Northstar Vale In my country, we exchange a pleasant "hello" before asking questions.

A scent twisted among the trees as it came to her, but she did not know it. Mixed in with the warmth of that scent was one she had been trying to track down, but the scent of Ibis was cloying for its sweetness, and it was faint even so. Hime turned her attention to her flank where the man lingered just out of her reach, appraising him with a shift of her eyes. This could have been a guard; there were plenty of such men here. He looked rugged enough for the job, although his hesitation to approach was a surprise, and she could not place his face among those that attended the gathering.

Ibis had not attended the gathering, she reminded herself. Why not assume her current object-of-affection would also fail in such duties? It would explain the lingering scent of the Queen upon him as well as the sweeter notes, those typically ascribed to children fat with milk. So, the bitch had whelped. Good to know.

Hime did not turn to regard him fully, and turned her head so that she was facing away from him, disinterested, as she had been standing when he'd arrived. But she did speak, and her voice filled the grove—soft enough to sound like Reiko at first, but deepening with an ominous undercurrent. Hime need not hide her identity any longer, not now that the empire knew of her.

If you seek my sister, she is busy playing nursemaid to her royal brood. Hime explains. Should you not be with your Queen? As she drawls this, she begins to tidy up the fallen petals, creating little clusters of pink with careful drags of her paw across the stonework. Or perhaps she has tired of you, like the others — oh, that little jab was perhaps a little premature; but she enjoyed the moment regardless, feeling the flutter of glee in her chest as she made the remark. Hime did not know for sure if the Queen had been loose with her affections, but she had her suspicions, and besides, this was one of the few methods of entertainment available to her. It did not matter to her if it was true or not - just that the seed of doubt be planted.