The Docks of Emain Macha

[Ian McCorrmick]

"Be CAREFUL up there, McCorrmick! Christ!" Bill Palmer shouted to his brand new employee who was hanging precariously off the side of the galleon. The rascally fellow Bill yelled at just gave a wave with his one free hand and laughed, the other clutching tightly to an outsticking plank. "S'ok Palmer, I'm alright." He called back, hauling himself back onto the scaffolding that he had slipped from. Ian McCorrmick didn't much like shipbuilding, but in a place like this it was just about the only job a carpenter could get. "Come the hell down, Ian, don't kill yourself!" Bill snapped, though worry was an understatement for his true feelings. McCorrmick may have only been a few weeks with them, but the others and Bill himself were already quite fond of him. He was just plain likeable.

Ian shrugged. He might as well pack it in after a slip like that- after all the proverbial whistle was about to blow anyhow. Pulling on his gloves he slid down the weigh line after his co-worker and landed with a thud on the dock below. Bill shook his head and walked over. "Are you alright, Ian?" Ian laughed and pushed Bill's hand from his shoulder. "Relax Bill, I'm fine. No one died." Bill Palmer only sighed. "It's not really that funny, McCorrmick." But he thought better than to continue the argument and waste his precious breath. Ian was already shouldering his belongings and chatting up with some of the other workers. The matter had officially been dropped.

"Hey, I've got an idea! Let's take Bill out for beers tonight. What do you say to that, Billy?" Ian's blue eyes were already alive with the prospect of friendly torture of a co-worker and new found friend. Bill shook his head again, but this time the smile was unavoidable. "No. I've got things to do." One of the others scoffed. "Oh like what Billy? Go home and work on your hand crunches? Come on, come out with us." Ian held in a chuckle. "Scotty's right Bill. We know you don't got anything better to do, so spend your birthday with us. Right guys? Doesn't our foreman deserve a few rounds on his birthday?" A dark haired man laughed out loud. "Only if you're paying, Ian, Bill doesn't give me enough to afford a round for myself, let alone for him!" After another bout of laughter Bill finally succumbed, red faced, to the proposition. "Atta boy, Billy." Ian said, patting him on the back. "You know it's all in fun."

"Hey, and we can even get Ian a girl!" Scotty shouted gleefully and it was Ian's turn to shake his head and try to walk away. "That's not gonna happen guys." The blushing carpenter mumbled. "Yeah yeah, waiting for the right girl. What a load." Scotty rolled his eyes and picked up the last of the rigging to coil it. "So what time are we all meeting, around seven or so?" Ian nodded. "Yeah, Seven! For Big Bill's Birthday Bash!" The alliteration had everyone up in laughter again.

What a place, Ian thought with a smile. Only two weeks after having landed the job and three weeks after having landed in Emain Macha here he found himself a niche and a home with a bunch of scuffy ship builders. Rough and tumble old sea dogs, they were, but they had good hearts- the lot of them. Ian had never been able to put himself off as noble, but to be honest with himself he was far happier amongst the commonfolk who knew who they were than regal people who knew what they were supposed to be and weren't.

Shaking some playfully hanging hair from a pair of electrically blue eyes Ian tossed a few loose tools to his foreman and then shouldered his pack. "I'm gonna stop back at the boarding house for a change and maybe a bath. Gotta get myself all fancy incase we get ourselves in a fight. It just wouldn't be fit for them to call us drunk and dirty, right?" He chuckled and took a hold of the old seabag he kept his belongings in, and started to head down the dock.

[Kahlan Lothair]

After leaving the Castle, Kahlan had become far less tense. Burying a hand in her black and white stallion's mane, Kahlan waves to the city gate keepers before leaning into Lleu and letting him bolt. The feeling of the horse's powerful muscles working toward her freedom allows Kahlan some small reprieve. Seeking solace in the form of seawater, Kahlan guides Lleu toward the docks and the sailor's community it had created.

Drinking in the salty air permeated with the stench of decaying fish, Kahlan smiles and guide's Lleu through the small wharf town extension of Emain Macha. Using her knees to navigate the worker's the fire haired Queen tugs the hood of her cloak down over her face. The sailors would not readily recognize Lleu for Kahlan rarely rode him to the wharf.

When the sound of wood beneath Lleu's hooves reaches Kahlan's ears, she eases him up and peers around the side of her hood. To her left were the extensive series of docks used for trading, and to her right was the beach. Quickly slipping off the horse's back, Kahlan guide's the tame (if loving animal) to the beach. When the horse nuzzle's Kahlan between her shoulderblades, its all she can do to stay on her feet. Turning with a grin she reaches into a pocket and produces a carrot. "There my friend. Go find grass. I'll be here for a while."

While Lleu chews the carrot piece with a contemplating look on his long face, Kahlan is already beginning to seep into the throng of sailors and boat keepers. Quitting time already? Glancing at the shadows left by the sun and estimating the time, Kahlan has but a moments time to see a young looking man's back before bumping into him. Luckily she hadn't been running or something reckless. She might have hurt the man or worse, knocked the both of them into the--

Had Kahlan been watching the process of her entanglement with the gentleman, she might have noticed that the dock narrowed at this particular juncture. With an effort, Kahlan manages not to fall unceremoniously into the water, but her cover is blown as the hood of her cloak falls back to reveal her face. Her eyes widen a little as she looks about her to see if anyone has noticed her.

