Celebrating a good Harvest (IC, OPEN)

[Lillorainen]

I withheld my personal misgivings about the Rule of Law in the PPC and treatment of prisoners for myself, but what I did do, while petting the Black Fox in my lap and looking a bit like Doctor Evil, was feeling guilty.
I was sitting in the Flee Lands and rode my boyfriend, while they...
Yven came with drinks, lemonades for everyone.
"Alcohol after midday.", I explained the lack of it to those, who might have looked forwards to tasting the famous spirits of the Selkie, "Thanks, Yven."
The young man grinned, threw Marie a short wink, then went again, worrying about where his sis, Cao, might be as she was on an errant and had not yet returned. She would be fine, I was sure of it.
"But indeed, that sounds horrible, Ana, Lise.", I said, looking at both of them with concern, "They didn't lay a hand on either of you, right?"

Uachtair Inn.
Duncan grinned, stowing the bank note away.
"It was no problem, Sir.", he said and nodded, "Actually, that girl-stuff usually is not as heavy as one would believe... what you have to look out for in my job are wanna-be important people. Too much stuff in their bags and too little in their brains."
He bowed lightly.
"I'll leave you now to unpacking.", he said and smiled, "If don't need anything else, that is."

Cel was not the only one in here who felt a bit guilty, unbeknownst to them - Ana and Irene were chased by Salazar's agents all across the world, Lise had spent her second exchange in Orwell's wet dream - and Chris and Cel were having fun in the paradise. Life wasn't fair, for sure not, but were they really the only ones who had had a happy time since Purgatio ...?
Yven brought drinks - lemonade, of course, to make sure to comply with the No-bar-looting-before-midday rule. He gave Marie a wink, then went again, probably searching for Cao.
He nodded, concerned.

Uachtair Inn.
Both Leverdals grinned. Yeah, these wanna-be important lads and lassies ... 'too much stuff in their bags and too little in their brains' was pretty much the perfect way to put this.
When he bowed, Fred and Hilda bowed, too.
"I think we're served so far, sir, thanks a lot" - Hilda said and turned to her brother. "I think we're just gonna get our most important stuff out, then go to have breakfast. Sounds like a plan?"
Fred nodded. "Sounds fine."

[AHSCA]

"Tomorrow or the day after, if it would suit you.", Belana said with a wide grin, happy to meet a fellow teacher, "I'm sure, that the kids would love it! They even know a bit of English already, so you can talk with them easily. And if not, Mister Caochadh still owes me a favour!"
Amy grinned, mouthing 'Long Story!'
"Come, let's go ahead to the Main Square, we can talk while we walk - we girl can multitask!", the teacher said with a grin.

"Sure! We'll be here a good while so our schedule is pretty open. Ah of course let's head onto the heart of the festival shall we? Walk and talk we shall. Now do you just focus all on geography or do you teach multiple subjects through the day? Do you have many classes of different students every hour or just one single group for the whole day?"

Sora chuckled a little to Amy "Well now my Kirie is really gonna interrogate your poor mother. But I guess a fellow teacher like her will understand!"

[Prussian Polish Commonwealth]

Marie's eyebrows furrowed in worry upon hearing Irene and Ana's stories-until Yven winked at her.
She blushed for the second time and wriggled a little in her seat.
Upon Irene finishing up, she decided to pick up.
"...alright..I guess it's my turn? I haven't been up to much honestly- no assasins, combat, or helping to found a navy-" At this she looked over at Irene who sighed and facepalmed. "Yeah, I did that too. But continue."
Marie resumed again. "I've been training to become a nun-just finished my postulancy; essentially it's to see if you have a place in the monastery-and I can start my novitiate if I want to.

[Mervay]

"Oh my God!", said Ana. "That's horrible, almost as horrible as Portugal. You won't believe what Salazar tried to do to me. Even after I moved to San Prospero, that maniac sent two agents to try kidnapping me. They pretended to be recruiters for a modeling agency and promised me an excellent pay. This was too good to be true, and I didn't know this was a trap until the guys tried to make me go into a room alone with them. At that point, I was pretty creeped out so I called Prima with my phone. Then the guys made a run for it. Now I'm afraid to go out alone, and don't know who to trust."

"But every dark cloud has a silver lining. From what Prima told me later, the two Portuguese agents were later shot and killed by police when they tried to get away in their plane. She sent me the video, and I think it was quite funny. Oh well, poetic justice I guess." Ana took out her iPhone and played the chase video for the others. The video was shot from the dashcam on the police truck, and showed the truck chasing the Portuguese agents' plane and ramming it square on the side before it could take off. The armed police then jumped out and surrounded the plane, filling it with bullets. The video cut to black.

(OOC: something like this chase)

"Did they... Dammit,I'm sorry for hear that Ana. I hope that you recover for that incident" Lise says very shocked of hear that,how far would go Salazar Regime for her. PIA was something that almost everyone could not be happy about it.

"Looks like one Chris and Cel got something good out of the PIA" she says in sign of dissapointment. The true was they the couple was the lucky one of the group with their lovely dovey act,but still it was obvious that they were feeling guilty of that.

I withheld my personal misgivings about the Rule of Law in the PPC and treatment of prisoners for myself, but what I did do, while petting the Black Fox in my lap and looking a bit like Doctor Evil, was feeling guilty.
I was sitting in the Flee Lands and rode my boyfriend, while they...
Yven came with drinks, lemonades for everyone.
"Alcohol after midday.", I explained the lack of it to those, who might have looked forwards to tasting the famous spirits of the Selkie, "Thanks, Yven."
The young man grinned, threw Marie a short wink, then went again, worrying about where his sis, Cao, might be as she was on an errant and had not yet returned. She would be fine, I was sure of it.
"But indeed, that sounds horrible, Ana, Lise.", I said, looking at both of them with concern, "They didn't lay a hand on either of you, right?"

And then it's discovered that this affected to Irene too. Devienne thoughts of the couple being the lucky ones were more than right now after Purgatio. Cel asked if she was touched or if they tried something against her,that thankfully it didn't happened.

"Thank god no,they respected us in that aspect since we were having diplomatical inmunity. But they invaded our privacy with their cameras in our rooms. I swear that if one person brings me the idea of another exchange program in an nation like those,I will punch him in the face" she says angered of the cameras,just remembering that gave her feelings of distrust.

"But still,I wanted to come here for have an break of those programs and clear my mind an little"

[Mediama]

The Professor was well aware of the schedule: A quick introduction to Shella, then lunch, then continue the tour, then to the Temple Inn for freshening up and celebrating in the evening.
Celina smiled as she told them about Shella: First archaelogical evidence of habitation dating back around seventhousand years, first remains of vessels dating back to the Age of the High Kings. Shella could proudly claim to be home to the fifth-oldest shipwreck of the Free Lands, a Caogaidí, dated back to 299 BCE, a thirtyfive metres long, sharp keeled vessel for trade and war with a mast and fifty oarsmen.
The Island and the small town had been attacked by Lutetii a total of six times during the Dark Ages, succeeding twice, only for the MGoL to equip fleets to take the Island back, an operation done a total of four times. Twice, the MGoL failed.
On a viewing platform, she outlined the town's defenses in that time, pointing out the ruins of several watchtowers and where those had been included into the scenery, two of these towers standing right within the harbour, nowadays used as berths.
By 1718, it had become a trading hub and Celina used the chance on the viewing platform to point towards the waterfront, where the old warehouses still stood, one of them even still in the services of the MGoL. Many of the others were more like art projects.
She also explained, that the Eachtraí-Type of vessels, the Adventurer Type, heavily in use in the 17th century, is said to be originally from Shella.
Still on the viewing platform, with one hour still to go, she said: "Alright, chaps, we'll make a short break here. If anyone has questions, please feel free to ask, that's what I'm around for." A group of half a dozen girls in school uniforms, actually the sailor-style uniforms with blue-grey collars and a skirt of the same colour, plus a red neckerchief in neat knots. "Hi, Livvie, girls!"
"Hi, Professor.", the girls greeted back and politely bowed their heads to the group of students and their teacher, their leader's eyes resting for a long moment on Katherine. Said leader was blue-eyed, her hair short and dirty-blonde to brown, filling out her school uniform quite well. "Hello, everyone."

Most of the group returned the greetings from the school group, but as Katherine looked towards the source of the voice, and soon her eyes met with the school girl's. Her breath stopped short as she noticed one of the girls staring her, and so she awkwardly looked to the side as she blushed. Meanwhile, most of the group had separated to go about their own ways in pairs or in groups to take in the view and to buy souvenirs.

Alexandria herself was about to turn and grab Katherine's hand before she turned and looked at Katherine's doe-eyed gaze. She followed her glare to the source of her infatuation, then turned and playfully punched Katherine's bicep before she leaned in and whispered, "Go get 'er champ!" She then turned to walk towards the platform's balcony to take in the view.

And with that, Katherine was left alone to face the school girl, her usual confident air replaced with timid anxiety as she alone was in the school girl's sphere of attention. She self consciously twirled her earlock with her right index finger.

[Ezhara]

One of the shops indeed carried a ram's horn...

Irene looked over the horn, noticing first its masterful craftsmanship &, after a few moments of wondering how it would sound, its pricey nature. Well, she thought, I could buy it. Could. Despite her family being fairly wealthy because of their parents' jobs, Irene & her brother were taught how to be frugal when spending money, as well as numerous other life skills. Their parents had an odd distrust of their wealth & were wary of spending it, as though they could lose all of it at any moment — probably some vestige of their much less fortunate pasts. While not destitute by any mean, they had definitely not been as wealthy as their peers, but their indomitable work ethic more than made up for it.

"Ah... well," she muttered to herself, "Maybe I'll show it to them later." She didn't want the horn that much, after all, & didn't want to disappoint her parents either. At the same time, she knew that they themselves might still want the object anyway, if they considered it useful enough as decoration or for actual usage. Deciding to file away where the horn was, she continued to look around elsewhere in the store, to see what there was.

Over at the peddler's stand, Elliot took a moment to wake up from his stupor at the toys. "Hmm? Oh, uh... kind of, yeah?" he tilted his head, as though unconfident of his own reply, & continued gazing at the toys. After a moment of silence, he finally looked at the merchant himself & spoke once again, "How much are they?"

