She’d been at the party for ten minutes and considered it ten minutes too long. She wandered around, not bothering to put on a more pleasant face for she cared not for how the others perceived her and even less for making political connections. She hardly believed in real connections and would rather set the halls ablaze before she putting together sweet words to make someone think a certain way about her. She was bearing her fangs in a way they would never expect a lady of the owls to do so, and the fact that she could do it still without her signature scowl made people more wary of her.

She walked in circles throughout the party and those who followed her with their eyes were reminded of the stalking habits of wolves. It was hard for anyone to see her with soft feathers when there was only a fierce predator moving amongst them, slinking, quietly, more and more like a fox as they continued watching. The glances and the whispering eventually forced her to circle towards the edges of the halls, moving out to the terrace where only a handful of people were.

As she looked over the terrace balcony, her attention was caught by the gardens, more specifically the ponds sprawled out in thick crescents, like a path of the waxing and waning moons travelling around the neat tufts of roses. She leaned down on the railing, drawn to the shimmers of the pond water without realising it was happening. The ponds looked like giant slices of punch bowls, filled with a variety of different coloured waters, with chunks of red, yellow and deep blue in the form of bulbous water flowers, smaller pink and white daintily petalled flowers scattered amongst them. She melted against the railing, strangely moved by the beauty of them as lanterns and moonlight licked the water, leaving streaks of gentle light.

“Did the people bore you so much that you’re moved by the peacefulness of a garden?” a voice below her asked.

She looked down to see a man standing below her, all too familiar with his grey eyes and long black hair, pulled into a high tail of silk threads. She blinked and he chuckled, moving away from the wall where he had been leaning.

“Are the guests of my party that terrible to be around?”

“Yes.”

He laughed and she found herself spurred into emotion by the sight of it, his amusement beautifully painted into the scene of the gorgeous ponds. She found herself also laughing.