To her luck and gratitude, she was far enough along the dock that none of the high trading merchants might see her. The tension in her shoulders subsides and Kahlan glances up to Ian with an apologetic look on her beautiful face. "My apologies my lord. I was not paying attention." Offering the man a smile which is reflected in her blue green eyes, Kahlan lifts up on her tip toes to peer around and over those gathered in the bottleneck area of the dock. In the back of her mind she makes a note to have it fixed.

"Excuse me--" With another smile Kahlan edges around Ian and begins her journey to the end of the dock system, which to her surprise was not as far as she had first thought. As the bodies cleared for the end of the day, Kahlan propped a booted foot on one of the dock posts. The cloak she wears drifts idly on a breeze as she stares at the far coast wreathed in a late evening mist. Beneath the cloak Kahlan is attired in a pair of fawn colored breeches and an off white short sleeved shirt. There was no adorning tunic or emblem of office to adorn her. She simply looked like a woman deep in though, and at this juncture, that was all that Kahlan wanted.

[Ian McCorrmick]

Ian tossed the wrench he had deftly caught as he was walking backwards down the dock. "Come on Ian, don't be so much of a downer. Just find a girl and end your own misery... and ours." Scotty said as he caught the wrench he had playfully chucked (though with little forethought in mind) towards the new coworker he was hoping to assail with it. "Go home, Scotty, I'll see you at seven!" Ian scolded just as playfully. As he was turning to walk forwards again the young woman collided with him. Reflexes took over and snatched her up by the wrist to keep her from falling straight off the pier, though it didn't seem she had actually needed the help. As her hood fell from her, quite a shocking and pleasent surprise was revealed in her lovely face. Ian could have sworn he actually felt his heart skip.

"I'm so sorry!" He exclaimed as he let go of her wrist and recovered only a split second afterwards. For a moment his own blue eyes were fixed on hers and a smile spread over his face in a boyishly handsome kind of way. "No, please don't apologize, I was the one walking backwards so it's safe to say that of the two of us I REALLY wasn't looking where I was going." He said rubbing the back of his head and turning a little pink in the cheeks. But much to his dismay the glib quip wasn't taken quite as he had wanted and she pushed on past him.

He didn't take it too personally- from the looks of her she had something on her mind and their even meeting was coincidental. He could understand that- many people including himself sometimes came down to the wharf at sunset to clear their heads. But as Ian looked at her, there was something more beyond the simple need of solace. The woman was sad, and that simply wouldn't do. As she breezed by his friends he felt his feet kick into motion. "Hey... hey wait a minute!" He called, taking off after her down the docks and past the confused faces of his crewmen who had resigned themselves to further heckling at the bar at seven. "Wait!" He said and slowed as he noticed her stop and prop herself on a post.

Approaching more slowly he peered around the hood to try to get another look at her beautiful face. The golden hair, the sea colored eyes, the perfect bone structure. She was really something else. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to run after you like that... I suppose that was actually a bit rude." He admitted as he had found himself now in a decidedly awkward situation. "Look, it's none of my business or anything, but if someone were to ask me, you look pretty down about something. I won't ask you what it is because more likely than not I won't have anything helpful to say about it and I probably don't even care anyhow... but I think there are probably better things to do about it than sit out here all alone with the dead fish all night with whatever it is. In my experience, that never really helps much of anything." He offered a cute kind of half smile to her. "I'm Ian. I work down here. Our boss is havin' a small birthday get together in a few hours at the tavern across the street up there. I could use a date, that is, unless you would prefer the company of the dead fish..."

He didn't know why he had said it. Ian hadn't had a date in a long time. Maybe it was just because he thought she was pretty. Maybe it was because she had addressed him as 'lord' instead of any number of usual insults people slung at the dock workers. Or maybe it was that the look of emptiness on her face was a little much for him to bear on a face so well made. But whatever else it was, it seemed sincere enough.

[Kahlan Lothair]

At the sound of the man's voice, Kahlan glances upward. He had a soothing voice, not yet cracked by years of hard labor. As he spoke, the Queen-that-was cracked a smile for him and found it safe to drop the hood of her cloak. Few were left to spy her anyhow.

To say that such a smile could be breath-taking and roguish all at once, well that would be an understatement. Leaning her weight on the leg propped up on the dock post, Kahlan glances over to Ian. "Tis a pleasure, Ian. Oh, and I do thank you for helping me. The dead fish smell is bad enough without me flaunting the stench." For the first time in ages Kahlan felt as if the laugh that bubbled forth hadnt been forced. "My name is..." and she paused. Unsure of whether to frighten the man with her name and the power that it held in the city proper, nay the entire Kingdom. Then again, after her coronation, plenty of girl children had been named after her...perhaps it would be safe. "Kahlan." Another smile and she reaches a slender hand out to him as she straightens herself to half sit and half lean against the post of choice.

"A date? It has been quite a while since I have had a date..." Kahlan bit her bottom lip in thought as she tilted her head back to look into the sky. The worst that might happen is that someone would notice her and blow her cover. There were darker notions as to what might happen to the Queen, but she didnt want to acknowledge them. She was able to protect herself indefinately should some need arise. Finally realizing that she has spent a few minutes deciding, Kahlan allows her eyes to flicker over to the waiting Ian before she lowers her head to look at him.

