At the sound of footsteps on the balcony, Cende turns from admiring a particularly fragrent rosebush. Seeing who has arrived, her eyes light up and she smiles "Theo."

Theowyn is accompanied by two guards, though they walk further behind then usual as he makes his way down the steps and to the gardens. His expression does not hide the surprise, though he would have likely been told of her return by now. "Cende..." his voice trails as he speaks the name not spoken in over a year if not more. Theowyn's approach is slow, his gaze shifting across her as he remembers.

Cende watches the approach, her eyes flicking briefly to the guards, and then away again after assessing their purpose. Her eyes scan over Theowyn as she also remembers him. "How have you been? It's been a while."

At Cendde's notice of the guards, Theowyn turns to the. With one shake of his hand he dismisses them for the evening, and they do go after exchanging some looks. The Prince steps forward, moving within reach of Cende. There's an uncertainty in his eyes. "It has been a while, Cende." A certain fondness remains in his tone, difficult to hide. "You've returned...?"

Cende reaches out to touch his chest, her land laying flat just below one shoulder. She does as she rarely has to, and tilts her head to look up, her green eyes clear. "Yes. It was, it is, safe again. I believe. And after so long in the Blight.. I thought of you. Often. I missed you." Her smooth-whisky voice still holds all the caring it used to.

From Common Room: Rose and Lion Inn, Caemlyn, Kellian says " It is thundering here, so if I suddenly go quiet you will know why."

Driven by that unconscious reaction from their times shared, when Cende's hand goes to his chest, Theowyn responds by a motion to her waist. His brilliant blue eyes continue to hint at the hesitation in his manner. "In the Blight, you have survived. I believed you would, until you pushed yourself too hard." As he admits that, he slowly begins to lean Cende into an embrace, one that shows that hesitation and yet need to insure she truly is there.

Cende's hands slip around Theowyn's shoulders as she slowly steps towards his embrace, taking the subtle cues from his manner to not close him in her arms yet. A faint cloud crosses her face, and then she smiles again, quicksilver changes of expression. "I came close. Things there were.. warped." She shakes her head briefly "I learned a little. I saw a lot. Rumours reached Arafel, wild ones, that there was a war happening here. I did not believe, but I thought, perhaps, you might want.." She trails off, her eyes searching the face she once knew as well as her own.

There is a slight widening of his eyes, as Theowyn mistakes the last statement. She had been talking of war? All too confused, and showing only a hint of that, the Warder deepens the embrace further with an arm sliding across Cende's waist before he begins to pull away. "The time to go to war may still come," he agrees quietly, eyes half closed as he tries to comprehend sight over her. He takes a deep breath.

Cende tightens her arms around the Prince's shoulders, before loosening them as he pulls away. Her eyes reflect the confusion she feels at the distance. "I don't understand, Andor's always been peaceful." She shakes her head again "You'll explain to me, no doubt, at some point. But Theowyn, love, I've missed you so. It's good to see you again." A fingertip traces the hint of a line at his mouth "You've been frowning."

"Times have been heavy," Theowyn whispers the words, his eyes unable not to follow the movement of her arm, and her lips as Cende speaks. When his hand moves to Cende's waist, it as much keeps her near as it insure she is not any closer. If not for the Warder training, he'd he weeping in confusion. Especially when she uses 'love.' "Before I was only introducing myself to the role as First Prince, now I certainly have seized it. And what comes with it." Theowyn's eyes shut briefly. "I was not sure if I'd see you again."

Cende takes the risk as his eyes close, and she lightly moves a little closer, leaning up to brush her lips across those of her love's. In a voice as soft as his, she replies "I am here, now. I came back, I said I would when it was safe again. I have not ever stopped wanting to be here, by your side, to share your burdens with you. I love you, Theowyn, still and always."

How does one react? His brief moment of unawareness, to feel the lips of a past lover eagerly seek his out? Theowyn holds the kiss, but for less then a heartbeat. With the grace of a prince, he does manage to part away from the warmth and affection, from the needs of a lover that is so real by scent and by touch. Theowyn's hand still holds her waist, though he moves on a slight angle, attempting to be distracted by something. Anything. "Light..." is all he can manage, eyes once again closing, though maybe this time from pain.

Now it is Cende's turn to close her eyes briefly, When they open, tears do stand in them, and she does not attempt to hide them. Her chin raises, even as she gently steps away "I have said my feelings.. Perhaps I should not have. You may have wondered about me, but now that I am here again, you wish me gone once more. Oh, Theowyn. I had hoped you would forgive me."

It would not be that easy to step away, his hand still holding her, and at the hint of her parting he turns more toward Cende. Theowyn is confused, his eyes baring his soul, his confusion, to her as he finds her tears. It is at this moment that he attempts to pull her within a tight embrace, one that would have both arms about her. "Do not leave again," he whispers quietly. "But if you are to stay, then you must know."

As she is pulled back into his arms, Cende surrenders and leans against him, her face against his shoulder and her arms tight around him. "I will not leave, not again, unless you ask me to, my love. If they come once again.. We will find some other way to manage it." Her voice is muffled as she speaks. Her head turns, so that her face tilts to just below his. "What is it that I should know?'

