Just a small town boy, living in a lonely world!

[Anonymous]

His shift may have ended, but his work was far from done.

It was just after the sun had gone down completely, and he held a torch in one hand, carefully observing the streets around him. There were a few people out and about, but nothing that looked overly suspicious. People running home from taverns perhaps, a few people who had been caught out late. He recognized one lady who was a seamstress on his route, no doubt having finished up her sewing late. He just smiled at her and nodded. He was a tough looking fellow, but he filled out his uniform quite well. He had a plain face, but an honest one, and it made people trust him even more. Leisurely he adjusted his collar as he walked, his eyes checking down alley ways just in case.

One could never be too careful.

Some movement caught his eye, and he was quick to draw one of the pistols at his side to quickly look at it. Someone just ran down an alleyway, and he gritted his teeth as he headed after them. People didn't usually run into alleyways. His grey outfit was rather bland, but in the city it really helped him to hide at night. Granted, it did nothing with the damn torch he carried around. His thick boots thudded heavily on the stone below him as he ran into the alleyway. More movement, and more than one thing, all headed in the same direction. A rain barrel was used to put the torch out, the clip around the bottom of it was attached to his belt as he ran. He didn't need whoever it was to know he was coming by the light. His eyes would adjust to the night but he was still running.

It was a labyrinth at this time, but he knew the streets of this area well. It was his route after all. In and out of alleys he ran, dodging and weaving, occasionally jumping over a fallen barrel or some refuse. The proper thing to do would have been to call out for them to halt, but...he was off duty. He could only do that on duty. Finally, the chase was coming to a close when the running people ducked into an alleyway. Boy would they be surprised. It was a dead end. He grinned as he skidded to a stop at the entrance, just as two things ran into him.

For them, it was probably like hitting a brick wall. His hands were quick to grab them, his gun having been holstered just moments before. They were small things, and he recognized them instantly in the flickering torch light of the street lamps behind him. "Jessi and Carlin, it's past curfew for you isn't it?" He asked the struggling kids. "Y-yes Mr. Callaghan, Jessi and I were just having fun! Honest! We was playing tag." One of the kids, a young boy said. "Carlin's telling the truth sir!" The young girl said. "Your curfews are for a reason though kids, your parent's just want ta make sure that you don't get hurt. These streets can be dangerous at night, who knows what's lurkin' in the dark alleys. Someone reported a bear wanderin' 'round the outside of the city. Now go on, git home, and no dallyin' either." He let them go, and the kids ran off quickly, giggling all the while.

They liked his country accent and mannerisms. Most people did. They found it an endearing quality...though, to him, it was all of them that had an accent really! That was just how it was though.

With that little bit of excitement handled, Dragoon Callaghan shook his head and headed out of the alley to head to his favourite drinking establishment. He didn't drink heavily, but today had been a rather...well...hard working day, and it was great to relax with a cool drink. He found the place, the Weeping Lily, and pushed open the door. "Oh Lucielle! Your favourite guard is here!" He called out loud as he strolled inside, a large stupid grin on his face. Some of the patrons, regulars, regarded him with a resounding "Dragoon Nelswan!" He laughed and waved a hand. "C'mon fellas, it's after sundown, let's keep it quiet." And then laughter from the crowd, and all was well. Nelswan found his spot at the bar counter, a large stein of ale already waiting for him. He just grinned and picked it up, winking at the mature woman behind the counter. She wasn't bad looking either, quite opposite, she had aged into womanhood with sublimity, though, most of the men were rather disappointed by the fact she was married.

Nelswan wasn't conflicted, though he wished sometimes he might have had the opportunity to see her when she was younger. Then again, he'd have been a young teenager, and it would have been a hardly fitting or appropriate relationship. "Thanks Lucielle. Without your ale I don't think I'd be able to keep the streets safe." He told her, getting a giggle from her not unlike a beautiful chorus. He only sighed happily as he raised the glass to his lips and took a gulp of it.

Now this...was a great night!

[Anonymous]

"Grr! Come on, give me a break!" Serena whined imploringly, brow sweaty and furrowed with determination. She gripped the stale loaf like a knight might wield his sword, and swung with all of her might against the brick wall.

Thwack!

The homeless girl stared on in shock, alternating her view between the loaf and the obvious dent it had made into the low-grade brick of the Weeping Lily. It hadn't even shed a crumb! It was bread, wasn't it? It had the weight of bread, the feel of bread, and, yes, even the smell of bread! So, given it possessed all of the qualities of bread, mustn't it be so? "I don't get it..." She sighed over a mouthful of the loaf, trying with a last ditch attempt to bite into the thing with her bare teeth. It was like trying to chew a river stone.

Just her luck! She found a whole Connlaothian-crust bread, and it was suffering an identity crisis.

"Can I help you, girl?" Came the motherly, buttery-smooth voice from just over Serena's shoulder, "We'll have something a wee bit more edible inside, if you're about done with that."

She still felt her face heated from the embarrassment of the memory, but Serena couldn't be happier that Lucielle had found her when she did. Not only did the generous woman allow her to take a warm bath, but she had given her as much bread, cheese, and dried meats as she wanted! Serena's heart was singing with how full her belly felt, and that enthusiasm bled into her work ethic as she went about busing tables.

Of course, Serena had given Lucielle her usual story: she is a traveling gypsy, and she simply misplaced her family to found herself out of luck for the night, and – oh, please, miss! – if she could simply have a meal and a bath, she could work to cover the cost of their generosity! She had a hunch that Lucielle had been able to see right through that act, what with her knowing smile and wisdom inspired only by those weathered enough to have experienced the very poverty she lived, but the woman hadn't said so.

Sometimes, the truth was just an accessory, and one did not always have to accessorize! 'If it doesn't suit the dress!' Serena added inwardly with a silly smile, twirling around to the next table to collect the remnants from the last customers. For all they knew, she was the new gypsy girl around solely for this one night. "How cool!" She giggled to herself as she swept up crumbs, then sashaying herself over to the trash bin as she imagined a young gypsy girl might. Unfortunately, Serena had the build of a two-by-four, so it would be more accurate to say she wriggled away to the back kitchen to deposit said crumbs.

'Dragoon Nelswan!'