"Alright. I'll join you." Resting a hand on her hip, Kahlan smiles once again. Theoren would have wanted her to live her life, not spend it locked away in mourning. "Thank you, Ian. You have saved me from the dead fish." Another roguish smile and Kahlan turns to look out to sea once more. As the cool night air blows in, a few stray whisps of fiery blonde hair trickle free to brush against the young woman's neck and face. This time the goodbye wasnt riddled with pain or with anger, but with the hope of meeting again.

"Where did you say this birthday bash was being held?" Kahlan inquired as she turned once more to Ian. The smile on her full lips was mirrored again in her eyes. Tonight she would enjoy herself and celebrate Theoren's life as he would want her to. In a bar, spending time with a few drunks. Almost laughing aloud, Kahlan barely contains the smile.

[Ian McCorrmick]

Her smile was contagious and before he knew it there was a grin of his own plastered over his face. "Kahlan." he echoed as he slipped his hand into hers. "That's a very pretty name. Must be an Irish thing, I've never heard it before." Taking back his hand he waved her down the dock politely and turned to mosey along next to her. His hands found his pockets and rested there liesurely as they strolled away from the pier and into the wharf area. The sun was setting and a slight chill from the ocean breeze was settling into the harbor. But Ian wasn't paying attention to the sunset or the buzzing dock like usual. He was watching the woman with apparently low standards that had just agreed to go on a date with him.

"The tavern?" He looked up and pointed across the street at a bit of a run down old bar just on the other side of the main road from the wharf. "The Sea Dog. It's our usual place. We're not the richest people in the world, and far from the most polite I'll warn you now, but if it makes you feel any better, I'll promise to pop anyone who puts the moves on you." Another smile, and a casual laugh at his poor attempt of the mockery of chauvanism. Of course the truth of it was Ian didn't have a problem laying a few punches on someone he thought needed a good reminder of their manners. He may not have grown up here, but he was of Ulsterian heritage. Barfights were more or less a lifeblood.

The lamps were just being lit as well as the hearth when they reached the tavern. "Bill and the guys probably won't be here for about an hour, but ... well if you're hungry or something we can always just get some food before I turn into a completely obnoxious drunk and drive you screaming into the night." He said as he paused outside the door. "And if you're not hungry, we can do something else. Whatever you want." Blue eyes stared down at the shorter figure. He was fairly relaxed, laid back kind of guy but then most people with low income jobs who spend the majority of their money on drinking and friends had little to be stressed about, and that went double for ones that hardly dated. Besides, it seemed like someone had to be carefree tonight. It certainly wasn't going to be her from that hollow look she had been wearing.

As she nodded and looked into the tavern he took it as a sure sign of hunger and held the door as gentlemanly as possible. Inside the rowdy bunch was just getting started on after work drinking. Mostly sailors on leave, dock workers, blacksmiths, and other working stiffs of the lower class that lived near the Sea Dog were crowded around the bar, a few playing cards, and some already arguing drunkly over a problem neither of them remembered any longer. Ian instinctively moved a little closer to the lady he was with out of a protective instinct. This kind of place was fine for metal workers and ship builders, but pretty women were usually few and far between.

"Hey Mark." Ian said as the tavern owner looked his way. The older mustached man raised an eyebrow and got up from his seat at the bar. "Ian, bucko, what a surprise. And you've for once got a lady-friend. Mind introducing us?" Ian turned a little pink and looked down with a helpless smile. "This is Kahlan. She's accompanying me to dinner tonight, and probably sticking around for Bill's birthday rounds. Kahlan, this is Mark Moss, he owns the tavern" he explained. Mark smiled and extended a warm hand. "Welcome miss. Couldn't have picked a finer man to come along for a meal with. He's one of the few of us shiftless layabouts that tries to maintain a little bit of respectibility. You just let me know if you two run into any trouble makers." Ian waved a hand in dismissal and smiled. "Any seat, Mark?" It was Mark's turn to wave him off. "It's not even busy, pick whereever you want kids."

Ian raised his eyebrows and motioned to a corner table to see if that was alright with her. Upon affirmation he lead her there and pulled out the chair for her to sit, and then sat himself. "Sorry if it wasn't quite the night you were expecting. Sometimes there's a few brawls and some uppity folks in here, but more or less they're good, hardworking people. Mark, for instance... his wife just died last year but he's been here every day making sure the place runs smooth and all. I guess it helped him take his mind off losing her and all." Eyes fell to to the table when he realized he was rambling onto a piece of parchment in the middle with the usual array of bad tavern food scribbled on it. "So anyway, order up. It's on me tonight." Eyes drifted over her face with a faint smile again. "It's not every night I get the pleasure of a woman like you actually taking an interest in a guy like me." He wasn't so sure if that had come out right as he practically felt the words tumble out of his mouth. "Sorry... I mean... don't take that the wrong way..." He stopped then and laughed, looking away for a moment. "I'll just leave that go before I dig myself deeper." He looked back with a jovial smile. Even sticking his own foot in his mouth never seemed to rattle him too much.

[Kahlan Lothair]

If there were any doubt in Kahlan's mind as to the knowledge these people had about their Queen, it was squashed when Mark treated her like any other human being. She offered the man a warm smile before following Ian to the table in question. Once seated Kahlan untied her cloak and let it fall back over her chair.

