Celebrating a good Harvest (IC, OPEN)

[Kuronami]

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!"

Charlie followed him good spirits looking forward not only to picking a hat for herself, and she'd get one for Billie too because why not, but also just to see what insetting things they sold here. They may be on a budget but still it'd be nice to find something else to take home as a keepsake. "Oh, glad you asked!" She replied "Well we're here to celebrate with y'all. We're farmers ourselves back home, we heard this was a harvest festival. We thought it'd be great to really meet some fellow folks who share our work and passion for what we do. Tillers of the earth or harvesters of the sea. There's a little bit of a selfish reason too, we honestly could use some good karma in our lives." Charlie recounted the same story Billie told to Waari about the sudden hail storm that took them by surprise. Not as rapid fire down to every minute detail of it but the details were the same. "That's that, we figured maybe something we can do to be blessed a little more. Honestly though I feel good about being here even if things were going great, it's still nice to celebrate with people that share our callings. You know what I mean?" He seemed nice, rather like Jamie when she first fell in love with him. "I know the idea of being pious and spiritual as we are should be approached with an open but still, I just want my beloved to be happy. He feels happy and satisfied when he really provides for us and we all work hard together. The storm and the losses we had from it may not be the worst we've suffered, we've sure gone through a whole lot worse but it still did hit his spirits a little hard."

---

"She sure does!" Billie replied "Don't you think so papa?"

"I do babe. You'll pardon my wife for just being humble. She's got plenty of music in her."

[AHSCA]

"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.

"There you see, Sora? I'm glad you think so highly of me as a teacher but we teachers always want to learn" she kind of fell back so she could take her husband's hand. He'd been walking more in stride with Amy so Kirie would stay right next to Belana but she wanted her husband to hold her hand. "By the way, Belana, it's a very pretty name if I might say. May I ask what it means?"

[Prussian Polish Commonwealth]

snippy snap

Filleadh House
Marie's looked a little surprised. "Single? Surely a hot guy like you would be crawling with gir-oh shit." She clamped her hands on her mouth. Oh God, did I really just say that out loud to him?

Uachtair Inn
Klaus nodded and climbed up to room 3-7. After struggling with the keys for a bit he opened the door, set down the suitcase, closed the door behind him, and collapsed into the bed. He was asleep within 5 minutes.

16 years ago; East Prussia
Klaus opened the door to find the house empty.
"Hey, honey, I'm home!"
Silence greeted him. He blinked, confused.
"Honey?"
After no response, he went inside.
"Anne? You home?"
He went through their flat, past the bedrooms and the bathroom into the kitchen.
A letter lay there.
Klaus picked it up and opened it.


Klaus;
Enclosed are the divorce papers.
I've had enough of you.
Goodbye.
-Anne

Klaus stared at the letter. He flipped to the next page to find the annulment, the court-ordered division of his property, and the divorce papers. His hand began to shake.
At that abrupt moment the sound of crying came from one of the bedrooms.
Klaus tossed the letter aside and rushed over-and found Karl, still there. He picked him up and cradled him, before picking up his bottle and feeding him.
"There, there, little guy. I won't leave you...ever."

Present time
Klaus awoke, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He rolled off the bed and went downstairs for dinner-or is it breakfast, or lunch? Goddamn time zones...

[Mediama]

"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!"

Katherine mentally sighed to herself as it seemed as though Liv wasn't too creeped out by her comment, ad took a close look at how her uniform looked on her, given how she said the boys wore something similar. After a quick assessment, she looked back up at Liv's face, tentatively walked closer to her and said, "I think you look better in it though, can't imagine a boy wearing something like this and pulling it off." not noticing how she phrased that until it was too late, resulting in her mentally facepalming.

And with that, an awkward silence fell between the two as Katherine tried to figure out what to say next to not screw up any chances she had with such a pretty girl. All the while people walked around them, doing what tourists usually do.

Finally, to put the silence out if its horrible misery, Katherine almost awkwardly said, "So... what brings you here? Do you come here often? You said you knew the professor well..."

[The Selkie]

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!"