"Nelswan...?" Serena echoed from the back kitchen, feeling the odd spark of nostalgia from the name being shouted in unison in the Weeping Lily. But she couldn't quite place where she'd remembered it from! "Maybe if I get a good look?" She advised herself as she tucked a lock of her wavy amber hair behind her ear, plucked up a fresh rag, and scooted over to the edge of the kitchen. Abnormally large brown eyes peered into the pub from the divide, scanning for the dragoon in question. "Hmm..."

But then! She'd heard the voice, that unmistakable drawl from a boy who's kind voice she couldn't bear to forget! "Nelswan Callaghan!" Serena blurted, then immediately clamped both hands – wet rag included – over her mouth. She whirled about on her heel, spinning out of eyeshot and into the safe haven of the kitchen. Poor Serena couldn't even consider how Nelsawn had grown into his ears, or how handsome he looked in his outfit. She just couldn't possibly make everyone believe her family was composed of rich gypsy lineage if the boy she grew up with in Lynnem was seated right next to them! She slumped against the wall, tugging anxiously at the shredded ends of her skirt.

"Didja need 'elp wit da cleanin'?" Came the raspy voice of the chef, glaring over at her with his good eye. Serena waved her hands in front of her face in dismissal, laughing nervously. "No no! I'm fine, just catching my breath. See ya!" Her fingers curled protectively against the rag, accidentally wringing out droplets of water in her wake as she made her way back out into the pub. 'Just! Don't make eye contact! It's been a long time, he surely won't remember me, no way!' She assured herself inwardly, steeling herself with a deep breath as she went about the next table. 'Oh, please don't let him see!'

She peered up at him from beneath her bangs, worrying the table with the rag mindlessly. He had nice, broad shoulders, didn't he? 'Oooh! Stop looking, it'll draw attention! What if he already noticed me?!' She scolded, turning her back on the vision of the painfully dull boy she'd grown up with. The only one who had ever been nice to her... With the cute smile, right?! She tossed a look over her shoulder, sizing up his height from where he sat at the bar. Tall, too!

"Eh?" A scraggly old man questioned her with the motion of his mug, grunting her back into consciousness of her work. She'd worked all of the water out of the table, which was now presently soaked and dripping excess onto the floor. "Good grief! What's wrong with me?!"

[Anonymous]

The din of the tavern was nice and quiet. It wasn't incredibly loud, and while there were drunkards in Reajh, by the hundreds maybe, this tavern wasn't really known for a whole lot of them. They were your lovable, understandable drunks. The people who were the hardest working, the stone masons, the carpenters, the wood workers and the smithies, they deserved some good strong ale every night. Now, he wasn't one to get drunk out of his mind, he enjoyed a good ale while he was off duty. After this one, he'd go onto drinking water, and in fact, he could see Lucille setting up a pitcher of the cold crisp stuff!

This was the only tavern he frequented, the one that he loved the most, and the one that loved him back. Everyone was so friendly here, everyone didn't have worries or cares here, they were just...people. Just like him. He was as down to earth and as human as anyone could probably get! That's what he liked about this place. So human. So...earthly.

It was perfect.

His parents of course warned him about the city...well, not warn...they advised him. They told him about what he would see in the city. He had never really understood thievery for one...people stealing from their neighbours? Then...murders. He could understand getting really angry at someone, heck, he'd been in a few fist fights...but they always ended the same. Two boys, sitting drinking sweet drinks together and laughing about how stupid their fight was about. But actually taking a life, over anger, over petty things? That was...he couldn't understand it. Things got worse from there. Rape, prostitution, kidnapping, child abuse, and all those ugly nasty things. However...he still wanted to come here.

He still wanted to do good, and protect those who couldn't protect themselves.

For a moment, Nelswan was sure that he had heard his name. Not just Dragoon Nelswan...but...his full name. Nelswan Callaghan. He looked around, a bewildered expression on his face as he tried to look for who spoke his name. Maybe he had just been too lost in thought and had heard his name in some distant memory. Hah! Wouldn't have been the first time of course. Though, it was only when he was laying in bed and trying to get to sleep, he'd smell a home cooked meal, the smell of sweet grass drifting in from outside, and hear his mother calling his name...but then it would be gone. Something from a while ago.

He went back to drinking from the stein, letting his thoughts run wild. He wondered about his friends back home, and about his parents. 'Course he had written a letter to them only a month ago, and got a reply back in the coming weeks. Things were fine of course, just as they always were in Lynnem. That was actually great news, to others they might find it boring...but...not him. Because it meant his parents, his friends, his home...it was all safe. And that was just excellent.

He had no idea that anyone was staring at him, until something rung out over the noise. 'Good grief! What's wrong with me?!' Nelswan turned to look at the particular person who cried out. It was a female...a somewhat dirty young woman in a ripped and tattered dress. For a brief moment, Nelswan almost turned away, until there was...a memory. She looked familiar, she looked REALLY familiar actually. But...not from Reajh though. No. She...she was from Lynnem!

"Serena Damia!" Nelswan cried out as he stood up, his boots thumping on the wooden floor. He rushed over to her and suddenly picked her up in a big hug. "By tha trees and the fields! I can't believe it's you!" He had heard that she had left, but to end up in Reajh like he had!? That was a strange coincidence! A good one at that! "I haven't seen you since Lynnem, feels like ages ago!" He grinned as he set her down, stepping back from her and clapping his hands together almost excitedly. "You really grew up! Became a really pretty little lady didn't ya?" Nelswan just grinned that big stupid dog grin of his. That honest face of his just grinning at her, excitement all across his face.

[Anonymous]

Serena dropped the stressed rag onto the table with exasperation, wiping her forehead with the back of her wrist. The last thing she'd wanted was to make the lovely Lucielle regret helping her out, and it had been the majority of the reason she'd begged to help out around the pub tonight! One good turn always deserves another, and here she was, ogling a boy when she should be taking good care of the older woman's Weeping Lily! What a mess she'd made, what a puddle of a table! She twirled about, the tattered ends of her off-white slip cutting through the air, and made to march back off to the kitchen to fetch a mop when she'd realized her error.

