By midday, Timaeus had decided that he no longer had any reason to stay at the relief event. After all, he had made his contributions and there was only so much small talk the man could take for one day. So, even though he found his conversation with the lovely Leventi woman rather memorable, once they parted ways and failed to strike up any other meaningful conversations with the other Barons, he knew it was time to duck out and find some other forms of entertainment to help the hours pass by quickly until nightfall would darken the city.

However, once he stepped outside into the hot Colchian summer air, he wasn't sure where he could go for the rest of the day. One of the most obvious answers would have been his home on the edges of the upper levels, rented from a merchant Timaeus knew. Yet, he wasn't overly eager to do that since he wasn't overly fond of the manor. Not that it wasn't adequate or up to the Baron's standards. It was certainly much smaller than his manor in Eubocris, that was certain. No, instead Timaeus hated how quiet it was, plain and simple, although he would never admit it.

He was just used to the steady presence of his mother and the calming aura of his cousin. Combined, they gave Timaeus a sort of stability and a reason to not be constantly finding solace in the bottom of a bottle. It was only when they weren't around did he find himself descending into his own personal hell. Figuring since they were back home in Eubocris and not here with him in Midas, Timaeus wasn't overly eager to stay tucked up in an empty manor where he'd eventually fall back into his endless cycle of drinking and confronting emotions he didn't want to see until Apollo took the sky from his sister. This may be his coping system, but he was only human and what person wanted to constantly be trapped in their own misery and self-pity for Zeus knew how long?

So, instead, he wandered the city, or what was left of it rather, for most of the afternoon. He just ambled along with no real destination in mind and it was actually very relaxing for the Baron. Before he knew it, the sun was already sinking and it was time for him to make his way to the upper levels before it got too dark to find his way. That was a little more difficult than it would seem if only because he didn't bother to keep track of which turns he made and the direction he came from. It also didn't hurt that he was too prideful to ask for directions. Needless to say, for a little bit Timaeus was hopelessly lost.

It took him an hour just to find his way back to the Dikastirio and even though this brought him back to landmarks he knew, it meant that night had truly fallen. So, much for that plan of not needing to make his way home in the dark.

Perhaps if he had been able to see, he would have noticed the figure covered in a cloak a bit sooner. She was standing all alone and given how stifling the heat was, her outfit probably would have easily set Timaeus on edge as he was a very superstitious man. However, he noticed none of this until the shaky voice broke the night's silence and grabbed his attention.

"Who goes there."

At first, Timaeus was more confused than anything since he knew the voice. This can't be right, he silently thought to himself as he moved out of the sheer darkness and closer to the cloaked figure to see if his ears were truly deceiving him. "Princess Evras?" He asked once he was close enough to see that it really was the member of the royal family. As a vassal of the Kotas family, whom she had married into, Timaeus was very familiar with its various members, thanks to the countless meetings and other events he had attended at the palace. There was no mistaking her dark hair, something that made her stand out among the bark colored hair the family was known for. Though he doubted that she would be quite as capable of identifying him. He wasn't sure if they had ever had a single conversation beyond the polite greetings that etiquette dictated.

Timaeus wasn't thinking about these things, however, instead, he was asking himself important questions. Where was her entourage? Why was she out after dark in the streets of the city? What in the name of Hades was going on... and etc. All important and befuddling things that made Timaeus on edge since they just didn't add up. "Your Highness," He started to say with a clearly confused expression and tone, "Why are you out here on your own?" The wording may be a little blunt, but Timaeus wasn't one for dancing around the point. Diplomacy and rhetoric had been his brother's skills. Timaeus was a military man. It was his job to get things done in the most concise way possible.

However, he did at least recognize that this may have been a little too forward given her status compared to his, so he tried rephrasing so it would seem as if he was prying, "Is everything alright, your highness?" That was a safe thing to say, right? Though, it probably wouldn't matter what the princess said as a response given the situation that Timaeus had perceived. The princess was on her own in a what could easily become a dangerous situation. He was a vassal sworn to her family and had promised to come to their aid in their time of need. Granted this is not what the families had meant when he took the oath, but it still wouldn't be a good idea to leave her alone and he was now technically honor-bound to ensure her safety, whether she liked it or not.

Talk about finding allies in the most unlikely places...

Timaeus listened intently to the princess's explanation for being on her own, this late at night. Personally, he found it all to be ridiculous and silly for someone of Evras's standing. The Dikastirio was quite a distance away from the upper levels and who knew who the princess could have run into from here to there? She was lucky that it was only Timaeus, a baron sworn to her family, that had stumbled across her on this dark evening. Just to think if it had been someone else. Someone who held a hatred for the royal family. Or even someone who held no respect for titles. They could have very well have found the princess in a dead in a ditch the next morning, thanks to this careless action.

