<div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/d/d5/Ayshia.jpg)</div><br/><strong>Who:</strong>Valko<br/><strong>Where: </strong>Center of the Crane Hearth<br/><strong>When:</strong>Late afternoon<hr/><div style="text-align: justify;">Ayshia gave him a smile. It was good that she was no longer so prompt to cry whenever someone proved to be compassionate about the loss of her mother. She didn’t want to cry in front of him and risk making him uneasy. Things were going well, right now and she didn’t want to ruin it. She was  tightening the knot at the end of the braid when she heard him speak of the tea. “Oh, I…ah… fine.” She said with a small smile. “Thank you.” She added, realizing how it was more than just fine. It was quite nice of him.<br/><br/>“It’s my special box, actually. Everything that I keep to give a project something unique is in there. Feel free to have a look for yourself.” Ayshia said opening the small box to reveal its content. Among beads of different colors, there were short narrow bones that had carvings on them and were hollow, some shells from the river that had a pretty shape or color, and small pieces of carved ivory. Having a precise idea of what she wanted to do, Ayshia used the concave underside of the cover to put the pieces she would need for what she had in mind. Blue beads, twice as many as the amber ones, two almost identical bones, and a small ivory wolf no bigger than the tip of his thumb all gathered in the center of the bowl made by the box. The curve had been put there on purpose, sometime after the box was completed.<br/><br/> Ayshia took a sip of the hot tea and gave Valko a smile. “Thank you. I love your sister as if she were my own. She’s so much more than just a best friend.” Ayshia said and her tone was quite obviously affectionate. She did care for Naliya, and hoped that she would be happy with the man she chose. Which reminded Ayshia of the deal and she felt her cheeks prickle and grow warm. She was blushing, that was not good. Using her hair to shield her face from him as she twisted her upper body to get her small needle container. She placed her cup of tea beside her and took the right needle out, while she took a deep breath to try to calm her fluttering heart.<br/><br/>“What kind of project are you working on, these days? Other than the needle, that is.” Ayshia slipped the braid into the needle without much of an issue, and now she hoped that it would to what she wanted it to do. The beads that were in the box were those which had a hole too small for the usual needles. She kept the regular ones in another box. Ayshia took a specific number of beads in her hands and used the needle to guide them onto the braid. The first bead passed without an issue, but the second stuck on the knot that kept the braid tight. “Too small.” She whispered to herself, but then she turned her gaze to Valko, to show that she was listening. <br/> </div>