He lets out a sharp breath, "Fine, then. Hope you're up for a walk. It's a bit of a hike, with the maze in the way." Even without it, they're half-way down the mountain here. 

Leo raises an eyebrow as the hedge most directly in their way parts.

He stops, "-right. Can you keep doing that? We're deep in, and I don't have the maze memorized." 

"Living plants are easy. Solid wood is slightly harder but not much."

He'll move through the hedge with a nod, then, "That cuts the trip down by almost half."

They can just go out in one straight line. He only knows approximately where the Fort is thanks to the position of the sun - he'll reorient more accurately once they're outside. 

The entire hedge maze is an overgrown mess, and the gardens directly outside it are only just better. The bushes are untrimmed and spilling out over the remains of the stone borders to their plots, and wildflowers dot the uncut grass, splashes of reds and golds sweeping through variegated white, yellow and green, filling the air nearby with their heady scent. A consistent cool breeze rustles the foliage outside the hedge, raising goosebumps on bare skin, but with the late summer sun almost directly above it's more pleasant than not. 

Rising above the tops of the trees ahead they can just see the rusty-red tiles of the Fort's roof and the tops of bleached-white stone walls. The architectural style is probably pretty familiar to Leo's eyes - what he can see of it from this distance, at any rate. 

Huh.

"Nice place. Your grandfather's, you said?"

Shrug, "Yeah. It's an old estate. Grandfather's the ninth head of the family, but it was an abandoned Roman villa before Primo had it restored. It's something like fifteen hundred years old, now." 

The translation renders 'Primo' as both a word - first - and a name or title. While it's doing that, Alex adjusts his bearing to just to the right of the visible roof. 

"Huh. Could be any minor noble estate back home."

As they stroll through the grounds, Leo raises a hand and lets the breeze play over it, then twists the air around it experimentally, sending a counter-breeze rustling through Alex's hair.

He shakes his head, running his fingers through the strands and brushing some lingering grass out as he does. Steady again, he raises an eyebrow at Leo, "Wind, huh? My brother'd like that. He's been working on flight since he heard it was possible." 

"Hmm. Flight's hard, with crafting - takes finesse and power, and I've got the finesse but the power escapes me. But I've got all of the elements at least a touch - noble blood runs strong."

"Mm," his mouth twists, "Anyone around here would tell you that Vongola blood is the same. Sky flames give me access to all the others, in theory. In practice, my problem's the opposite of yours - too much power, not enough finesse." And an equal affinity for Storm that muddies the waters.

"Flying with any kind of efficiency is right out for me. Jamie has finesse to spare, though. He'll figure it out." 

"Nobles back where I'm from... we're bred for the craft. A citizen born with strong enough crafting can become noble by performing services for the empire. The real nobles hate it, of course... until it's been enough generations that they can pretend they've forgotten, and marry off their least favorite daughters to take in the new blood."

"Ah-huh. Sounds a little like the Families, but here if you show signs of Sky Flames out of nowhere, and you don't have a Family already, someone will snatch you up. Sky Flame needs to be inherited, usually, and everyone wants a Sky, nevermind whatever they want. Most of the other kinds will just get a person dragged into the underworld and left to sink or swim. Who gets the better deal depends - what's worse, a gilded cage, or having to make your own way in a world you barely know?"

What's better, the security of a family that badly wants you to fight for them and have Sky kids, or the freedom of a freelancer who rarely knows where their next meal is going to come from. 

"Oh, you get that too. Someone whose crafting isn't quite good enough to get him a title, but still gets snapped up by some noble patron... I'd prefer the gilded cage, myself, but I've heard the counterarguments."

"The gilded cage could be worse," Alex nods. It probably goes without saying that he'd rather make his own way, though. 

Leo will continue trotting along until and unless they are accosted, then.

They make it all the way up to the flagstone terrace, just a few flights of stairs down from the actual house, before any accosting occurs. Alex is already turning to look at the accoster in question before he appears - out of thin air, to Leo's point of view, and out of a burst of indigo to Alex's. 

"Hey kid," says the suddenly appeared man, "You see any- whoa, what's the deal with Spartacus?" 

Alex gives Leo a look over, "Spartacus, really? He's not dressed like a gladiator." 

Shrug, "What's his name, Batiatus, then. It's the general Roman aesthetic!" 

"...well, whatever, Ganauche this is- uh." He squints, "Leonatus? Sorry, I was a bit distracted when you introduced yourself."

Leo bows. "Aquitainus Septimus Leonatus ex Mare. Leo, or Leonatus, or Lord Aquitaine, depending on how formal we're being." He plucks a daisy from the ground and causes it to wrap itself around his finger like a ring.

Ganauche watches all this with steadily rising eyebrows.

"Ganauche the Third, Lightning Guardian to the Ninth Vongola," he returns, and, "Alex, what the hell." 

Alex is distracted from scrutinizing Leo's introduction, turning to give Ganauche a scowl, "He dropped out of the sky into a rose bush in the hedge maze at the edge of the property. Unless the book I was reading was unknown to me a book on how to accidentally summon magic Romans, I didn't do it." He lifts the book in question and waves it in the man's face. The cover is blank, but the spine reads RV II MDCCLXII. 

Yes let's definitely distract Alex from scrutinizing Leo's introduction, Leo did not realize his steelcraft wasn't sufficient to block Alex from picking up on his lack of confidence in his own legal status and this implies either that Sky trumps steel or that Alex is kind of a scary person.

"I have a variety of moderately terrifying powers and a vested interest in not being stabbed," he says mildly. "Help me help you?"