---

Soon after receiving her plushies, Carrie hugged them & smiled brightly. "Wonder what I'll name them!" she muttered to herself. Shortly after — once the employee had picked up the doll & told them that he would see if his boss knew anything about it — Victoria thanked him for his help with that thing. "Mmm... no I think that's all for now, I think the two of us will just keep looking around," she then said, nodding her head, "Bye for now!" She bowed her head slightly & tapped her sister's hand, alerting her that they would be moving now. Once Carrie realized this, she briefly stopped hugging her plushies & began to follow her sister. The both of them would continue browsing through the store.

[Adab]

God, just how long have I been asleep here? Slowly she opened her eyes and raised herself off the bed. The world was a sleepy haze to her, and she didn't know how long she spent just turning her face and comprehending where she was. Still in the hotel bedroom, of course. It had been quite the exhausting journey, but she didn't expect it to be this exhausting. She had only wanted to get some sleep, not that much sleep.

Her phone was next to her, and she spent the next minute staring at the screen, scrolling through her social media feed, wondering why didn't just set an alarm. There were a few unanswered messages from her friends in college- oh, and from Papa. She answered that message first, just a typical reply informing Papa she had arrived in Shella and that she was alive and well. The other messages were a mixture of questions about the place, what she thought, and how she felt about it. And about the local boys and such, but that wasn't important in the slightest. She, too, answered them all, though a part of her called out to just enjoy the room and go back to sleep.

She did try that after answering the last message, only to realize that she had slept too much and couldn't go back to it. With nothing else to do, she leapt off the bed, reached for her backpack and the key, put on her shoes, and set out to find the receptionist. Thankfully they were on the same floor - the first, no less - so it didn't take long to find him. "Hey there," she greeted the man, "so I'm wondering if you might be able to give me a few pointers about the interesting places around here. This is my first time here and I'd love to maybe visit a few places."

[The Selkie]

"Mmmm" Billie thought a moment "I'm not bad I reckon'. We have music time in class and I like to sing and no one has complained yet!" She replied "If ya let me sing with ya, I'll sing best I can!"

"Well sounds like you'll be gettin' some time on the stage, baby girl." Jamie replied to his little girl.

"That's exactly the idea.", Waari said with a nod, grinning, "You sing a Kuronami Song, which you like and I try to improvise a melody to it on my fiddle. We might sound horrible, but I'm sure, that that would be my fault."
"Waari sounding horrible?", the redhead said, a small smile gracing his lips, "Preposterous!"
Waari grinned. "Ladies, gentleman, if I may introduce, Ayden, a friend and co-worker of mine.", she introduced, "Ayden, these are Jamie, Charlie, and the young lady up here is Billie."
"It's a pleasure.", Ayden said with a small bow to the parents, then sized Billie up. Suddenly, he rose by a few centimetres as he rose onto the tips of his toes. "I'm taller then you."

Cel was not the only one in here who felt a bit guilty, unbeknownst to them - Ana and Irene were chased by Salazar's agents all across the world, Lise had spent her second exchange in Orwell's wet dream - and Chris and Cel were having fun in the paradise. Life wasn't fair, for sure not, but were they really the only ones who had had a happy time since Purgatio ...?
Yven brought drinks - lemonade, of course, to make sure to comply with the No-bar-looting-before-midday rule. He gave Marie a wink, then went again, probably searching for Cao.
He nodded, concerned.

Uachtair Inn.
Both Leverdals grinned. Yeah, these wanna-be important lads and lassies ... 'too much stuff in their bags and too little in their brains' was pretty much the perfect way to put this.
When he bowed, Fred and Hilda bowed, too.
"I think we're served so far, sir, thanks a lot" - Hilda said and turned to her brother. "I think we're just gonna get our most important stuff out, then go to have breakfast. Sounds like a plan?"
Fred nodded. "Sounds fine."

Marie's eyebrows furrowed in worry upon hearing Irene and Ana's stories-until Yven winked at her.
She blushed for the second time and wriggled a little in her seat.
Upon Irene finishing up, she decided to pick up.
"...alright..I guess it's my turn? I haven't been up to much honestly- no assasins, combat, or helping to found a navy-" At this she looked over at Irene who sighed and facepalmed. "Yeah, I did that too. But continue."
Marie resumed again. "I've been training to become a nun-just finished my postulancy; essentially it's to see if you have a place in the monastery-and I can start my novitiate if I want to.

"Oh my God!", said Ana. "That's horrible, almost as horrible as Portugal. You won't believe what Salazar tried to do to me. Even after I moved to San Prospero, that maniac sent two agents to try kidnapping me. They pretended to be recruiters for a modeling agency and promised me an excellent pay. This was too good to be true, and I didn't know this was a trap until the guys tried to make me go into a room alone with them. At that point, I was pretty creeped out so I called Prima with my phone. Then the guys made a run for it. Now I'm afraid to go out alone, and don't know who to trust."

"But every dark cloud has a silver lining. From what Prima told me later, the two Portuguese agents were later shot and killed by police when they tried to get away in their plane. She sent me the video, and I think it was quite funny. Oh well, poetic justice I guess." Ana took out her iPhone and played the chase video for the others. The video was shot from the dashcam on the police truck, and showed the truck chasing the Portuguese agents' plane and ramming it square on the side before it could take off. The armed police then jumped out and surrounded the plane, filling it with bullets. The video cut to black.

(OOC: something like this chase)

"Did they... Dammit,I'm sorry for hear that Ana. I hope that you recover for that incident" Lise says very shocked of hear that,how far would go Salazar Regime for her. PIA was something that almost everyone could not be happy about it.

"Looks like one Chris and Cel got something good out of the PIA" she says in sign of dissapointment. The true was they the couple was the lucky one of the group with their lovely dovey act,but still it was obvious that they were feeling guilty of that.

I withheld my personal misgivings about the Rule of Law in the PPC and treatment of prisoners for myself, but what I did do, while petting the Black Fox in my lap and looking a bit like Doctor Evil, was feeling guilty.
I was sitting in the Flee Lands and rode my boyfriend, while they...
Yven came with drinks, lemonades for everyone.
"Alcohol after midday.", I explained the lack of it to those, who might have looked forwards to tasting the famous spirits of the Selkie, "Thanks, Yven."
The young man grinned, threw Marie a short wink, then went again, worrying about where his sis, Cao, might be as she was on an errant and had not yet returned. She would be fine, I was sure of it.
"But indeed, that sounds horrible, Ana, Lise.", I said, looking at both of them with concern, "They didn't lay a hand on either of you, right?"

And then it's discovered that this affected to Irene too. Devienne thoughts of the couple being the lucky ones were more than right now after Purgatio. Cel asked if she was touched or if they tried something against her,that thankfully it didn't happened.

"Thank god no,they respected us in that aspect since we were having diplomatical inmunity. But they invaded our privacy with their cameras in our rooms. I swear that if one person brings me the idea of another exchange program in an nation like those,I will punch him in the face" she says angered of the cameras,just remembering that gave her feelings of distrust.

"But still,I wanted to come here for have an break of those programs and clear my mind an little"

Yven smiled at Marie, quite interested, both in the girl and about what she told.
"A woman of faith, then, like our Servants?", he asked with a smile, hoping, that no one minded him butting in. "Well, I guess, it's not completely the same..." He glanced to me, who I had raised an eyebrow. "You're now a Daggermaiden, right?"
I grinned and a moment later, there was a dagger in my hands, which should be familiar to Chris - it was one of those, which I had with me in Purgatio. He had seen them in Dumhach as well. It was, by now, quite known internationally, that Selkie were usually armed with at least two daggers.
"Yep.", I answered, as the dagger vanished again, my hands returning to petting the Fox in my lap, "I indeed am now a Servant to Abhcan and one of Her Daggermaidens. Was quite a test, too, but I managed it." Grinning, I leaned back a bit. "I am also allowed to wear Her Green and White due to that. It's quite a bit different from a nun."
I looked to Lise.
"If you want a break from all of that, you came to the right place.", I told her. "Shella is peaceful, calm... an oasis in a stormy sea."

Uachtair Inn.
Duncan nodded.
"I'll inform the restaurant, then.", he said and bowed again, specifically to Hilda, "It was a pleasure, Miss Leverdal. Have fun at the festival!" A nod to Frederick, "Mister Leverdal.", and he was gone.
True to his word, the restaurant had been informed, a waitress standing at the ready once they came down.
A waitress, which could not be older then thirteen, dressed in a black and white maid dress and looking so absolutely adorable, even including the headdress. She grinned as she stood at the ready to serve breakfast, enthusiasm to work most likely making up for her skill or size, but that should not stop anyone from thinking of her any less competent then her taller and older colleagues, of which enough floated around, serving tea, breadrolls, jams, coffee and other things.
The restaurant itself was a room with a number of alcoves along the wall, which had their own tables, as well as tables in the centre, most of which were full. The view was interesting, as it went out to the main street, which connected harbour and main square, dozens of people passing every minute.

The Professor was well aware of the schedule: A quick introduction to Shella, then lunch, then continue the tour, then to the Temple Inn for freshening up and celebrating in the evening.
Celina smiled as she told them about Shella: First archaelogical evidence of habitation dating back around seventhousand years, first remains of vessels dating back to the Age of the High Kings. Shella could proudly claim to be home to the fifth-oldest shipwreck of the Free Lands, a Caogaidí, dated back to 299 BCE, a thirtyfive metres long, sharp keeled vessel for trade and war with a mast and fifty oarsmen.
The Island and the small town had been attacked by Lutetii a total of six times during the Dark Ages, succeeding twice, only for the MGoL to equip fleets to take the Island back, an operation done a total of four times. Twice, the MGoL failed.
On a viewing platform, she outlined the town's defenses in that time, pointing out the ruins of several watchtowers and where those had been included into the scenery, two of these towers standing right within the harbour, nowadays used as berths.
By 1718, it had become a trading hub and Celina used the chance on the viewing platform to point towards the waterfront, where the old warehouses still stood, one of them even still in the services of the MGoL. Many of the others were more like art projects.
She also explained, that the Eachtraí-Type of vessels, the Adventurer Type, heavily in use in the 17th century, is said to be originally from Shella.
Still on the viewing platform, with one hour still to go, she said: "Alright, chaps, we'll make a short break here. If anyone has questions, please feel free to ask, that's what I'm around for." A group of half a dozen girls in school uniforms, actually the sailor-style uniforms with blue-grey collars and a skirt of the same colour, plus a red neckerchief in neat knots. "Hi, Livvie, girls!"
"Hi, Professor.", the girls greeted back and politely bowed their heads to the group of students and their teacher, their leader's eyes resting for a long moment on Katherine. Said leader was blue-eyed, her hair short and dirty-blonde to brown, filling out her school uniform quite well. "Hello, everyone."

