On her nearly silent slippers she descended the staircase, clad
in dark green velvet and wearing a silver locket on a thick black
ribbon, tied taut about her neck.
The woman looked to be in her early twenties, if that. She was
barely an inch over five feet tall, rounded in figure, more curves than
straight lines. Her shape and the almost medieval cut of her gown
made her appear oddly anachronistic.
She could have been called beautiful by some. Her features
were not perfect, but they had indisputable character. Despite a
seeming coldness about her and a penetrating quality to her
sharply intelligent gaze, there was also an air of strong grief, as if
she'd suffered much.
When the stranger's blue-violet eyes lit on the confused
woman, they softened from mild irritation to compassion. Sweeping
past Derek with an inquisitive glance to him, she lowered herself to
a sitting position beside the other female in the room.
Smoothing her skirts absently, she fixed her attention on Julia,
and for her manner an outsider might've thought they'd known each
other all their lives. "Kat's mind wasn't entirely on the game, so I
thought I'd come down and check on Derek. Not surprisingly, I see
he's got a woman in tears." She sighed almost theatrically. "That's
Derek for you. Last night I nearly died of dehydration thanks to
him." The corner of her mouth turned up dryly for a moment, an
indication she was lightly bantering. Gently rapping Julia on the
shoulder, she asked, "What did he do this time?"