"O-Oh!" She croaked, skipping back a step before bumping her hip into the corner of the table, and was then immediately enveloped up, up into large arms and held against a flat, warm chest. It was odd, being hugged by someone. Serena hadn't the slightest on know how to react, trapped and limp like a helpless doe in the arms of some big, bumbling bear. "N-Nel...! How are... ermph-" She stammered, pausing midsentence to snake her arms out from his embrace and place her hands clumsily against the front of his uniform. Though, her sentence was never finished, trailed off with a squeak at the rest of his words once he'd set her down. She fussed with her hair nervously, pulling her fingers through it and casting her eyes down to the droplets on the floor. The blush, severe and surprised, sizzled beneath the skin of her freckled cheeks. Had she really grown up? 'He thinks I became pretty?' Serena thought, the meaning behind those words spurring an enormous smile to spread across her face like wildfire. Nelswan's excitement was contagious! Picking up where she'd left off, she laughed in a sing-song voice, "'By the trees and the fields'?! It must be true what they say: You can take the boy out of the country, but you'll never take the country out of the boy!" Tipping her head back - way back -, she smiled up at his achingly familiar face. The only friendly face she could recall from Lynndem! Her hair tumbled backwards in ringlets, revealing the smudges of dirt along her hairline that she'd missed in the bath.

"And look at you! Out here in the city in your flashy clothes!" Serena gestured the dragoon uniform with a wide sweep of her hand, her other hand planted on her near-nonexistant hip. Her eyes were teasing, scrutinizingly narrowed and nose wrinkled in a fit, as she tipped forward with now both hands fisted against her side. "What's all this for, Swan?"

[Anonymous]

It seemed that Serena was just as surprised as he had been!

He was actually surprised that she remembered who he was. In all the flurry, he should have said who he was, just in case she didn't remember. However, Serena appeared to know who he was, since she didn't struggle or fight him. She seemed to just sort of...go lip in his grip, which was a little odd, but at the same time, not too uncommon. For a moment, he almost thought he had made her pass out...when she started moving however, and talking, he could only grin that big farmboy grin of his. She remembered him! That was excellent to know! He probably shouldn't have manhandled her like that but...it wasn't his fault. He was so excited to see an old friend of his! He could remember all that poor Serena had gone through in their little town of Lynnem, but now it was good to know that she had done something with her life, and that she was alright. It wasn't like anything bad could happen right? She had been from a very special sort of family, their ability to...wait...the biggest thing was...she was wiping tables here.

Maybe things weren't all that good.

Nelswan forget most of his thoughts as she blushed and then grinned at him. "Naw, we always carry the country where ever we go!" He drawled with a wink to her. If he had been wearing a hat, he probably would have tipped it to her. He looked down at her and just smiled though, glad to see his old friend once more.

"All what for Serena? This?" He looked down at his uniform, at his double pistol insignias. He waved one hand absently. "S'along story, but I became a guard here'n Reajh, became a dragoon too. But s'impolite of me to talk about myself after all these years, what about you? Ah heard you left shortly after I did, but none could tell me what became of yah." He looked around for a moment. "C'mon, let's sit and talk! It's been ages, think ya can take some time? Eh? Lucille! Kin I please occupy tha time of your lovely waitress for a few minutes...maybe hours?" He turned to look at the older woman with big innocent eyes and pleading expression. The woman gave a small giggle and nodded. His grin could have lit up the room.

"Lead th'way Serena, wanna find a table to talk at?"

[Anonymous]

The floorboards creaked nervously beneath the stressed soles of Serena's boots as she rocked against them, clasping her hands behind her back and swishing her skirt back and forth with each swing of her hips. Her stance was undoubtedly flirty, as was her nature, but Nelswan had changed quite a bit more. 'Since when was he such a charmer?' She beamed inwardly, absolutely swept up and away by his old-world country qualities. He was a gentleman if she'd ever read about one, and of course, she had read about them. A lot. Every night. She was confident that she'd recognize one when she met him, and who would have guessed that farmboy 'Swanie' would have evolved into such a fabled creature?

Of course, there had to be a catch. This was Serena Damia, after all, and that girl didn't have a lucky bone in her body.

"A... Dragoon?" She echoed, mildly alarmed at the feeling of her insides freezing over. Not out of a manner of pride, but out of sheer shame that no one could have denied had they been in her place, Serena accounted for the number of reasons she could never meet Nelswan again after this night. First off, she was homeless, and that sort of thing was looked down upon at reunions such as this. Homelessness was also frowned upon in general, and as someone with a fixed position in the military guarding Reahj, wouldn't Nelswan find out where she was hiding out at night? Wouldn't she get in trouble? She didn't pay any taxes! But, she hadn't any money to pay taxes... Or buy clothes. Oh, no. He'd realize she only wore one outfit ever! I mean, he would notice, right?

Serena paused in the half a second span of her internal struggle, narrowing her eyes briefly as she did a double take of Nelswan's face and general composition.

Nah, as much as a boy as Nelswan was, he would definitely realize that she was wearing the same clothes. Resigning herself to the unfortunate fate of meeting this wonderful man for the last time, Serena forced the corners of her smile to stay put. "A dragoon! Good for you, Nelswan," She threw her wrist limply, though it lacked the luster the brunette typically exuded, "Oh, me?! I've just been... out there... doing things... mhm-" But it was far too late, for the boy was already making a gentleman out of himself /again/ by pardoning her from her one-night-stand of an employer and... Oh, his smile was to die for!

"Sure, sure!" She tried, struggling to uphold her standard personality so as not to give herself away so early. Damn her if she didn't try to make this night interesting and wonderful and fun regardless! "Let me just go grab a rag to dry up this mess, and we can sit here! How does that sound, Swanie?" It was a question that prompted a response, true, but she hadn't given him a moment to answer. In fact, she was still asking the question as she scrambled halfway across the room, flailing her arms towards the table she'd nearly abandoned him at. Now, safely behind the walls of the kitchen, Serena pouted for all she was worth.

"'Ey, gypsy girl. How d'ya know Dragoon Nelswan?" The nosy chef prompted her once more, waggling a wooden spoon in her general direction to draw her attention away from her self-loathing. He flicked splatters of red sauce wildly about the kitchen. "He di'n associate with ya'll, did he?"

