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As Ilyas walked he looked around, aware that he was heading toward one of the few areas where trees grew in sufficient profusion that it could almost be called a grove or an orchard. He liked the place, and found it peaceful. It was beautiful, and near a certain pool where he had met the most important person in his life. Thinking about her, he smiled to himself and his eyes took on a very relaxed, pleasant expression. It had been such a relief to him to come back from his expedition with a banu and find that Afsar was still there, waiting for him. Just as she had promised she would be. It wasn't that he'd doubted her word or her devotion, but he knew that banus didn't always have a choice, and it had always been a possibility that her father would decide it would be more beneficial somehow for her to end up with someone else, someone other than Ilyas. But that hadn't proven to be the case, and Ilyas continued to be glad and to consider himself fortunate.

Mirsajadi didn't find the walk to the semi-forested area of the pride at all taxing on his strength. In fact, he was feeling energetic and bouncy as he hadn't since he was a very young cub (which made the walk seem very short). And even then there were people who would have argued that he had never been very energetic or bouncy. Not that he was lazy or lethargic or anything like that. He simply didn't care much for childish games. It was more important to him to come across as a mature adult and to impress his father, the sultan's vizier, than to get along with his litter mates and other cubs his age. He still didn't have very many friends, except for one of Faiz's daughters, Arezoo, who allowed him to call her Zoey. She was smart and observant, and even if she was more than a little silly about boys, most of the time she was fun to spend time with. Of course, he let her take too many liberties when they spent time together, and speak too freely for a banu, but it wasn't like he did that for everyone.

Ilyas strode closer, not wholly unaware that his remark had interrupted Mirsajadi from climbing the tree, but not remorseful. The trees would always be there, and sons of viziers should really exchange courtesies when they met. The last time he'd seen Mirsajadi, the striped pesar had been much younger, only just allowed out of the den. Ilyas, on the other hand, had been an adolescent, making ready to set off in search of a banu. Mirsajadi had been old enough to speak, of course, but he'd not been particularly talkative, and when he had spoken he'd been very formal. It had seemed odd to Ilyas at the time, but he supposed that was just the way he was. It interested him that Mirsajadi had lost none of his formality in dealing with other people, just as it interested him that he seemed very ill-at-ease, not knowing who he spoke to. "I'm sorry. I'm Ilyas, firstborn son of Vizier Faiz and Banu Tuliua. We met once before, but that was some time ago, and I've been away since then."

Comprehension dawned suddenly, and at about the same time Ilyas introduced himself. Mirsajadi had been racking his brain, trying to figure out how he might have been expected to know this lion, and when the answer came to him he was somewhere between irritated and mortified. He couldn't believe that he'd failed to recognize one of Faiz's sons, even if it wasn't the son of his beybanu. He still wasn't convinced that they'd met at any point in the past, but he wasn't going to debate the issue. It wasn't worth it, really, and he got the feeling that if he managed things correctly he wouldn't have to converse for very long with him. That would, he thought, be ideal. But then another thought occurred to him. "Of course. I ought to have recognized you before. You're one of Banu Arezoo's older half-siblings." Mirsajadi wondered belatedly if maybe he shouldn't have said that. If he hadn't opened that avenue, this conversation might have ended that much sooner and he could've gone back to tree-climbing.

And the stiff formality was very firmly back in place, Ilyas observed with a very small sigh. He had no idea how rare it was for Mirsajadi to actually feel inclined to relax and goof off, though he did have a pretty good idea of the fact that he'd managed to spoil Mirsajadi's plans simply by happening by and starting up a conversation. If he had known how rarely the other adviser's son got into these moods, he would have felt significantly more guilty about approaching him at all. In fact, he wouldn't have done so had he realized in advance the effect his conversation and (dare one say) interference would have on the pesar. But he didn't know any of this, and could only really detect it in the way Mirsajadi was becoming increasingly stiff and formal with him, a clear sign that he wished the conversation to come to a rapid resolution. "No, no. Nothing like that. I was merely being polite and offering you a greeting. And now I'll bid you good day." That was awkward, he thought as he turned and walked away. He felt like a moron.

Mirsajadi's default behavior was to become exceedingly polite whenever he wasn't comfortable with a situation. He had also learned that being excessively polite was a good way to get out of having conversations he didn't want to have. It sometimes made them uncomfortable enough that they willingly, or at least quickly, concluded their conversation or decided that they were being frivolous and bothering him. In many cases they were, but unless they were a banu it was unlikely he would put it quite so bluntly. He knew better than that, and he despised physical altercations, so it was best not to give other pesars a reason to start them. Not that he always was able to contain his sharp tongue, but so far he'd been all right that way. His method's success almost made up for having his fun utterly interrupted. "I see. Good day to you, too, in that case." He smiled in a bland, perfectly polite way and watched the older lion walk away. Had he just won? Excellent.