[ He is generally reserved, despite his outwardly friendly demeanor, but that trait — one that grows more pronounced as the years pass, though now he still possess a more youthful sort of enthusiasm — does not mean that he is a man of secrets. Whatever questions she asks of him, he answers without any apparent attempt at hiding the truth — he is loathe to lie under any circumstances, and here, especially, there's nothing to be gained by hiding anything from her. (Admittedly, some of the stories he tells of his lineage sound like the stuff of fantasy, as though he had made them up, but such is the way with Elven histories.)
As they come to a stop, a last pause before the evening is lost to celebration and navigating the ins and outs of two courts' respective codes of etiquette, he looks at her again, his gaze thoughtful, and certainly less apprehensive than it had seemed when the Targaryen delegation had first arrived in Lindon.
She looks about them in wonder, and he looks in a sort of bittersweetness — an awareness, again, that he is about to leave home, that his responsibilities henceforth will mean that he will not be able to return as much as he might like, that his kin and his friends will be all the more distant to him, that he is, in essence, now meant to begin a new life. But not all partings are of sorrow. There is now a new world opening to him, and a greater burden of duty than that he had shouldered in the service of the High King. Mixed blessings, he supposes, and ones he must make his peace with if their future is to be a truly happy one. ]
No, my lady, thank you for taking the time to seek me out. [ Words demanded by politeness, but words he means, as well. He feels hopeful, now — excited, even — about the journey that lies before them. He needn't have worried, or at least, he needn't have worried so much. ]
I think we understand each other better, [ he continues, as he studies her features, as though to freeze this moment in time, to keep the memory of it through what troubles are inevitably to come (not in the bond between them but what will face them when they arrive at the Red Keep). ] It feels as though we have only just begun a conversation, one that I intend to see through as well as I can.
[ Taking a step back, he offers her a bow, though he adds, ] I suppose there is little point in saying farewell, but— may this be a happy evening, and may there be many more to come.
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As they come to a stop, a last pause before the evening is lost to celebration and navigating the ins and outs of two courts' respective codes of etiquette, he looks at her again, his gaze thoughtful, and certainly less apprehensive than it had seemed when the Targaryen delegation had first arrived in Lindon.
She looks about them in wonder, and he looks in a sort of bittersweetness — an awareness, again, that he is about to leave home, that his responsibilities henceforth will mean that he will not be able to return as much as he might like, that his kin and his friends will be all the more distant to him, that he is, in essence, now meant to begin a new life. But not all partings are of sorrow. There is now a new world opening to him, and a greater burden of duty than that he had shouldered in the service of the High King. Mixed blessings, he supposes, and ones he must make his peace with if their future is to be a truly happy one. ]
No, my lady, thank you for taking the time to seek me out. [ Words demanded by politeness, but words he means, as well. He feels hopeful, now — excited, even — about the journey that lies before them. He needn't have worried, or at least, he needn't have worried so much. ]
I think we understand each other better, [ he continues, as he studies her features, as though to freeze this moment in time, to keep the memory of it through what troubles are inevitably to come (not in the bond between them but what will face them when they arrive at the Red Keep). ] It feels as though we have only just begun a conversation, one that I intend to see through as well as I can.
[ Taking a step back, he offers her a bow, though he adds, ] I suppose there is little point in saying farewell, but— may this be a happy evening, and may there be many more to come.