001.
She heard the knock from far off. Gathering her skirt, Saphira carefully got up, making her way to the door. ‘I wonder who it could be at this time of night.’ she thought to herself, hoping it wasn’t anyone there to berate her for still being up.
Much to her surprise, she found Aleksei staring at her when she opened the door. “Oh! Aleksei, how are you, I haven’t seen you in a while. Please come in,” she opened the door wider to allow him to enter. My, she loved his travelling stories, they made her so happy.
So she was awake still; he had suspected as much, though it was long past time for her to be resting, and on most occasions he likely would have quietly informed her of that, but at the moment he was just glad to have gotten back in time to catch her before she went to bed.
He did as she said with a nod, stepping past her into the room with a glance around it before he turned back to her. "You're right, it's been a while," he agreed with another nod and a soft smile to accompany it, keeping his gaze focused on the welcome familiar sight of her face. "I only just got back from a delivery... How have you been?"