"This tavern is just fine." Kahlan smiles briefly before glancing down at the menu. The menu offered more edible entree's than the woman had thought might be found. Ian's reference to Mark's deceased wife causes Kahlan to glance over to the bartender. The man was not unlike herself after the death of her own husband eight years ago. Granted, he seemed to hold himself with a little more dignity than Kahlan had after a year. "Im sorry to hear of his loss. I know all to well how hard it is to lose someone." Instead of a sad look, Kahlan smiled a brief genuine smile that brightened her face and lit her eyes like none other.

When the barmaid came to their table to take their order, Kahlan glanced over to Ian and ordered a small bowl of stew and water to wash it down with. Before Ian might say something as per her order, Kahlan shrugs and winks, "Small appetite." Picking at something on her white shirt with her fingernails, Kahlan only glances up after she has procured whatever had been her object of interest. "So, Ian, how long have you been in Emain Macha?" Kahlan tilted her head slightly with the question before lightly smiling to encourage an answer from him.

The sounds of the tavern drift over the delicate woman and she feels at ease, and even looks to be comfortable despite her good looks and clean nature. Resting her arms lightly under her breasts, Kahlan peers across the table into Ian's bright blue eyes. He was a handsome hardworking man. An honest one at that, and here she was not being entirely honest with him. That notion made her feel not a little guilty as she drank in her surroundings.

For once it felt wonderful not to be addressed as 'your majesty' or 'Ladyship' or some other title of office. To be called 'Kahlan' was in itself an honor to her. "Say Ian, Can you dance?" A devilish twinkle danced in Kahlan's eyes as this new development occured to her. The faintest sound of music drifted to her ears from across the tavern, or perhaps it was coming from outside? Whatever the cause, Kahlan intended to put her date to the test.

[Ian McCorrmick]

"I guess it's about three weeks now." He mused in answer to her question. "I came here when I got laid off of my old job working as a carpenter for a housing guild. Unfortunately they went out of business because too many people were moving out of the country and into the city of Camelot. My parents live out there on a little farm, but I wanted to get out and see some of the world before I even think about settling somewhere without good reason to, so I came here thinking maybe I could find a job. No positions for carpenters here, but Bill Palmer, my boss, he picked me up to do repairs on ships so... here I am. Two weeks in the business and I'm already feeling like family. Sorry it couldn't have been a more interesting story." He said between bites of the pot pie he had ordered.

But his attentions were hardly on his food. The girl with the honey colored hair and the sea green eyes was stealing it from everything else in the room. Occassionally his eyes would drift to his food or to something moving in the background, but it wasn't long before they wandered back to her and rested there. Unlike most people in this place, Ian did not, and never had possessed a threatening stare. While he could get as rowdy as the next man, the only thing those baby blues had in them was a deep and thoughtful kind of compassion and zest, and little of the cynical bitterness that was so common among Ayenee denziens.

At her request a rough workman's hand laid over the soft and clean skin of her fingers. "Kahlan, I would love nothing more than to dance with you, but I've got to warn you now that my feet and my brain don't usually communicate very well when music is involved. And with that said, I apologize in advance for any bruises you're about to get." The same flash of pearly whites and he was standing, pulling out the chair for her to stand in the most gentlemanly manner a common workman could possibly muster. Taking her hand he led her out on the floor and spun her into an embrace. Fortunately for him the music was slow, and so despite his forewarning he wasn't half bad. A few fumbles and only two crunched toes was something to be mighty proud of.

A few minutes into the awkward but starting to improve two step Ian looked up from the floor and his boots back into the eyes of his date. "So you know my story. No secrets with me, really. But what about you? How long have you been here? Do you live around here?" He paused and cracked a handsome smile and had a good laugh at himself. Talk about sounding a little over eager, he thought. "Sorry, that also came out wrong. Something tells me it's a good thing I ate light since my foot is spending too much time in my mouth to eat much of anything." He joked at his own expense.

A small group of workmen seemed to be staring at them, gathering around a table on the other side of the bar. Ian barely even noticed for the moment as he was too enthralled by the lady that had for whatever crazy reason decided to come out with him. Scotty Schrank and Bill Palmer were among the group who were talking with stunned smiles at the sight of Mr. McCorrmick actually in the arms of a woman, and a class act. When Ian finally looked up he grinned and waved for them to sit down. He would be over with his lady when they were damn good and finished with their dance.

[Kahlan Lothair]

Kahlan smiled as Ian found his rhythm with the music. The toes he had crunched no longer ached, though they never really pained her for the thick leather of her boots had staved off the greater part of his weight. Before she realized what her body was capable of, Kahlan had her arms around Ian's neck and moved along with him in an aiding manner. Her movements were fluid but not provocative and when her eyes found his she smiled a small smile for him. "You dance better than you think, Ian." Kahlan winked and held onto the tall man as the spun around the dance floor.

"I live topside." With a little jerk of her chin, Kahlan motioned to where the city proper was in relation to their current position. "I have been here for my entire life." The current one at least, and it was not a lie. The longer she stared into Ian's eyes, the harder it became to weave a simple fabrication. She couldnt tell him she was the Supreme Monarch of the Kingdom. He would turn from her in fear or worse, bow to her in reverent awe. "I like to frequent the docks when I have the time."

