They eventually arrive outside of Cara's office, and she sees Cara once again glance nervously between her and the boy. The boy is looking off into space.
"Oh, Mizuki, you may be interested to know that this is my office. What do you think?" (Cara)
Right, the boy's name is Mizuki. She remembers her sister mentioning that earlier. Still, she wonders, why would this Mizuki boy be interested in an office, and why would Cara be so invested in what he thought of it?
Alyse notices that Mizuki has yet to respond, and when she glances at him, he seems oblivious to Cara's question. She isn't the only one that notices his distracted state.
"Mizuki?" (Alto)
Mizuki snaps his head towards Alto, and his expression becomes confused.
"Uhm…sorry, Alto, did you say something?" (Mizuki)
It's the first time that Alyse has heard him speak, and she's thrown by how strange his attitude towards Alto is. He's apologetic, but she expected him to behave like a young boy who'd just been admonished by his teacher for sleeping in class. Instead, his tone is more like that of a distracted parent who'd just noticed their child trying to get their attention.
To her surprise, Alto does not seem to find his response condescending in the slightest. If anything, she appears worried. However, Cara quickly takes a step towards Mizuki to grab his attention.
"No, it was me. I was letting you know that this is my office. I spend a decent amount of time here, writing letters, signing official documents, and taking meetings. Would you like to see?" (Cara)
Alyse notices Cara glancing between her and Mizuki nervously. Then, realization dawns on Mizuki's face, and he nods apologetically to Cara.
"Sure, that sounds great! Sorry for spacing out, Cara." (Mizuki)
Cara smiles reassuringly to him with a dismissive gesture, then moves to open the office for everyone, but Alyse's head snaps to look at her sister in shock. She has several questions floating to the surface of her mind.
Are Mizuki and her sister close enough for him to be addressing Cara so casually? Also, why is Cara acting so weird about the office again? She also notes the reemergence of her sister's nervous behavior due to her presence. Does Cara really want her gone that badly?
As Alyse mulls over these questions, Cara begins leading them around the familiar office. As they move around the space slowly, her sister needlessly details the histories of some of the displayed items. After a few minutes, she stops near the office desk and gestures to the banner on the wall behind it.
"This is the Egris family crest…keeping it hung behind the desk here is traditional, even though it covers all this perfectly good wall space." (Cara)
Alyse balks at Cara's unbelievably pointless comment as she glances over at Nedonera, who is wearing a pained expression. What is her sister thinking? Can't Cara see that Nedonera is borderline irritated at this point? How much longer is Cara going to subject an Elder Dragon to something that's obviously boring her to death? She's never known her little sister to be so dense about matters like this.
To Alyse's surprise, Mizuki chirps in with an inexplicable enthusiasm in his voice.
"It's a lovely crest, so I'm sure the wall space isn't wasted." (Mizuki)
"Thanks, I appreciate it." (Cara)
Alyse glances back and forth between Mizuki and Cara in confusion, who appear to be smiling at each other. She doesn't know what the hell is going on. Perhaps her sister is just nervous hosting someone that can destroy the city on a whim, but she can't bear another minute of these tedious interactions. Especially when they seem to be straining the patience of said city-destroyer.
Alyse lets out a deep sigh and directs a bewildered gaze at Cara as she shakes her head.
"Seriously, Cara? You're boring them with our family crest now? I can't believe you implied that my behavior was inconsiderate to them...this is painful to watch." (Alyse)
She catches a smile on Nedonera's face out of the corner of her eye, which eases some of the tension that had built up inside her. However, her sister looks less approving of her outburst.
"Alyse...dear sister...could I speak to you outside? Lady Nedonera, please feel free to make yourselves comfortable here, I'll just be a moment." (Cara)
Alyse groans internally. She's sure that her sister wants to lecture her, but she wonders why Cara can't see that leaving Nedonera in here with nothing to do is a bad idea. Nonetheless, she nods her acknowledgement and follows Cara out of the office. Her sister turns around to face her as the office door closes behind them, then Cara crosses her arms disapprovingly.
"Alyse, how many times have I asked you to be polite around important guests? What are you even doing tagging along on this tour anyway?" (Cara)
Cara stares at her expectantly, somehow looking less annoyed than her words suggest she'd be. Alyse gives her an incredulous expression in return.
"You're kidding, right? Look, I admit that I'm not a fan of the Prima or most of our family, and some of the nobles even grate on me at times, but I assure you that I have no desire to offend these people. On the other hand, you seem like you're trying to bore an Elder Dragon to death. Don't you see how annoyed Nedonera is becoming? Call me impolite, but I just didn't want a walking, talking cataclysm to start viewing us as a nuisance because you felt the need to tell her the entire history of every trinket we own." (Alyse)
Cara's eyes go wide in surprise.
