Even as her gaze shifts to stare out to the ever churning sea of unknown faces, her mind wanders. And, as always, it carried her back to the fae man she had hoped would not find her this afternoon on her work break. Most of the time, the young woman was able to distract herself with watching the crowd outside as the city seemed to slow in its wild afternoon rush, lunch hours coming to an end as people hurry back to their jobs to finish the last half of the work day. Beylani herself felt as though she could work all the way until closing tonight just so she didn't have to go home to that small Riverdale apartment. She was always happy to come home to her tortoiseshell feline companion who always seemed to be waiting just as eagerly from the blue-eyed blonde to return so that they could begin their typical evening routine of eating dinner and lounging on that black futon in her not-so-spacious living room as they would watch whatever was on the television for an hour or so until those warm sheets called Beylani into their depths. These days, she couldn't help but realize how she met that sweet darkness with a contradicting concoction of both excitement and hesitation. It was the only way that she would be able to run away, back to Somnia, back to the Andras that she created in this fantasy world all her own. Yet, even he still did not tell her what it was that she meant to him, how much he did or did not care. She would find that devilish smile, those predatory hazel eyes eyes, swear that she could feel that warm and gentle touch or taste his kiss on her lips... only to wake up in the pitch dark of her bedroom with the gentle purring of her companion sleeping soundly at the foot of her bed as she did each night. Then, Beylani would lay there, unable to find that sleep once again as she thought of him. Did he think of her? Were they both laying there in their own beds, restless and wanting? You're know he isn't, Lani. So stop being foolish and just go back to sleel. It would always be a struggle on those nights where she would awaken, his touch feeling a real on her soft skin that she would swear the fae man was sneaking into her bedroom just to see her before vanishing again. At least, that was what her heart wanted to make her believe, disregarding that logical part of herself that told her she was just being nonsensical.

Thankfully, that was not a bottle thay the blue-eyed blonde did not have to be fight last night, even when her dreams inevitably stole her away to that place she loved and yearned for beyond what any amount for words could ever explain or express. Her sleep had been restful - more or less - even though she seemed to be able to stop thinking of Andras no matter how badly she wanted to find something else, anything else to get him off her mind for at least a short while. All this seemingly endless struggling to keep her head about her would end up rendering her exhausted when the work day was done and she finally returned home. Why couldn't she dream of the things that she used to, like standing there on the edge of the Grand Canyon as the sun would rise over the eastern horizon? Or perhaps of hiking Sunshine to Mt Assiniboine, walking along the Continental Divide and through huge alpine meadows dotted with countless colorful wild flowers, surrounded by all of nature's beauty as wildlife flourished around her. Now, instead of these adventures with only herself and her camera, she couldn't seem to find any place in the world that she'd read about in those many travel magazines or website articles that whispered to her soul like Somnia did. It was as though another piece of her would be left there in that world every time she left it, making it increasingly harder for her to return to the big city she'd moved too months ago. The day that she had first arrived witin these almost innumerable streeta and skyscrapers, she knew that Sacrosanct would be a stepping stone for her in a way, serving as a temporary home and figurative rest stop until she decided where it was she would go next. What she hadn't thought of though was that she would find herself desperately wishing she could belong in a world far away from this one, that she would suddenly become unable to imagine herself leaving behind the faces that she came to know here, the friendships that she'd built that finally and for the first time in so long felt real. She never would have even considered the idea of falling in love with someone and suddenly realizing that so much of what she had once hoped for had changed so drastically she almost didn't recognise those wants for the near and far future. She wanted nothing more than she wanted him. Nothing else truly mattered beyond that. Not the wild landscapes untouched by man, not the rush of going to places she'd never been, all she truly yearned for so much that her heart ached was to be wherever he was.

When those bells chiming lightly into the café, she is pulled away from those deeper thoughts that had once again run away with her, and when she sees that bright face of Elain, there is a silent sigh of relief that washes over Beylani then. With Ellie here, she was set free from those places she had hoped not to return to until she was alone in her apartment where she could let those emotions roll through her without needing to worry about drawing curious side glances or anything. The honey-blonde woman makes her way over to that table and settles in the seat across from Beylani, their greeting so natural and bright that surely anyone would think they've known one another since they were little girls on the playground of their elementary school instead of two strangers that only met a few weeks ago. There was so much about Ellie that reminded Beylani of her small rural hometown that she couldn't help but grow ever meet fond of the younger woman. Even if they came from two totally different worlds, even if she wasn't human while the blue-eyed blonde woman was in fact human. That smile she would offer Beylani was impossible contagious in all its radiance, her warmth for the world a welcomed breath of fresh air that she could not find here in so many of Sacrosanct's residence that was everywhere one would look when they went to Willowhaven. Elain speaks in those bright words as she pushes that container to Beylani who eagerly greets and welcomes the companionship and distraction, taking thay cupcake and relishing in the sweetness that fills her mouth. She can't help but laugh gently as the honey-blonde woman speaks of her how her brother had refused to try them because of the walnuts."Well, he's definitely missing out. You should give me the recipe if it's not a family secret or anything. I'd sure love to make them for my parents one of these days", she says brightly to Elain then who only seems to smile all the more radiantly beneath Beylani's words of praise as she finishes her cupcake, looking down to the remaining baked treats as she contemplates taking another."Awww, you're too sweet, Lani! Say, maybe you can take them with you to share with Andras later", replies the honey-blonde woman, pale blue eyes gleaming playfully as she gives Beylani a cheeky grin. The blue-eyed blonde has to fight fiercely against the warmth that begins to tickle her fair-skinnedcheeks as her baby blue eyes snap back up to Ellie in surprise, though she should hardly have such a look on her face. The younger woman already knew exactly how Beylani felt, and she hadn't even actually told her with words but the huntress was hardly dull or blind in any way, shape, or form.

