Sometimes Adelle wondered how it could rain so much. Rain was everywhere, puddles were everywhere...water was everywhere. Adelle decided that the water was too much. She didn't like sitting in it on the ground, she didn't like wearing her boots all the time, and she certainly didn't like sleeping in it...

She walked until she found someplace to cover her from the rain...someplace high so she wasn't in puddles. When she finally stopped, it was by a tree. The tree was small, but still quite large compared to her. It was on a small hill, and had a lot of leaves.

"Perfect!" She told Chace. The two ran to the hill's top and sat against the tree. Adelle was so tired from walking all the way, she was slowly but surely dozing off. She and Chace repositioned themselves and each other until they were comfortable, lying against each other staring at the leaves at the top of the tree.

Adelle began humming a small, relaxing tune, occasionally singing a few words. "Somewhere dry, under a tree. Somewhere dry for my buddy and me. Oh it's so green, so pretty and green. And all these dots, the little red dots..." She let out a huge gasp. "Those are APPLES!"

Chace jumped, surprised at her gasp. "Oh and I'm hungry too! Maybe I can get that one...Wait! This ones closer!" Adelle jumped at the apples, trying to reach them. She gave up for a second, but then her stomach growled making her work even harder. She stopped short for a moment, looking at her shoes. She took them off in a rush and started climbing the tree. "Some of these branches are wet, I'll have to be pretty careful..."

Adelle made it to where she could barely reach the lowest two apples. She reached carefully to get the closest one, grabbed it, and slowly pulled her hand back to herself. She reached slowly and carefully for the next, having put the first in the hand which had the arm wrapped around the tree. She couldn't reach the apple, so she slowly inched herself towards it, moving her hands where they needed to be. The branch was thin where she was, and as she got closer to the apple it got thinner.

She got close to the apple, a grin stretching widely across her face now. But when she grabbed it, she lost her balance and slipped. "Gah!" She screamed, falling to the ground. She tried to save the apple she was holding, but it was squashed beneath her side.

She got up slowly, looking at Chace. When she got to her feet, she felt an aching pain in her side where she fell on the apple. She looked at the apple in the tree, and sat down against it's trunk. Tears began to swell in her eyes, and she soon started crying a steady river of tears.

She was hungry.
She was tired.
Why did she have to get hurt now?

It had been such a great day, the incessant rain was only bothering him mildly today.
Earlier that morning he had debuted his newest creation, a lovely little ditty that glossed over a rather unpleasant encounter with a most unusual character. It had been quite catchy and the crowd that had gathered from the market had been most enthusiastic... he had even heard a few people humming it as he had walked passed them hours afterwords, the greatest thing a self made musician could hear.

Now walking in the drenching rain, new fame on his shoulders and ging in his pocket, the wick could not help the satisfied smile that lingered on his face as he searched for some shelter from the downpour. It really was coming down with a vengeance; perhaps to make up for the bit of respite he had gotten in the morning. Now the puddles were turning into little ponds in the middle of the mud-river streets... and Henri decided it would be best to make his way to high ground.

Perhaps he could have ducked his way into a tavern or a bar or something, but due to his recent experiences with the Old Rose's pubs the wick figured it would be easier to keep self and ging in one piece if he avoided such places for now... so he was left with darting from awning to awning until he found a dryer spot.

The rain drummed down in a steady beat, almost rhythmically to the wicks tune sensitive ear, and with the creative juices still flowing from earlier... Henri could almost hear the sounds of a simple melody being sung from between its steady pounding of the damp earth. In fact, he- he could hear a song.



Peering through the rain, the wick searched for the source of catchy childlike melody, finding it, unsurprisingly under a tree up on a short rise. A young witch-ling by the looks of it, but from the distance and the rain he couldn't tell who exactly... although the figure looked rather familiar. Smiling he made his way to the little tune twiddler as she sang...



The outburst made him chuckle, as well as the childish leaping and jumping the young girl enacted to claim her prize, shaking his head as she undoubtedly failed to do so. It was a shame she had stopped singing though, the little ditty had potential.

