>>5635296“You look… Quite nice, Mister Long.”
“Wang, pleassse,” you say, quickly affecting a reassuring smile. “The persssonal name isss a sssign of closenesssss here, yesss? You used it before, and I rather enjoyed that… Eka.”
Ekaterine flushes ever-so-slightly, not so dramatically embarrassed as before, and nods slightly.
“It is an, ah, unusual attire, I must admit,” she notes. “Is it traditional, in the… Um… Where you come from?”
You nod, since it might as well be—‘Long Wang’ comes from nowhere.
“Isss yoursss?” you ask, blatantly, scanning her from hat to footwear and back again. She shifts slightly, as if to cover herself, and her blush deepens a little.
“Ah! Haha… Well, not precisely, no. Local, but not… TRADITIONAL, entirely. There is a boutique, called ‘Lacewing’, which I sometimes purchase from…”
You nod along, and run your hand over the gauze, just barely brushing her chin. A guardsman clears his throat, and only then do you grudgingly take a step back.
“Shall we?” you ask.
Ekaterine smiles a little, and nods again. She steps forward, straightening her back, and holds out a hand. You blink, and stare blankly.
“You’re meant to… Ah, yes, well, you stick out your arm like so, and then I… yes, like this, see?”
You allow the Princess to shift and move your posture and limbs like you were some man-sized doll. She is shaking slightly with obvious excitement, and when she is done, your own back is straight, your arm out and bent, and she gingerly tucks her own hand and arm through it, to loosely hold to you.
“I ssee,” you say.
You pull her just a little closer, eliciting a squeak and a half-hearted glare. The guards, nonplussed and already exasperated from your antics, lead you to the waiting carriage—a carriage drawn not by a pair of horses, but by a great chimera whose visage makes you momentarily wince when it turns a predatory eye towards you.
