[ even if ness were to notice his tardiness, she wouldn't mind overmuch—she's not terribly concerned with anyone else's punctuality, only her own—but she's been too absorbed in her reading to pay attention to the time. when caius arrives, she's sat prim and proper at a table with a book in front of her and notes spread out in some kind of organized chaos. at the sound of his voice, her head lifts to look at him immediately, but there's a furrow in her brow and a far-away look in her eyes that takes a few blinks to clear.

if she's a demon, she's not a very frightening demon. ]

Messere Caius, [ remembering who he is and why he's talking to her, and gaining no small measure of enthusiasm as she does, ] hello! Whatever you prefer is fine.

[ can't please people if you have something as gauche as preferences, after all. ]

Let me make room. Since we were going to be discussing Tevinter, I thought I should brush up, [ she explains, closing her book and making a tidy stack of notes to place atop it, clearing the table for caius to sit opposite her. ] I must have got carried away, I didn't realize it'd already been an hour.