Hidden Places and Hidden Hearts

[Avian]

Osyris grinned as he listened, amused and delighted by her descriptions.

"Well! I'm glad to hear Rune has a few advantages at least over Acoia. Electric musicboxes may well be the finest virtue of our noble land. Next time you get homesick, I'll have to remind you of that. Although i would to love to know what the music of your people sounds like. Was there much call for it? Or was music limited to strictly religious purposes in the temple where you grew up?"

As relentless as Osyris's thirst for information always seemed to be, it was, if possible, even more intense since she had caught him in such academic surroundings. His keen interest in cultural minutiae had rendered him effectively immune to the power of suggestion. If Kaylin wanted information out of him with any subtlety, it was going to require a great deal of persistence.

[Lady]

Hm, she may have to try a little harder. "We had hymns but we also had a local bard," she said. "He was actually my friend."

And with five words, that aforementioned homesickness hit her like a hammer. It was an almost sudden, visceral sensation and it almost took her breath away.

How WAS Conrad? And...

She tried not to think of Nuo because it always broke her heart to pieces to do so and brought a rush of unwelcome emotions. Perhaps well deserved though. She did abandon him...

She knew she was standing on the precipice of a very dangerous downspin so she gave up all pretense of subtly and did her best to pull back from that abyss by quite bluntly asking, "What music do you like?"

[Avian]

"Hm? Oh, I'll listen to nearly anything. I'm not terribly discerning when it comes to music, I'm afraid. I--" he stopped short, noticing the abrupt change in her demeanor. For a fraction of a second he hesitated, attempting to determine whether it would be kinder to address the shift in her mood or to politely ignore it. On a gut feeling, he opted for the latter. Maybe if he quickly allowed her the diversion she was going for, they could steer clear of what had upset her.

"I adore all sorts of music, but I don't know that I could choose one if I had to. I'm most interested in music that...tells a story, if that makes sense? Not just with words, though. There is an old tradition from Earth that centers around composing orchestral works based on folk tales. Listening to one of them is like searching all the colors and voices of the various instruments to see if you can tell what's happening and what secrets they have to tell you. The Peer Gynt Suite, one of them was called. Scheherazade was another, that's my favorite. But then I also like music that tells stories with the lyrics themselves. Ballads, like you said. I like it when the music tells me something about the person composing or performing it. It's like any other art form that way. Does that answer your question?"

[Lady]

If she hadn't already liked him, that would have certainly been a cincher for her. Kaylin grinned widely. "Yes, very much so," she said. "I think you would have very much enjoyed listening to the bards of my homeworld. They told fantastic stories with their songs. In truth, I miss that part a lot. It's hard to find music that does it similarly here. At least, I've struggled to find anything."

[Avian]

"I'm afraid I'm not the person to ask," Osyris admitted with a shrug. "I love listening to music, but it's the one language that seems to elude my mastery. The Artists District is full of gifted performers, I'm sure we could find you a new favorite. My brother might know where to look. Ah, here we are!"

He offered her a radiant smile, gesturing to the myriad of plants ahead of them. Beautifully landscaped hedges, bushes, vines, trees, and trailing flower beds accented at points by tasteful and informative signposts unfurled before them in a quaint labyrinth of colors and scents.

[Lady]

Kaylin beamed happily at the sight and rushed ahead to crouch down and get a closer look at one of the beds, breathing in deeply. "Oh they're beautiful!" She stood back up, beaming. "It's gorgeous! I love it here." She reached out, fingertips brushing against the leaves of a small tree. "This really reminds me of home. Please tell me this is open to the public! I want to come here regularly."

[Avian]

"Of course," Osyris replied with a smile. Her joy and enthusiasm sent a strange warmth through him--a feeling that made him want to go out and find a million other beautiful things to show her so he never had to stop seeing her this happy.

"Like everything else about the University, this is here for the benefit and betterment of the citizens of Rune. You're free to visit as often as you like. But if you have any hesitations about coming here alone, of course, we could make a point to come here when you visit me on my breaks....? Assuming, of course, you had any intention of doing me the pleasure of visiting again."

[Lady]

"Of course I will," Kaylin told Osyris, turning with a half smile. "If you'll have me, I would love to visit you. It'll give me a chance to practice my cooking and baking." She giggled. "As long as you don't mind being my test subject."

[Avian]

Osyris grinned before affecting an air of mock seriousness and returning his glasses to his face.