The song was over before it started, or so it felt as the sounds and smells of the tavern filtered back into Kahlan's awareness. The smile she offered colored her cheeks as she realized how close she was to Ian. "I..." Shrugging slightly Kahlan glanced aside and managed to move back just enough so that the only thing she held was his hands. "Your friends?" She asked as she glanced over at the group of men talking and gesturing in their direction. "Shall we go to them, or do you wish to tie them in knots with anticipation?" Unable to contain the laugh that bubbles forth, Kahlan begins to move with Ian toward the men.

Partway through the crowd Kahlan allowed her hand to slip slightly from Ian's. Her judgement was not the best as a muscular forearm snags her slender waist and pulls her completely off her feet. All that manages to come from Kahlan is a gasp of surprise as she registers what happened. Before she can protest a large hand complete with meaty fingers gestures to his comrades nearby. "Lookit' what I found fellas. A roight fine spec'min." The roar of laughter around Kahlan is one that would no doubt catch the attention of many (if not all) of the patrons. Attempting to wipe the spittle and beer off her face from the laughter, Kahlan makes a move to rise but finds herself held fast. "Let me go you oversized Gorilla!"

The protest was one that bordered on being angry and the men roared again with laughter. "Wassa matter poppit? Dont loike the feel of a real man?" The rough cheek of the larger man pressed against Kahlan's own and she gagged with the stench of his rancid breath. Resuming her struggle, Kahlan wondered if even she could free herself from this man's grasp with her arms held tight against her sides.

[Ian McCorrmick]

"Excuse ME, Sir, but she already has a man tonight." Ian's face was stone serious and fixed in its look of annoyance as his hand came down to pinch the nerve on the inside of the man's elbow. "So why don't you go back to your glass." The tone was warning. Scotty took a few steps forwards, but Bill's hand came to rest on his shoulder. "Don't, Scotty. Ian can take care of himself in a scrap. We'll help him if he needs it." A few of the man's drunken friends stepped up as well but the mammoth man lifted a hand to signal them to stop. "Wha's this? You wanna dance wit' me now little man? Man, you got a big mouth for such a tyke." Ian drew himself up and squared his shoulders. He was by no means tiny standing just a hair under six feet tall with a true workman's build, but compared to this slab of well muscled meat he looked as though this challenge might be an unwise decision. Though fighting was in the irish blood of his, and backing down was simply not an option.

"Look mate, go find yer own girl." Snarled the man as he swung Kahlan around in his grasp. Ian put a hand on the man's chest to stop him from walking away. "That WAS my date and I'll ask you one more time nicely to unhand her as she asked you to before we have to step outside." The man set Kahlan down finally, but still held her around the waist. Bending over to get right in Ian's face, the carpenter's nose wrinkled at the odor. "Lissen to this one boys! Little boy wants to tussle." Wiping the beer from his lips with his sleeve the man stood up again and grabbed Ian by the collar, bringing him up onto his toes as Ian's hand balled into a fist. "Gimmie one good reason why Oi shouldn't put your head through the bar, pipsqueak?"

Ian turned his head to relieve himself of the smell of the man's breath. "Because if you did I might end up uglier than you, and I don't think you want the competition for the one superlative you can call your own." The beefy man did not understand the word superlative, but he knew an insult when he smelt one and it wasn't long before Ian was sailing into the barstools. Shaking it off and standing up he unbuttoned his cuffs and began rolling up his sleeves with an angry look. "HEY!" Mark snapped from down the bar. "Ian... George... you know the rules. Take your business outside." Ian swept a hand towards the back alley "You heard the man. Get your ugly face out the door." Growling with a lunge the burly George leapt at Ian, but the thinner man was ready this time and began backing up towards the alley door. At least he could have the courtesy to leave Mark's bar in once piece even if he didn't leave this guy's face that way.

Breaking through the back door Ian backed into the alley and immediately started looking for things to use as weapons. In his slight distraction George drunkenly lunged again and landed a solid punch on Ian's jaw. Stumbling back as a small spray of blood erupted from his mouth Ian took a second to stabilize as George advanced on him further. "Alright, that does it. Someone ought to teach you some manners buddy." Ian snarled as he picked up an old chair leg from a pile of nearby trash.

Waving it like a matador does to a charging bull Ian easily sidestepped the overgrown and over intoxicated man and bashed the wood into his back between the shoulder blades. George wheezed and stumbled to the wall where he got himself back on his feet. Charging at Ian again Ian barely sidestepped and laced his foot around George's, tripping him over. The smug smile only had a few seconds to stay on before he felt himself getting yanked over onto the ground along with the Goliath he was fighting and he found himself on his knees. Opening his eyes after the fall he swung blindly and somehow managed to connect his makeshift weapon with George's face. George buckled with the blow, but he didn't seem too fazed.

Damnit! He's too drunk to feel pain! This is gonna be harder than I thought. he thought as he struggled to his feet even as George dove forwards to catch him. By this time Bill and Scotty and a few other drunks had gathered at the door. As Kahlan came upon the brawl Scotty took her by the shoulders. "Sorry for intrudin' ma'am but you oughta stay back from this one..." He said trying not to sound too worried. Bill was right, Ian was always getting in scraps... he could take care of himself... right?

