He made his little story, getting more and more into it as the tale went on: Zelly hid behind Winter's--the real Winter's--head, peeking out from behind her comparatively giant horns. When the audience with the king and queen was over she gave the real Winter a quick, ephemeral wave and dashed over to the illusory, much smaller tiefling woman. He was so wrapped up in it that he didn't quite realize how much he'd become distracted... until Winter spoke up.

The images vanished in a flash of sparks and Gareth blushed bright red. "Oh. I got, uh, I carried--I mean..." he blew a long sigh, closing his eyes, and tried to focus. "Thank you. That means a lot."

"I..." he searched for something to say, running his hand through his hair again. "Do you think Zelly will like it?"