Henri was about halfway to the girl when she started to clime. Eyes widening at the rather daring and foolish act, he had sped up his steps as the child had stepped out on the rain soaked branches. The farther out the girl ventured, the quicker he moved to her tree, and he was jogging by the time she had ventured to the barest edge of the branch. As the child grabbed gracelessly for the dangling fruit, Henri's eyes had widened in horror as the girl slipped, and cursing he broke out into a run... already knowing he would not make it there in time to catch her before she hit the ground.

He reached the tree as the girl got to her feet, wheezing slightly with exertion and worry, yet relieved that she was standing.

“Oi, ye a'right?” Henri asked as he approached the girl as she sat slumped against the tree trunk, “I saw you fall... that was quite a trip for a pina boch, like yerself.”

Adelle jumped at the sound of the wick's voice and, in a panicky way, began rubbing her arms and hands over her face in a hurry to dry up the tears. "Yeah, I'm alright. Just hurt my side is all." The girl tried to smile, but her side was aching to harshly.

Chace was suddenly at Adelle's side in his protective nature, cautiously watching the wick that had just arrived.

"I'm Adelle, by the way." She said, still trying to hide that she was crying.

(( Alright if I join in? ))

Llian was cold, wet, hungry, stiff and tired. But mainly she was tired. Her cloak, a heavy woollen item, had kept off as much of the rain that was possible but the incessant presence of water hadn't allowed it to dry off and so the witch now had the odour of a very wet and musty dog. She was perched upon a seat at the front of a caravan, a pair of reins loosely held in her gloved hands. Her kenser brayed miserably as the streets turned into rivers. She was aware of the discomfort the beast was in but there was no where sheltered for them to stop. Yes, she could stop the kint in the middle of the street and she could go inside but that still left Finiss, the kenser, out in the open. "Epaemo," Llian whispered. What had first started as a pleasant tour of Old Rose Harbour was now turning into a nightmare. Before, she had been looking for the perfect spot to set up her business but now anywhere would do. Well, anywhere that she wasn't going to be robbed that is.

Her whice, six birds that made up her business, were also not enjoying the rain. Had they not been loyal to Llian, they would of left several hours ago in search for shelter. Instead, they sat upon the rail that was mounted to the roof of the kint and did their best to look miserable. Llian had thought about placing them inside by the damage they could cause didn't make it worth it.

The group rounded a corner to glimpse a young man, a wick Llian decided, running up a small rise towards a tree. Normally, a person would question this behaviour but Llian was too busy cursing herself. Not too long ago they had approached the same rise from the opposite direction. She was going in circles. With a cry of exapperation, she pulled Finiss to a halt and jumped down from seat. "Vrunta!" she swore. Not only was she lost but she had stepped right into a puddle. Her cloak, knee length, was saved from further deshabillement but her white underskirts, gathered att bottom and resting above the heel, were drenched. Finiss gave her a look of disapproval as she pulled the skirts up with both hands. "Don't look at me like that," she snapped. "We're lost!" The kenser looked away and began lapping at the water. His owner pursed her lips and looked out from under her hood. As stubborn as she was, the kov on the hill was her best option of finding her way to shelter. He appeared to be talking to someone, a small someone, but from afar she could not sense a field. Either the someone was human, or simply too young. Or maybe both.

Llian looked between her kint and animals and the pair on the small rise. It was risky leaving her kint and animals unattended for even a short amount of time in a foreign place but she really had no option. "Stay," she told them firmly. Skirts still in hand, she marched up the hill, calling out as she did so. "Hesta! I'm a wee bit lost and I was wonderin' ef you cou-OH!" She dropped her skirts and pushed her hood back. The someone, a young girl, was crying with a bander wolf at her side. She looked quickly between the kov and the boch and took a step back, as if to leave. "Ef I'm interuptin'...," she mumbled. It was just her luck to walk into some twisted arguement, just to ask for directions.