"That's…surprisingly sound reasoning. Perhaps I jumped to conclusions a bit, so I apologize. I'm glad that you fully respect the gravity of the situation, and I appreciate that you were trying to help matters in your own way. Nevertheless, I need you to trust me to handle this situation. Please refrain from any further outbursts like that. I have a rapport with these people, and I promise you that Lady Nedonera won't be a problem." (Cara)
Cara's tone isn't condemning, and her apology seems genuine, but Alyse can't help but find her sister's response a touch condescending. Especially the part about her helping 'in her own way'. She's also annoyed that her sister practically admitted that she was right about the dangers of agitating Nedonera, yet didn't feel the need to justify this total confidence that it wouldn't cause a problem.
Still, she bites back her impulse to make a sarcastic retort. Whether she agrees with Cara or not, she knows her sister well enough to accept that challenging Cara's opinion further won't change anything. By dragging out this lecture, all she'd be doing is further annoying their god-like guest waiting around in the office.
Alyse forces a smile to her face, and nods at Cara.
"Very well, if I have any more concerns, I promise that I'll express them to you privately. I apologize for the outburst. If that's all, I suppose we shouldn't keep your guests waiting." (Alyse)
A look of shock flashes across Cara's face, and Alyse wonders if her sister was expecting that she'd argue the point. She's briefly confused, then she remembers that there are more important things going on right now. She pushes the concern aside for the moment, and she reaches for the door to the office.
But before she can open it, Cara's hand stops her abruptly.
"Wait!" (Cara)
Alyse snaps her gaze back to Cara in confusion, only to see a frantic expression on her sister's face. However, Cara seems to realize that her behavior was strange, and quickly calms herself.
"Ehem…sorry, I meant to say that you didn't answer my other question. Why are you even tagging along on this tour? You haven't expressed an interest in joining any of my meetings in centuries." (Cara)
Alyse eyes her sister suspiciously for a moment, then she shrugs.
"Perhaps, but you know as well as I do that you dismissed me from your guard detail centuries ago. That hurt, but I came to terms with your reasoning, and I've tried to respect your decision. Believe it or not, I really do want to support you. Regardless, the guests of this meeting are far more interesting than any I've attended in five millennia. Honestly, I regretted not getting to go to that royal announcement with you." (Alyse)
Her sister's gaze seems to soften briefly as she nods her acknowledgement, as though the news caught her off guard. After a moment, though, Cara seems to realize something, and her face becomes quite serious again.
"That's understandable, I suppose. By the way, you didn't say anything else to them, did you? Before I noticed that you were following us, that is. I believe that you wouldn't do something intentionally offensive, but…" (Cara)
"Well, no? I'm a little miffed that you don't trust me to avoid offending her, but I never had the chance to talk to Nedonera. She was next to you the whole time, remember?" (Alyse)
Cara shakes her head impatiently and narrows her eyes.
"No, not her, I'm talking about the others. What about Mizuki? You didn't say anything to him, did you?" (Cara)
Alyse gives an incredulous look to Cara.
"Him? You can relax, I barely spoke to the boy. What's the deal with you two anyway? You seem surprisingly casual with him. He seems like a sweet kid, so I'm not judging, I was just surprised is all." (Alyse)
Cara freezes and her face goes pale, and Alyse stares back at her in confusion. Cara's eyes lock with Alyse's, and her voice is so hesitant that it's almost a whisper.
"B-boy…k-kid…you just…oh god. Alyse, please tell me that you didn't call him a kid out loud. Did he or Alto hear you say that? You said you barely spoke to him…that means you talked. I need you to tell me, right now, what words exactly did you say to him?" (Cara)
Alyse gives her sister a suspicious glare.
"I don't really see the issue, since he's clearly a human teenager, but no…I never referred to him like that out loud. I only spoke to him once, and I don't remember exactly what I said. When he noticed me following you all, I just jokingly asked him if there was room in the tour for a second outcast. He wasn't offended, though, he just laughed and told me to join them." (Alyse)
Cara's knees look like they're about to buckle, and she grips the door frame beside her with a hand. Alyse thinks she hears Cara mumble something like 'of course he did', but she's not sure. After a moment, Cara breathes shakily and looks back up at her sister. Alyse just watches the whole scene, dumbfounded.
"Alyse...you have no id-" (Cara)
Cara looks off abruptly, like she's listening to something, then she sighs.
"Nevermind. Just…please…don't make any more jokes to Mizuki. Okay? For now, we should get back to our guests before they get bored." (Cara)
Perplexed by her sister's sudden rollercoaster of emotions, and realizing she got distracted and forgot about the bored Elder Dragon next door, Alyse just nods agreeably. She figures that she can question Cara about her strange behavior later.