George had caught Ian by the arm and was swinging a fist at him. Ian ducked and the fist narrowly missed his head but he was still stuck. Swinging the wood with his free hand he got George's inside elbow and managed to squirm free. As he staggered back to regroup there was the tinkle of shattering glass and Ian swallowed hard as George held up a broken bottle and grinned manaically. "Shit..." Ian murmured as he tried to think of a plan. There was a whiz as the bottle went whistling by Ian's face, catching his cheek. With a curse he jumped back even as the very shallow cut began to stop bleeding. It didn't hurt and it was barely enough to break skin, but it was a frightening warning. Ian wiped some of the blood from the hit to the jaw he took off his mouth and took up the chair leg again. The rules just changed and the brawl wasn't fun anymore. It was time to end this.

Taking a few steps back towards the wall Ian raised the wooden shaft up and beckoned the drunk towards him, and charge George did straight for Ian's middle with the bottle aching for the taste of flesh.Swinging the leg around just as George was extending his arm to eviscerate the young man Ian clubbed him on the back of the head and stepped around him, sending him head first into the wall. George tried to back up and staggered in a most unbalanced way around the alley for a few seconds, then keeled over and lay still save the ragged drunken inhales of a bar brawl loser.

Ian sighed and dropped the chairleg. Mussed and dirty with brown hair all in his face, bleeding and thoroughly scathed he looked up at the doorway. Bill was shaking his head and George's friends had already retreated from their posts to go back to the bar. Ian locked eyes on Bill and was about to say something when the foreman laughed and interupted him. "Don't say a word, Ian. It wouldn't be a night on the town if you or someone else didn't get into with some drunk." And with that Scotty and Bill turned to rejoin the rest of the shipbuilders and order the first round. Ian could only smile a slightly embaressed smile as he was left with Kahlan.

Stepping up to the doorway he wiped the trail of blood from his split lip off with a hankerchief from his pocket. "I told you I'd pop anyone who tried to heckle you." He tried to joke. "But I'm sorry if I made you mad." He said a little more sincerely.

[Kahlan Lothair]

Everything happened fast. Too fast for her to catch her bearings. One moment she was held fast, the next she'd been dropped into a chair to 'wait'. Kahlan hadnt wanted the fight to happen but some small part of her was glad that Ian was a gentleman.

Once in the doorway she felt hands on her shoulders, jostled from her stare to see the kind eyes of another man, Kahlan understood. Hesitatingly she watched, grimacing as the glass bottle sliced Ian's cheek open, and hoping that the gargantuan George would miss a step. Deeply enthralled by the fight and particularly in favor of Ian's win, Kahlan barely noticed that her hand was pressed against her throat and she sought with the other a sword that wasn't there.

Then it was over. Patrons slithered back to their beers and waited the next drunken brawl. They were alone in a manner of moments and Kahlan, having watched George blindly stumble away, looks to Ian. He was speaking and she hadn't been listening. Stepping into the back alley, Kahlan stops the hand with the handkerchief with her own. "Are you alright Ian? Gods but that was some fight!" The last part came as a whisper and Kahlan edged up on her tiptoes among the bloodied muck of the alley and tilted his chin to observe the damage.

"Here, let me..." She said as she took the cloth and began to wipe the blood from his lip and cheek. The battlefield had worn her well to the sights of blood and gore. That she did not shy away from his blood was a sure sign. "Thank you." She spoke as she studied his lip, deliberately not looking him in the eye. "You should let me patch you. It would not take long and you could sit with your friends as I bandage--" Motioning back inside the tavern, Kahlan glances at the closed door behind her and smiles apologetically. "I'm sorry. Now it is my turn to stick my foot in my mouth. Your cheek needs the attention though. That bottle could give you an infection." For the first time she touches his face gently on the unscathed cheek and peers up into his blue eyes offering a gentle smile.

"That was brave Ian. Im not angry with you at all. Though I would feel responsible should you get sick from infection." Closing her hand around one of his, Kahlan begins to move toward the door to return to the Tavern. Perhaps Mark would have some extra bandages to spare for Ian.

[elionett]

Most of the humans ignored the sound of the fairy, which resembled that of a crazed fly. It was perfectly common in this atmosphere to encounter several of those creatures at once. Elionett propelled herself drastically, as if being chased by something only she could see. For a few moments, the fae lay wrapped in dust, having fallen from pure exhaustion. She lay sprawled on the bar table, where human’s were sipping their curious creations of amber-colored drinks. The only real threat to her was that of a bottle coming down on her frail body. With her heart thumping, trying to work up the courage to give the push that would propel her enigmatic flight forward, she lunged suddenly. It was a dreadful journey; the worst experiences she had ever had-rolling, then flying through invisible space, only to land with a bone-jarring bump on a rotted table laced with slime. Bruised and weary she stepped out at length on the lower floor only to realize that she had no idea where or how to get to the one being she sought.

Elionett had forgotten about her hunger during the arduous journey to her ancestors home. A few bread crumbs carelessly spilled under the bartable did little to assuage her furious stomach. Her ancestors, she mused, must have had something more to work with than she had. She decided to have a further look around the place. It stank, and this stench clouded her natural senses. Curiosity overwhelmed her as though someone had placed an unseeing curse over her. She wandered aimlessly, careful not to be crushed under the weight of a leather boot by some drunken individual. Disappointment struck her momentarily, being confronted by shelves that were unreachable, and most of the desirable food closed and put away by greedy human hands.