"Miss Kaylin," he stated authoritatively, sliding the spectacles up the bridge of his nose. "I am a man of learning. My life is utterly committed to the pursuit of knowledge. I consider it my solemn duty to help others broaden their horizons, especially if it means tasting all of the home-baked goodies they bring me while I'm grading papers."

[Lady]

Kaylin grinned and really hoped that future endeavors wouldn't be disastrous.

After a bit of time spent lingering in the gardens, she parted ways, with instructions on where and when to meet her. They'd be starting off at the Warrens but assuredly not staying there. "It's the only way I know how to get to where we'll be going," she had explained, apologetically. She promised it would be worth it.

When the time came, Kaylin was there waiting with a wicker picnic basket in hand, dressed in one of the outfits she'd picked up while shopping with Osyris at the department store (a location that delighted her a dozen times over. So many things to look at and such tasty smells too. It was truly the modern day bazaar.) She was practically bouncing in excitement.

[Avian]

Grading papers didn't take quite as long as Osyris had anticipated, so he had ended up with time to briefly return home and clean up a bit. The tweed jacket and glasses had been ditched in favor of a simple clean linen shirt with a deep v neck and cuffed sleeves over a pair of plain but tidy khaki pants and leather sandals. His hair was still slightly damp from showering by the time he reached the Warren, but the light breeze that blew was comfortable and not at all inconvenient. Across his shoulder, Osyris wore a brown leather satchel. Tucked inside and out of sight were a carefully wrapped bouquet of yellow roses and a blue glass bottle bundled into a cloth wrapping for safe travels. He wasn't entirely sure what Kaylin had been looking for when she suggested he bring something to drink, and it had occurred to him that wards of the Acoian temple may have had religious restrictions on the consumption of alcohol, as many faiths did, but his research had yielded tragically little about her homeland thus far. In any case, a glass couldn't hurt.

Such was the pattern of his thoughts as he made his way with long, easy strides to the meeting spot she had indicated. His pace quickened just a bit when he saw her and his face brightened with a warm smile.

"Miss Kaylin!" He greeted her. "We meet again. And you are, if I may, looking even lovelier than usual."

[Lady]

Kaylin blushed, a little too flustered to pick at his choice of greeting this time. "As do you, Mr. Odell."

She glanced at his satchel with obvious curiosity but didn't pry; if there was something in there for the picnic it'd be revealed soon enough. "We have to go for a bit of a walk now, but it'll be worth it, I promise." She had memorized the path by traveling back and forth several times in recent days. She offered her hand. "It's rather dark in places; take my hand so we don't get separated on accident if you will."

[Avian]

Osyris had to bite his lip slightly to stifle a snicker at the misstep on his last name, but luckily for both of them he didn't have time to think too much on it. Or anything else, for that matter, as a certain portion of his ever-active brain seemed to shut down entirely when offered her hand.

"Of course," he answered easily. Nothing to it. Simplest thing in the world. Oh, right, the hand. He placed his own in hers and twined their fingers together, only to find that he was suddenly more intensely aware of his hand than he knew was possible. Was that where fingers go? He was certain he was screwing something up. And now it would be obvious he was overthinking it. There was no recovery. At least it was dark.

"How did you find...wherever we're going?" He asked lightly, hoping to start conversation of a suitably distracting nature.

[Lady]

"It's partly because of you," Kaylin said as she led him through the darkness, her hand squeezing his reassuringly once clasped. Now and then she glanced over at him, grinning, but also quick to keep her eyes on the path as they headed into the confusing, twisting mess that was the Warrens. "You love Rune so much. And no matter how much I miss my homeland, I want to get to know the place I'm living in now. I wanted to be able to see things the way you do."

She was glad the darkness hid her blush. "..Anyway I started exploring. That's something I used to love to do. I was kind of tentative about it at first, but I learned where was safe to go and started to spread out. And I talked to people, mostly people in Piety Lane, and one of them told me about this particular place we're going to. I got permission to visit too. And when I saw it... I knew I had to share it with you."

[Avian]

Surprise and genuine heartfelt pleasure radiated throughout Osyris, a warmness against the night's slight chill. He couldn't help but grin when she mentioned exploring and his love of the city.

"A woman after my heart. It's an expression," he quickly clarified, unsure of how local that colloquialism was and whether or not Kaylin would have taken it as a more literal presumption. "I'm thrilled you've taken to the city so quickly. Truly, I do love Rune. It's my own penchant for exploration that showed me so much of the city so quickly, but even I haven't seen even the majority of its wonders. From the looks of it, you've found treasures I haven't."