{ log } waters black wood in snow dead of night how bright you glow
'Informal' isn't a way that Nuala can typically be described, and by anyone else's standards she still isn't - but her gown and traveling coat make a slimmer silhouette than the elaborate skirts she usually favours, and her hair is pulled low in a chignon to be finished with her plain circlet in lieu of the bejewelled alternatives under lock in her chambers. In short, it's a low-key outing (albeit one that required significant advance notice to find the time and make her arrangements), and though she stops at the nursery before she leaves, she doesn't waste the time she's allowed for.
It's been some time since she saw Doul last, but she'd thought of him when Belani wrote to invite the twins to Armada and been pleasantly surprised to be contacted before she had the time to make anything of her thoughts. With her even-tempered escort in tow, she makes her way through the nexus to where she gathers he's been living lately.