Antari was walking in the rain. He loved the rain. This place wasn’t half bad it seemed. He looked up at the sky, feeling the drizzle on his face. He looked forward to focus on where he was going. Though he didn’t know exactly where that was. He twirled to the left, narrowly evading a puddle. He cautiously held the dagger with his right hand with a thumb over his belt. He wasn’t quite sure what to expect. That’s why he liked it here.

Coming up a small incline he couldn’t help but hear crying. It was the cried of a young child. He began running toward the sound.

Antari arrived to see a wick man standing over a crying wick girl. He wasn’t able to hear anything, because his ear stopped working as his instincts took over.

He quickly drew a dagger. "Hey, laoso, get away from her!" he yelled running toward them. Just then he noticed another wick girl walking toward them, holding her skirts out of the water. what is going on here?

Adelle quickly looked at the woman here now, a surprised look on her face. "Erm...No that's okay..." She said, her voice seeming very childish do to her previous crying.

Chace slowly moved a few steps in Lilian's direction, spacing himself in front of all three of the wicks, yet still closest to Adelle.

Adelle wiped the last of the tears off her face, hoping no one had seen them."I'm Adelle by the way. And this is Chace." Chace let his jaw drop and his tongue flop out after Adelle had mentioned his name. This had always been a sign to him that there was no apparent danger.

Adelle was startled yet again, (it seemed like that was happening a lot lately...), When a man with a dagger started yelling. The man yelled. Adelle looked at him, a confused look on her face. "Oh!" She gasped when she understood.

"This uh...Is..It's not what it looks like!" She sounded like she would have been in a play, but the cheesy line was all she could think of to say. Wow that sounded so stupid... She thought. Chace decided that this man could be dangerous, probably by his expression and the dagger in his hand, and jumped up between Adelle and him, a snarl breaking loose from his barred teeth.

"Chace!" Adelle yelled. Chace stopped snarling, but held his position with and unkind look on his face.

“I bet,” Henri said sympathetic as he spied the spoiled fruit, “Yer lucky that ya only busted yer apple instead of somethin' more important, like yer noggin, in a fall like that.”

Then, spying the remains of tears on the child's face, the wick winced, realizing that his last statement might not have been the best to comfort her... Especially with the appearance of a rather protective looking bander wolf.

“Still,” he said, having decided it would be best to make a quick amends, Henri looked up at the small tree and then back to the little girl. “It seems quite a shame ta go through all that and still not get a bit ta eat...”

Reaching up, Henri barely managed to snag a rather juicy looking apple out of the tree, knocking it down and several others into his awaiting hands below.



“Junta Adelle,” he smiled at the girl as he offered one of the apples to her, “I'm Henri. It's a pleasure.”



Looking up at the arrival of this newcomer, Henri opened his mouth in greeting... only for it to be left silent, hanging open comically, as with the removal of the hood he found himself at a sudden loss of words.

She was beautiful. Flawless olive skin with an abundance of luxurious black hair that framed a perfectly wickish face. Henri gaped, apple held loose and forgotten in his hand as he stood stunned and moon-eyed; a furious blush scourging his face, making his smattering of freckles stand out like stars in the rain.



Startling him out of his stupor, the sudden yell made him jump guiltily. Vrunta, someone had seen him making eyes at his witch. Obviously someone as lovely as this new stranger had to be claimed.

Whirling about with a frantic waving of his arms, Henri turned to assuage the irate lover, his smitten blush still cursing his features.

"This uh...Is..It's not what it looks like!" Funny, he hadn't noticed the echo before...

Antari stopped anon realizing there wasn't as much danger as presumed. He froze in place assessing the situation. He realized his mistake as he saw the look on everyone's faced. His face grew red with embarrassment.

He sheathed his dagger as they all we explaining everything was not as it seemed. He looked at everyone and immediately began to laugh.

"Forgive me everyone. I was out of line." he said with a mixture of humor and embarrassment. Antari quickly walked toward the wick girl but stopped before he got too close the defensive Vander wolf.

"Is everyone ok? I hope I didn't startle you too badly." he said shaking his head at his mistake.