Most of the group returned the greetings from the school group, but as Katherine looked towards the source of the voice, and soon her eyes met with the school girl's. Her breath stopped short as she noticed one of the girls staring her, and so she awkwardly looked to the side as she blushed. Meanwhile, most of the group had separated to go about their own ways in pairs or in groups to take in the view and to buy souvenirs.

Alexandria herself was about to turn and grab Katherine's hand before she turned and looked at Katherine's doe-eyed gaze. She followed her glare to the source of her infatuation, then turned and playfully punched Katherine's bicep before she leaned in and whispered, "Go get 'er champ!" She then turned to walk towards the platform's balcony to take in the view.

And with that, Katherine was left alone to face the school girl, her usual confident air replaced with timid anxiety as she alone was in the school girl's sphere of attention. She self consciously twirled her earlock with her right index finger.

Livvie, as she had been called, looked at Katherine with a smiled and motioned for her schoolmates to continue.
"Hi.", she said to Katherine, thinking her to be cute. "You're with the Proff? She's awesome... I'm Liv." When she spoke, she spoke with a slight accent, a melody in her speaking, coupled with dropped vowels and rolling Rs. She looked to the group, then back to Katherine. "Student Tour Programme, right? Where're you from?"
The more she spoke, the more confident Liv seemed to get.

One of the shops indeed carried a ram's horn...

Irene looked over the horn, noticing first its masterful craftsmanship &, after a few moments of wondering how it would sound, its pricey nature. Well, she thought, I could buy it. Could. Despite her family being fairly wealthy because of their parents' jobs, Irene & her brother were taught how to be frugal when spending money, as well as numerous other life skills. Their parents had an odd distrust of their wealth & were wary of spending it, as though they could lose all of it at any moment — probably some vestige of their much less fortunate pasts. While not destitute by any mean, they had definitely not been as wealthy as their peers, but their indomitable work ethic more than made up for it.

"Ah... well," she muttered to herself, "Maybe I'll show it to them later." She didn't want the horn that much, after all, & didn't want to disappoint her parents either. At the same time, she knew that they themselves might still want the object anyway, if they considered it useful enough as decoration or for actual usage. Deciding to file away where the horn was, she continued to look around elsewhere in the store, to see what there was.

Over at the peddler's stand, Elliot took a moment to wake up from his stupor at the toys. "Hmm? Oh, uh... kind of, yeah?" he tilted his head, as though unconfident of his own reply, & continued gazing at the toys. After a moment of silence, he finally looked at the merchant himself & spoke once again, "How much are they?"

---

Soon after receiving her plushies, Carrie hugged them & smiled brightly. "Wonder what I'll name them!" she muttered to herself. Shortly after — once the employee had picked up the doll & told them that he would see if his boss knew anything about it — Victoria thanked him for his help with that thing. "Mmm... no I think that's all for now, I think the two of us will just keep looking around," she then said, nodding her head, "Bye for now!" She bowed her head slightly & tapped her sister's hand, alerting her that they would be moving now. Once Carrie realized this, she briefly stopped hugging her plushies & began to follow her sister. The both of them would continue browsing through the store.

The shop carried a whole lot of items for the musically-minded tourist, from a few instruments like the horn and smaller flutes (made from wood, metal, horn or reed) to a thing labelled as a Militia Marching Drum, over CDs of many of the musicians in the Free Lands (Aingeal and Waari, the band Ard, which played rock, Damhsa with their Selkie-Dance and a variety of the Temple's Musicians were the most popular, but a local band by the name of Shella's Lads was represented as well) to sheet music, books and other accessories.
The store's staff was friendly and hard at work, but that should not stop people from approaching them.
There was also a plan of who would play on the Main Square's Stage today and quite a few of the bands and musicians on the shelves were represented there as well.

"Depends on how many ya buy, lad.", the Peddler said with a grin, "Generally, ten Umha for one of the animal and human figurines, but I usually give five for the price of four. Ten Umha would be around ten NSD. The horsemen are a Gil, or fifteen NSD a piece."
He let a beat pass.
"Who would it be for? Maybe I can help you with your selection?"

Dramhaíl House Souvenir Shop.
The boy grinned. "Sure, bye!", he said and went back to work, almost lovingly placing new plushies in the shelf.
The rest of the store was filled with souvenirs and other such things to the brim, from postcards to coffe table books and tourist guides, tea blends and other such kitsch, some of which was cute, some of which required thought, some of which was plain useless, but still bought.
Amongst the parade pieces of the store, in a back-corner, was a weapon's rack, which carried a number of swords and daggers - wall-decorations and letter-openers, but still one very awesome display.
In a display case near the register was an assortment of various bottles with alcoholic beverages of Selkie-Origin, always under lock and key. A sign in English on it read, that one needed to keep an ID-card, passport or driver's license at the ready and be above eighteen years of age to purchase one of these bottles - and that one should ask the register-guy for an opening.

God, just how long have I been asleep here? Slowly she opened her eyes and raised herself off the bed. The world was a sleepy haze to her, and she didn't know how long she spent just turning her face and comprehending where she was. Still in the hotel bedroom, of course. It had been quite the exhausting journey, but she didn't expect it to be this exhausting. She had only wanted to get some sleep, not that much sleep.

Her phone was next to her, and she spent the next minute staring at the screen, scrolling through her social media feed, wondering why didn't just set an alarm. There were a few unanswered messages from her friends in college- oh, and from Papa. She answered that message first, just a typical reply informing Papa she had arrived in Shella and that she was alive and well. The other messages were a mixture of questions about the place, what she thought, and how she felt about it. And about the local boys and such, but that wasn't important in the slightest. She, too, answered them all, though a part of her called out to just enjoy the room and go back to sleep.

She did try that after answering the last message, only to realize that she had slept too much and couldn't go back to it. With nothing else to do, she leapt off the bed, reached for her backpack and the key, put on her shoes, and set out to find the receptionist. Thankfully they were on the same floor - the first, no less - so it didn't take long to find him. "Hey there," she greeted the man, "so I'm wondering if you might be able to give me a few pointers about the interesting places around here. This is my first time here and I'd love to maybe visit a few places."

The receptionist nodded, leaning onto his desk.
"There would be quite a few, to be honest.", he said and looked up, "The Piracy Museum, the Old Fortress, some of the warehouses by the waterfront are actually art museums nowadays, there's the Main Square and its music stage today, the Fletching and the Guard Cups are today, an air show is planned for the afternoon. The University of Silverport is inviting people to play oarsmen for a series of experiments later today. A lot more can be done."
He shrugged.
"It all depends on what you want to do today.", he said.

[Prussian Polish Commonwealth]

Klaus Stoertebeker.
Captain of the S.M.S Condor, a Warsaw-class guided missile destroyer. A husband-until his wife ran off with a French musician. A father...and the unluckiest sonovabitch in the entire Kaiserliche Marine.


5 days earlier:
"Bad news, sir."
"Give it to me."
"Pancreatic Cancer of an aggressive nature."
"Well fuck. Can you operate?"
"Maybe. We'll know in a month. You might want to set your affairs in order."


'Maybe.'
He snorted. 'Sounds suspiciously like no to me.'
Regardless...
He opened the door to the Uachtair Inn, his steel-tipped boots ringing on the floor. He went up to the receptionist. "Klaus Stoertebeker. I believe I have a reservation for a room here."
He handed over a crumpled printout confirming that he had booked a room.

[Prussian Polish Commonwealth]

Yven smiled at Marie, quite interested, both in the girl and about what she told.
"A woman of faith, then, like our Servants?"

Marie smiled back and nodded. "Close enough. I can drop out at any point before I take my solemn vows, though, and even then one can petition the Vatican to get out, I think.

[Kuronami]

"That's exactly the idea.", Waari said with a nod, grinning, "You sing a Kuronami Song, which you like and I try to improvise a melody to it on my fiddle. We might sound horrible, but I'm sure, that that would be my fault."
"Waari sounding horrible?", the redhead said, a small smile gracing his lips, "Preposterous!"
Waari grinned. "Ladies, gentleman, if I may introduce, Ayden, a friend and co-worker of mine.", she introduced, "Ayden, these are Jamie, Charlie, and the young lady up here is Billie."
"It's a pleasure.", Ayden said with a small bow to the parents, then sized Billie up. Suddenly, he rose by a few centimetres as he rose onto the tips of his toes. "I'm taller then you."

"Sure! I'll sing my heart's content." She smiled and saw the man who just arrived and her parents also greeted him polietly. "Pleasure is ours" Jamie replied.

"Ah well I reckon' you're already much bigger than me anyhow but at least up here I can be taller than even papa! Hey, hey!" She got a sudden idea and lit up like a light "Papa, papa plays a great harmonica. Won't ya join with us papa? See on the boat ride over here, papa played lots for us. Cause it was all dark and stormy lots of the time and the waves pushed us all around, papa just pull it out and play it and we never got bored nor scared! We sang songs too!" Well maybe Billie was a little scared during the rough voyage but she was always in her mama's arms so she got through it.

"Well I aint too shabby with it, she's right 'bout that." Jamie agreed "If you'll let me join in Waari, think I'd be real fun to play with you and my little girl here."

"Yeah! And maybe you too mama?"

Charlie gave a little laugh "Oh sweetie, you know I'm better at calling a pig than I am at carrying a tune. You two can have all the fun there, I'll watch and be cheer y'all on." She kissed her little girl's cheek for encouragement "You sing your pretty heart out and everyone's gonna love ya, baby girl. And you'll have your papa and Miss Waari here to help you along."

