"Then Avery is a very smart girl. You should listen to her more." Dinah chirped while she waited. She thought about the other woman for a moment and it brought a smile to her face. "I quite like her, you know. I'm sure it's rare to find a woman who speaks her mind like she does around here." Or anyone who spoke their true feelings or intentions, but Dinah left that little bit out. A distrust for his people was something that she had grown up with and even though they would both try to appreciate each other, that lack of trust would likely not go away. War tended to do that to people, it seemed.
When Cayden promptly stood up to call her bluff, Dinah looked forward and straightened her shoulders stiffly. She hadn’t expected for him to actually be so bold. Well, he seemed like a bold sort of man in his own right, but not in this way. It would have been expected for any Serpeinte man to jump at the opportunity to undress a woman, but it didn't really seem to be the Avian thing to do. He was clumsy with his hands at first, but managed to hold his own after a painful few moments of stumbling. The poor man probably hadn’t ever so much as touched a woman’s dress let alone removed one. It made sense, given the practices of his people, but she couldn’t imagine having not been as free as she had in life. The Diente had never been comparable to the more loose women at Court or the Nest, but she was by no means untouched. Not sense she was fourteen years old, anyway. Just as she started to reminisce about the past and what had lead her right to Deccan, she felt the warmth of Cayden’s skin against her own and it brought her back to the here and now. What did he think of her? Her culture had to be just as well known to him as his was to her, and Deccan hadn't done very well when it came to concealing his true intentions at the peace meetings.
Just as she was about to turn and face him and possibly even ask about what he thought, he began to fiddle with the hair at the base of her neck. She stood still instead of turning around. It was probably for the best anyway. That wasn’t a conversation the two of them really needed to have at that particular moment, if ever. The past was in the past and there was no changing it. That was probably the one and only thing they wouldn't have too much trouble dealing with. Any fun she may have been enjoying with her guard was over now, so it didn’t really seem all that important. Dinah was a woman of her word and she wouldn’t entertain the company of anyone else. This wasn’t a romantic promise they’d made to each other, but that was beside the point. Sighing, she let her eyes close as Cayden looked for some sign of scales at her neck, seemingly amazed that there was nothing. The very mention of the black armor mixed with the fact that she was alone in a room with a Hawk was enough to make her feel the pressure under her skin that meant the aforementioned scales were trying to surface. Dinah fought against the urge and smiled at the thought of him being so interested in her...anatomy. It was a completely different kind of anatomy that he was interested in, of course, but she found the thought funny regardless.
Cayden stepped away before she had a chance to answer and she turned towards him to see that he was pointedly looking away from her. As she thought about feathers and scales, Dinah walked over to where her bags were sitting by the bed - the contents of which still hadn't been put in any proper storage as of yet. Still holding onto her dress with one arm while it slipped off of one shoulder and threatened to fall completely, she knelt down and rummaged through the brown leather bag for someone that would be good to sleep in with her free hand, a thoughtful and distant look in her eyes. Thinking back on it now, she probably should have spent just as much attention finding the right things to wear outside of the ceremony as she had for the gown she’d wear during it. It wouldn’t have been as important if Cayden wasn’t there. He wouldn’t care what she wore if he wasn’t there to see it after all, but now that he was there… strange, how she felt embarrassed. Logically, it didn't seem that something so unimportant as clothes were really going to make a huge impact on what he thought about her now. It seemed like they’d already gotten passed that. “I suppose it’s the same with your wings. You're people can use them even when you don't change all the way into a bird. The sensation of both my scales and your wings suddenly coming to be would be about he same.” She stood up and slipped her arms out of the red gown off of her shoulders. It fell to the floor around her feet in an untidy heap of thick red fabric. She slipped her night gown over her head in a quick motion, pulling her hair out from underneath the garment as she did. It wasn’t the worst thing she’d ever worn, but it was rather short.
The soft, silk-like fabric fell only just past her thighs. It wasn't inappropriately tight or revealing aside from it's length. The sleeves were long the neckline was in a modest v-cut. At least the color wasn't too wild. Maybe that small miracle would be appreciated. Dinah had seen several of the Avian people wearing the same off-creme white color during the ceremony, so the woman felt confident about that at least. By the time she was dressed, the Thuuli Thea was still turned around and looking in any other direction he possible could except in hers. He offered to leave, which prompted her to take a few steps closer to him, but she stopped herself before the two of them were too close again. Red eyes jumped to the bed briefly and Dinah thought - probably quite selfishly - about how much she didn't want to spend another night away from her home alone. The only time she'd done so in a very long time was at the Mistari Territory, and it hadn't been pleasant. It was a childish quirk of hers and quite irrational, but the Cobra couldn't help it. "You could stay, if you wanted." Dinah tried her best to sound detached and neutral about the subject. Heavens forbid she sounded desperate or, even worse, sounded like she expected more than just the reassurance of his company. This was the Hawks Keep, after all. No place would be safer than near him.
"I...I don't think even I'm brave enough to spend the night alone. Not here. Not yet, anyway."
So much for not sounding desperate.
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