She tried her luck with a bare table, unoccupied and smelling of something uninviting. Further investigation revealed a delicate-looking glass vessel on the table that someone had abandoned. With a degree of skill that would have surprised those who had long lived with her shy clumsiness, Elionett turned the vessel over carefully on its side, and greedily drank the few drops of rich amber liquid that spilled out, and proclaimed it was decent for a human mix. It warmed her entrails like a gentle fire and gave her a feeling of elation. Surely, the old fairy king of myth was looking out for her well-being. Not knowing of this strong liquor, she assumed it to be a strong potion of some sort. Remembering she had a mission to full-fill, she sought the being that beckoned her old bones.

A audible whisper would be felt as a gentle push within their mind. The voice was cocky and ripe with life.

"I am the last of the fae and the hope of all my people."

[Ian McCorrmick]

A hand closed over hers as she fussed at his face and remained there as those baby blues settled gently on her delicate features. For a moment he said nothing, he just watched her and smiled. "Has anyone ever told you that you're beautiful?" He asked very matter of factly, studying her face and taking her all in. "I couldn't think of a girl I've met more worth taking a broken bottle for, Kahlan. Don't worry." As she took his hand his fingers laced through hers and he allowed himself to be lead back into the bar.

There was no ceremonious applause or even any recognition that Ian had just won a bar fight, just the usual disgruntled mumbles of the drunken crowd of wayfarers slowly getting stoned in their seats. Ian took up one at the end of the bar and submissively waited for Kahlan to call Mark over for some bandages. "Ian! What in God's name... Three weeks you've been here and I swear not a day has gone by you haven't found yourself in some kind of trouble!" Ian just smiled and winked at Mark. "Come on, gve me a break Mark- you're going to spoil her opinion of me if you keep talking like that!" Mark only shook his head and laid the glass jar of peroxide as well as some adhesives and some square bandages on the counter for Kahlan.

She worked rather deftly, he noted, like a woman who was used to this kind of thing. "You must have been a nurse at some point, otherwise I'd be in a lot of pain." He proclaimed his observation with a slight jest added to it. "Though I never did get to ask you what it is that you do..." He trailed off. What if she was married or just financially dependant on a man she was intended for? Well, she obviously wasn't too happy with him if that were the case, or she wouldn't be out with Ian, so he nixed that thought right away.

When she finished patching him up he dabbed at his split lip. It was already healing up and scabbing over. It hadn't been split too far in the first place, the drunk's punches were too wild to land anything all that solid. With a boyish grin he leaned into her and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "My good luck charm." He said and took up her hand once more intending on leading her over to the pack of shipbuilders already heartily enjoying their food and ale. Scotty looked up and raised his glass in a toast. "Well look who it is. The man plans the party and makes us all show up and is the last to come because he's out chasing around drunks!" Ian just laughed along with everyone else and pulled out a chair for Kahlan.

"Guys, this is Kahlan, and she's my date tonight so be nice to her and don't scare her away, or I'll have to beat you guys up too." he joked and took his own seat where his drink was getting warmer by the second. Bill only shook his head at the boisterous entrance. Turning to her, Ian's eyes took a moment to drink her up before speaking. "What would you like to drink?" He asked quietly as the others went back to their ramblings. He ordered her drink from the server just in time for Scotty to lean over and start talking to her.

"Miss Kahlan, forgive my forward nature but I am just a shiftless carpenter with no morals what so ever. Tell me about yourself, and why such a lovely lady as yourself is actually on a date with a guy like Ian." Ian swatted at Scotty but was too far away from his jeering pal to make contact with him. "You see this Bill? You see what he's doing to me?" Bill tried his best to ignore his underlings and went back to talking with someone else, and Ian just smiled. It was shaping up to be a very good night, after all.

[Kahlan Lothair]

Kahlan sipped at her whiskey after having bandaged Ian's face and thanking him for his comment of her beauty. When Scotty asked her what she was doing with Ian, Kahlan turned a little rosy and then smiled. "Ian seems like an upstanding man. Anyone that saves me from an oaf like George seems to be alright in my book." Hiding her smile in the glass of whiskey, Kahlan glances at Ian and winks.

"As for my career, I come from a political background. I have done bandages on battlefields and dabbled in the healing arts. My father was a General in the Wars of Succession." A little truth, but not all of it. She covered the rest with a smile as she coversed with Scotty. She would tell Ian she had a daughter, but how to break it to him? Well at least she wasnt married, hadnt been for eight years.

"Can you excuse me a moment, Gents? I would like to speak to Mark. I'll be back shortly." Offering another smile to Ian she allows her hand to graze his as she leaves his presence. Once at the bar she engages the man in conversation about menial things, thanking him for providing the bandages and disinfectant. That was until Elionett used mind speech to contact her.

Kahlan's outer appearance didnt change, though some part of her was shocked by the sudden intrusion. Politely asking Mark where she might freshen up, Kahlan heads in that direction offering a small wave to Ian before letting her mind scry for Elionett.

What are you doing here? Her mind voice questioned as she very nearly stepped on the frail Elionett. In one fluid motion, as if she'd dropped something on the floor, Kahlan scoops Elionett up into her hands and continues walking for the back room that Mark directed her to use. He had said it had a wash basin and other pleasantries. When she entered the room she stuck the back of a chair under the latch so that no one else could enter as she interrogated Elionett.

"Why have you come?" Kahlan eyed the Fae in her hands as she walked over to a washboard with a basin and set Elionett on the basin. "I cannot talk for long. You must come to me at the Castle, not here. Find Lleu, my horse, he is out on the beach near here. Rest in his Mane and I will surely find you again. By this time there was a knock on the door from another patron and Kahlan called, "Just a minute!" and apologizing she snatched Elionett up and stuffed her down the front of her shirt.

