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“Yer gawpin’.”
To his credit, Maxima startled and blushed, quickly returning his attention to picking at his meal - from the energy of this, he clearly hadn’t adjusted to the local spices yet, and Riol made a note to see if he could get the Coerthan delegation to feed the man instead of the Ala Mhigans. “I meant no offense,” he murmured.
Riol followed the line of his prior gaze, and found his expression softening a little; a group of M tribe traders had come by, children in tow, and several Resistance soldiers of the same tribe had come out to greet them. One was swishing his tail back and forth for the younger children to try and grab, and another pair were conversing with hands entwined and foreheads pressed together, ears occasionally flicking against one another. “I’m guessin’ ye’ve never seen Miqo’te socialize among their own before,” he hazarded. Everyone knew what the Empire was like, after all - it wasn’t likely he’d had much chance.
Maxima nodded, looking a little relieved that Riol wasn’t shouting at him for the misstep. “It hadn’t quite occurred to me that there would be anything to see,” he admitted quietly, brow furrowed. “I know how- unfair views in the Empire are. I’ve done my best to try to rise above them, to view the other races as equals. A Miqo’te is no less of a person for having a tail and unusual ears.” He glanced sidelong at the gathering again, for just a moment.
“So ye just ignored those different features?” Riol nodded, settling into a spot at the same table. “And now ye’re here where they live, and they’re not ignoring it at all.”
“But rather celebrating one another as they are.” A look of something like anguish crossed his features for only the briefest of moments - a look Riol had seen before on stranded travelers - but he hid it so quickly Riol doubted anyone else would have noticed. “I thought I was enlightened in comparison to my peers, but- I’ve already learned as much in a sennight here as I would have in years of discourse at home.”
Riol clapped him on the shoulder; he had intended it to be a comforting gesture, but he took note of the way the other man tensed before relaxing under the friendly touch. Coming from such a cold place, you’d think they’d be more cuddly. “Yer a good sort, to be learnin’ from it,” he said, “instead of callin’ us the ignorant ones. A few months, an’ we’ll have yer horizons broadened all the way to the ocean.” At least if he had anything to say about it.