No sooner had she been relieved of her guard shift did she head to her home to take off her cumbersome warrior-wear. She carefully draped it over her back so that she could take it with her to clean. Then, she donned a satchel so that she could pick up any new items that she found while out because her goal was to headdown to the Songwood.
Once she was ready, she headed out. Her head was down and she didn't look at anyone as she passed. There was no point, no one would likely want to talk and she didn't want to talk to them. There was nothing to say beyond enforcing the laws and the rules.
She felt stifled. Like she couldn't breath. She didn't have relief until she made it to the woodlands. There she paused to take a breath of fresh air, filling her legs and finally relaxing.
"Ah..." She breathed out.
Then, slowly, she continued onwards until she made it to a cold stream. She sat down beside it, removed her satchel, and her guard wear from her back so that she could wash it. There were plenty of places to do so within the Dell but none where she felt like she could get away from everyone to do so. It was peaceful here and she didn't have to put up shields, she could just be herself.
The chill of the water had stung through him when he took his initial sip; exactly what he was expecting when he got in, only Tellus knows.
And yet.
The glitter just beneath the current, it catches his eye mid-drink and before he knows it, he's wading into the stream, the fur along his spine standing on-end from the cold. Hushed swears roll under his breath as his gaze darts all around, one forepaw held up in a feeble effort to defend it from the fate of its three counterparts while he attempts to hone in on the trinket in question.
Ah-ha!
He dives for the stone forepaws-first, up to his elbows in water as he splashes around in a panic along the bottom. Twice he loses his quarry, and the third time he practically faceplants into the water before he finally catches it, stumbling back to the shore and shaking himself off.
He flops into an awkward half-sit, holding the stone up between two toes of one forepaw in front of his face, letting the water reflect the light off its uneven surface.
... It's then, that he sees the woman and her armor, beyond the prize he holds and but a few feet upstream.
... And it's then that he dies a little inside, wondering if she's been there this whole time.
Well... it was peaceful here...
The woman washed her uniform until she heard the wild splashing by someone else. She tensed, expecting to find one of the residents of the Dell or a member of the High Court, here to give her more orders and fill her ears with drivel she didn't care about.
Except, that wasn't what it was.
Her gaze shifted towards a lavender man that splashed in the stream in a most undignified manner. A manner much unsuited to the residents of the High Court. It honestly caught her off guard though the muted surprise on her face hardly showed it.
She couldn't pinpoint his breed and she wondered idly if he was a mix like her brother and herself. She didn't know what to say to him really, and opted with a simple brow quirk.
What on earth are you doing? Was what the expression said.
”Umm... sorry.”
He gathers his haunches beneath him to straighten his posture, and his eyes flicker to the glint of her equipment and back to her. She’s a guard, surely esteemed in some form or fashion, and here he is being a weird vagrant going treasure-hunting in the creek.
She seems confused - and rightly so - and in Sax’s desperation to resolve the awkwardness he holds the rock (still firmly in his grasp) back up again, just a little.
”... I saw this in the water, it’d make nice jewelry.”
His words are just loud enough that he hopes she can hear him, and he doesn’t look back up at her right away. Instead he fidgets with his prize, allowing a beat to pass before forcing himself to look again.
Maybe that’s enough of an explanation? He sure hopes so.
She says nothing to his apology, simply offers an impassive mask and a blink. Mostly because she is unsure about him. One could never know the personalities of the vagrants and what they would say or think... although he was proving to be a bit different.
Her gaze shifts from him to the stone that he holds. She doesn't even have to shift forward to bring it into focus, her gaze zeroes in on it. Focusing easily and examining the, admittedly beautiful, stone.
To any other guard, they might have just scoffed at him.
But she?
She couldn't just not admit that the stone was nice.
Finally, after a likely awkward period of silence, she speaks. "Yes. It would." She was out here for the same reason, so she couldn't completely judge him for what he was doing.
Only the manner in which he floundered around.
Her guards uniform was finally cleaned to her liking and she found a nearby stone to lay it across to dry, then she picked up her satchel to loop it around her neck. All done with meticulous calm and quietness, quite the contrast to the man that stood several feet away.
She could shoo him away so that she could have her peace and quiet but why did she care if some nobody saw what she wanted to do out here? No one in the High Court would likely believe him anyway.
"Lots of pretty things out here." The other reason she was here but she didn't add that part as she too began to look into the water and around it, quiet and calm as she looked for pretty things as well.
She's so stoic, it makes him all the more uncertain - at least if she outright dismissed him or something like that, he could cut his losses and skitter away.
But she, at the very least, seems somewhat interested.
He does not do well with 'somewhats'.
The silence between them weighs heavy, so much so that he's afraid to even shift his body where he sits for fear it would make too much noise.
When she agrees, his ears slowly perk.
He holds his tongue (difficult as it is) while he watches her lay out her armor and pick up her bag. Her speaking again, though, is taken as an invitation to continue the conversation.
"Is this where you go when you're off duty?"
But now he's prying and it's none of his business and he finds himself tensing for the fear that he's stepped out of bounds.