Before she can scramble for a response of some sort, the sound of those bells jingling distract Beylani. Baby blue eyes find a man entering into the café and at nothing more than his presence, several of the people rise our of their seats and there is a shift in the air now. It was almost like they were... fearful of the man with that stark white hair that hid his eyes as he stood there for a moment, waving off the expressions that fixed themselves upon him then. Almost instantly, everyone seems to return to their easy dispositions they previously had, though Beylani can hardly miss the wary looks that followed the strange man as he moved over to the bakery display and simply takes a chocolate chip cookie before starting to make his way over towards one of the vacant armchairs. She is almost startled that he was not stopped by the batista. Almost. It had been on her very first day of training that she'd been warned about a man that frequented Inner Sanctum. She remembers well how she'd been informed that this man was close to Alexander, her boss, and that he was not to be denied if he wanted something. Beylani had been very puzzled by those words of caution she'd been given, half tempted to ask the man who had employed her why it was that this man didn't have to pay from anything while all the other customers did, but she has figured that some things were better left as they were. Having yet to have run into the man though, she'd gone on doing her tasks with diligence and determination, unknowingly comforted for one reason or another that she had yet to have a run-in with this unknown man. Until today. Whether it had been her gaze that lingered on him a moment or two too long or something else entirely, he seems to notice Beylani and Elain, immediately changing his course to begin moving in the direction of the two women. Ellie turns to watch the man, that ever warm and bright smile on her face that she offered to everyone."Hello, there! Can we help you?", she says brightly to the man who is now standing there against the table beside them, hardly giving her even the smallest sliver of acknowledgment as he suddenly seems to hone in on Beylani as he addresses her in tenor tones yielding nothing but a coolness void of any sort of... well, anything."Yes, I am. I'm Beylani", she answers him kindly, though there was a subtle wariness in those baby blues that watched the man she can only guess was "the guy that doesn't need to pay for whatever he takes" as she'd been told.

No one had yet to tell the woman of his name, but whoever he was, he was certainly... infamous? He moves have hair to reveal violet eyes that she couldn't help but stare into for a moment, almost taken aback by the lack of emotion she found there before she looks down to the cupcakes. Suddenly, he's reaching out and takes one of those cupcakes without asking. Beylani almost dares to say something to him then about just how rude that was, that it was one thing to apparently be able to steal treats from the café but something entirely different to just take something of someone else's, but she holds her tongue. She didn't know what it was about this man that had everyone practically scrambling out of his way or moving around him in as wide of a berth as possible, but something told Beylani that saying something about his theft might not be the best idea. She glances over to Elain, the younger woman hardly even concerned with what just happened as she nearly tilts her head in curiosity while that warm smile still dances across her lips. How was she not upset that he helped himself to her hard work, only to just keep smiling in that ever friendly way? Her gaze is drug back to the man when those almost icy words fall from those expressionless lips as he leans against the table behind him, picking at the cupcake, his attention still seeming fixed upon Beylani for reasons she couldn't even guess at. His second string of words though has that hesitancy lingering fleetingly in the back of her mind, now definitely sure this was the man she'd been warned about. What she wouldn't give to have Andras walk through that front door..."Only about two weeks now", she answers once more in her sterling voice as she holds fast to that gentle warmth despite the wariness she can't help but register in the back of her thoughts as to just what his words meant. Why did it feel like he was looking right through her?"You must be the man I've been told about when I started my training. Although, no one's told me your name?", she says partly in question as she chose her words carefully, unsure of why it was everyone seemed to be intimidated by him though the air he held about him definitely contributed to some unusually unsettling sensation that Elain seemed entirely immune to it, eager when he poses the question for both of them."Oh, I did! We don't mind sharing, though so please help yourself! I'm Elain, but you can call me Ellie if you like. I really like your eyes, by the way! I've never seen someone with violet eyes before. What's your name, stranger?", she speaks in those ever radiant, bubbly, and ever warm words like he hadn't just more or less decided to help himself anyway as she watches him curiously with those glittering eyes of early morning frost. It was incredible really, how friendly the honey-blonde woman was even when the man before them hardly returned that same persona.