Hazel took his hand and let him help her down.

"Thank you," she said softly. "For coming with me today, I mean. I know afternoon tea isn't exactly the highlight of a lord's week."

Kaladin shrugged. "It was advantageous," he said. "Besides, you asked. I wasn't about to say no when you asked." He grinned, knowing exaclty how bad he was being for her heartrate.

Hazel blushed again, looking away for a moment to try to compose herself again.

"Even so," she said, "thank you." Once she'd gotten herself marginally back under control, she stood up on her toes and gave him a hesitant kiss.

Kaladin blinked, surprised, but he didn't pull back. Instead he kept it simple, winding one arm around her loosely. Oh yes, he could definitely get used to this.

Hazel broke the hesitant kiss quickly, blushing again. She still wasn't all that experienced with kissing, but she was trying.

Kaladin smiled. "Not so terrifying, is it?" he murmured. "Must not be, since you're even more fun to kiss now than you were before."

"Now you're just teasing me," Hazel accused, although her cheeks were still a bit pink and she was fighting back a small smile.

"Maybe," Kaladin said with a brief grin. "You're right, I should probably stop before your cheeks stay that color. Much as I like that color."

Hazel grinned back for a moment, gave him one more cautious kiss, and then took a step back.

"I shouldn't keep you any longer," she said.

Kaladin nodded, watching her for a moment before deciding that yes he really should get back to work.

"I'll see you later, then," he said quietly, smiling faintly at her before going to go check in with Seamus.

Seamus was currently wading through the pygmy sheep. Since Brit wasn't there to cuddle them, the little things had apparently decided Seamus was the next best thing, and were making it very hard for him to actually get things done.

Kaladin laughed as he watched, leaning against the outside of the fence. A few of the pygmy sheep detached from the horde to try and get to him, jumping up like little bouncing fluff balls.

"Having problems?" he teased.

"Shut up," Seamus replied as he shuffled through the herd, barely managing to keep his balance. A little orange one, barely a few days old, pranced over for attention.

Kaladin snickered again and picked up the orange one, checking it over while it was being so cooperative. So far it looked healthy, and he noticed that the wool was brighter than its skin tone. Interesting.

"I saw Brit earlier."

"Really?"

Seamus spun around to face his brother, and promptly tripped over an ivory sheep. Six others tried to pounce on him as soon as he went down, and he fought his way free of them.

It took Kaladin a minute to stop laughing at his brother, and then he nodded. "Yeah. Her aunt brought her to the social this afternoon." He shrugged. "She was wearing about four layers, probably, with a collar up to here." He put his hand on the underside of his chin.

"Yeah, I can't imagine any of those prissy ladies wanting to look at her scars," Seamus mused. "She doesn't like showing them, either." He looked at his brother. "Was she alright? Did she fit in with them at all? Did she say if she's coming back?"

"I don't know. I didn't get to talk to her. Hazel did, though." Kaladin shrugged. "I'm sure she's coming back, and she looked... okay. Very out of place, and she didn't look very comfortable in those clothes."

Seamus was irrationally glad about that. Not that Brit was uncomfortable, but that she was out of place with the ladies. It meant she would come back. He sighed a bit and picked up a mint-green sheep.

"I hope she gets back soon," he muttered.

"I can't imagine her putting up with much more of what they're doing," Kaladin said, setting the orange sheep back down and picking up a little black one instead. "You know she doesn't tolerate nonsense, and I'm pretty sure this is nonsense to her."

"I hope so," Seamus replied. After a moment, he glanced at his brother. "Anyways, what about you? You can't tell me you actually enjoyed sitting around all afternoon drinking tea."

"No, I can't say that, because I didn't. The gentlemen introduced me to a new drink called coffee. It's something new someone brought back from a finding mission." Kaladin shrugged. "It was an interesting afternoon, at least."

"Coffee?" Seamus asked, interested. "Is it like tea? Or is it some sort of juice?"

"It's brewed like tea. But it's a lot stronger than tea is. It's black once it's finished brewing, and it's very bitter." Kaladin shrugged. "It was okay. I think it's one of those things that kind of grows on you with time."

"Interesting..." Seamus said. Maybe he'd see if he could get his hands on the stuff, but he doubted it. It was likely to be hellishly expensive.