Llian gave a shy smile and waited briefly for the wick to speak, afterall he had opened his mouth as if to say something. But he just stared. Uncomfortable, she smoothed her hair down and hoped that they hadn't met before. The people she usually met, more than often, ended up with their pockets lighter than before. It was only with her arrival in Old Rose Harbour had she decided to make an "honest" living. Anyway, she was sure she would have remembered a face like his. The kov appeared young, he was quite short, yet the shape of his arms under his shirt suggested to her that he was the same age as her, give or take. And the tall boots were very fetching.



Any embarrassment towards the kov's behaviour or her own was covered up by a draining of colour from her face. Llian stepped back as Chace moved forward. She had stiffened visibly and clutched tightly at the blue and white fabric of her skirts. Even when the wolf's tongue lolled out in what could possibly be called a friendly manner, she didn't relax. Animals like Bander wolves belonged in a different world than those of whice or cats. Wolves were wild and everything about them cried out run! to her. "Nice wolf," she said softly," I'm Llian". She barely had time to compose herself when a fourth wick joined the group.



The drawn dagger was all Llian saw and she jumped back, holding her arms up against her chest. "I didn't touch her," she cried, whirling to face the attacker. Apparently the boch needed more than Chace to defend her. This was why she didn't ask for directions. Staring, wolves and knives got involved when all she had to deal with before was the rain. She would never complain about the rain again if it meant she lived.



What was going on? Trembling slightly, she looked at the others' faces. She wasn't sure whether to be more afraid now that he was laughing. He was deranged. He had come at them with a dagger with what looked like full intent to kill them all. Yet here he stood, laughing the whole thing off like it was some sort of joke. Llian exhaled shakily. She hadn't realised she had been holding her breath until the shock had worn off. "What," she asked slowly, looking to each person in turn," in Vita's name is going on here?"

(( Sorry it took so long! ))

Adelle looked at the now laughing wick. He seemed strange to her, acting protective and then laughing it off. She slowly took the apple from Henri's stunned hand. "Thanks." She said, a smile on her face.
For a moment, Adelle let out a long sigh of sorrow in everybody's absentmindedness. I wish i was able to do that! It looked so cool!

She sat down where she'd previously been standing and broke a piece of the apple off, offering it to Chace. Chace, still cautious with his ears perked up, trotted his way to Adelle, taking the bit of apple and beginning to gnaw on it.

"Ma'am, was there something you were going to ask?" She suddenly asked Llian, a smile returning to her face, and a chuckle swept through as she'd said it, remembering the laughing man behind them.

In his already alarmed and frazzled state, these words only served to confuse the poor wick lad. What did this man mean 'he was out of line'? He had been protecting his lady witch... hadn't he? Llian's words only drove on this point as she made clear her own baffled confusion with the goings on, her eyes making contact with theirs...

“So your- he's not...” Henri gestured loosely as he stuttered, trying to form coherent speech. A rather difficult thing to do, with this lovely witch looking at him so intently. His heart was beating hard and loud in his veins, and he couldn't be completely sure that it was all from his startled alarm of before.

“Your not... together?” He ended lamely, feeling hopelessly lost even as a spark of hope dared to flair within him. He may have a chance with this beautiful woman after all...

Looking down at the sound of Adelle's voice, Henri was surprised to find that his hand was empty, only to blink and see that the little witchling had already taken the apple from him. Ah.

The ridiculousness of the idea brought Llian a smile to her. It was raining, she was soaking wet and lost. Now here was a wick, fairly good looking but perhaps not too bright, who sincerely thought this dagger wielding maniac was her lover of sorts. She looked at him and suddenly the laughter was contagious. She was just that tired.

"Never met him in my life!" she said between laughs. She wasn't laughing at Henri, just at how down right stupid this whole thing had become. No one seemed to have any idea what was going. She had no idea where she was and apparently being defended by people she had never seen before. "I've been here no more than four days. Four days and already I've been invited to a bar fight by a boch and basically drowned in the streets." She gestured at the streets where her kint waited. The place resembled more of a river. You could almost expect someone to row past in a little dinghy.

