(Untitled)

[thistledownking]

The gentleman with the thistle-down hair walks the world's edges--between Earth and Faerie, between kindness and cruelty, and now, between both day and night, mansion and wood. As the sun sets in the west, he leans against a crooked apple tree at the very edge of the woods and waits for Tom to give his answer. If a certain magician's wife should

Comments

[notallworthy]

The gentleman may be looking for Tom, but would the pretty young woman coming towards him work? She is dressed a wide skirt and a man's shirt, moving around clumsily in her barefeet. After a while she reaches the tree and bows. "Hello, sir.

[thistledownking]

The gentleman senses that something is off, rather as he had with Alfred, but he can't quite tell what it is. "Hello, young woman. You are rather lovely, aren't you?"

[notallworthy]

"Thank you, sir. I came as you told me and I wanted to tell you that I have thought it over thouroughly."

[thistledownking]

He looks at her anew, then, and walks around her in a state of excitement. "Could you be Tom Jones, the very Tom Jones with whom I spoke last evening? This is not your proper shape at all--!"

[colored_gowns]

While the weather has been so fine, and the gardens so lovely, Arabella has indeed taken to wandering at times out of doors. What luck (though certainly not for her) that this should be one of those times. Her eyes cast upwards, perhaps admiring some of the late spring foliage, she does not notice the gentleman.

[thistledownking]

And as quickly as thought, the gentleman will be walking alongside her. "The evening is almost as beautiful as you are, Mrs Strange, which makes it an especially beautiful evening indeed!"

[colored_gowns]

It startles her more than it might once have, but certainly less than it would any other person.

"It is a surprise to see you," she says, even though she knows he'll know it is a lie.

[thistledownking]

And he does know--he says, pleasantly enough, "I was gravely offended that you left my party early. It really is rude, even among other mortals--the offense to one such as myself is all but incalculable--!"