Sesshoumaru grew weary of the events of these past few days. Between the long-awaited encounter with his bastard brother being interrupted by a girl that an old ally of his father's had hoped he would wed, and then discovering yet one more link to the Tetsaiga in a small impish youkai that should have otherwise been ignored, even the great inuyoukai was want of rest. He did not make this evident, of course, for his stamina was great enough for these events to not bear exhaustion; he was more aggravated that so little had been done in all of this time.

Though he did not turn around, he knew that the girl following after him needed rest. She hardly allowed herself to sit down when they were at the clearing. However, the fact that he did not confront her with this was not a sign of callousness; it was the very opposite. If he wasted their time with foolish questions and obvious observations, he would only hinder their arrival to his palace, postponing her rest. Not only that, but he would be postponing his own, as well.

As they drew nearer, he shot his eyes back slightly to catch a mere glance at her as she spoke. One thing that was certain about those who traveled with Sesshoumaru: they certainly knew their place. Her ingratiating voice bought a small bit of foreign amusement to the youkai lord. "The only thing you will prepare for is your own rest," he told her lowly. "You will be of little use to the talks if you fall asleep in the middle of them." Sesshoumaru could already envision Yuufa's aide constantly raising his voice to rouse her out of a light doze as they discussed issues of war and peace, mildly heightening his amused air.

He looked up to the sky. The sun was rather warm that day, and Sesshoumaru contemplated whether this had wrought even more discomfort from the girl. Not needing talk of mistreatment to reach the ears of the North, Sesshoumaru raised his arm behind him, holding onto the edge his long haori sleeve in such a way so that it blocked the girl from direct rays of the giant daytime star. "Your kind does not deal well with sunlight, I gather."

Yuufa sighed, quickly covering her inappropriate expression of relief that she would be allowed rest before the fateful meetings would occur. Though she would still probably make a fool out of herself, the event would be decidedly less of a botch if she were allowed a good, night's (or day's) sleep. Sesshoumaru-sama was probably being simply kind to his guest out of necessity for diplomatic purposes. She doubted he needed to rest; he hadn't faltered once since their journey had begun. The princess allowed herself a small giggle at his comment, all-to amused at the observation because she knew it to be true. She imagined Yutaro-sama's barely contained rage should she pass out during negotiations.

"Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama," she managed.

Yuufa's eyes widened in surprise when she felt the glaring heat of the sun ease just enough to be noticeable. Her expression was not one of shock so much as it was of actual, genuine confusion and borderline bewilderment. Until that moment, she hadn't thought Sesshoumaru-sama even realized she was with him at all aside from a few, small acknowledgments here and there.

The almost-conversational comment that followed the almost-kind action perplexed her even further. It took the startled youkai a moment to collect her thoughts before answering.

"H-hai, Sesshoumaru-sama. We are used to the cold of the Northern Lands. Mother's domain is located in a cold area of the world. It is mostly dark, and, even when the sun manages to shine, it's cool enough that it isn't so much of a bother," she answered, steadying herself after the first stumble through a force of sheer willpower. "Not much grows there, though..." her voice trailed off, almost lamenting that fact.

Sesshoumaru continued to approach his palace, giving the girl's words a single nod. At the mention of nothing growing there, the tall inuyoukai looked down at the small girl and wondered if the inhabitants of her land were included there.

A cold and barren land. Perhaps the North was not so bad, after all.

Upon stepping towards the massive doors, Sesshoumaru through them open and walked briskly in, moving quickly to his own quarters. "Jaken," he said to the green toad that had followed after them. "Find Yuufa-hime's people and tell them that the talks shall begin after we have rested from our journey."

Wit his first order to his new and willing servant, Sesshoumaru disappeared up the stairs, his hand already unfastening his armor as he went up.

((Sorry for the short crappiness of it but... yeah... me a bit scattered, so I'm doing my best. ~_~))