There might have been the briefest moment of surprise in his eyes when she declared he had passed the first test.  He had thought to be clever; he had chosen what he felt to be the most beautiful flower, true, but he had been planning on presenting Lady Maki as the most rare and beautiful in the garden.<br/><br/>He pondered over her description of the flower as she led him to Shera's rooms.  This portion of Maki's castle was certainly a more comfortable temperature by normal standards, an opinion he quickly lost as the edge of cold was thawed from his body and replaced by a thin sheen of sweat from the heat by the time they reached Shera's room.<br/><br/>Her sudden appearance nearly caught him by surprise, and he barely managed to square off his stance and catch her before she could really smash into him.  "Thank you, Princess Shera.  Lady Maki's first challenge was...well, truthfully little one?  The flower I picked was not the one I thought would pass the challenge.  The most rare and beautiful flower in the garden?  Well, Lady Maki was in the garden at the time of the challenge, and there can be no doubt that she is exceedingly rare, and most certainly beautiful."<br/><br/>He whispered that last bit with a hint of playful mischief in his voice; he was speaking the truth of course, but he couldn't be sure how Maki might respond to such a statement on his part; she was cold enough without reason to throw up any more defenses around her heart.  He set Shera down again and carefully folded his arms across his chest, glancing briefly at Maki before tilting his head slightly as he peered down at Shera, a hint of a frown furrowing his brow, "A riddle?  So be it then."