She blinks forcefully, as if she’s not sure what she’s seen, when he appears. Her reaction amuses him (as it was meant to) and he smirks, albeit gently. He’s allowed to do so little for his own enjoyment; so rarely is he able to do something without the kingdom necessarily gaining anything, that it’s quite the novelty act when he can. Of course, he doesn’t mean to scare Everdeen. He’s hardly cruel enough to actually mean to frighten anyone. But that’s not to say he wouldn’t chuckle if she had jumped even a little more.
She doesn’t, but she does seem rather taken aback by his greeting. His brow creases in confusion when she calls him kind. Hadn’t his been quite the normal greeting? It makes him wonder how the other kingdoms are treating their visiting diplomats these days if his welcome had been out of the ordinary. He doesn’t know that Everdeen is relatively new to this whole peacekeeping thing – if he had, perhaps he might have understood her delighted surprise. Ramiel smiles again when she explains herself further, explains more about her chosen home than she might realize. So the Valley is slow to attend to those who wandered into its borders? Interesting, to some degree. It’s always nice to know the varying amounts of activity of the other kingdoms, after all.
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Everdeen.” The grey stallion nods his head, cementing his greeting. “Well the Dale has always been rather fond of visitors. Perhaps we’re simply more enthusiastic about foreign company than the Valley.” He grins, golden eyes shining mischievously. If the grey paint knows anything of her home, she will get the joke. The Valley has never fully embraced anyone outside of its own members that he’s aware of; the murder pit sculpted by the will of one pink queen is only the most recent example of their exclusions.
She moves on quickly after that, revealing herself to indeed being new in her role as a diplomat. Ramiel isn’t shocked by this, but the barrage of questions spilling from her mouth soon after are a surprise. His eyes widen, teasing her with the shock on his face. But Everdeen dips her head, looking sorry for her own eagerness. Not wanting the pretty lady to feel abashed, Ramiel is more than happy to answer all her questions and assuage her worry. And if it will coax a smile from her, well, he’ll consider it a bonus.
“No harm done, Everdeen. We seem to share the same wild curiosity.” He says, and means it. He’s wanted to dissect the world and learn its inner workings since he was born into it. “The Dale is special because it is like a family (not to mention the fact that half of us are actually related). We put our needs as a whole before those of the individual.” Mostly true, or at least it’s what he wants to convey to the outside world still. “We are like most other kingdoms I think. We have an army and a peace-keeping caste, as far as member responsibilities go.” One question stumps even him, though, so he asks. “Which kingdoms have changed hands lately?” Is there something he needs to know about? As to the last question on her list, he answers easily, some part of his youthful pride shining through his words. “And as far as our ruler…you’re looking at him.”
Ramiel
ghost king of the dale