fix everything about the poor templar. He had to have known by now, about Maddock, and Trevan. They were his brothers, one of them his mentor, and they hadn't come back to their rooms. She wondered if someone told him, or if he had simply figured it out on his own. Part of her wanted to comfort him and reassure him that both men had been noble throughout their trial, and the other part of her wanted to take the opportunity to flee before the person she was looking for did come back. Her smile softened as she started to speak, "Oh, I was just--"
And then she heard someone's approach from behind her. Before he even spoke, she could tell it was Aurin; there was a certain way that he took each step and a way that he moved that she just...knew, even if he wasn't wearing his uniform (coincidentally, neither was she today; after her morning encounter with Signy, she had decided to change out of her old robes and into this plain dress, just to see what it was like to be someone different). Bethen visibly winced at hearing her name, though that wouldn't have been her normal reaction if circumstances were different. A look of confusion passed over Kendric's face at her expression, but she flashed a smile at him and muttered, "Nevermind. Thanks." The jerk of her head was gesture enough for him to step back into his room and close the door again. Slowly, she turned around, inhaling and exhaling slowly, trying to maintain that facade of calm and composure, instead of just flinging herself at Aurin and possibly even bursting into tears again. Or anything else that would have been too strong of a reaction.
"Well, I haven't been looking for you," she replied jokingly, trying her best to remain in as positive a mood as he seemed to be, before she had to submit to the gravitas of the situation. She smirked, not quite looking at Aurin, and waving her hand at the shut door, "Obviously, I was here to harass Kendric for sport and amusement. It's a new Warden privilege." While she was doing her best to avoid making direct eye contact with him, Beth noticed that his hand was held behind him and her jovial expression suddenly fell. "What's that you're hiding?" If he had brought her a present, she hadn't been expecting to exchange gifts, and felt quite crappy about not to have anything for him in turn other than bad news.