|not all who wander are lost|

[Kushiel]

At the risk of sounding productive, Kushiel found he enjoyed the Field. He liked the crowds, and the small dramas that unfolded. It was full of potential, and Kushiel hoped that if he spent enough time there, he might soak up a little of it.

That being said, he did very little recruiting while he was here.

Recruiting, he had found, was very hard work. It required the diplomatic grace he only pretended to have when his queen was watching. Unfortunately for Kushiel, his queen was almost always watching. She had spies everywhere. He grinned a little, she was one knock out of a lady. Kushiel was not above admitting that one of the reasons he liked being in the Field was that it was one of the few places his queen might not be watching. He could commit travesties of diplomacy without fear of being cast out of his kingdom.

This might have been a foolish assumption, but if Kushiel had to always be on his best behavior he would go truly mad.

He was mulling over his potential insanity when he saw two Valley members clustered around an unsuspecting little blue girl. This truly wouldn’t do. He walked over, a little spring in his step and easily inserted himself into their conversation. He recognized one of the Valley girls from her visit to the chamber, the other he didn’t know.

“Ladies, ladies please.” He said chidingly to Cress and Everdeen.

“Don’t lie to the dear girl.” He looked earnestly at Dikaia, though he hadn’t heard her name.

“Don’t let them fool you, the Valley is really quite dull, trust me, I was born there. You should come to the Chamber instead. We have a perpetually burning tree. All the valley has is political unrest.” This was all an intense level of bullshit. The Chamber was actually allied with the Valley. If he was going to suggest a kingdom other than his own it would be the Valley. In fact, his own mother still lived in the Valley. However, he was here now, and perfectly capable of suggesting his own home.

“I’m Kushiel, and I’m afraid I’ve missed your name?” Another easy smile for his new friend, and a conspiratorial wink at mares from the Valley, as if they were in on his joke and would find it as funny as he did.