[The Selkie]

"Sure! We'll be here a good while so our schedule is pretty open. Ah of course let's head onto the heart of the festival shall we? Walk and talk we shall. Now do you just focus all on geography or do you teach multiple subjects through the day? Do you have many classes of different students every hour or just one single group for the whole day?"

Sora chuckled a little to Amy "Well now my Kirie is really gonna interrogate your poor mother. But I guess a fellow teacher like her will understand!"

Belana nodded, not bothered at all by the questions - in fact, it was nice to talk to a fellow teacher, who she didn't know since she, herself, had been a school child.
They conversed as they were walking.
"I teach a total of six classes or groups, each around twenty students, in Geography, Sciences and help with Music, mostly because I'm a good singer myself.", she explained, before she turned to her daughter, "Isn't that right, Amy?"
"Oh, yes.", Amy said, not only because her mother was her mother, "A voice sweet enough to make salt sweet!"
"Oh, now you're making me blush!", Belena admonished her daughter, before turning to her fellow teacher, "What about you?"

Klaus Stoertebeker.
Captain of the S.M.S Condor, a Warsaw-class guided missile destroyer. A husband-until his wife ran off with a French musician. A father...and the unluckiest sonovabitch in the entire Kaiserliche Marine.


5 days earlier:
"Bad news, sir."
"Give it to me."
"Pancreatic Cancer of an aggressive nature."
"Well fuck. Can you operate?"
"Maybe. We'll know in a month. You might want to set your affairs in order."


'Maybe.'
He snorted. 'Sounds suspiciously like no to me.'
Regardless...
He opened the door to the Uachtair Inn, his steel-tipped boots ringing on the floor. He went up to the receptionist. "Klaus Stoertebeker. I believe I have a reservation for a room here."
He handed over a crumpled printout confirming that he had booked a room.

Yven smiled at Marie, quite interested, both in the girl and about what she told.
"A woman of faith, then, like our Servants?"

Marie smiled back and nodded. "Close enough. I can drop out at any point before I take my solemn vows, though, and even then one can petition the Vatican to get out, I think.

Uachtair Inn.
The receptionist looked the printout over, basically an e-mail confirming the reservation with the room number. He noted, that the man looked... sad. As if he had given up on everything and anything.
Lost all fun in living.
Maybe he was over-interpreting, though.
"Yes, here you are.", the receptionist said with a nod, just as Duncan came down again. The receptionist turned the Book of Reservations and indicated to a line, handing out a ballpen. "I'd need you signature here and a valid ID-card. Passports or driver's licenses work fine as well." He let a beat pass. "Your room will be 3-7, third floor. Duncan will help you with your bags."
"Sir.", the young man said with a nod.

Filleadh House, Shella Upper Town.
Yven smiled, nodding.
"Our Servants are in for a lifelong commitment.", he explained, with his accent and twang, "Once they have taken the vows and became Servants, that is. Still living where they usually lived, still doing what they usually do, they either offer advice and spiritual guidance, or are members of one of the Orders, or both. They also take care of shrines and sacred groves." He let a beat pass, feeling my questioning gaze upon himself. "I... informed myself about it, after I got helped out a lot by a Servant..."

"That's exactly the idea.", Waari said with a nod, grinning, "You sing a Kuronami Song, which you like and I try to improvise a melody to it on my fiddle. We might sound horrible, but I'm sure, that that would be my fault."
"Waari sounding horrible?", the redhead said, a small smile gracing his lips, "Preposterous!"
Waari grinned. "Ladies, gentleman, if I may introduce, Ayden, a friend and co-worker of mine.", she introduced, "Ayden, these are Jamie, Charlie, and the young lady up here is Billie."
"It's a pleasure.", Ayden said with a small bow to the parents, then sized Billie up. Suddenly, he rose by a few centimetres as he rose onto the tips of his toes. "I'm taller then you."

"Sure! I'll sing my heart's content." She smiled and saw the man who just arrived and her parents also greeted him polietly. "Pleasure is ours" Jamie replied.

"Ah well I reckon' you're already much bigger than me anyhow but at least up here I can be taller than even papa! Hey, hey!" She got a sudden idea and lit up like a light "Papa, papa plays a great harmonica. Won't ya join with us papa? See on the boat ride over here, papa played lots for us. Cause it was all dark and stormy lots of the time and the waves pushed us all around, papa just pull it out and play it and we never got bored nor scared! We sang songs too!" Well maybe Billie was a little scared during the rough voyage but she was always in her mama's arms so she got through it.

"Well I aint too shabby with it, she's right 'bout that." Jamie agreed "If you'll let me join in Waari, think I'd be real fun to play with you and my little girl here."

"Yeah! And maybe you too mama?"

Charlie gave a little laugh "Oh sweetie, you know I'm better at calling a pig than I am at carrying a tune. You two can have all the fun there, I'll watch and be cheer y'all on." She kissed her little girl's cheek for encouragement "You sing your pretty heart out and everyone's gonna love ya, baby girl. And you'll have your papa and Miss Waari here to help you along."

Waari grinned.
"That would be awesome, Billie!", Waari agreed with a wide grin, turning to Jamie, "It would be my pleasure to have such a skilled harmonica-player with me!"
Ayden nodded. "That would indeed be something else.", he said and nodded, then turned to the parents, lowering himself properly, "I play Big Fiddle, or Cello, myself and am quite a few times background staffage for the more talented musicians at my workplace."
"We both work for the Foreign Office, you see? Well, me more as a part timer, but still.", Waari explained, grinning. "But the stage might get cramped..."
Ayden nodded. "I'll sit to the side, so don't worry."

[AHSCA]

Belana nodded, not bothered at all by the questions - in fact, it was nice to talk to a fellow teacher, who she didn't know since she, herself, had been a school child.
They conversed as they were walking.
"I teach a total of six classes or groups, each around twenty students, in Geography, Sciences and help with Music, mostly because I'm a good singer myself.", she explained, before she turned to her daughter, "Isn't that right, Amy?"
"Oh, yes.", Amy said, not only because her mother was her mother, "A voice sweet enough to make salt sweet!"
"Oh, now you're making me blush!", Belena admonished her daughter, before turning to her fellow teacher, "What about you?"

"Great question! Well I first started in my home village and because it was tiny I was the only teacher there so I pretty much had to teach everything and all students of all ages. Small little one room house in a nipa hut. When I moved to Port Aya, which is Hoshino's capital the school is bigger and a little more mmm modern I guess not exactly but more modern kind of. Now I teach two classes, the older students in the afternoon and the younger ones in the morning. I teach math, Language skills and island history. there's a few more teachers to cover some other subjects too in a few other class rooms but we all share the same split between young and old. It's so different from where I grew up and when I went to school. And given it's in a bigger village we're in session more often."

[Kuronami]

Waari grinned.
"That would be awesome, Billie!", Waari agreed with a wide grin, turning to Jamie, "It would be my pleasure to have such a skilled harmonica-player with me!"
Ayden nodded. "That would indeed be something else.", he said and nodded, then turned to the parents, lowering himself properly, "I play Big Fiddle, or Cello, myself and am quite a few times background staffage for the more talented musicians at my workplace."
"We both work for the Foreign Office, you see? Well, me more as a part timer, but still.", Waari explained, grinning. "But the stage might get cramped..."
Ayden nodded. "I'll sit to the side, so don't worry."

Jamie smiled the same as his daughter's smile. Now it was no secret where she gets her smile from. Pulling the nice silver harmonica from his overall pocket he brandished it "Well then looks like this country boy's gotta himself a gig. How bout that Charlie you're now married to a musician."

"Just don't let it get to your head, Jamie." Charlie jested back at her husband. Turning to Ayden smiling she replied "My seems lots of folks from y'all's foreign office to greet us now." She mused "Not that I can complain, it's so nice to have a warm welcome in a far away place. Just hope one day we'll get to return the favor." she wiped her brow as she began to sweat a little as the sunlight grew in the morning. "My looks like such a lovely day here, after the trip we had i'm glad 'bout that but I'm starting to sweat like a hog now. You know if and where I can get myself a nice hat to keep the sun off? Sure would appreciate it."

Billie continued to ask "So Waari, how hard is it to learn the fiddle? Our teacher is really encouraging us to take up musical instruments and stuff and I love the fact papa can play music on a harmonica but you look so cool playin' the fiddle I think I wanna learn too!"

"Oh Billie thinking of taking up the fiddle?" Her mother asked, encouraged. "Sounds like a mighty fine idea. You and papa can play together then."

"Yeah! I sure hope so."

[Prussian Polish Commonwealth]

Uachtair Inn.
The receptionist looked the printout over, basically an e-mail confirming the reservation with the room number. He noted, that the man looked... sad. As if he had given up on everything and anything.
Lost all fun in living.
Maybe he was over-interpreting, though.
"Yes, here you are.", the receptionist said with a nod, just as Duncan came down again. The receptionist turned the Book of Reservations and indicated to a line, handing out a ballpen. "I'd need you signature here and a valid ID-card. Passports or driver's licenses work fine as well." He let a beat pass. "Your room will be 3-7, third floor. Duncan will help you with your bags."
"Sir.", the young man said with a nod.

Filleadh House, Shella Upper Town.
Yven smiled, nodding.
"Our Servants are in for a lifelong commitment.", he explained, with his accent and twang, "Once they have taken the vows and became Servants, that is. Still living where they usually lived, still doing what they usually do, they either offer advice and spiritual guidance, or are members of one of the Orders, or both. They also take care of shrines and sacred groves." He let a beat pass, feeling my questioning gaze upon himself. "I... informed myself about it, after I got helped out a lot by a Servant..."

Uachtair Inn
Klaus signed and showed his Kaiserliche Marine ID card.
Upon seeing Duncan he shook his head. "No need."
He picked up his suitcase and headed for the stairs, but stopped for a second, before turning back around, fixing his bleary and bloodshot grey eyes on the receptionist.
"Do me a favor, will you..? Tell a...Gefreiter Karl von Danzig at Filleadh House that I want to talk to him."


Filleadh House
Marie nodded. "I see...what were the circumstances under which he helped you, if you don't mind me asking?"
Irene and Karl both leaned forward in interest.

