There was a quiet, electrified stillness in the pre-dawn hours where the world still lay mostly asleep and the wild fae magics of the night ebbed away with the coming of the morn. A lone figure picked her way across the rocky terrain, her cloak billowing in the salty-sea breeze sweeping up against the cliffs she walked along. This place was not home, she was far from it but it still instilled within her the same thrill of impending adventure that the rest of the world did with perhaps a mere spattering of potential peaceful respite ahead.
Her chainmail jingled softly as she hopped over a sturdy fence, completely ignoring the obvious gate a paltry few steps away as she practically vibrated with excited anticipation. No one knew that she had been coming, not even herself for that matter. Eireann travelled where the wind called her, her feet quick to follow.
Today the wind brought her back to familiar stomping grounds and she was eager to terrorize the occupants of the land with her marvelous presence. A deep inhalation of the air: the acrid tang of manure mixing with the musk of salt and sea filled her lungs and seemed to fuel her grin as it grew to split her face nearly ear to ear. Eireann raised a gloved fist and after straightening to her full albeit small height proceeded to pounded her fist upon the worn wood of the front door as hard and loudly as she could.
"BEAST INSPECTOR!" she roared, barely containing her mirth and giggles as she waited for the door to open.
The peaceful dark was shattered with a cheery shout and pounding knock, triggering a chaotic cascade of noise. From somewhere beyond the house there was the fluttering of many feathers and a few wing beats, a single sharp irritated screech piercing the air. From within the house came the muffled thump of something heavy hitting the floor, a low curse, then the rattle and thunk of something being run into, another low curse, and finally heavy footsteps rapidly approaching.
The door was wrenched open - not angrily but purely out of tired clumsiness - to reveal a very tall, very disheveled, very under-dressed man. Standing in his small clothes and blinking blearily down at his guest, Rheinallt scratched at his messy mane of red-orange hair while his groggy brain worked to recognize who on earth had opted to bang on his door before the asscrack of dawn. The slow realization grew along with a smile, until his characteristic beaming fully replaced the sleepy fugue. Not even being freshly awoken could stop his booming enthusiasm.
"Eireann!! You're back!"
He had barely finished speaking before he was scooping her up into a squeezing hug, unbothered about standing on his porch nearly-naked to do so - frankly anyone living here had probably seen his whole pale ass at least once.
"What has my favorite troublemaker been up to?? Come in, come in!"
Dropping her back onto her feet, he eagerly motioned for her to follow him inside the darkened home. His destination was the kitchen, and more specifically the hearth, which he squatted in front of to begin stirring the embers and get a proper fire started again. He had a guest, after all! First priority was feeding her!
The young woman beamed with unrestrained mirth and joy to see her old friend and fellow mischief-maker. Her feet left the ground without a care in his embrace as she squeezed back with just as much heartfelt love and excitement, her chainmail clinking and creaking some under the pressure as it dug into her ribs, not that she cared much.
"Rheinallt!" She cried back just as loudly and enthusiastically. "I AM BACK!" Laughter rang out in the once quiet morning air as she was ushered within and eagerly took up residence on the center of the kitchen table. "Do you have any company over today that I have cruelly torn you away from? Should I be prepared to run for the hills?"