someone point her out, she would have missed her completely.
Now that she was looking closely at her though… It wasn’t as if she was poorly dressed for the occasion—quite the opposite in fact! Her dreadlocks were up in a fancy twist and she had the loveliest sequinned dress on but… Mina squinted at the dirt around Arina’s knees.
“Professor Arina, did you… trip?”
“Oh what?” Arina gulped down a finger sandwich and laughed. “Oh yeah don’t worry about it! I’ve been tripping a lot but I just haven’t been this tall for very long, y’know? It takes awhile to adjust.” She laughed again.
“You haven’t… been this tall for very long?”
“Um uh yes, tall as in, I mean, because of the um… the high heels! Y-You know?!”
“Ah yes. I take it you don’t usually wear those as a scientist.”
“E-Exactly,” Arina scarfed down another sandwich. “My ears! These are really good, have you had them?!”
“I live here…”
“Oh yeah obviously!” Arina laughed again. “So how might I assist you, Miss Mina?”
Miss Mina? She decided to let that slide. “It’s been brought to my attention that you arrived with a certain guest to my party.”
“O-Oh?” The professor gulped audibly. “Has he um… bothered you, or…?”
“Nothing like that, relax. I simply wish to know who he is.”
“Oh!” Arina laughed. “Oh uh sure! He’s um, a friend from Lion’s Arch. We work together.”
“You work together?” Mina frowned. “Isn’t he a banker?”
“OH YEAH ABSOLUTELY! OF COURSE! HAHA!” The professor laughed even louder. She sure laughs a lot. “He’s totally a banker, yep. Very much that. He just um helps me… sometimes?” There was a nervous energy to her voice.
“As a scientist.”
“Yeah.”
“A banker helping a scientist.”
“Y-Yep.”
There was silence as the two stared at each other.
Then Lady Mina opened her mouth to speak and—
“You-know-if-you’re-so-curious,” Arina piped up over her, speaking at breakneck speed. “You could ask him about the details yourself!”
And before Mina could object, the frenzied scientist hastily shoved her towards the fountain near the center of the garden. There was her enigma, having some silly water
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