"An' I came up here to ask for directions because I'm lost an' I nearly end up stabbed and mauled by a Bander Wolf," she giggled. All she had wanted was somewhere dry to curl up and go to sleep. What she really wanted was to go home. Old Rose Harbour hadn't lived up to her expectations.

When it was clear to the child the assumpions of Henri and Llian, She began laughing even harder. Adelle was one to follow what they see, even if it was unintential. If someone hicoughed, so did she. If someone laughed, so did she.

Chace seemed to calm down quite a bit during the laughter. He was now belly-up on the ground with Adelle scratching his stomach.

Finaly, the boch's curiosity got the better of her. "How did you get the apples from the tree without getting hurt like I did?" She asked. She knew the answer. "I'm taller." He'd probably say. But she was hoping that maybe there was just a trick she'd be able to learn or something.

Antari looked at everyone still cautious but he realized everyone was there by chance. He decided to try and break the ice between everyone further. "anyone want some more apples?" he said looking at everyone else.

He felt stupid, intruding on other peoples situations without examining it all first. Being in a new town was hard and giving the history of this one made things quiet delicate. He looked at the bander wolf apologetically hoping the creature would forgive him for his sudden appearance.

(( sorry it took so long to post ))

Henri laughed lightly along with the lovely witch, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked away with his blush still staining his flushed cheeks, a foolish grin threatening to break out across his features. She was unclaimed (as far as he knew) and was not with the temperamental wick with the knife! Perhaps he would be able to talk to her without having his personage threatened with bodily harm after all!

Listening to her speak (instead of just drifting off in a daze at the sound of her voice) Henri was glad to hear that she seemed a pretty easy going person as well, as easygoing as one can be after their first trip to Old Rose that is.

“Sounds like you've had quite the time of it as well,” Henri grinned slightly, even as he winced at his own memories of the place. He wasn't ever going to be able to rid himself of the memory of that golly's kiss. Never going to drink spiced rum ever again, that was for sure.

“So your lost?” The wick perked up a bit, a vague fantasy of playing a hero to the grateful damsel in distress flashing through his mind... only to be dashed to pieces when he looked around.

Clocks and curses. It had happened again.

Henri, it so happened, had a horrible sense of direction. He could get around alright, make his way from place to place no problem, but the moment he took the time to look for directions his mind simply washes out like the streets in the Loshis rain. And at this moment, with even the simplest land-marks having been rendered unfamiliar by the rain that was pouring down, making everything the same sort of damp and dreary gray, was not helping things one bit.

“He he...”Henri chuckled bashfuly as he deflated just a bit, “Wouldn't ya know it... I'm lost as well.”

Gaily laughing it off with a slightly comical air, Henri just simply shrugged his soaked shoulders in a 'what can you do?' gesture that was plain to be seen. His carefree attitude not dampend in the slightest by this little bump in the road.


His attention finally drawn away from the vision before him, Henri looked down to see the little green witch who had started this all. He grinned at the innocent question... and figured it wouldn't hurt anything to fool for a bit.

“Ah, well ya see,” Henri began, taking the three apples he had managed to snag and started loosely juggling them in the air, “That's cause Tree's like to give there apples to people. It's what they do... but Tree's don't give there apples to other tree's; they're jealous and every tree wants to give the more apples than the other.”

Snatching the apples out of the air, Henri tossed one to the now calm knife wielding wick and polished the second one on his shirt bright colorful shirt, “As you can see... I am not a tree...”

With put on suspicion he peered down at the little boch by the wolf, “ And you do seem rather green... Mayhap's you might have a bit of sapling in ya or something like that! Haha!”

With a good humored wink, Henri laughed lightly as he bent down and handed the girl another apple; to make up for his jest. Bent down close as he was, Henri was struck with how familiar she looked. She was rather green... where had he seem someone that green before?

“Oi boch, you've quite the familiar face... I haven't seen you around before now, have I?” He gave her a puzzled once over, trying to place her, “I could have sworn...huh.”

