“<span style="font-style: italic">Deshna</span>?” came Reid’s only question at the flash of a small, decorated scroll.<br/><br/>“So be it,” the desh answered, placing his hands daintily on either armrest to lift himself to his feet. Reid stood after him, without so much grace as his sovereign, and his chair made a horrible dragging sound against the floor beneath it. He’d apologize later. Aloth only spared him a sidelong glance as he seemed to float past him, gliding across the floor as if he bore so much less weight than Reid despite the likeness of their bodies. At once, he seemed to give pause and abruptly stopped in his tracks, forcing Reid to almost run into his back. The desh didn’t seem to mind this at all, merely bypassing him to double back and curl his delicate fingers in the wisps of hair that stuck out haphazardly from spots on the demon’s head. He held it face-level with Reid, offering him a small grin that the two would normally share if they were in the company of only each other. “I imagine I might want this.”<br/><br/>Reid shook his head once, as if to shake off the desh’s insatiable love for making light of things that absolutely should not be made light of. Funneling behind the royal cadre, Reid picked up his step to fall in tow with Aloth. His voice dropped, his eyes nonchalantly tracing along the fine architecture and art that surrounded them and focusing on none of it in particular. “I don’t like-”<br/><br/>“I’ll be fine,” Aloth said, flatly. It would have sounded harsh - and indeed, it<span style="font-style: italic">did</span>- but the desh turned to him after the words left his lips and graced Reid with a smile. It was only a platitude and Reid didn’t buy it, but he wasn’t in a position to form a reasonable argument against the desh -<span style="font-style: italic">Ghenish’dryll</span>- going<span style="font-style: italic">anywhere</span>alone.<br/><br/>And so he stopped short of the doors, letting the desh glide away from him. He almost winced as the two dark wooden doors shut him out. On a deep sigh, Reid hung his head and put his hands on his hips, kicking at the floor with the toe of his shoe before turning to the veiled servant that had so closely accompanied Seledora. She sat perched upon a stone bench, hands folded politely in her lap and her back straight. Seeing no other option aside from hunkering down and sitting back on his haunches, Reid perched beside her - a respectable distance away, to be sure, but close enough that she could hear him when he muttered, “She likes her secrecy, doesn’t she? Your high priestess?”<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>-<br/>desh - the crown of the dark elves (often lovingly dubbed 'deshna' as a term of endearment)