"A gypsy! That's RIGHT! I'm a beautiful, dancing, exotic gypsy!" She whispered, her voice escalating to an excited pitch by the end of her epiphany.

"... Yea'?" He boggled.

"I smell like a gypsy," Serena sang, digging into the pocket of her shredded red tunic and withdrawing a small glass bottle of jasmine oil. She promptly smeared it it all over the skin of her neck and run the excess down the ends of her hair through her fingers. The smell dispersed throughout the room, freshly sweet with the telling undertones of flowers. And she, Serena, was the source of it! Her confidence soared, and with it, she did, too; she held her hands over her heart and swirled, humming lightly. "See, see?!"

"... Nah really. Ya don't see smells, lass..."

"It doesn't matter! Because I'm leaving tomorrow, right?! To find my family, my new and adopted gypsy family. No one knew what happened to me! He said so himself!" Serena proceeded to swirl about, sighing, "To-mo-rrow. Never to be seen again."

"..."

"I know, right?!" Serena agreed brightly, and wasted no time in snatching up the dry rag and all but skipping her way back to the table. She did a dancing step around poor Nelswan, dizzily blotting the excess water until the wood was at least relatively dry. The job done, the homeless girl whipped about to give her dragoon friend a heavily-lashed batter of her eyes. "Shall we?"

[Anonymous]

Nelswan wasn't going to admit that he was a gentleman, at least not one of those fancy men from the palace. He was just a boy who had been raised to be polite, to be nice, and to be very cautious of what he said. He was careful never to raise his voice in anger, and made sure to be courteous and to never talk back to people. A gentleman he was far from, but he was a charming young man who didn't really know that he was all that charming. Sure, he knew that once in a while if he flashed a big smile or grin it could get people on his side, or make them more agreeable. He didn't believe it was overly flirtatious of him, he was just being...who he was.

Nelswan the Dragoon farm boy.

"Tha's right, for an outstandin' service record." Now, Nelswan wasn't an idiot of course. He could see that there was something wrong when he said dragoon. She seemed so...startled even, perhaps nervous. Why would she be nervous? He knew that she wasn't a mage after all, and really, a Dragoon was just the top of the top, they protected people after all, they were the ones who had done such an amazing job of their duties, if anything...she should be less afraid! She should be relaxed and unafraid of him being there. Yet it was different now...now she was afraid.

It could mean anything...but it put a bit of suspicion in his mind.

Something definitely seemed wrong, but it wasn't his place to really say anything. He just wondered what could have changed her attitude. "Why thank yeh, t'weren't nothin' though!" He said modestly, smiling sheepishly as he scuffed his the sole of his boot on the wooden tavern floor. "Tha's good then, tha's good, glad ta know you've been keepin' yerself busy!" People that left Lynnem were still doing good then, that they still were just the same! He was very pleased to hear such a thing.

He was going to respond to her with a folksy little saying, but she was already off and running. He blinked, rather confused at her sudden action. Something very strange was going on. He didn't want to eavesdrop, that would be incredibly rude after all. He was so curious though...but he couldn't...say anything. He just had to relax and...and wait to see what would happen. He just smiled and waited...though...he could hear some weird things from the kitchen. 'beautiful, dancing, exotic gypsy!' was one thing that he could hear. Even more confusion passed over his face as he listened from where he stood, his mouth open slightly in a gape.

'I smell like a gypsy' came a sing song voice, whom he knew was Serena. Okay. That was a litlte...odd. He really didn't know what was going on in there. 'It doesn't matter! because I'm leaving tomorrow, right?!' He could hear more and more, and he just became more and more confused. He really didn't know what was going on anymore, he wanted to know just what she was going on about in the kitchen. Maybe he could ask her about it when she came back from the kitchen.

However, there was no real time for that as she came back, dancing. He'd heard about being excited before, but seeing this strange girl skipping around him and drying the water with a rag. This had all become very confusing for the young dragoon...but...when she gave him that heavily-lashed bat of her eyes...he couldn't help but grin. "We shall." He told her with a nod and a smile as he went and pulled out a chair for her, waiting for her to sit so he could push the chair back in. When that was done, he went to his own chair and sat beside her, instead of across from her. After all, he wanted to be close...she smelled good...not like a gypsy at all. Then again, he hadn't encountered any before, at least not that he knew.

Still...pretty girl with a good smell...a pretty girl that he had met a long time ago when he was young? The night couldn't get any better than this could it? "So why'd yah leave Lynnem Serena? I thought that'd you'd be like your father and mother and take over the farms an' what not...using that nice personality your family gets to help train animals and what not."

[Anonymous]

Poor Serena hadn't the slightest idea that she'd still been audible to the boy stationed across the tavern. Granted, there weren't any true doors to be found between the bar area and the kitchen area, but the empty doorway couldn't have been that giving, could it? In her whimsical excitement, the same emotion that had the girl singing aloud in the kitchens, she had let her voice gone unchecked, and hadn't paused to consider whether or not she'd been heard by Nelswan.

She still wasn't considering it when the boy had been sweet enough to pull out a chair for her, and after seating her, goodness, he pushed it in behind her to boot! He even chose, pointfully elected, to take the seat that was just beside her, and the moment the dashing dragoon had made that decision, he'd had the girl hooked dead through her heart. As if she could feel it, Serena physically fisted her hands together over her chest, and tried desperately not to squeal with school-girl glee. "Thank you, Nelswan..." She trailed dreamily instead, half out of the sheer, toe-curling pleasure of being off her feet for once this night, but also for the man who had shown her enough chivalry in a five minute span than anyone had in the past... well, in the past nineteen years and seven months of her life.

It really was a shame that she'd have to make a point of never seeing him again. Her heart wrenched a bit at the thought, but Serena mentally kicked the downward thoughts. What point in there was fretting the future if it only brought about sadness? 'I'm here with him now! Just focus on that! What he doesn't know couldn't hurt him, after all. It's just a point of making sure he doesn't find out, right...?' The girl wondered, though only inwardly. Outwardly, she was eyeing Nelswan with the admiration one would give a beautiful portrait than an actual person. His eyes, his cheeks, to his nose and his...

