[center][color=thistle][h2]Lady Grey Coulbourne[/h2]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/xk6Gp0A.jpg?1[/img]

Interacting with Maria Sky, Tiras Sky, and Emerin Hyland
[@Nallore][@BlackPanther][@MrMonsoon]
[/color][/center]

Grey enjoyed the idle chatter she shared with her escort as they walked together through the crowds. Nobles approached them more than once, most giving her a cursory glance before turning their attention to the man beside her. Her ears perked up when she heard them refer to him as 'Lord Emerin Hyland' before he inevitably shooed them away. It seemed he was brother to Lord Hyland.  So, this man was to be her family. It could've been worse. He was kind, charming, and he indulged in her games. If he was any indication, perhaps her family wouldn't be awful – but only if that family included Fayne and Linara.

She smiled coyly when Lord Emerin leaned down to whisper to her before pulling her towards a tall, broad back. The figure turned to reveal a handsome, but dark looking man. Grey almost stilled at his severity. But then he looked at Lord Emerin and smiled. The effect was immediate, warming him and shedding years from his face. Grey couldn't help her own little smile at the sight. 

[i]"This is my nephew Tiras Sky,"[/i] Lord Emerin said, and Grey's eyes snapped up to him. A Hyland bastard.

What was the description she'd been given of her fiancé? Fair skinned, and dark haired. That very helpfully narrowed it down to [i]the entire Hyland family[/i]. He was younger than her, she knew. Tiras Sky certainly did [i]not[/i] look younger than her, but the forest gossip said the Lord Hyland had a multitude of bastards. Had she been sold off to some child? Well, maybe caring for a child husband would help her practice her mothering for her girls.

…She really should've paid more attention to her father when he'd told her about her betrothed. A name would've been terribly useful for finding him.

Grey was pulled back to reality when Tiras took her hand and placed a gentle kiss to the back of it. She gave a demure smile as she nodded at him in turn, a blush already beginning to warm her cheeks. Tiras turned back to his uncle to speak. A moving tuft of orange on the ground caught her eye, and Grey looked down to see a [i]fox[/i] of all things sitting before her. Her eyes lit up in delight and she raised her free hand to wave hello to it when someone seemed to tackle Tiras from behind.

Her eyes shot up to see a young woman appear from behind him, beautiful and with the same stark coloring all Hylands seemed to share. Grey raised a playful eyebrow as she saw the woman eyeing her up and down, clearly sizing her up. When she introduced herself, Grey nodded in turn and opened her mouth to say her own name when Maria called Tiras her twin. 

She blinked at the two of them, looking between them.

[color=thistle]"Twins,"[/color] she said to herself, clearly lost in thought. Bastard twins, just like her girls. An idea came to her then. She tilted her head to the side, still looking at the Sky siblings. [color=thistle]"You must be treated very well, for your family to have allowed you to attend the princess' festival,"[/color] she said. It would've never been allowed in the Vaernin Forest. Siring a bastard was considered a disgrace of the highest degree. They were lucky if they even survived past their first winter, let alone to be dressed as finely as these two and taken to royal events. But… perhaps the mountain folk were different. [color=thistle]"Is this normal for Hyland bastards? There's no shame in it?"[/color] Hope was a solid, desperate thing in her chest, seeded and growing, roots twining into her very bones as she thought of her daughters. If bastards weren't a shame, perhaps she could convince Lord Hyland to bring her girls to Hyland keep. She could raise them and care for them and never miss another day of their lives. They wouldn't grow up in a society that hated them.