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Only slightly away from the Snow Palace at Holdine Strane lives the nobles of the court. Those who do not have or even some that do have areas they are in charge of find refuge from the rural life here. Court life and intrigue abound. It is here that nobles young and old, rich or poor have townhomes that allow them to be near court.

In such a place is House Zima, a regal townhome that is the residence of the Companion, first class Dimitra Zima. She is also a minor noble from Deica whose father married his Companion. While often not acknowledged as a noble, she does indeed have as many friends and enemies as one would suspect. Her home is rich and lavish, despite the times of war, and she is a prosperous Companion even if no one is certain how exactly she obtained that wealth.

Alci nodded and let Nicholai take her hand, but she was looking with concern at Mistress Zima...and at the blood on her sleeve. "Is she gonna be alright?"

She finally turned back to Nicholai, ready to follow him wherever.

Whoa...was that...her room? No way. Everything looked so...soft...and comfy...there had to have been some mistake.

She felt her eyes drawn to his as he took her other hand and spoke softly. They traveled up his face, to the unruly locks of hair, to the...sailor's hat?

Her eyes moved down. Sailor's shirt. Knee shorts. She hadn't taken much notice of just what he was wearing in the carriage...from where she'd been sitting, she could hardly see it. But now, that he was standing right in front of her...she sniggered.

And couldn't stop laughing.

"No, it's not-!"

Alci ran after him, grabbing him from behind to keep him from getting away from her, both arms wrapping around his torso.

"It's this..."

Still firmly holding him with one arm, she reached up with the other and plucked the sailor's hat off his head. With a flourish, she plunked it down onto her own. "There we go, now you don't look ridiculous." She paused a moment, waiting, thinking about what he had said. Now, Alci couldn't tell what romance was if it hit her over the head, but she liked Nicholai an awful lot.

"Can't say I've ever seen you before..." Alci said, her voice growing softer than it had ever been. "But I feel like I've known you a lot longer than a day."

She let go of him, finally, so she could peek around him to peer up at his face, that ridiculous hat still on her blue crowned head. "And I'd like to know you lots longer than that, even."

And he left her outside his door, a goofy grin on her face as a hand slowly came up to touch the place he had kissed. She was still wearing that hat...

Finally, she came to, and hung the hat on the handle of his door. He'd find it there, hopefully. He was probably gonna need it...though why in the world would anyone have to wear a hat like that? Must be some weird test or something.

Oh, man...was Mistress Zima going to make her wear funny hats for a week for her test?

Putting the worry aside, Alci headed back to the room Nicholai had said was meant for her, intent on exploring it thoroughly. She began looking forward to lunch for more than just the food...wait.

Where was lunch, and when?

Alci's nose didn't fail her. She smelled food!

And it was from that gleeful scent, rather than from knowledge of a time or place, that she made her way through the house, pausing to sniff a time or two as she followed her nose to the place of eating lunch.

She took several wrong turns, and had to backtrack, but eventually she found her way to the room Nicholai and Maria were in. She smiled at Maria, and gave Nicholai a big grin, but wasn't quite sure what to say.

Two men, one near a window, the other standing a good seven feet behind him. The standing man was dressed in the uniform of a servant, standing tall and straight, with his hands held behind his back. He cleared his throat slowly, trying to get attention of the man at the window.

The window watcher was quite, rotund, his blond hair slicked back, showing long, pointed ears, perhaps showing elfin ancestory, his golden eyes were locked onto a spot far across the street. His mouth and lips were glintening iwth traces of grease and drool, his mouth salivating, but not because of the discarded and ignored plate of braised phesant sitting beside him.

"Sir?"

A loud shush came from the man's bloated face, his tongue lolling outside the corner of his lips.

"Sir?"

"Shush!" he snapped again, waving a hand of sausage fingers at the man. His lips pulled into a greedy smile, and his eyes twinkled.

"Seigfried."

"Yes sir?"

"Get me my cane and coat," finally the man turned from the window, sparing only one last glance at the home that had drawn so much of his attention, "We're going for a walk."

"Indeed Urchin..." He laughed before Maria bapped his hands for opening his mouth while eating even if it was for uncontrollable laughter. "Smorry.." He mumbled and went back to chewing, swallowing before looking back at Alci. "You'll get to meet the tutor after lunch. He would have come earlier but he went to the old house."