She seemed to have her large brown eyes settled intensely on his lips, but snapped out of her trance the moment he'd mentioned her mother and father. Blinking rapidly, she focused her attention on his whole face this time, and gave him a dizzily happy smile. "Oh, I love training animals, but..." Whoops. Serena stumbled over that last word, trying to recall some sort of pre-scripted excuse for why she'd left home. Out of the dozens of planned stories she'd complied over the time she'd spent homeless and explaining herself to prospective employers, Serena hadn't ever quite addressed the truth. She'd never admitted that she'd stopped doing something that she loved in order to escape the persecution she faced at home. That little nugget of information wasn't about to fall from her mouth, though, so mustering up the best lie she could, she continued, "...but it wasn't the life for me! I wanted to get out of Lyndemm and see the world." The girl leaned toward the dragoon from her seat, propping her arms up on her elbows against the table. It was time to put into effect her original plan, and his question was the perfect way to segway into it! "You see, I'm a gypsy now! A traveling gypsy, in fact! So, that's that!"

A twang of guilt for having lied so brazenly tugged at her heartstrings, but it was better the lie than to admit she spent her days rummaging for food, begging for work, and living with a group of stray animals in an abandoned (or, undesirably for-rent would be the appropriate term) forge downtown. Comforted by this fact, she held up her sugar-laden smile and looked adoringly into his eyes. Now, she'd picked up quickly where she'd left off, giving him no time to intervene or question her so-called 'gypsy life' immediately after she spoke of it, "What about you, Swanie? What's it like being a dragoon? Have you ever..." She leaned in even closer to whisper, nearly sliding off the edge of her chair, "arrested someone?!"

[Anonymous]

It wasn't as if he had been eavesdropping on her in the kitchen or anything. No, he was interested in what she was up to, and just happen to hear some things! That was all it was. He was certainly not at fault, oh no, not him! Okay, maybe he was...sort of...paying close attention...and she probably didn't know he was listening. Now he felt like he was being eaten up inside because of that bit of guilt. He was after all, very conscientious about what he did.

Still, she had been very loud about it after all.

This was how Nelswan was, a simple farm boy with good manners, just as he had been taught. Always be polite and chivalrous towards women, the absolute fairer sex. He would have probably done it for any woman that he was with...though...this wasn't just any woman. This was Serena, a rather nice and misunderstood girl from his past. He wouldn't deny that he had perhaps had a few more feelings for her than he did for most women he met. Most were just...passing fancies perhaps, or even just...courteous encounters, but Serena was special. Perhaps that was a bad sign, or even a good sign depending who you asked. "Of course Serena, always ah pleasure."

He tried to keep his face from going too red from embarrassment as he noticed that she was staring at him. Nelswan was used to people staring at him of course, he was a dragoon after all! People stared at him all the time...but this was different. This was so close...this was so..odd to say the least, it wasn't the normal kind of staring that he was used to. Thankfully she stopped her staring as she started to talk about herself. Oh that was much better now, it took a lot of pressure off of himself. He just wondered why she had left, what she had started to do.

"A gypsy? Sounds like a dangerous little group I reckon, some tried ta move into a park in the city...smelly bunch, but nice enough folks...lotsa mistrust with 'em though..." They were known as thieves after all, thieves and con artists, which wouldn't do well with little Serena. He wasn't sure he rightly understood why she was doing this either, it didn't sound like...well, it didn't sound like her at all. He was about to speak up about that, but it would have to wait as she was speaking again. She was quick, she was scared, and he could only wonder why she was being so...strange. People had always called her that back in Lynnem, but he never paid any attention to it because...wells he wasn't strange. She was different, but not strange.

"Ever what?" He had to lean in a bit to hear what she was going to ask. He almost thought she was going to ask if he had ever shot someone...but...he could only laugh. "Well 'course I have Serena, I'm a guard after all. Nothin' real serious though, mostly people who're too drunk to know better, thing's like that." It was a bit of a lie, he had participated in the arrest of some mages before...well, a bust of sorts on a coven...it had all been a clever little plan however to confuse them and throw them off the trail, so they had just arrested twenty innocent people.

"Y'know Serena, it doesn't sound right...you runnin' off to join gypsies? They're bad folk, can't be trusted and are nothin' more than cheats, liars, thieves and con artists...yet...you wanna go an' join 'em? I gotta ask what you're gonna find with them...jest doesn't seem right."

[Anonymous]

Boys typically blushed in the face of what Serena put them through, but not usually in a flustered manner. They'd blushed with embarrassment, felt it burning at the edges of their ears and chasing up their neck when a dirty street girl had waltzed up to them with a squeaky voice and crazy ideas of love in front of their pals. So, when she'd seen the familiar red flush on Nelswan's face, despite his attempts to hamper it back, she wasn't very... offput. In fact, blushing was more evidence of 'I can't resist you' than 'you're making me uncomfortable' to Serena.

She almost felt compelled to scoot a bit closer to him, even pushed her boot just a little against the floor so she could slide the feet of her chair in his direction, but froze like a statue at his words. Her eyes widened, and teamed with their already monumentous proportions, they rivaled her entire head.

Now, fables - stories typically crafted to enthrall and terrify children - tended to gloss over the dirty details. The fact that Serena relied upon these less-than-credible sources as the stem of her knowledge of the world said enough about her, so when she had claimed to be a gypsy... Well, gullible and fantastical Serena had been led to believe that gypsies were beautiful nomads, migrating from town to town to grace them with joyous nights of their enchanting dancing and the jingling sounds of their golden bangles. When they'd begin to play their music, no one told them to be quiet. When they danced, no one laughed at them. People crowded around, happy to be entertained by such lovely people. Gypsies, in her fairy tales, were the epitome of the well-liked girls she'd sought to mimic so desperately it made her chest ache.

So when Nelswan had the audacity to state that they were, not only smelly, but untrustworthy liars and... oh, a whole slew of terrible things to say! She cupped her hand over her mouth, trapping her horrified gasp in the birdcage of her fingers. "No they... no we aren't!" She shrieked loudly, drawing the startled attention of nearly half the tavern, "Who told you such things! That's not nice, Nelswan!" Now that his pet name had been dropped, it was obvious that Serena was quite seriously upset by his concern for her.