Quickly she splashed some water on her face, dried it, and pulled her hair out of the leather thong it was held up with. The once tamed hair fell in a myriad of beautiful long loose curls, and if possible, Kahlan looked even more catching than before. Peering down her shirt, Kahlan mutters to Elionett, "Keep quiet. I will set you free when we exit the room."

As promised when the threat of anyone observing her was gone, Kahlan pulled Eli out of her shirt and placed her on the floor with specific instructions to find Lleu and the promise to talk when they had time. With that she disappeared back into the tavern to rejoin Ian.

"Sorry that took so long, Gents. You know women though." She apologized with a light smile that lit up her face now framed by delicate loose curls dappled with a hint of red in the low light of the tavern. "Have I missed anything overly important, other than wishing the man of the hour a Happy Birthday." Kahlan flashed the foreman a roguish smile before settling her brilliant eyes on Ian, now they shimmered with the overtones of a greyish blue. It was obvious that her eyes were one of her more arresting features.

[elionett]

Elionett huddled within the woman’s thick and fleshy crevice. She had been forced into this ill-fitting jam. As if on the queen’s suggestion to visit the Castle, Elionett started to wonder why she was not warming her feet before the fire. “I have come, dear sweetling, because your spirit called to me.” Within the crevice, she felt protected for a moment, but should the lady move ever so slightly, she could be crushed inside the great mounds. Her eyes spied men drinking a glass of port, somewhere a clock struck ten. Elionett sank deeper into the crevice, accepting its warmth. She heard quiet foot-steps coming along the floor and greeting Kahlan with a sour breath. Before she was plucked from her safe abode, her eyes caught the glimpse of Ian’s weather-worn face. “The One is here, I see. Good, I will not have to intervene with your meeting him.” Taking the credit for the happenstance of the two meeting, she didn’t take insult to the suggestion of resting between a mare’s stank mane. Fluttering about, she lifted herself to the eye-level of Ian. Desperate to make contact, she spoke to him in a rapid sentence that was filled with excitement and annoyance. She crawled along his shoulder, taking note to the dampness of his skin, the overbearing sweat brought on by his winning brawl. “I see the Crown has met his Dove. I wonder if he will take this burden lightly.”

[Ian McCorrmick]

A band struck up a quick tune as Kahlan left for the bathroom. "MAN, Ian, where did you find her?" Scotty almost whistled as the young lady hurried off." Ian laughed and tossed a grin at his friend. "Believe it or not, she just... ran into me." He said with gusto. Bill was focusing on Ian intently through the entire banter that the other men engaged him in. When it was finally his turn to speak he smiled wryly. "Ian, on a date. I thought you were waiting for the right girl?" Ian stopped laughing for a moment and looked at Bill, his drink in mid swallow. Setting the glass down he blinked once. "What if she is the right girl? Sure feels like the right girl." Bill closed his eyes and smiled wider. "You'll never change, Ian, but you're a good guy."

As Kahlan took her seat at the table Ian took the daring move to put his arm around her shoulders. "Yeah, what about the birthday guy? How about a toast to Bill? We better have something nice to say to him, we're buying his drinks!" Everyone had a good laugh. Standing up, Scotty raised his glass. "Here's to Bill Palmer, a hardworking and hardnosed man who comes down on us because he can't get laid by his wife, a loving man who would rather go without beer than say a nice word about any of us, and a great carpenter who couldn't hammer a nail in straight to save him self. God bless him and may he give us all raises!" The roar of laughter from the table even got the attention of George, who was limping back in trying not to be seen at all.

They all raised their glasses and drank. Ian set his down and looked over at Kahlan. Lord were her eyes beautiful. All of her was beautiful. Something in him felt a tug whenever she smiled, something that made him a stupid weak sack of bones. Though he had just met her, already this woman could bend him to her will whenever she wanted or needed something. True Ian was a hero at heart and would save a damsel in distress when she needed it, but he had never stood up for a woman in terms of already having marked her as his, and he had taken those punches for her tonight, not because it was the right thing to do. Whatever he was feeling, he could only hope what he said to Bill was true. He wanted to be her hero.

It was the tiny voice in his head that shattered his thoughts, and all of a sudden he felt a prickling of hairs along his shoulder. He turned his head but there was no one there, no hand at all. Eyeing downwards he spotted the small body and perked an eyebrow. Maybe he'd had too many... or maybe that blow to the head was a little too much for him to handle tonight because he had to be seeing things. "What on earth?" He murmured, though thankfully no one else heard for the were too busy congratulating Bill on reaching the ripe old age of 53.

Crown? Dove? "What burden?" He asked the little thing. "Oh god... no, I'm not talking to a hallucination." he said as he pushed back from the table. "Hey.. Ian... what's wrong man?" Scotty furrowed his brow. Ian waved him off. "Nothin' nothin'... I just need a little fresh air. I think that punch I took rattled me a bit." He said as he started to back out the door. Once on the porch of the Sea Dog he looked over at the little fairy. "Look here now... whatever you are. I don't know what you're talking about and I don't even know if you're real, but... take off or something. I don't want to look crazy." He said, marveling at the little body with the tiny wings attached. Great, now his date would surely think he was nuts. He was talking to imaginary fairies.