[Mervay]

Yven smiled at Marie, quite interested, both in the girl and about what she told.
"A woman of faith, then, like our Servants?", he asked with a smile, hoping, that no one minded him butting in. "Well, I guess, it's not completely the same..." He glanced to me, who I had raised an eyebrow. "You're now a Daggermaiden, right?"
I grinned and a moment later, there was a dagger in my hands, which should be familiar to Chris - it was one of those, which I had with me in Purgatio. He had seen them in Dumhach as well. It was, by now, quite known internationally, that Selkie were usually armed with at least two daggers.
"Yep.", I answered, as the dagger vanished again, my hands returning to petting the Fox in my lap, "I indeed am now a Servant to Abhcan and one of Her Daggermaidens. Was quite a test, too, but I managed it." Grinning, I leaned back a bit. "I am also allowed to wear Her Green and White due to that. It's quite a bit different from a nun."
I looked to Lise.
"If you want a break from all of that, you came to the right place.", I told her. "Shella is peaceful, calm... an oasis in a stormy sea."

Lise was surprised of see something being taken out of Cel hands,but she didn't minded since even if it was an dagger or an knife,that would be normal here for what she heard,still that would be an normal sight for her here.

"I see,I hope that,I can find an house here then and yeah this place has an lot of storms and we are not even close to AHSCA" she said laughing an little for that.

"By the way guys,I wanted to ask you if there is an house,I mean an good one,in sale here in the upper town since,I want to live for an time" Lisolette asks taking an little of her lemonade.

[Mediama]

Livvie, as she had been called, looked at Katherine with a smiled and motioned for her schoolmates to continue.
"Hi.", she said to Katherine, thinking her to be cute. "You're with the Proff? She's awesome... I'm Liv." When she spoke, she spoke with a slight accent, a melody in her speaking, coupled with dropped vowels and rolling Rs. She looked to the group, then back to Katherine. "Student Tour Programme, right? Where're you from?"
The more she spoke, the more confident Liv seemed to get.

Katherine looked back at Liv and stuttered out, “Y-yeah that’s right. I’m from Mediama.” As she was collecting herself, she took a closer look at her features. Her heart fluttered as she took in her accent and looked at her eyes. “My name is Katherine, Katherine Shelby.”

Katherine took in her school uniform, “Are you part of a private school? I have to say, you look pretty in that uniform.” Katherine could feel her cheeks heat up and her blush darkened as she made the comment. Internally, she was screaming, Seriously? This is what you want to start with. I mean, sure it’s innocent enough, but she’ll probably get creeped out by it, you’re already being awkward as it is you useless gay idiot!

At this point, she didn’t know why she didn’t just throw herself off the balcony in sheer embarrassment.

[Lillorainen]

Marie's eyebrows furrowed in worry upon hearing Irene and Ana's stories-until Yven winked at her.
She blushed for the second time and wriggled a little in her seat.
Upon Irene finishing up, she decided to pick up.
"...alright..I guess it's my turn? I haven't been up to much honestly- no assasins, combat, or helping to found a navy-" At this she looked over at Irene who sighed and facepalmed. "Yeah, I did that too. But continue."
Marie resumed again. "I've been training to become a nun-just finished my postulancy; essentially it's to see if you have a place in the monastery-and I can start my novitiate if I want to.

"Oh my God!", said Ana. "That's horrible, almost as horrible as Portugal. You won't believe what Salazar tried to do to me. Even after I moved to San Prospero, that maniac sent two agents to try kidnapping me. They pretended to be recruiters for a modeling agency and promised me an excellent pay. This was too good to be true, and I didn't know this was a trap until the guys tried to make me go into a room alone with them. At that point, I was pretty creeped out so I called Prima with my phone. Then the guys made a run for it. Now I'm afraid to go out alone, and don't know who to trust."

"But every dark cloud has a silver lining. From what Prima told me later, the two Portuguese agents were later shot and killed by police when they tried to get away in their plane. She sent me the video, and I think it was quite funny. Oh well, poetic justice I guess." Ana took out her iPhone and played the chase video for the others. The video was shot from the dashcam on the police truck, and showed the truck chasing the Portuguese agents' plane and ramming it square on the side before it could take off. The armed police then jumped out and surrounded the plane, filling it with bullets. The video cut to black.

(OOC: something like this chase)

"Did they... Dammit,I'm sorry for hear that Ana. I hope that you recover for that incident" Lise says very shocked of hear that,how far would go Salazar Regime for her. PIA was something that almost everyone could not be happy about it.

"Looks like one Chris and Cel got something good out of the PIA" she says in sign of dissapointment. The true was they the couple was the lucky one of the group with their lovely dovey act,but still it was obvious that they were feeling guilty of that.

Yven smiled at Marie, quite interested, both in the girl and about what she told.
"A woman of faith, then, like our Servants?", he asked with a smile, hoping, that no one minded him butting in. "Well, I guess, it's not completely the same..." He glanced to me, who I had raised an eyebrow. "You're now a Daggermaiden, right?"
I grinned and a moment later, there was a dagger in my hands, which should be familiar to Chris - it was one of those, which I had with me in Purgatio. He had seen them in Dumhach as well. It was, by now, quite known internationally, that Selkie were usually armed with at least two daggers.
"Yep.", I answered, as the dagger vanished again, my hands returning to petting the Fox in my lap, "I indeed am now a Servant to Abhcan and one of Her Daggermaidens. Was quite a test, too, but I managed it." Grinning, I leaned back a bit. "I am also allowed to wear Her Green and White due to that. It's quite a bit different from a nun."
I looked to Lise.
"If you want a break from all of that, you came to the right place.", I told her. "Shella is peaceful, calm... an oasis in a stormy sea."

Uachtair Inn.
Duncan nodded.
"I'll inform the restaurant, then.", he said and bowed again, specifically to Hilda, "It was a pleasure, Miss Leverdal. Have fun at the festival!" A nod to Frederick, "Mister Leverdal.", and he was gone.
True to his word, the restaurant had been informed, a waitress standing at the ready once they came down.
A waitress, which could not be older then thirteen, dressed in a black and white maid dress and looking so absolutely adorable, even including the headdress. She grinned as she stood at the ready to serve breakfast, enthusiasm to work most likely making up for her skill or size, but that should not stop anyone from thinking of her any less competent then her taller and older colleagues, of which enough floated around, serving tea, breadrolls, jams, coffee and other things.
The restaurant itself was a room with a number of alcoves along the wall, which had their own tables, as well as tables in the centre, most of which were full. The view was interesting, as it went out to the main street, which connected harbour and main square, dozens of people passing every minute.

Filleadh House.
Marie told she had finished her postulancy. At least one from the Commonwealth who hadn't been up to combat in the time being ...
'Looks like one Chris and Cel got something good out of the PIA' - Lise said, in a disappointed tone which didn't make feel Chris any less guilty; fortunately she quickly changed topic back to her experience in Main Nation Ministry, where, at least, no one had touched her, probably the only advantage she had had during this.
Chris nodded when Cel told her that she was in the right place to recover from all that crap. "Here, you have nothing to fear. Total surveillance, concentration camps, propaganda, punishment for expressing opinions ... you won't find any of that in here."
Chris was sure that Lise wouldn't ever sign up for a student exchange again without reading the small print before.
Cel talked about now being a Servant to Abhcan and one of Her Daggermaidens, which Chris, of course, knew about. While she continued her conversation with Yven and Marie on this, Lise now asked whether there was a house for sale in here.

Uachtair Inn.
Duncan bowed a last time, announced to inform the restaurant, and went off.
The unpacking took just a couple of minutes, since both Hilda and Fred, as announced, just took their most important stuff together. Fred's girl-stuff mentioning had been a joke, since Hilda indeed didn't need much of all that cosmetic stuff, if any - nature had done a more than sufficient job.
They locked their rooms and went downstairs. In the meantime, a man in a uniform had checked in; he probably had just seen a bit less than fifty summers, but looked somewhat older ... and awfully tired. Tired of everything, of life, universe and all the rest ... maybe they were mistaken with this guess, but it was their very first impression.
They threw a friendly nod, greeting, then passed by, heading for the restaurant. As they entered, a waitress, who practically was just half a child, notably younger than them, grinning, as she already expected them. A number of guests was already sitting at the tables of the restaurant, which had an interesting view onto the busy main street.
Again, both nodded, slightly indicating a bow. "Good morning!" - they said, almost simultaneously and grinned back.

[Ezhara]

The shop carried a whole lot of items for the musically-minded tourist...

Main Town Square
"What a coincidence," Irene said to herself as she inspected the store's shelves. Being an Ezharan singer, she was ecstatic to see other civilizations' musical culture, & made sure to read any information she could on the CD cases. After doing so, she began to read the schedule for the Main Square's Stage, noting who was performing, & returned to the CDs, taking out the Damsha ones, & moving to purchase those.
Elsewhere, her brother was still distracted with the toys. "Oh... uh, it's for me, actually," Elliot explained to the peddler, his voice strangely absentminded, as though he was not entirely there, "Just saw them..." He paused for a moment & subtly shook his head side to side & blinked. "Uh, yeah... I'll buy four animals, a person, & a horseman, I think, " Elliot then said his voice no longer as distracted.

---

Dramhaíl House Souvenir Shop
"Oh! A tourist guide! Wonder why we never got one," Victoria thought out loud, "We'll definitely want this." If she could open it, she would quickly flip through it, stopping briefly at — assuming it existed — a wall with a wonderful view of the sea that a person or two could sit on. "Aww, that looks like a couple's sort of place!" she would muse upon seeing it. If such a location was not present, though, she would see some other area & say nothing. On the other hand, if she could not open it for whatever reason, she would simply file it away for later purchase.

Carrie, though, glanced at the coffee table books, tilting her head at them in moderate confusion. What are these for? she thought, having forgotten that she had seen such books before, I mean, they're books, yeah, but they don't seem to be for reading. Well, I guess it is pretty nice to look at. Shrugging, she resumed to browsing, pausing at the tea blends & closely examining them — she was, after all, a singer, & knew that she had to take care of her voice, so she was hoping for a tea that might be good for her. A green tea blend with honey & lemon would probably fit that description well, but perhaps there was something else there.