Adelle looked at Henri as he handed her the second apple.

Adelle thought for a moment, remembering the few days she'd been in Old Rose.

"Sorry, but I've only been in Old Rose for five days...And I don't remember you at all..." She smiled at him, taking a bite of the apple, and then handed Chace another piece.

"So it would seem that we're all lost then? Guy With the Knife...do you know where we are?"

Llian was happy to find that the blushing kov was laughing (she hoped) with her. She wouldn't blame him if he thought her moony. Heck, she was feeling moony. She was standing on a hill top, soaked and terrified equally of both the bander wolf and the knife wielding wick. If she was in his place, she would be laughing at herself.



And she had really hoped he could help. This wasn't how she had planned on spending her afternoon. But she couldn't stay disappointed for long. The witch soon found herself smiling at his care free attitude. He was just as soaked as she was but the wick could still play the fool in the greyest of weather. How he could when she was a nervous wreck was anybody's guess. So he couldn't be her knight in shining armour and save her from the Loshis rain, but at least they were in the same boat together no matter if it was a boat rowing around in circles.

Some good was coming out of the meeting. There was an apple tree on this hill and, as the kov had said, it was freely giving away its apples. "At least we're not goin' to starve," she commented lightly. Llian stepped forward and plucked one of the fruits from the lower branches. It had to be the single most appealingly apple she had seen in her life. It was amazing what the weather could do to your appetite. "I hope you don' mind but I'm just goin' to take as many of these as I can possibly carry," she laughed. She was currently building up a supply of food in her kint to save what little money she had.



It was these comments that drew Llian's attention to the child. Adelle was very green and her face did seem a little familiar to her. She pondered this over her apple, trying so desperately to pull out of her memory where she had seen such a person before. It was definetly in a bar, she remembered that much.



"We didn' get your name," she said in the way of an apology. Yes, he was a guy with a knife but it seemed rude to call him so. He seemed truly embarrassed about the whole situation and there was no need to remind him of it. There was already one blushing kov here. "Oh!" She turned back to face the wick. She had simply been referring to him as the 'blushing kov' in her head. It seemed silly now and the witch blushed herself. "I never got your name...."

Adelle broke down in laughter now. It seemed silly to have so many unknown names at a time like this. "Guess' we're all just 'Unknown' right now, huh?" Adelle said.

Adelle's head turned sideways as she looked at Chace, now rolled onto his stomach at Llian's feet. "Woah! He's never like this to strangers! He must really like you!" She said amazed.

Antari sat there thinking about his mistake. He felt so stupiud. He thought he had learned better. As he sat there ignoring everyones chatter he decided the best thing to do was to just leave.

"Forgive me everyone for my jumping to conclusions. I must now take my leave." With that he mearly walked away.

Shrugging in his carefree manner, Henri dismissed his odd sense of Deja vu as unimportant... although the feeling of having been in a situation where a green witch child caused much ruckus and embarrassment before was acutely strange and quite uncanny.

Returning his attention to the group, Henri looked to the odd kov the lovely witch had addressed with a friendly smile on his face. No ill will for a mistake of course, also it didn't hurt that knife wielding kov was not, in fact, his competition for vying for this beauty's attentions... and apparently not even sticking around to try.

His puzzlement at the strange man's leaving, without even giving his name none the less, was quickly aborted by said beauty asking him his name. Needless to say, all other cares flew out the proverbial window.

“Ah epaemo, please forgive my rudeness,” the colorful wick said doffing his cap with an elaborate flourish as he bowed with all the grace of a comedic play-actor, “I am Henri Lockery, me rosh, fiddler and musician at your service...”

He trailed off a bit, clutching his hat in both hands as he gave her his most charming grin, “And what may your name be, macha? I must warn you, if you don't tell me I'll just have to make one up...”

Henri managed to laugh a bit before the realization of what he just said caught up with him, chasing away his laughter with an upwelling of swiftly growing embarrassment that threatened to flood his cheeks with red. By all ten gods, he didn't know what had come over him, he was never so blatantly forward to a woman.

