There was an initial moment where Aoba, for the life of him, couldn’t imagine why royalty would want to speak to him personally. It was just a kneejerk reaction, though, since of course the moment after that it was more of a, ‘why not’? Maybe time travel wasn’t as outlandish a concept to the Awoken as Aoba had once considered it to be, but he hadn’t exactly been tripping over other people who were also from the past as he was.

The resurrected Guardians didn’t count, for obvious reasons.

He glanced automatically up at Declan, caught the tiny gestures as easily as if they had been more obviously emoted, and returned his attention to Mara with a clear nod of his own. The idea was a little unnerving, but she’d helped them, even if only in the passing of a lead. Not to mention that as much as her dark, scowling brother plainly disapproved, it was the queen who was asking, and it probably would have been rude to refuse.

It was a relief to follow Declan back out after offering a bow of his own (at the waist, arms at his sides, and very unpracticed). The meeting, though brief, had been intense and surreal. His friend’s admission of his nerves made for a convenient distraction, allowing Aoba to chuckle a bit and reach up to pat his arm.

“I don’t blame you. It was pretty unnerving. Sounds like we better hurry and look for this Xur guy, though.”