[The Selkie]

Belana nodded, not bothered at all by the questions - in fact, it was nice to talk to a fellow teacher, who she didn't know since she, herself, had been a school child.
They conversed as they were walking.
"I teach a total of six classes or groups, each around twenty students, in Geography, Sciences and help with Music, mostly because I'm a good singer myself.", she explained, before she turned to her daughter, "Isn't that right, Amy?"
"Oh, yes.", Amy said, not only because her mother was her mother, "A voice sweet enough to make salt sweet!"
"Oh, now you're making me blush!", Belena admonished her daughter, before turning to her fellow teacher, "What about you?"

"Great question! Well I first started in my home village and because it was tiny I was the only teacher there so I pretty much had to teach everything and all students of all ages. Small little one room house in a nipa hut. When I moved to Port Aya, which is Hoshino's capital the school is bigger and a little more mmm modern I guess not exactly but more modern kind of. Now I teach two classes, the older students in the afternoon and the younger ones in the morning. I teach math, Language skills and island history. there's a few more teachers to cover some other subjects too in a few other class rooms but we all share the same split between young and old. It's so different from where I grew up and when I went to school. And given it's in a bigger village we're in session more often."

Belana nodded.
"I see.", she replied with a grin, "That's a nice concept as well." She let a beat pass. "We only teach students here until they finished Elementary, after that, we send them to the Mainland or to Dumhach, where they have their own Boarding Dorms. A lot of the larger islands do that." She sighed and looked to her daughter. "It's hard, though..."
Amy smiled and petted her Mother onto the shoulder, reassuringly.

Waari grinned.
"That would be awesome, Billie!", Waari agreed with a wide grin, turning to Jamie, "It would be my pleasure to have such a skilled harmonica-player with me!"
Ayden nodded. "That would indeed be something else.", he said and nodded, then turned to the parents, lowering himself properly, "I play Big Fiddle, or Cello, myself and am quite a few times background staffage for the more talented musicians at my workplace."
"We both work for the Foreign Office, you see? Well, me more as a part timer, but still.", Waari explained, grinning. "But the stage might get cramped..."
Ayden nodded. "I'll sit to the side, so don't worry."

Jamie smiled the same as his daughter's smile. Now it was no secret where she gets her smile from. Pulling the nice silver harmonica from his overall pocket he brandished it "Well then looks like this country boy's gotta himself a gig. How bout that Charlie you're now married to a musician."

"Just don't let it get to your head, Jamie." Charlie jested back at her husband. Turning to Ayden smiling she replied "My seems lots of folks from y'all's foreign office to greet us now." She mused "Not that I can complain, it's so nice to have a warm welcome in a far away place. Just hope one day we'll get to return the favor." she wiped her brow as she began to sweat a little as the sunlight grew in the morning. "My looks like such a lovely day here, after the trip we had i'm glad 'bout that but I'm starting to sweat like a hog now. You know if and where I can get myself a nice hat to keep the sun off? Sure would appreciate it."

Billie continued to ask "So Waari, how hard is it to learn the fiddle? Our teacher is really encouraging us to take up musical instruments and stuff and I love the fact papa can play music on a harmonica but you look so cool playin' the fiddle I think I wanna learn too!"

"Oh Billie thinking of taking up the fiddle?" Her mother asked, encouraged. "Sounds like a mighty fine idea. You and papa can play together then."

"Yeah! I sure hope so."

Ayden smiled. "It has something to do with our organization.", he explained, "Waari, Aingeal and I are parts of the so-called Ambassador Groups. Two man teams, who represent us abroad, a professional diplomat and someone for the more cultural exchanges, although the borders are sometimes quite fluent. We also became quite the tight friends, so we do a lot of things in our free time as well... like concerts for a good cause."
He let a beat pass.
"As for a hat, I know just the store." He looked to Jamie. "If you don't mind me kidnapping your wife for a moment?"

Waari looked up to Billie, grinning.
"I'll show you a few basics later, okay?", she told her, smiling, "But be aware, that it is a complicated, yet very beautiful instrument. You'll be able to call the storms from the heavens themselves, to express your most tender love, to call for a dance, to express your emotions in ways, that no one else can."
She smiled up at Billie.
"In your way."

Uachtair Inn.
The receptionist looked the printout over, basically an e-mail confirming the reservation with the room number. He noted, that the man looked... sad. As if he had given up on everything and anything.
Lost all fun in living.
Maybe he was over-interpreting, though.
"Yes, here you are.", the receptionist said with a nod, just as Duncan came down again. The receptionist turned the Book of Reservations and indicated to a line, handing out a ballpen. "I'd need you signature here and a valid ID-card. Passports or driver's licenses work fine as well." He let a beat pass. "Your room will be 3-7, third floor. Duncan will help you with your bags."
"Sir.", the young man said with a nod.

Filleadh House, Shella Upper Town.
Yven smiled, nodding.
"Our Servants are in for a lifelong commitment.", he explained, with his accent and twang, "Once they have taken the vows and became Servants, that is. Still living where they usually lived, still doing what they usually do, they either offer advice and spiritual guidance, or are members of one of the Orders, or both. They also take care of shrines and sacred groves." He let a beat pass, feeling my questioning gaze upon himself. "I... informed myself about it, after I got helped out a lot by a Servant..."

Uachtair Inn
Klaus signed and showed his Kaiserliche Marine ID card.
Upon seeing Duncan he shook his head. "No need."
He picked up his suitcase and headed for the stairs, but stopped for a second, before turning back around, fixing his bleary and bloodshot grey eyes on the receptionist.
"Do me a favor, will you..? Tell a...Gefreiter Karl von Danzig at Filleadh House that I want to talk to him."


Filleadh House
Marie nodded. "I see...what were the circumstances under which he helped you, if you don't mind me asking?"
Irene and Karl both leaned forward in interest.

Filleadh House.
Marie told she had finished her postulancy. At least one from the Commonwealth who hadn't been up to combat in the time being ...
'Looks like one Chris and Cel got something good out of the PIA' - Lise said, in a disappointed tone which didn't make feel Chris any less guilty; fortunately she quickly changed topic back to her experience in Main Nation Ministry, where, at least, no one had touched her, probably the only advantage she had had during this.
Chris nodded when Cel told her that she was in the right place to recover from all that crap. "Here, you have nothing to fear. Total surveillance, concentration camps, propaganda, punishment for expressing opinions ... you won't find any of that in here."
Chris was sure that Lise wouldn't ever sign up for a student exchange again without reading the small print before.
Cel talked about now being a Servant to Abhcan and one of Her Daggermaidens, which Chris, of course, knew about. While she continued her conversation with Yven and Marie on this, Lise now asked whether there was a house for sale in here.

Uachtair Inn.
Duncan bowed a last time, announced to inform the restaurant, and went off.
The unpacking took just a couple of minutes, since both Hilda and Fred, as announced, just took their most important stuff together. Fred's girl-stuff mentioning had been a joke, since Hilda indeed didn't need much of all that cosmetic stuff, if any - nature had done a more than sufficient job.
They locked their rooms and went downstairs. In the meantime, a man in a uniform had checked in; he probably had just seen a bit less than fifty summers, but looked somewhat older ... and awfully tired. Tired of everything, of life, universe and all the rest ... maybe they were mistaken with this guess, but it was their very first impression.
They threw a friendly nod, greeting, then passed by, heading for the restaurant. As they entered, a waitress, who practically was just half a child, notably younger than them, grinning, as she already expected them. A number of guests was already sitting at the tables of the restaurant, which had an interesting view onto the busy main street.
Again, both nodded, slightly indicating a bow. "Good morning!" - they said, almost simultaneously and grinned back.

Uachtair Inn.
Just as the man said that, a young woman looked at Klaus with a bit of a confused impression.
"A Karl at Filleadh House?", she asked, then she remembered, "Ah, yes, sure, one of Cel's friends! I'll relay it to him! Or would you come along once you stowed your stuff away?"
She was fifteen, maybe sixteen, her dark brown hair long and reaching well past her waist, her brown eyes shining like embers. She carried three heavy-looking bags, coming out of the Backstage area, wearing a white blouse and a pair of jeans short-shorts, together with a pair of heavy horseman boots, which almost reached her knees. She was well formed out, but one saw, that she was not yet fully adult.
On her head was a pair of small animal ears, of a feline or something of that kind, which twitched cutely.
"It's okay either way!", she said.

When Hilda and Frederik stood before her, the Mini-Waitress spoke up at the restaurant's entrance: "Good mornin', to you, too, Miss, Sir! You two are the Leverdals, right? We have a table for ya - if ya would please follow me!"
And with that, she turned on her heels and approached the alcove, stopping once to let one of her colleagues pass, who grinned at her.
It seemed as if she was the Chief of Mood-Brightening around here, her sunny expression and behaviour cheering people up left and right.
She got out a pair of menus to hand to the guests after they sat down: "This morning's recommendation of the house, breadrolls and jam! Together with a good tea, it's the ideal start into the new day!" She grinned widely. "Prices already included into the price for the rooms, so don't worry 'bout that!"

Filleadh House.
Yven grinned.
"With what every lad needs help with.", he said with a small blush beginning to form. "With girls. I had a pretty big crush on a girl, who was going out with another guy... I asked the Servant of the next grove for help and he advised me in what to do." He smiled at the memory. "One should add, that I was thirteen and entering puberty while she was eighteen and way out of my league. Still, he told me to be honest with her and to tell her, what I felt... got me a kiss and the respect of both her and her boyfriend."
He grinned and shrugged.
"Schoolyard crushes.", he finished his story. In his retelling of his boyhood adventures, he completely missed Lise's inquiry.

I agreed to Chris with a nod.
"The worst that will happen to you here is maybe a curious kid or two... or a curious animal.", I said with a grin, nodding into the general direction of her feet, where Cladhaire, one of my Black Foxes, was sniffing on her leg, sitting on his haunches and looking up to her with his big, blue eyes. He was a mischievous lad, but a friendly one, too. "If you want, hold out your hand for him to smell!"
I could safely attest, that while they were cute and mischievous, there was little with a coarser, yet fluffy fur then a Little Black Fox.

Livvie, as she had been called, looked at Katherine with a smiled and motioned for her schoolmates to continue.
"Hi.", she said to Katherine, thinking her to be cute. "You're with the Proff? She's awesome... I'm Liv." When she spoke, she spoke with a slight accent, a melody in her speaking, coupled with dropped vowels and rolling Rs. She looked to the group, then back to Katherine. "Student Tour Programme, right? Where're you from?"
The more she spoke, the more confident Liv seemed to get.