'If he thinks gypsies are smelly... Does he mean me?!' The sensitive girl pondered nervously, decidedly leaning back and away from the dragoon whilst still remaining in her seat. It was possible that he hadn't liked her scented oils. Perhaps she had been what he'd meant by smelly, which may be misconstrued at a pleasant adjective, but oh, not in this context! Not in he company of such hateful words as mistrust and thieves! Her lower lip pouted outwards and quivered involuntarily. "If you don't have anything nice to say..." She started, her voice hitching towards the end while her entire face seemed to pull down to a frown, "... then don't..." The jittery girl could hardly continue, blinking aback the wetness of her eyes as she tucked her fists brokenly into her lap,  "just don't!"

Something tugged at the shredded remains of Serena's sense of logic, urgently reminding her that the Nelswan she could recall from her youth would have done nothing to have hurt anyone's feelings. He was always the good guy, remember? But no! That's why it'd hurt so much when he'd said it! Serena observed the badge of his dragoon's uniform noticeably, scrunching her nose and brows in something like terror at the implications it held. Maybe the new position of power had changed him? Like the prince had been changed in her fairy tales when he'd become king?! Maybe... Maybe... "Are you going to put me in jail?" She'd asked aloud, blinking her eyes wide from their focused position at his chest so that she might be able to evenly disperse the tears collecting rapidly there. The attempt simply made her eyelashes clump together wetly, and her eyes themselves glistening ominously with sadness. Serena didn't think she'd fancy jail too much. It was a big building with no windows to hear the birds, and with all of the nastiest people of Connloath concentrated within its walls. She stiffened immediately with the thought.

"Please don't!"

[Anonymous]

It had been a long while since Nelswan could remember blushing. There hadn't been very many times...though, a few brought to mind more of a blush. Like the time he had to round up a couple of prostitutes who were working in an area not sanctioned for them. Their scantily clad bodies did a lot to cause the young man to blush, and then the promises of what they could do to him if he let them stay brought more. However, he was a guard, and his duty came first, not his desires. Not that he really found himself desiring that sort of thing anyway. He was too much of a gentleman to take...such things from a lady, even if she offered so readily. Nels knew quite a few guards who would have jumped at a chance for that.

Now here was, blushing up a storm again with Serena. And she wasn't even doing anything! Well, she wasn't doing much more than staring at him. A stare that he really didn't mind either.

The stories about gypsies were quite the opposite. They were always told to be quiet, they were always told to put out campfires and to move along. There were two sets of gypsies that Nelswan had encountered in his life in Reajh. The first kind were the no good gypsy scum that stole, lied, and cheated people wherever they went. They had no care for what people thought of them, and no care for what they did to people. Whether it was selling swamp water as a love potion, or using crooked dice, they didn't care what they did to people. Then there was the other kind, the rare kind that seemed to have some actual respect. They were the kind that just stopped their wagon outside of town, and asked for permission to enter. They weren't loud, and they had some knowledge of herbal remedies and medicines that genuinely worked, and would share with people. They were good folk, and Nelswan was always happy to see them.

However, finding them, and joining their group, was hard enough as it is. They were a tight knit community...and Serena was very much an outsider. Nelswan could only see her being taken in by the bad gypsy folk, and them taking advantage of the naive village girl. After all...his first time dealing with them...they had swindled and stole from him.

What he had said had the opposite affect on her, and she seemed quite opposed to what he had to say. Her shrieking said it all, and he became wide-eyed with confusion. He was concerned, very concerned for Serena, and now she was reacting in the very different manner than he had thought. She even called him by his name, and he just knew that meant trouble. His mother used to do the same thing when he was in trouble. Made his blood run cold.

Then she started to speak again, and he could feel a pang of guilt shoot through his heart. He'd said that before in Lynnem to people...who were making fun of Serena even. Now here he was...oh he felt terrible now. He couldn't believe what he had said, and now...things had been going so well too! She had seemed so...distraught by what he had said to her. He only wished he could take it back now, but it had been said. It had been said, and it had hurt her.

She seemed so nervous all of a sudden, and he could only blink in confusion at her apparent fear. She suddenly was afraid of him? Why was she? He didn't understand what was going on. Poor simple Nelswan, couldn't figure out women for the life of him. Especially the one before him. "J-jail? Why would I put you in jail Serena?" She had done nothing wrong as far as he knew, but she seemed genuinely afraid of what might happen. It was rather silly and strange, and he wasn't sure he knew what was going on at this point. At her last request however, he had to do something. So he pulled her close suddenly, into a warm hug.

"I'm sorry fer what I said Serena...but there's a good chance that ya could end up with the wrong group ah people, who would take advantage of ah sweet little village girl like yerself...or even...myself." Nelswan told her quietly as he held onto her, not knowing really what else to do. He could remember a time when he had hugged her when they were young, he had done because...well he didn't know what else to do. Sometimes time didn't really change a person. "Y'just have to believe that I was worried. Such a sweet girl shouldn't be lookin' for gypsy folk, she should be lookin' for a bright future, and most gypsy bands can't offer that."

[Anonymous]

It wasn't very often that Serena experienced a true, human-to-human hug.  When she'd turned thirteen, her family had reason to believe that their sparkling little girl had been replaced by this flower-eating, woodland-dwelling, magic-dreaming, downright strange thing that was certainly no spawn of theirs... A changeling. They hadn't been too keen on hugging her then. Not when even the other little girls could tell that she was obviously a fairy, couldn't possibly be human like them. What her parents did do was thrust her in the face of a Mordecai. Serena couldn't tell whether the glaze in her father's eyes was there because he was afraid for her, or from apprehension, as if he'd been secretly hoping she'd shrivel up like some dried out toad.

The Mordecai hadn't been of the affectionate variety, either. She'd discovered this when she stumbled forward, hooking the edge of her dirt-crusted boot on the floor and latching her arms tightly around the man's tapered chest for support. She'd have fell flat on her face if she hadn't, though something small and shimmering in Serena had told her she'd hung onto him so he could collect her in his arms, whisper sweetly into her hair, and take her far, far away from everything. Instead, he'd looked down at her with cold indifference.