Desperately looking for something to distract from his embarrassment, the wick's eyes fell the Bander wolf wallowing at the witches feet. Not that he blamed the pup, but the way the lovely woman was shifting her feet was making it quite plain that she was not at all comfortable with the large canine's attention.

Crouching down on his heels, Henri began petting Chace and scratching his fur in that way that dogs of all kinds can't help but enjoy; suitably distracting it from rolling over the witch's feet as well as drawing attention away from the blush that was most surely staining his face a bright crimson.

Llian could hardly stay puzzled at the sudden departure of the knife wielding wick or even hurt that he had ignored her enquiry into his name because the kov she had been mentally referring to as 'blushing' had once again won her attention. Although his clothes were bright enough to draw anyone’s attention in weather as grey as this, there was something about his carefree attitude that reassured the witch. If he was smiling, it couldn’t all be that bad.



Llian, in all honesty, was flattered by the gesture and hid a smile behind her hand. The doffing of the cap and the sweeping bow was almost like something you would see in a wick staged play. In fact, it was reminiscent of her brother’s ‘magic shows’. She knew he did it to flirt with the women and she had always rolled her eyes at them when the blushed and giggled. It had seemed so silly to become doe-eyed at a bowing wick but Llian had never been on the receiving end. Now the reaction seemed perfectly normal. Plus, she had his name. Henri the musician. Henri. She liked that name.



The witch was successfully charmed. No one ever called her macha. Not when they were sober, anyhow. And if they were in such a state to be calling her macha, she was picking their pockets and dusting as quickly as possible. But Henri was sober and she had no intention of stealing from the colourful kov. A soft blush filled her cheeks and, like the women she had so often mocked, she stood pleasantly doe-eyed.

The kov, however, seemed slightly surprised by his actions and bent down to pat Chace. The Bander Wolf, however friendly he might be, was wasting his time trying to get affection from the woman. Llian simply froze at the presence of such animals. In her mind dogs and wolves were vicious beasts intent on tearing her limb to limb in a feeding frenzy. She was therefore thankful that Henri had managed to distract the animal, even if it might be at the cost of his arms.

“I’m sure you’d choose a nice name,” she told him, lowering her hand. She glanced away with a teasing smile. “But I ‘spose I could tell you ta save you the trouble.” There was a strange desire to crouch in front of him so she could see Henri’s face, but Chace’s presence was not going to let her do so. Instead, she had to make do with talking down to him. “My name is Llian Creek, ma balach, whice breeder and trainer at your service.”

It was probably best that he didn’t know the other side of her work. People tended to be untrusting of anyone who claimed to be a con artist. It was why she was trying to make an honest living in Old Rose.

Adelle was sad to see the knife wielding wick turn and walk away, but soon realized that there was still some entertainment! The small boch sat down with her legs twisted aroud eachother, watching in amazement how sweet this sight was.

A young kov, charming a beautiful witch, while at the same time guarding her from what in her eyes could be a fire breathing dragon! Adelle loved stories that involved romance, and better when played out in real life.

Adelle almost whistled for Chace to come back to her, but then changed her mind, as she noticed that this must deffinately be a part of the kov's plan to charm the witch. Instead of calling her friend back, she stayed where she sat, eating the last of her apple, watching the show.

Llian's teasing did not go unnoticed, and Henri ducked his head slightly to hide a slight grin as he glanced up at the witch from the corner of his eye.

“A fair benny name!” He said, his smile blooming wide as he turned his face to look up upon her, “Doubt I could 'ave thought up a more fitting one meself. I betcha th' lilly's themselves turn their heads away in shame when ya walk by'em.”

What had gotten into him, the wick hadn't a clue, but he was powerless to stop the flow of flirtation that poured from his lips before his thoughts thought to check them. At least it was good stuff... and he supposed he could live with his face being permanently stained red with embarrassment if it meant she'd stick around.