Katherine looked back at Liv and stuttered out, “Y-yeah that’s right. I’m from Mediama.” As she was collecting herself, she took a closer look at her features. Her heart fluttered as she took in her accent and looked at her eyes. “My name is Katherine, Katherine Shelby.”

Katherine took in her school uniform, “Are you part of a private school? I have to say, you look pretty in that uniform.” Katherine could feel her cheeks heat up and her blush darkened as she made the comment. Internally, she was screaming, Seriously? This is what you want to start with. I mean, sure it’s innocent enough, but she’ll probably get creeped out by it, you’re already being awkward as it is you useless gay idiot!

At this point, she didn’t know why she didn’t just throw herself off the balcony in sheer embarrassment.

"It's my pleasure, Katherine!", Lav said with a grin, bowing her head lightly - which served well in hiding her own little blush at the compliment. She felt flattered, not creeped out. "It's the uniform of the Piscín High School in Leuda. That's a few hundred kilometres in... that direction."
She pointed roughly towards the North-West, where her hometown laid.
"It's a public school.", she added, smiling, "All schools in the Free Lands have a uniform, in one form or the other. The Culaith mHairnéalaigh can be worn not only by girls, but by boys, too!"

The shop carried a whole lot of items for the musically-minded tourist...

Main Town Square
"What a coincidence," Irene said to herself as she inspected the store's shelves. Being an Ezharan singer, she was ecstatic to see other civilizations' musical culture, & made sure to read any information she could on the CD cases. After doing so, she began to read the schedule for the Main Square's Stage, noting who was performing, & returned to the CDs, taking out the Damsha ones, & moving to purchase those.
Elsewhere, her brother was still distracted with the toys. "Oh... uh, it's for me, actually," Elliot explained to the peddler, his voice strangely absentminded, as though he was not entirely there, "Just saw them..." He paused for a moment & subtly shook his head side to side & blinked. "Uh, yeah... I'll buy four animals, a person, & a horseman, I think, " Elliot then said his voice no longer as distracted.

---

Dramhaíl House Souvenir Shop
"Oh! A tourist guide! Wonder why we never got one," Victoria thought out loud, "We'll definitely want this." If she could open it, she would quickly flip through it, stopping briefly at — assuming it existed — a wall with a wonderful view of the sea that a person or two could sit on. "Aww, that looks like a couple's sort of place!" she would muse upon seeing it. If such a location was not present, though, she would see some other area & say nothing. On the other hand, if she could not open it for whatever reason, she would simply file it away for later purchase.

Carrie, though, glanced at the coffee table books, tilting her head at them in moderate confusion. What are these for? she thought, having forgotten that she had seen such books before, I mean, they're books, yeah, but they don't seem to be for reading. Well, I guess it is pretty nice to look at. Shrugging, she resumed to browsing, pausing at the tea blends & closely examining them — she was, after all, a singer, & knew that she had to take care of her voice, so she was hoping for a tea that might be good for her. A green tea blend with honey & lemon would probably fit that description well, but perhaps there was something else there.

The CDs came at a total of one Gil or 15 NSD, as the price tag showed, including a sticker, which said, that just today, ten percent of the proceeds of this CD would go to the Cabhair Group and their causes, especially the music lessons.
The guy at the register was friendly, if a bit under pressure. No one would believe, that such a young lad was entrusted with the responsibility of a register, but here he was... and the older employee behind him revealed, that he was training in using the machine.
A few moments later, Irene was proud owner of a Damhsa-CD, donated one and a half NSD for a good cause and got a small bag of cloth free of charge.
"Have a nice day, Miss!", the register-guy said with a slightly shaky grin.

The peddler grinned, calculating.
"Fifty-five NSD, would be the total, but I like ya, lad!", he said and motioned to the selection, "I'll give them ta ya for fifty, okay?"
There were indeed a wide variety of animal figurines on display, Tines, Grey Wolves, Star Lynxes, Little Black Foxes, even a pair of Curlies, or Curly Mountain Foxes, one from red-brown myrtle, the other from white birch, making him an Ice Fox. The figurines were all unique in design, posture, style, colour.
What there was as endemic animals in the Free Lands and lived on land or in the air, it was there.
Humans and horsemen were all variety of people and occupations as well, although the horsemen were mostly marcach, horse-mounted warriors with lances and swords.
Bows were too fragile to put into a wooden figurine's hands.

Dramhaíl House Souvenir Shop.
The tourist guides specified tourist spots and restaurants, as well as which plant or animal was edible and which was not.
And where to get help in case everything else failed.
The one of Shella was awfully detailed, by simply browsing the descriptions, one could feel the cobble beneath the feel and the sea wind in the hair.
In any case, Carrie's looking for tea would quickly reveal, that the Selkie were firm believers in herbal teas as remedies for basically everything: From evergreens like Feel-Good-Teas and Good-Morning-Teas to more specialized blends helping with edurance during certain nighttime activities and with other nighttime activities, teas against colds and for the eyesight, it was all there...
...as were teas for the voice: A blend relying heavily on ginger and licorice roots, another one relying on elm bark and ginger roots, a peppermint tea was there as well, all labelled as good for singers.

[Prussian Polish Commonwealth]

Uachtair Inn.
Just as the man said that, a young woman looked at Klaus with a bit of a confused impression.
"A Karl at Filleadh House?", she asked, then she remembered, "Ah, yes, sure, one of Cel's friends! I'll relay it to him! Or would you come along once you stowed your stuff away?"
She was fifteen, maybe sixteen, her dark brown hair long and reaching well past her waist, her brown eyes shining like embers. She carried three heavy-looking bags, coming out of the Backstage area, wearing a white blouse and a pair of jeans short-shorts, together with a pair of heavy horseman boots, which almost reached her knees. She was well formed out, but one saw, that she was not yet fully adult.
On her head was a pair of small animal ears, of a feline or something of that kind, which twitched cutely.
"It's okay either way!", she said.


Filleadh House.
Yven grinned.
"With what every lad needs help with.", he said with a small blush beginning to form. "With girls. I had a pretty big crush on a girl, who was going out with another guy... I asked the Servant of the next grove for help and he advised me in what to do." He smiled at the memory. "One should add, that I was thirteen and entering puberty while she was eighteen and way out of my league. Still, he told me to be honest with her and to tell her, what I felt... got me a kiss and the respect of both her and her boyfriend."
He grinned and shrugged.
"Schoolyard crushes.", he finished his story. In his retelling of his boyhood adventures, he completely missed Lise's inquiry.

(OOC: Selkie, you magnificent bastard.)
Uachtair Inn
Klaus stared a few moments at the girl, his mouth agape. He upzipped his bag, took his one bottle of Spirytus Rektyfikowany(Polish drink with 96% Alcohol content), and threw it in the trash.
After shaking his head a little he looked back at the girl. "Send it to him...I need to lie down for a minute or 60..."

Filleadh House
Marie nodded. "I see...Just a question; have you ever had any romantic....escapades ever since?"

[Lillorainen]

Filleadh House, Shella Upper Town.
Yven smiled, nodding.
"Our Servants are in for a lifelong commitment.", he explained, with his accent and twang, "Once they have taken the vows and became Servants, that is. Still living where they usually lived, still doing what they usually do, they either offer advice and spiritual guidance, or are members of one of the Orders, or both. They also take care of shrines and sacred groves." He let a beat pass, feeling my questioning gaze upon himself. "I... informed myself about it, after I got helped out a lot by a Servant..."

[...]
When Hilda and Frederik stood before her, the Mini-Waitress spoke up at the restaurant's entrance: "Good mornin', to you, too, Miss, Sir! You two are the Leverdals, right? We have a table for ya - if ya would please follow me!"
And with that, she turned on her heels and approached the alcove, stopping once to let one of her colleagues pass, who grinned at her.
It seemed as if she was the Chief of Mood-Brightening around here, her sunny expression and behaviour cheering people up left and right.
She got out a pair of menus to hand to the guests after they sat down: "This morning's recommendation of the house, breadrolls and jam! Together with a good tea, it's the ideal start into the new day!" She grinned widely. "Prices already included into the price for the rooms, so don't worry 'bout that!"

Filleadh House.
Yven grinned.
"With what every lad needs help with.", he said with a small blush beginning to form. "With girls. I had a pretty big crush on a girl, who was going out with another guy... I asked the Servant of the next grove for help and he advised me in what to do." He smiled at the memory. "One should add, that I was thirteen and entering puberty while she was eighteen and way out of my league. Still, he told me to be honest with her and to tell her, what I felt... got me a kiss and the respect of both her and her boyfriend."
He grinned and shrugged.
"Schoolyard crushes.", he finished his story. In his retelling of his boyhood adventures, he completely missed Lise's inquiry.

I agreed to Chris with a nod.
"The worst that will happen to you here is maybe a curious kid or two... or a curious animal.", I said with a grin, nodding into the general direction of her feet, where Cladhaire, one of my Black Foxes, was sniffing on her leg, sitting on his haunches and looking up to her with his big, blue eyes. He was a mischievous lad, but a friendly one, too. "If you want, hold out your hand for him to smell!"
I could safely attest, that while they were cute and mischievous, there was little with a coarser, yet fluffy fur then a Little Black Fox.
[/quote]

Filleadh House.
"Cladhaire isn't only friendly, but also smart" - Chris added. "In fact, it was him who picked me up from the ferry port back then on the first day in Dumhach. And he even had less trouble finding me on the carpool than me finding my rented car back when getting my stuff! And he, as well as the other foxes, understand any word I say."
Chris would probably never forget that long day ... and, apart from some flaws such as stalkers and unwanted kisses by other girls than Cel, probably one of the best days in his life. The day when he actually learned what life was like, in ideal case.

