A familiar sound of crashing dirt filled his ears and Ilius Jaeger rushed forward to help. He had been instructed to help train this cadet in mining and overlook her progress. It was a strange request but he went along. She had clearly jumped the gun and went straight for something she shouldn't have touched. More than that, however, he was concerned for her safety. "Are you okay?" He called, quickly pushing aside dirt and making sure she was completely uncovered. There was some fine dust in the air that he waited to settle between them so he could get a good look at her. She was covered in dirt and had a slight cough but seemed uninjured. "Are you hurt anywhere?" The orange tabby tom had a fine layer of dirt and dust covering his pelt, an occupational hazard. He had tried again and again to get it all out and always gave up. Now he did what he could to get the worst off but ignored the rest. His pale yellow eyes were filled with concern and worry and they met hers.

It was strange, the way she looked at him and the way it made his heart skip a beat. He felt unusually warm. Blood caught his attention and he could think of nothing except to get her to a guider. "Can I at least take you to a guider? You're hurt. I won't look, I promise." He didn't understand why she was suddenly talking about grooming pelts and redoing things but she needed to be seen for her injury as soon as possible to make sure it wouldn't get infected. That was the most important thing here. "I don't want you to get an infection." He did not even know her name but a concerning amount of worry filled him.

"You're beautiful. It's just a bit of dirt, come on let's get you healed up and cleaned up, okay? I'll even help if you need any help." Maybe it was rude to offer help when he knew very little about her, but he felt guilty as if it was his fault she was in so much distress. He was determined to help fix it and make it better. That was something the tom usually did a lot, given how many mistakes he was prone to making. "Will you follow me if I take you to a guider den?" His eyes were averted and his back turned, as he promised. He would not look without her permission.

For Ilius, he saw dirt each and every day. Dig here, repair there. Dig, dig, dig. A little dirt was nothing for him, but obviously it cause the she-cat quite a bit of stress. Whatever was a big deal to her. "My name is Ilius, Ilius Jaeger." He smiled but did not look at her, noting the fact she had called him a prince. He held back a chuckle, face feeling warm. The orange tom decided that the nearest den was the Guider Superior's and headed towards it, taking an uncommonly used route in the hopes that no one would come across them and she could get in there and get out with no one the wiser. They arrived and Valerian took one look at Southpaw and put a handful of cobwebs on her shoulder. "What happened?" He asked, eyeing the orange tom who came with her curiously. "Put your paw here and do not move." He ordered the mercenary. Ilius was feeling around in the dark, trying to find her shoulder, and accidentally hit the guider square in the face. He gasped, realizing what he had done. The black tom did not look angry, just amused. He guided the toms paw to the right place and Ilius practically held his breath, embarrassed. He'd never been this close to a cat he wasn't related to. This felt different.

Valerian practically bit his tongue trying to hold his laughter back, appraising the orange tom with amusement. He was cute at least, he would give her that and clearly had no clue what they were talking about. Oh, such a naive, young cat. Poor boy had no clue what he was getting himself into, but at least he looked happy to be here for now. "Good choice." He winked at her approvingly. Once the bleeding stopped, he removed the bloody cobwebs and put on a poultice of herbs he made, sealing them in with some more cobwebs for good measure. "Keep the wrapping on until morning and take it easy for three days. No more pulling roots out of dens. Ilius, I'll see to it that you're in charge of that." He could at least give her a little support from the top. Havilah would not care for Valerian ordering one of his mercenaries, but this was as Southpaw's friend not a Superior. He licked his chest with shame at the Superior's comment and nodded, "Yes, sir." Once she was all fixed up he led her out and to a place he often liked to take breaks. it was secluded and in a lesser used tunnel. It wasn't large but had some moss and a sunny spot he had dug. "You can rest here. It's not much, but cats don't normally pass through here very often."

He waited patiently with his back turned to her, humming softly as she grommed her pelt. Poor thing would take a while to get it all off, surely. It was sooner than expected when she announced he could turn around and he smiled softly at her, taking her reintroduction in stride like Ilius had done this a million times. "Its very nice to meet you Southpaw. I am Ilius." He dipped his head to her as a kind gesture, looking at her once again from where he sat. She truly was beautiful like he'd said before and now he got to fully see her. She had long white fur a pretty blue eyes that glittered like gems. He warned again, embarrassed about his train of thoughts. "See, what did I tell you? You're still beautiful." He grinned. Just thinking it didn't do anyone and good and maybe she could use the confidence booster just then. Not that she needed him for confidence, of course. "Do want some help grooming around your shoulder? I'm sure the dust is itchy." He wouldn't dare groom her without asking, how rude of him thag would be.

His smile was soft and bright, "Of course, sometimes we just need a little help." He moved forward and gently groomed her shoulder, careful not to hurt her. She was definitely tender on it and he'd heard about her little altercation with Shule. She had guts and he could definitely respect that. Southpaw seemed to be able to stand her ground fairly well. She didn't need to be protected, but a piece of him wanted to anyways. How could the Commander be so harsh with an apprentice? Especially one who was new to their ways? He did not agree with that entirely. "So you're from one of the clans, right? What is it like there?" He asked, stepping back once her shoulder was cleaned and her beautiful white fur smoothed down. He had never been taught much about clan life and he had never interacted much with clan cats before.

He listened patiently, soaking in her every word. It was interesting, the different way she spoke of it. He had lived his entire life in tunnels, even if they weren't always these exact tunnels. Even his job, his profession, was entirely tunnels. He breathed tunnels. Her description sounded warm and cyclical. It was interesting and different. He had heard of this Sun God in the past as well. "Wow an eternal war. What kind of God is this sun god you talk about?" He wanted to know more about her and where she came from. She had piqued his interests and curiosity for some reason he could not quite place.

He could sense her loyalty and devotion. It was much like many of the regime, but the loyalty and devotion were not to one being or entity but the collective as a whole. Shule represented that collective which is what elevated her to speak for them and their respect for her. The regime was not exactly a place for tyrants, however. "It's not something I grew up with so I find it fascinating. It's hard to imagine you here in these dark little tunnels when you are clearly meant to shine out in the sunlight." He pondered on that for a moment. "What brought you to the Regime then? It would seem to me you aren't very happy here." He was making a lot of assumptions with that but she hadn't seemed very happy as she was working on that tunnel earlier.