Living in a palace didn't suit Hattori's palette, nor could he say he was overly impressed by it's inhabitants thus far. He trusted The Empress' judgement and certainly wasn't of the mind that it was his place to judge who was worthy or not but he'd seen a few things, or lack there of, as he lingered in the shadows. Most notably there were a lot of pretty faces just sitting around and doing the bare minimum to earn their keep. It reminded him of an old proverb. Lazy people have no spare time.

He knew that with the change of rule there were bound to be some teething problems, but he suspected that this had been an issue for quite a while, left to fester like an old wound. Now more than ever he understood why Venom had sought out his service, in order to make her Empire live up to her hopes and expectations a lot would have to change around here. Far more than the innovations Venom had implemented so far, he sensed this was only the beginning.

Stepping out from between the white trees, Hattori eyed the bubbling purple depths with veiled interest. His talons gently clicked against the stones as he slowly leaned down and took a sniff of the water, no matter how thirsty he got he wouldn't drink from it. Of that he was certain. With a muffled grunt he shifted his weight and turned away, looking out at the trees once more. He'd been given no formal orders thus far, given that he was supposed to be resting, but he'd used his spare time wisely. Learning and watching, slipping out to stretch his legs and go hunting when the mood took him. Even at his worst he was still pulling his weight, the wolves of Ashen ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Him and his mom had laid kind of low as the whole "transition slash coup" period elapsed. Cognac wasn't quite sure what the future held, but he did know that his paws were itching for something more. He'd always been low on the totem pole, despite his Klein heritage - which, of course, seemed to be going of style. No longer did anyone care about the former Empire. Now it was all "blah blah gods this" and "blah blah destiny that." Cog remained coolly unimpressed. Lucretia had made it very clear that he was to remain placid and enthusiastic to all of his cousins' faces. As far as he was concerned, things were just peachy keen. In fact, he had laid so low that he didn't quite recognize the hulking stranger that was lurking by the pool. He was used to skirting the edges of polite society - after all, now he was an outcast on every level: mongrel half-breed, horned, and Klein.

At least horns didn't set him so far apart here. Cognac chuckled from the edges of the clearing before gesturing to his own head. "Eh, eh? We match!" No use in stirring the pot when it was already about to boil over. The least he could do was make friends before auntie Deathbelle came home and chased the foxes out of their nest... or whatever else was coming next.

Hattori turned, eyeing the new comer with a cold and calculating gaze. The greeting was far more chirpier than he'd anticipated but given the boy was still a youngster he tried not hold it against him, though despite himself a disapproving twitch of his brow still made it through. The boy had a point, somewhat. Like him horns adorned his crown, though he only had one pair and they weren't quiet as straight set as the shinobi's. He was awfully small though, even for a yearling, and Hattori imagined he didn't have much growing left in him. Though he had no knowledge of the boy's heritage he could sense there was something amiss, his floppy ears the most obvious sign that he wasn't all wolf. Not that Hattori cared all that much, good breeding could only get you so far after all. And given what he'd heard about most Klein's he felt they were rather lacking, to say the least.

Hattori finally blinked.

"In a sense, yes." His tone was flat but not unkind, he held no ill will against this little one.  "Did you need something?" It seemed like the natural question to ask, given that he was hardly ever sought out for social chit chat.