She wasn't sure what to expect when he took her hand--would his touch be warm like a mortal human's, or cold as ice? At first, when slender fingers enclosed her own, it was faint, like the brush of a summer breeze. As he gradually gained substance, the shadows falling away from his body, his hand grew cool and solid, decidedly inhuman but not nearly as unpleasant as she had feared. He appeared amused by her feeble defense of the ones who had raised her, even seeming to insinuate that she had been little more than a commodity, a source of labor and eventual sacrifice. Beyond the faintest scowl that flickered across her expression, however, she would keep her thoughts to herself. The baring of lupine fangs unsettled her, reminding her once more that as at ease and familiar as Dwyn might have acted, he was a world apart from her own kind. He seemed satisfied by the offering that was made, but she wasn't nearly so naive as to think he placed any more value in her than the village had.<br/><br/>Despite her apprehension, even she was awestruck as the frigid winter night suddenly gave way to a warm summer dusk at his command. The snow receded into nothingness, replaced by a rich carpet of greenery that was soon disturbed by the feet of other fae, smaller in stature and grandeur than Dwyn but no less fantastic, and no less alien. After the somberness and desperation that had been hanging over the ritual, their sudden festivities were jarring. The villagers, already haggard and fearful, seemed to huddle together as they beckoned them to join, even as a few of the younger children were staring at them, mesmerized.<br/><br/>Alyss, for her part, was more concerned with the fae immediately in front of her, as his other hand came up to her face, fingers gliding across her jawbone as he brushed a strand of hair from her face. She couldn't stop herself from tensing as he cupped her face, all but forcing herself to look him in the eye as he regarded her. He had noticed her eyes, surely, something that had always set her apart from the rest of the village even as a young child. Striking, maybe, but to many, unsettling. They always said such a trait was bad luck, and she wondered if that same stigma existed among creatures as fantastical in design as the fae. He had taken the offered tribute regardless, so perhaps it wasn't as strange a thing to them as it was to her kind.<br/><br/>She shut her eyes and tried not to squirm as he daubed a mark of ichor on her brow, the act catching her by surprise even after the ritual that had just been performed. She would have little time to dwell on it, however, as no sooner had he spoken to the crowd of humans did the clearing erupt in vibrant celebration. Music was coaxed from strange instruments as creatures that could have been part of the forest itself were set leaping and dancing, cajoling the villagers into joining them. After struggling to survive the winter, the sudden aura of leisure and merriment caught many off-guard, but the air the revelers put off was almost infectious. Their hardships had ended, at least for the moment, and a difficult and awkward matter had finally been resolved with their bargain. Alyss would refrain from joining in, however, too caught up in her own thoughts and worries for the festivities to have much effect on her. She didn't know what to expect from a life of service to a fae lord, and it was perhaps that uncertainty that disturbed her the most. She had never liked<i>not</i>knowing, and found it both unsettling and a bit frustrating that she seemed to be the only one worried about it.