His hand having grown tired of its scratching, Henri gave the animal one last pat before returning to his feet. The rain, however protected they had been by the dainty bows of the tree, and increased just enough that clothing that had before been 'tolerably damp' were now leaning closer to becoming 'uncomfortably soggy'. Grimacing slightly at the sound of his boots squelching in the increasing mud, Henri picked slightly at his shirt, the colorful fabric clinging wetly.

“It seems Hulali is having fun today,” The wick said shooting a wry glance at the oppressive rainclouds overhead, “But I for one, have had my fill of water and wet for this evening.”

He shot the pair a cocky grin at his mild jest, and with a wink, held out his hand towards the little green-ish wickling on the ground, “What say we see if we can find ourselves a bit of a drier patch? I've had a bit of luck this morning... I'd be willing ta treat th' two of ya if you've the mind ta grant me th' honor of your company.”

His smile was for the both of them, but there is no denying the way his eyes involuntarily flicked over to the lovely witch and seemed to linger there for a moment to long to be completely casual.

“What say you Lilly? Care to join me for dinner?”

Adelle's smile grew huge with the wick's offer. She looked at him and then looked back at Chace. "Can Chace come? He won't eat much..." She said. She then looked at Llian. "Unless you'd be uncomfortable around him..." She said, a shy smile on her face, but the statement was more of a question.

While Henri, her blushing kov, struggled to stem the flow of flattery he was bestowing upon her, Llian was having trouble keeping the silly grin that was spreading across her face. Nor, the blush that she felt on her cheeks. For someone who spent their time manipulating the emotions of others, she was having a hard time defending her own. He was just so openly nice. He was flirting with her, it was very obvious, but the attention was not unwanted. Had she her own pretty words, Llian would have happily returned his affection. “Dat’s fair sweet of you, mujo ma,” she told him as she ducked her head away to hide her grin.

As Henri finished scratching the wolf, she stepped back, unsure whether the beast would remain pacified. In both her concern over the animal’s behaviour and her pleasure at Henri’s flirtation, the witch had nearly forgotten about the rain. She was uncomfortably reminded that her cloak had finally absorbed all the water it could possibly manage as a chill crept through her blouse underneath. She shivered, folding her arms across her chest. She was never going to have a chance to get dry if this weather kept up. Llian flicked her fringe out of her eyes as she followed Henri’s gaze to the sky above. It certainly didn’t look like it was getting any better and she, for one, had to agree with the wick. She had had enough of the rain. She smelt strangely like wet dog and her hair was protesting against the drenching. The witch would have to spend some time drying it out and combing it. Time she could be using to find her way back to her sheltered beach spot. But it seemed fate had other plans for Llian, plans involving dinner.



Despite the cold and the wet, she smiled again under his gaze. If his eyes had lingered too long, the witch didn’t notice for she herself was starring. He had called her Lilly, like the flowers. The flowers that turned their heads in shame, he had said. There was no chance of her loosing the red in her cheeks if he kept this up. “Oes, “ Llian said, albeit too quickly. She glanced away, shaking her head at her own eagerness. “Oes, I would like dat a lot,” she tried again.



Llian looked down at Adelle and shook her head. She didn’t want to part the boch from her pet, be it a pet she herself was terrified of. “Ne, he can come but only ef he’s good an’ doesn’ eat my whice,” she told her. She gave her a warm smile, almost apologetic for her attitude towards Chace. She always felt annoyed when people made assumptions about her whice, so the least she could do was try and be accepting of someone else’s animal. Even if it was an animal that might eat her. She looked to Henri again, hoping that the young girl was allowed to bring the wolf. “Dat’s alright, ent it? He can stay in my kint ef it’s a problem. I don’ know where you’re goin’ but we can go in style,” Llian told him with a grin. She pointed down to her kint at the foot of the hill. Her whice had remained on the rooftop, huddled together with their feathers fluffed out. Finiss, her kenser, shook the rain from himself and gave a low, sad call. It really was a pitiful sight. Llian grimaced. “Well, maybe style wasn’ the right word....”