No, the last hug that Serena could remember for sure was the one that Nelswan had given her when she'd been exquisitely sad. And that same boy was seated in front of her, plastered with the typical look of male confusion as he stuttered her word back to her. Hadn't he just been the silver lining in the dimness of her past? And, just a moment ago, he'd been lighting up her entire world with his charm. Serena had been so taken off guard by his innocent, dense look that she'd nearly forgotten why she was crying.

Oh, that's right. 'He doesn't like gypsies. He doesn't like me!' She recalled inwardly, feeling a fresh wave of tears springing anew just before the boy reached out more quickly than she could ever recall him being capable of moving and just... held her. Serena was as limp as a ragdoll with shock, crumpling into his arms and, well, mostly into his chair. Even her foot slid forward, saddling up her leg against his as she buckled forward into his chest. The front of his uniform was a blob of darkness through her tears, but the feeling was so sensational, so familiar that it pulled her right back into Lynnem. Serena seemed to recover from her initial shock and accepted the hug, fisting her hands in the front of his shirt and lilting her head against the bundle of cloth there. She could almost smell the earthy, wet wheat fields.

"A sweet village girl... like yourself?" She repeated, tickled by the joke she'd made out of the disembodied words. Angling her head back, Serena gave him a wide smile, flooded with the relief of happiness just after girlish despair. "You don't have to worry about me, silly." She'd exhaled a long, heavy lungful of air she hadn't known she'd been holding, and shimmied her chair closer in his direction until the wood thudded dully against his. Like the noise was her cue, she leaned all of her slight weight against him. Well, as long as he was offering up the hug, Serena was going to bask in it! She propped her chin up on the flat expanse of his chest, just beneath where the hollow of his neck was located, and looked up at him adoringly. There was no raw energy in her gaze, nothing in her body language that gave off anything that Nelswan might've recalled from one of Connlaoth's saucy prostitutes. In fact, it seemed more like he'd sent Serena up into the clouds with the latest developments, caught somewhere between nostalgia and the floral scent that now bloomed from her upturned neck. "The gypsy I know aren't thieves or liars." She stressed, but there was no real heat in her voice, "They're very nice! So... it's okay!" She'd finished badly, but her concentration was more on unfurling her hands from his uniform and snaking them about his shoulders as she spoke. Though he was unbearably tall in comparison, Serena managed to reach up higher, pinching the ends of his cinnamon hair lightly between her fingers, and twirling it around and around at the nape of his neck. She giggled, giddy from her position, but also because she felt the most pressing urge to braid his hair with daisies.

"It must be fun to be a Dragoon." She predicted disjointedly, blissfully unaware how downright desperate she must seem to the other regulars to the pub. The 'waitress draped over a man at a bar' label wasn't as glamorous or exciting as the 'exotic gypsy' one she'd been trying to uphold in their eyes, but Serena was willing to settle! After all, this was going to be her only night with Nelswan. "What's your favorite part? Gosh, I can't believe you left Lynnem, Swanie~"

[Anonymous]

Nelswan did feel sorry for Serena. He had known about her family life, about how bad things had gotten for her with her parents. People suspecting her of magic...bring in a Mordecai to test her...and he couldn't even think that she was different. He didn't believe it one bit really. She was just a little girl, and her parents turned their back on her, her parents had thought the worst of her and...it was just so crazy! His parents couldn't have even imagined doing something so wrong to their own child, but then he was very lucky that way. Yes, he had been very fortunate in his life, while Serena had quite the opposite.

He supposed he could understand her for wanting to leave Lynnem now.

He just had to hold onto her now, because it was all he knew. People liked hugs after all, sad people really liked them, and Serena was a sad person. He hoped it helped her, because he wasn't always the one for saying the right thing to a person when he just...couldn't understand them. She seemed to like the hug though, at first she just was a doll in his arms, but then she actually...grew into it. She even moved closer to him.

"Y'know what I meant." Nelswan murmured as he rolled his eyes. He was a sweet village boy after all, a bit naive like she was. Well...she seemed a little less naive than he...but then again she wanted to join up with Gypsies. There was something to be said about her but...that wasn't really important. He just wanted her to feel better for what he had said to her. It had been the wrong thing after all.

"Oh, that's jest who I am though, worrying ol' Nelswan." The dragoon murmured to her softly. Now she was...really getting into the huge wasn't it? He didn't stop hugging her though, he just kept his arms around her shoulders, holding onto her. He looked down at her as she looked up at him, and of course...he just smiled at her, that charming village boy smile. He really was enjoying this just a bit...it had been...never since he'd had a hug so...close and so full of emotion. She seemed to radiate a sort of happiness now...it was...nice. She also smelled like flowers, which was a really good smell for her. "Never can tell with someone people Serena...Ah thought I knew some good people too once...but they subjected their daughter to a lot of mean things." He told her quietly. He had been older than her, and was able to understand it to some degree...what they had done to her, what they put her through. It hadn't been the act of loving parents.

The feeling of her hands in his hair was nice...it was something unfamiliar, something he hadn't experienced from a woman that hadn't been his mother...but because it was Serena it felt so...different...but good.

"Favourite part of bein' a Dragoon? That's easy...knowing that I did so well at my job...that I did better than others did...that Ah had done my job great enough and with distinction that I was recognized...but even then...it was my job...it's my duty...and it's my honour ta protect the people of Reajh. To ensure their safety, it's like nothing else...all these people relying on me, I can't ever fail knowing tha people put their trust in me."

[Anonymous]

The warm atmosphere of the Weeping Lily, not to mention the perfect candlelight ambience of the dimly lit pub, was beginning to seriously lull Serena. It didn't help that'd she'd been working up a sweat busing tables before, nor that she wasn't accustomed to being cushioned by a broad, warm chest. Not that she was complaining, of course! And with a sight like Nelswan's easy smile and such pretty green eyes, she couldn't help but feel absolutely and unshakingly safe ... and enchanted! How badly she wanted to scoot up and just plant one on him, but knowing Nelswan, she'd likely spook him half to death. And knowing herself, she'd fall for him in one way or another if she dared something so risqué! To fall in love with someone she hadn't any hope of being together with, it wasn't smart. Her mama had told her so when she was younger, prancing around with a drawing of 'Prince Charming' torn from the pages of her book. So instead, Serena begrudgingly laid her cheek flat against the front of his uniform, and began to slowly pinch and fold her fingers as nimbly as a spider, and wound his hair into a small braid.

