Alethea took the cloak that the guard - a woman, the North was very different and surprising indeed - had offered her and proceeded to wrap it around Baego's thin, shivering shoulders. The young lad seemed to have momentarily forgotten his discomfort at the biting cold, his eyes wide in awe and fascination as he watched the lady guard move away from their caravan. Alethea's lips quirked into a slight smile at the boy's reactions. She ruffled his hair to divert his attention back to her. Baego grinned up at her and then instead of wrapping himself up warmer in the stranger's cloak, Baego started to examine it. Alethea doubted that the young Southern-born lad had ever seen a wolf in real life so understood his excitement over the cloak. Being a boy he was probably hoping to actually find bloodstains on it.
Athelea's eye followed the guards' movements outside the caravan as the group of travelers slowly made their way to the Wintershouse. She hadn't wanted to attract any attention - though she knew that her aesthetic beauty would do enough of that anyway, even if she did cover up as best she could. The fact that she had, although inadvertently, gained the attention of one of the guards much irked the skilled thief. Her plan had been to lie low in the northern capital, stash young Baego away and keep him safe - the lad's curiosity often led him to wander about - and wait until her employer contacted her with further information about her next heist.
Alethea was fussing around Baego - she had survived many cold days and nights but the lad was from the south and had likely never experienced weather as extreme as this - when a man's voice addressed her. Turning to face the stranger, Alethea was surprised to find she was being offered a white bearskin. Whereas the cloak now wrapped around Baego would indeed fetch a few golden coins, the one currently being presented to the thief could have fetched a fortune. Two expensive cloaks offered to Baego and herself? Clearly the stereotypes of stiff and morose northerners was wrong. Alethea felt the familiar tingle in her fingers when confronted with something exciting to steal, but she dismissed the thought as soon as it had passed. The handsome man before her looked important - maybe the commander of the other guards? Stealing from him would be an incredibly foolish thing indeed.
The decision whether or not to accept the offered source of warmth was taken from Alethea by Baego standing up and accepting the cloak. He smiled at the stranger in thanks before turning to the young woman and wrapping it around her person, just as she had earlier done for him. Alethea's lips curled slightly, the lad really was a sweet one. Then Baego proceeded to save her from answering the stranger as well - for which Alethea was greatly relieved. She hadn't made a plan for being questioned as she hadn't expected the blizzard to lead them right into the path of the castle's guards. Her usual behaviour concerning guards were to avoid them at all costs, blending into the shadows and never been seen.
"Ma and I thought we good get work up here, sir. There's none to be had down south right now."
Alethea was impressed with Baego's quick response, but then again she had always known the lad was very clever. He was a great lover of words and one day hope to be a great wordsmith and playwright. No doubt the boy's mind was already forming a backstory for the two of them - now apparently mother and son. Alethea just hoped Baego's imagination kept their the lies they would be telling believable.