Mr. Blue Sky

A single “HA” passed through the koi man’s grinning lips when Aslatiel commented on Hattori’s outward sour demeanor. She didn’t say anything untrue in his opinion, he’d told his cousin time and time again that he needed to lighten up but he seemed determined to keep his ‘cold and steely’ impression. Whatever floated his boat, it seemed Venom was buying into it anyways. He wondered briefly if he was going to become an honorary uncle soon.

He noted her comment on the disposition of wolves and wondered which kind she was. So far she’d seemed pretty open, but the man had been fooled before by a pretty face. It was always the petite and alluring ones, he supposed, that were likely to do that most damage from his experience. They often caught others unawares, using their charms to reel in for the kill. They were often best used for one of two things; a diplomat or an assassin. He glanced at her briefly before looking forward again as they walked.

An aud turned in her direction as she began to speak of the pack relations around them, his golden gaze taking in the training area she’d led them to. It reminded him a lot of the training area they had back at Ashen, complete with weapons and practice dummies. He gave a small rumble of approval. He noted the names she doled out and the placements they were in. Though he didn’t have a face to match to them yet, he was sure he’d weasel his way to it at some point. After all, weasling and nosing was what he did best, it was literally in the job description. When she finished and mentioned that Sirius was her father he gave her a surprised glance. He hadn’t been aware he was in the presence of ‘royalty’.

“Are you sure you don’t want me calling you my lady? Or would your highness be better? Perhaps even princess?” he said, his voice lilting to show he was clearly teasing her. Those in Iga had frequently called him ‘my lord’ because of him placement in the line of succession, though he himself had usually told them to ditch the honorifics. Raijin was just a man, after all. A handsome, dazzlingly charming and intelligent man, but a man all the same.

The heir asked if he had questions, telling him he could have learned from Venom, or possibly even from the Armada diplomat who apparently had markings like his. This surprised him and he instantly knew that they had to have been from the same area he’d been born in. “I think you’ve summed everything up quite well. I did talk to Venom about Ashen’s relations with the other packs, but I’ve always found it better to get different perspectives. There is truth in rumors and lies,” he said with a wink. “Where I come from it’s not terribly uncommon to have these markings if you’re nobility, though the more markings you have the ‘purer’ your lineage and the higher up the totem pole you are. What’s her name?” there was a possibility he knew her, but it wasn’t like he knew everyone in that area and certainly not everyone he had an in depth knowledge of.