"And you left yourself with no safe way to return home?" Timaeus said with an eyebrow raised in disbelief. It was an incredibly foolish thing for her to do, clearly, she would be able to pick apart this thought from Timaeus's mind if she carefully read between his words. Though her actions hadn't exactly screamed careful that evening, so who knew.

Normally, one would have walked a bit closer to whoever they were speaking to, especially in the stifling darkness that surrounded the pair. Yet, Timaeus did no such thing. Instead, he made sure to keep a respectable distance from the princess for reasons that only he knew. It could be a thousand different things, each making more sense than the last. At the core of it though, the true reasoning was simple. Rumors were powerful and no one knew this more than the young lord.

Having been chased by rumors regarding his family's found all his life and more recently, having been plagued by whispers that he murdered his own brother; Timaeus knew how persistent such false accusations could be. If some commonfolk happened to catch sight of the lord with her, there was little doubt in his mind that they would not shut up about the sighting for weeks to come. It would spread and either by the nature of such shared stories or by the doing of the original whisperer, rumors would circulate about the manner of their relationship. Timaeus didn't even need to pretend that this wouldn't happen. People didn't have anything better to do than twist truths to their own little dramatic tales and what would be more dramatic than hearing that Princess Evras, the mother of the heir to the Kotas line, was seen late at night, alone, with a baron sworn to her husband? It would scandalous and give those fools a quick laugh, but would lead to the Baron's early end if the rumors reached the ears of the jealous husband.

So it would be in his best interest to not give those rumors a chance to even take root. But this wasn't the only rumor ensuring that Timaeus kept his distance.

Now Timaeus never did consider himself a superstitious man and if prodded, he would never admit it. This simply wasn't true, especially after the deaths of his father and Nicomedes. Timaeus was once a man who look death in the face and laugh. Now he feared it's cold, uncaring touch and anything that could remotely attract its attention onto the few remaining family members the young lord had left. One of these things was distancing himself from anything related to the occult and there was no group of people more well known for dabbling in such things than the Thanasi sisters.

Evras included.

Now Timaeus had no way of knowing whether or not the rumors were true. The only Thanasi girl he had actually met was Evras and all those encounters were at political events where it would do no one any good to bring up the rumors of witchcraft surrounding the princess. Nor would it be beneficial for Timaeus to ever say he found credence in the rumors. Not if he enjoyed having his head on his shoulders. And yet... he believed them. Something innately told him, deep inside, that the Thanasi girls were not to be trusted. Perhaps it stemmed from the lack of trust the Kotas had, for whatever reason. Valaoritis was always known to follow their lead and Timaeus was not going to be the first baron to rock the boat in that regard. Or perhaps it was the reflection of the more seedy provinces reflecting poorly onto the girls. Everyone knew that Megaris and Nesthia were not places you wanted to spend extended periods of time. No family would willingly want to stand by such negative reputations for their lands and yet the Thanasi did.

Could it be possible that there were more willing to let less than godly things into their own home?

So when the princess inquired about the reasons for his concern, Timaeus could be truthful. He could say that he found willingly wanting to walk alone, in the darkness, to be suspicious if Lady Evras was truly as respectable as her rank demanded that she'd be. He knew better than that. "Well," He started to say as he struggled to find the words to hide his true feelings, "It's natural to worry seeing someone like you wandering the streets on their own at night." Was he speaking of Evras the Princess or Evras the Witch? Even he didn't know as both could very well be true.

"As you say yo- my lady," Timaeus said almost dryly in response to Evras's insistence that he refrain from using "your highness" to address her. That would probably be something Tim would forget very quickly, having been raised to show each member of the Kotas family, even the ones who the gods probably looked down upon, the utmost respect they deserved. "Timaeus." He supplied when she struggled to recall his name. Not that he didn't expect that. He was a fairly new baron and lord knew how large the other families in Colchis were. Up until two years ago, he was just a spare blending into those crowds. There was no reason for her to know, let alone remember, who he was.

Despite the wariness he was subtly showing, he was a baron of the Kotas family and it was his duty to lend them his aid in their time of need. As much as he innately distrusted Evras, she was still a Kotas, and this most certainly seemed to be a time of need. "The streets of Midas aren't safe to travel alone at night. Allow me to escort you to the upper levels, My Lady." He said plainly, with a tone that made it clear that he didn't think it was a matter up for discussion.

Duty was duty, no matter how reluctant he may be.