[b]Rurik![/b]

"Announcing: The Hero of Ages, Princess Heron Tiserian!"

Announcing and speaking on behalf of the Hero was his most comfortable role. He let his voice roll, his chest and enunciation conveying the full weight of awe that should be accorded to the Hero of Ages... which was almost as fitting an announcement style for Sayanastia the Dark Dragon.

He wondered at himself. Announcing for the Dark Dragon, disguised as Heron - that felt like something more suitable for a... for a Henchman than a Handmaid. Half his career was about lending his voice and his skill to the lie, but there was the good, honest lie that gave the Princess room to maneuver freely, and [i]this [/i]lie which, well... Perhaps it was most frightening that it didn't take him that much more effort to do. Being an evil butler did not seem such a very long step from being a butler, if you were confused at all. Best clear his mind of that confusion: this was his duty, and the irony was for poets to appreciate.

"Seneschal," said Sayanastia-as-Heron. Immediately, he thought: she didn't get it right. "Ask them their stories."

[hider=Reluctantly, he thought:]
Reluctantly, he thought: But she got it better than right. Injimo got the physicality and mannerisms perfect, Tsane the burning energy, Cair the slouching deviousness, but Sayanastia bought something deeper to the role. She bought the presence of the Hero, the full mythical reputation, the otherworldly air. Everything she did felt like it was happening in a dream, from how she was reflected in every pool of water in the rain-soaked grass regardless of the angle of the light, how the moonlight landed on her hair and caught it up in an ethereal breeze, how her armour and weapon seemed simple, practical, travel-worn - but you could almost hear their [i]names [/i]if you looked at them. It wasn't like being in the presence of Heron, for all her colour and energy and glory, it was like being in a painting of Heron - a moment perfectly sculpted.[/hider]

"The Noble Hero of Ages invites you to partake of the bounty of the Food Bag, and share with us the tale that has bought you to this place so far from home," said Rurik, almost totally recovering from his little moment. "And further, my grandaughter Tsane, who sits alongside, has a particular interest in any rare or mythical animals you may have encountered on your way."

[b]Cair![/b]

What, [i]tell [/i]people? That the Architect-Knight is loose in the stacks? Should she also tell them that the Mercury Golem is loose? 

As far as she's concerned, the Architect-Knight lives there, just as much as Cair does. As much as the Hero's Shadow does, or the Acid Cube, or the Centaur, or - or even the Dark Dragon herself apparently, these days. Of course some of the more normie-inclined Handmaidens might not [i]like [/i]the idea of the Hero's Sanctuary being filled with dozens of roving monsters of previous eras, which is all the more reason to shelter their precious little sensibilities[1].

[1] Or in Injimo's case, sheltering [i]from [/i]her potential to go around getting in fights with everything that ever once put a mark on the Hero, that she might absorb their energy.

Pretty much the only creature she would have raised the alarm for was seeing the Dark Dragon herself, but even that time has passed. Now she wouldn't mention it even if she saw a Fallen Star down here. It wouldn't be neighbourly.