‘My apologies for calling upon you at such an early hour’ said an even well spoken voice from under the shadowy depths of the dark grey cloak. The figure stood a little short of 6ft in height, but seemed rather slender for all its height – the cloak gathered firmly around its body and held in place by an ornate silver clasp around neck height, and a hand holding the two sides together at waist height. From the way the figure held the cloak around him, it wasn’t clear whether he did so to shield his body from the cold, or to hide himself from prying eyes. ‘Unfortunately in these times there is little that can wait for more appropriate times – especially when one runs the risk of encountering more unsavoury creatures that favour the later hours…’ With perfect timing, at the utterance of those words there came something of a disturbance within the trees some little way off – a loud rustling, followed by a flight of birds taking wing from the tree above. The sound caused the figure to whip his head this way and that, yet he maintained a respectful distance all the same – as if aware of the suspicion his sudden appearance could well cause.<br/><br/>‘As much as it pains me to request your hospitality as opposed to being offered it, might I request that you hear me out in a more sheltered place than this? In these times it seems everything has eyes and ears, and I would not wish to bring any more misfortune upon you and your family than that which you have already encountered…’<br/><br/>Parne wasn’t sure for even a second what the human would do – hopefully the perfectly choreographed ‘disturbance’ would help lend greater credit to his words, along with his knowledge of previous events here. Or, more to the point, his apparent knowledge of events – knowing that humans were often too curious for their own good, and hoping that he could use that to his own advantage.<br/><br/>It didn’t bear to think what would happen to him if he failed…