Uachtair Inn.
Fred and Hilda had nodded when the mini-waitress had sought confirmation that they were indeed the Leverdals - once again surprised that all Selkie they had met so far had made their family name somewhat sound like Lémhadael, which was indeed pretty close to what it was pronounced like correctly - as if someone had trained them before. Non-Danish-speaking Lillöer-Islanders often happened to have way more trouble with it.
They followed the waitress to one of the alcoves. Indeed, she seemed to be the one that brought the good mood into the morning, for the amusement of Fred's, who normally had trouble getting up early, the first morning after a long travel usually being a notable exception.
They sat down; the Mini-Waitress handed two menus to them and directly announced the house's recommendation for this morning, again with a tone and mimics as if to beam the living sunlight out of the entire room.
Both smiled. "That already sounds wonderful!" - Hilda said.
Fred nodded. "I think we're directly gonna follow the recommendation!"

[AHSCA]

Belana nodded.
"I see.", she replied with a grin, "That's a nice concept as well." She let a beat pass. "We only teach students here until they finished Elementary, after that, we send them to the Mainland or to Dumhach, where they have their own Boarding Dorms. A lot of the larger islands do that." She sighed and looked to her daughter. "It's hard, though..."
Amy smiled and petted her Mother onto the shoulder, reassuringly.

"Aww that must be so hard to send your precious one off so far away when they come of age. I mean I don't have children of my own bearing, I rather think of my students as my children. But you do what you need for the best for them, right? I can tell you're quite a great mother yourself. And I bet one stellar teacher! I may just learn a few things from you myself!"

"Aw come on kirie, I think you're already a good teacher." Sora replied.

"I appreciate the thought, Sora. While I may be good but I can always be better. "

[Kuronami]

Ayden smiled. "It has something to do with our organization.", he explained, "Waari, Aingeal and I are parts of the so-called Ambassador Groups. Two man teams, who represent us abroad, a professional diplomat and someone for the more cultural exchanges, although the borders are sometimes quite fluent. We also became quite the tight friends, so we do a lot of things in our free time as well... like concerts for a good cause."
He let a beat pass.
"As for a hat, I know just the store." He looked to Jamie. "If you don't mind me kidnapping your wife for a moment?"

Waari looked up to Billie, grinning.
"I'll show you a few basics later, okay?", she told her, smiling, "But be aware, that it is a complicated, yet very beautiful instrument. You'll be able to call the storms from the heavens themselves, to express your most tender love, to call for a dance, to express your emotions in ways, that no one else can."
She smiled up at Billie.
"In your way."

"Well you're doing a fine job." She replied in admiration. "Uuh no, no I don't mind I suppose it'd be all right." Certainly Jamie knew his wife could handle herself in a pinch if she had too not that he had any suspects about the kindly gentleman.

"I'll be back before you know it. Just need something to keep the sun out of my eyes for a while. Billie, you mind your papa now I'll be back." She kissed her girl and husband goodbye and she went ahead and followed

"Yes, mama." She then returned her attention to Waari "I understand, it'll be hard but papa tells me, nothin' in life aint worth doin' if it aint a little hard! So I'll work hard as I can to learn. Sure can't wait till I'm as good as you and if y'all find yourselves in Thunder Creek Kuronami by then, I'll play ya a good tune!" She'd have to be patient but now she couldn't wait to get started. If Waari can do it, she can do it.

"Atta girl, babe you're gonna be a great fiddler and you'll get to play with me!"

"That's right papa! You and me gonna play music together! And mama too, I don't care if she aint the greatest singers out there, she's my mama! She can sing all she likes 'round me!"

"That's right honey bun." he patted her head rubbing her already messy hair.

[The Selkie]

(OOC: Selkie, you magnificent bastard.)
Uachtair Inn
Klaus stared a few moments at the girl, his mouth agape. He upzipped his bag, took his one bottle of Spirytus Rektyfikowany(Polish drink with 96% Alcohol content), and threw it in the trash.
After shaking his head a little he looked back at the girl. "Send it to him...I need to lie down for a minute or 60..."

Filleadh House
Marie nodded. "I see...Just a question; have you ever had any romantic....escapades ever since?"

Filleadh House.
Yvain grinned.
"A few crushes, a kiss, nothing serious.", he told her, then smiled at her in the winning way, "I am single at the moment!"
After the last crush, which ended in a crash, he really was single.

Uachtair Inn.
The young woman cocked her head, a bit confused, then nodded. "Sure, will do. Have a good rest, Sir!", she bade him and turned to the receptionist for a moment, "See ya, Kieran!"
"See ya, Cao!", the receptionist replied, then grinned: "An' tell yer dork of a brother, that he still owes me a Gil!"
"Will do, will do!", the young woman, apparently Cao, replied, then went through the door ourside.

Filleadh House.
"Cladhaire isn't only friendly, but also smart" - Chris added. "In fact, it was him who picked me up from the ferry port back then on the first day in Dumhach. And he even had less trouble finding me on the carpool than me finding my rented car back when getting my stuff! And he, as well as the other foxes, understand any word I say."
Chris would probably never forget that long day ... and, apart from some flaws such as stalkers and unwanted kisses by other girls than Cel, probably one of the best days in his life. The day when he actually learned what life was like, in ideal case.

Uachtair Inn.
Fred and Hilda had nodded when the mini-waitress had sought confirmation that they were indeed the Leverdals - once again surprised that all Selkie they had met so far had made their family name somewhat sound like Lémhadael, which was indeed pretty close to what it was pronounced like correctly - as if someone had trained them before. Non-Danish-speaking Lillöer-Islanders often happened to have way more trouble with it.
They followed the waitress to one of the alcoves. Indeed, she seemed to be the one that brought the good mood into the morning, for the amusement of Fred's, who normally had trouble getting up early, the first morning after a long travel usually being a notable exception.
They sat down; the Mini-Waitress handed two menus to them and directly announced the house's recommendation for this morning, again with a tone and mimics as if to beam the living sunlight out of the entire room.
Both smiled. "That already sounds wonderful!" - Hilda said.
Fred nodded. "I think we're directly gonna follow the recommendation!"

Still at the Uachtair Inn.
The mini-waitress grinned, jotted everything down and then nodded. "So, two breakfast recommendations, coming right up!"
With a grin, she left the two nice foreigners, hurrying to the kitchens to get the breakfast ready and served to the two of them, her of course serving it. As the alcove was close to the kitchen doors, but not bothersomely close, they would have it easy.
Outside, on the Main Street, one would see the busy atmosphere of a town preparing for a festival, both large and open for everyone and small and private for others. One of the latter was the young woman, who just left the inn's backstage area, walking over to where the horses were bound at a pollar and nuzzled a little pony, a brown-white pinto colt, before she loaded her bags onto his back.
While she loaded up, she noted, that one of the bags didn't want as she wanted it to want, the colt letting her do his thing with patience and unshakeable calm.

Belana nodded.
"I see.", she replied with a grin, "That's a nice concept as well." She let a beat pass. "We only teach students here until they finished Elementary, after that, we send them to the Mainland or to Dumhach, where they have their own Boarding Dorms. A lot of the larger islands do that." She sighed and looked to her daughter. "It's hard, though..."
Amy smiled and petted her Mother onto the shoulder, reassuringly.

"Aww that must be so hard to send your precious one off so far away when they come of age. I mean I don't have children of my own bearing, I rather think of my students as my children. But you do what you need for the best for them, right? I can tell you're quite a great mother yourself. And I bet one stellar teacher! I may just learn a few things from you myself!"

"Aw come on kirie, I think you're already a good teacher." Sora replied.

"I appreciate the thought, Sora. While I may be good but I can always be better. "

"Your wife is right, every teacher still has much to learn, no matter how stellar he or she is.", Belana agreed with a small smile, "Being a mother taught me many things about being a teacher and being a teacher taught me many things about being a mother, though. I would not want to miss seeing my first class leave my school or that magical moment, when you hold your child for the first time..."
She looked to Amy.
"Or gazing into her eyes."
"Oh, come on, Mam, you make me blush!", Amy complained playfully, indeed her cheeks reddening.

Ayden smiled. "It has something to do with our organization.", he explained, "Waari, Aingeal and I are parts of the so-called Ambassador Groups. Two man teams, who represent us abroad, a professional diplomat and someone for the more cultural exchanges, although the borders are sometimes quite fluent. We also became quite the tight friends, so we do a lot of things in our free time as well... like concerts for a good cause."
He let a beat pass.
"As for a hat, I know just the store." He looked to Jamie. "If you don't mind me kidnapping your wife for a moment?"

Waari looked up to Billie, grinning.
"I'll show you a few basics later, okay?", she told her, smiling, "But be aware, that it is a complicated, yet very beautiful instrument. You'll be able to call the storms from the heavens themselves, to express your most tender love, to call for a dance, to express your emotions in ways, that no one else can."
She smiled up at Billie.
"In your way."

"Well you're doing a fine job." She replied in admiration. "Uuh no, no I don't mind I suppose it'd be all right." Certainly Jamie knew his wife could handle herself in a pinch if she had too not that he had any suspects about the kindly gentleman.

"I'll be back before you know it. Just need something to keep the sun out of my eyes for a while. Billie, you mind your papa now I'll be back." She kissed her girl and husband goodbye and she went ahead and followed

"Yes, mama." She then returned her attention to Waari "I understand, it'll be hard but papa tells me, nothin' in life aint worth doin' if it aint a little hard! So I'll work hard as I can to learn. Sure can't wait till I'm as good as you and if y'all find yourselves in Thunder Creek Kuronami by then, I'll play ya a good tune!" She'd have to be patient but now she couldn't wait to get started. If Waari can do it, she can do it.

"Atta girl, babe you're gonna be a great fiddler and you'll get to play with me!"

"That's right papa! You and me gonna play music together! And mama too, I don't care if she aint the greatest singers out there, she's my mama! She can sing all she likes 'round me!"

"That's right honey bun." he patted her head rubbing her already messy hair.

Having nothing bad in mind, Ayden motioned to the side.
"This way, please, Ma'am.", he said, for a moment treating her like a diplomatic guest, with the warmth and professionalism required of him. Leading her along the edge of the square, he turned to her: "Out of interest, Miss Charlie, what brings you to Old Shella?"

Waari grinned.
"That's the spirit!", she said and gave Jamie a respectful nod - they were doing a very good job in raising the girl on her shoulders, a good, honest and hard worker. "And Mam always sings best, doesn't she?", she asked Billie with a grin, "I'm sure, that she isn't even half as bad as she makes herself sound!"