Serena could recall Nelswan and his family from her childhood in Lynnem, and though he was a couple of years older, the town was such a small blip of civilization amongst grasslands and farms that everyone knew everyone. She knew, for example, that Nelswan was a farmhand for his parents on their farm, and that he was honest to a fault! It was so lousy, so downright lamentable that the only reason he was hugging her, Serena knew, was because he'd felt bad for her! For a fraction of a second, she peeked up to get a nice eyeful of his lips, and went back to trying to hide her disappointment. He had smelt her, right?! Wasn't he getting the picture?! 'He's such a... such a boy.' Serena sighed inwardly, withdrawing one hand from his hair to begin tracing the pattern on his buttons with her teeth-trimmed fingernails. She'd liked it when he spoke though! She could feel it rumbling up and out of his chest, and with her ear pressed against it like that, it was like he was some big, growling dog! Her eyes fell blissfully shut, long lashes fanned out against her uplifted, smiling cheeks.

But her thoughts were interrupted by his next words, which had snapped her quite thoroughly awake from her reveries. Why would Nelswan bring up such a thing?! Her frame went rigid in his arms this time, finger froze mid-line against his button as she began to construct some sort of easy way out. The poor boy seemed to be pushing all the wrong buttons, first with the disturbing of her fantasy world, and then with the reviving the demons of her past. Not that she viewed her parents as demons, not at all! She loved her parents, more than anything! She squirmed uncomfortably now, even despite his next bit about being a Dragoon. Plus, the unrelenting sweetness of his answer, the genuinely heroic motivations of his, had her heart falling to the tips of her toes.

"Ever reliable, ever charming Swanie!" She managed over the guilt of having lied to him so blatantly previously, "You fit as a farm boy, but this? This fits pretty well, too! I always knew you'd help people in some way or another, and here you are with this fancy get up and these..." She trailed her finger over the badge of duel pistols, and the startling knowledge that he must have these exact heavy, cold weapons somewhere on his person pricked her heart, "...these... Hm." She withdrew her hand to instead press a finger to her chin, and gave him a grave look. "...Why do you need those, Swanie? You know, it's strange! Because when I'm outside, even late, I've always been okay! When I, ah... travel with the gypsies, though." She'd sort of fixed her reply last-minute, tagging on the sentence required to make her statement stand true with the rest, and continued in a nagging tone, "But you're .... big! And strong," she squeezed a bicep with the word, perhaps as an excuse to get a handful, " and... handsome!" This with a flirtaceous quirk of her lips, though about as serious as a school girl with a painting of their favorite knight heartthrob, "What does a boy like you need with something so... soooo~" She dragged, trying to find the word with a rounding twirl of her hand in the air,  "...mean? These terrible, mean pistols! Those could be fatal, you know! Someone could really get hurt! You don't.. hurt anyone, right, Swanie?"

[Anonymous]

If he had been on duty...this would be...way too embarrassing.

Granted he was dressed in his uniform still, like a guard of Reajh, but he was from being on duty. He was on alert of course, at any time he could be summoned to do something, and at any time he could also stop a crime. Off duty just meant he wasn't getting paid, it didn't mean he stopped doing his job altogether. Oh no, he could never stop that. Some of his superiors even joked that they could just stop paying him and he would still protect the city. They were actually right about that too. He was just glad they didn't cut his pay off, or else he may not be able to do his job to the fullest extent. After all, he needed to eat, to be able to keep his energy up, and to keep himself in shape.

Not that it was an issue of course.

Nelswan wasn't sure what the heck Serena was up to with his hair. Her fingers were doing something to his hair, he could feel her tugging and playing with it. He almost winced as she pulled and twisted it into...something. A braid perhaps? He wasn't actually sure but it didn't feel...bad of course. It felt...very different.

He liked it in a way. He liked holding onto her for some reason...she was very warm, she was very soft, and she smelled very good. This was all weird and new for Nelswan really. It was like an old memory resurfacing, old feelings coming to boil, and new emotions coming into existence. Then she began to stroke his chest...and he wasn't exactly what was going on. How long was he supposed to hug her for? How long until he was supposed to stop hugging her? Maybe until she stopped feeling so bad? Maybe it was her that was supposed to stop hugging him. That was a possibility. He wasn't really...knowledgeable in this type of situation.

He didn't mean to bring up the past with her...but her parents had been terrible to her. She had just been different from them, and suddenly she was evil, suddenly she was some sort of monster. They had acted like scared cowards instead of like parents. If he had been older...he probably would have punched that one guy that they had brought in to investigate her. Really got him good, then turned to yell at her parents. However, he hadn't been able to...he hadn't been strong enough to really do anything. It was a much different story now of course...oh yes...much different story.

"Well...there are dangers about that we don't always see..." He started, blushing a little bit as she continued to speak about him. She even squeezed his arm and called him handsome! Now he knew that was flirting, he knew exactly what that was. It just made him blush all the more. "No, I don't want ta hurt anyone Serena, an' I often don't either. I try to stop situations 'fore they begin, using words instead of guns...but there are people that just wanna watch the world burn...they wanna wreck it all, ruin it for us, an' they need to be stopped. S'our world here, and sometimes they don't wanna listen to reason." He didn't even mages either. He had met people, completely normal seeming people who were mass murderers, sick people with sick minds and sick intentions. They wanted to ruin the peace of the world, of his country. They couldn't be reached, they couldn't be reasoned with, and so sometimes...sometimes more drastic things had to happen.

Nelswan almost...seemed sad and angry as he had said that last part about people wanting to ruin it all, not listening to reason and what not. The idea of shooting someone was a heavy thing to partake in. It could end in death, and even if it saved a thousand people...it still felt bad. "Kin we maybe talk about...uh...so uhm...do you have anyone special in your life there Serena?" He wanted to just get away from this particular conversation, and the only thing he could think of was if she had anyone that she liked.

And maybe deep deep deep down in the back of that farm boy mind of his, he wanted to know.