Theowyn's arm clings to Cende's waist, as he slowly turns away, though this time to lead her toward the fountain. Though there is no rush in his steps, he certainly maintains a certain silence as he ponders where to begin. "After you left, I travelled to Cairhien, of all places," he begins, his tone distant and contradicting the warmth of his embrace as he escorts Cende. "I was to court a Princess there, though as you could imagine, it did not work out well. She was, well, Cairhienin. All the people were Cairhienin. It was a rather interesting experience, my one year stay there."

Cende simply blinks, a faint grin appearing and disappearing "Cairhien is different," she agrees cautiously, listening.

"I was a mess when I arrived," Theowyn goes on, guiding Cende to face him before he urges her to take a seat. Not that he would get success in this, as he seems to be in one of those moods that will set him pacing. "Without you within my life, here became so much less. It was no longer a place I wanted to be, not because I did not love Andor, but because the woman I loved was not within her borders. Of course, Cairhien was filled with the cold-blooed. It did good for me at first, though eventually I learned to deal. At least I longed for home."

Cende accepts the seat, having seen this mood, and allowing him free to pace. She nods, and listens, not speaking for now.

Theowyn can't seem to face her, not as he goes on. One observant would likely see his features growing pale. "Though I found no romance in Cairhien, I did begin to court once again here in Caemlyn." That admission he makes with some difficulty, looking to Cende briefly for a reaction, though mostly attempting to keep his gaze away.

Cende sits quietly for a moment, then softly asks "Are you married, then? Or to be married soon?"

Theowyn shakes his head to both, turning to Cende finally as he slows his pacing. A hand moves to press against her cheek. "Neither, though not without effort. She is a Princess from Kandor. The formalities are lengthy."

Cupping her hand over the one on her cheek, Cende looks up, grass green eyes meeing lapis ones. "Tell me truely. Theo, do you love her? And do you still love me?"

Theowyn's fingers curl across her cheek, stroking lightly as he answers the question hiding between half-shut eyes. "I do love her, yes," is the answer to the first. The second is harder coming, and the uncertainty shows. "I never forgot us, and yet what was always there seems so much more apparent now."

Cende stands slowly, stepping close, sliding her hands across the Warder's shoulders. Pressing lightly against him, Cende once again brushes her lips against his, only for a moment, only the barest touch. "Then you are in a hard place, my love. I am not inclined to make it easier on you. I love you. I have no intention of giving you up so easily. She is a princess, I am not, but I am many things she isn't." She shakes her head lightly "I want you, Theowyn. Only you. You are still the only man I have loved."

The kiss lingers on his lips, Theowyn's arm once again aiding as she presses against his body. Cende's very scent is enough to remind him of the love shared, of the way their bodies would find pleasure within eachother. While she earns her second kiss, Theowyn does lift away as she does, his eyes opening to take her into his sights. "Must you always cause trouble?" he asks in that whisper, tone holding the affection even as he attempts to gain some distance. He wants her, its clear in his eyes, in the way his body reacts to her. "I...I will marry the princess, the promises exchanged are not announced, though already hinted at to near being spoken," the last comes at a surprise to even himself.

Simply raising an eyebrow, Cende's face is composed now, her intentions clear in her eyes. "I have always been trouble, yes. But it has never been trouble you objected to. If the promises are not spoken, then you will not be forsworn to her should things between you end. Theowyn, your heart, your body, all remind you of us. Your mind remembers, but it resists." She slides one hand into his hair, mussing it as she lifts her lips once more, inviting him closer.

Theowyn shakes his head lightly, though not in response to her words, but from her guidance. He takes another deep breath, his chest lifting against her own, though the kiss falls to her cheek. It is light, and brief. "I can not be seen like this in public, Cende. Politically, that has always been bad, between you and I." The alternative would leave room for more trouble, though clearly Theowyn hasn't thought that far ahead. He does pull away once more, settling to her side in a more traditional manner of escort.

Graciously accepting the removal, Cende lightly rests her hand on the Prince's arm "As you wish, although politics, I have found, frequently change depending on the circumstances of the moment." This is a different Cende, a little more reserved than before. She tenses briefly, turning her head a moment before a discreet cough sounds from the balcony above. Spying the officer waiting there, she smiles lightly. "You are wanted, my love." The words are once again whispered in her husky, smoky voice, carrying no further than the small circle between she and he, the words both innocent and laced with meaning. Stepping back, her hand lingers for a moment on his arm "I am once again in the Rose and Lion. The small suite you had arranged for me previously." She leaves you to understand the implication, as the officer comes down the stairs and bows.

Theowyn actually takes a step back at those words, unable to hold himself back from looking at her. And he does, the sweet curves of a lover hand, the memories of her naked flesh pressing and moving against his own. Theowyn does not move with the guardsmen, he simply watches her take her leave. Only when she hides into the shadows does he begin to address the other issues that will likely fade from his memory... the waves of confusion within him insuring of that.

Cende walks along the white stone path, towards the Palace Courtyard.