Charlie followed him good spirits looking forward not only to picking a hat for herself, and she'd get one for Billie too because why not, but also just to see what insetting things they sold here. They may be on a budget but still it'd be nice to find something else to take home as a keepsake. "Oh, glad you asked!" She replied "Well we're here to celebrate with y'all. We're farmers ourselves back home, we heard this was a harvest festival. We thought it'd be great to really meet some fellow folks who share our work and passion for what we do. Tillers of the earth or harvesters of the sea. There's a little bit of a selfish reason too, we honestly could use some good karma in our lives." Charlie recounted the same story Billie told to Waari about the sudden hail storm that took them by surprise. Not as rapid fire down to every minute detail of it but the details were the same. "That's that, we figured maybe something we can do to be blessed a little more. Honestly though I feel good about being here even if things were going great, it's still nice to celebrate with people that share our callings. You know what I mean?" He seemed nice, rather like Jamie when she first fell in love with him. "I know the idea of being pious and spiritual as we are should be approached with an open but still, I just want my beloved to be happy. He feels happy and satisfied when he really provides for us and we all work hard together. The storm and the losses we had from it may not be the worst we've suffered, we've sure gone through a whole lot worse but it still did hit his spirits a little hard."

---

"She sure does!" Billie replied "Don't you think so papa?"

"I do babe. You'll pardon my wife for just being humble. She's got plenty of music in her."

"I see.", Ayden said at her story, a small smile on his lips, "I'm sure, that the Gods will appreciate you going to such lengths for their blessings. My own Dad was similar. Granted, he was a businessman, but still... he retired by now, my younger brother leads the store nowadays."
He let a beat pass.
"If you want to celebrate with farmers and fishermen, though, you've certainly come to the right place!", he claimed, his smile widening, "Sure, the locals are more focussed onto sheepherding and fishing then actual farming in the plant-raising sense, but they are honest and good people." He leaned over to whisper to her. "And their Milk-Spirit is something to behold!"

"There you see, Sora? I'm glad you think so highly of me as a teacher but we teachers always want to learn" she kind of fell back so she could take her husband's hand. He'd been walking more in stride with Amy so Kirie would stay right next to Belana but she wanted her husband to hold her hand. "By the way, Belana, it's a very pretty name if I might say. May I ask what it means?"

The older teacher smiled slightly.
"Something along the lines of 'Mother of Light'.", she said with a small nod, "Considering, that Amy is a quite large light, that illuminates the lifes of many people, that could be fitting." She smiled at her daughter, softly placing her hand on her cheek. "Before all the others, she lit up my life."
Amy kissed her mother's hand and then looked at the two Islanders: "We'll be at the Main Square in a minute. I'll have to leave you there for a bit.", she said, "But we'll meet again, okay?"

snippy snap

Filleadh House
Marie's looked a little surprised. "Single? Surely a hot guy like you would be crawling with gir-oh shit." She clamped her hands on her mouth. Oh God, did I really just say that out loud to him?

Uachtair Inn
Klaus nodded and climbed up to room 3-7. After struggling with the keys for a bit he opened the door, set down the suitcase, closed the door behind him, and collapsed into the bed. He was asleep within 5 minutes.

16 years ago; East Prussia
Klaus opened the door to find the house empty.
"Hey, honey, I'm home!"
Silence greeted him. He blinked, confused.
"Honey?"
After no response, he went inside.
"Anne? You home?"
He went through their flat, past the bedrooms and the bathroom into the kitchen.
A letter lay there.
Klaus picked it up and opened it.


Klaus;
Enclosed are the divorce papers.
I've had enough of you.
Goodbye.
-Anne

Klaus stared at the letter. He flipped to the next page to find the annulment, the court-ordered division of his property, and the divorce papers. His hand began to shake.
At that abrupt moment the sound of crying came from one of the bedrooms.
Klaus tossed the letter aside and rushed over-and found Karl, still there. He picked him up and cradled him, before picking up his bottle and feeding him.
"There, there, little guy. I won't leave you...ever."

Present time
Klaus awoke, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He rolled off the bed and went downstairs for dinner-or is it breakfast, or lunch? Goddamn time zones...

Filleadh House.
Yven grinned, his blush maybe a trick of the light, maybe not.
"Oh, I wouldn't call it 'shit', Marie.", he said, "Thank you, though." It was strangely endearing and cute, how she misspoke, flustered, clamped her hands over her mouth. "When we play music later, would you like a dance?"
That was half to bring her to other thoughts, partly because he really wanted to dance with her.

Uachtair Inn.
A waitress awaited him at the entrance to the restaurant, directing him to one of the free tables.
She was a redhead, her face freckled, her uniform of black and white more in line with what one usually called a maid-uniform, in the same style as the Mini-Maid serving Hilda and Frederik a two tables away. She was also quite busty.
"Good morning, Sir.", she greeted politely, "Today's breakfast recommendation are breadrolls with fruit jam, but we have a few other things on offer as well." She handed him a menu, where he would find the day's recommendation, waffles, cornflakes (with cow milk, goat milk or sheep milk), bacon and eggs, as well as drinks. One of the last posts mentioned there was coffee. "Don't worry about paying, it's already included in the room's price." She let a beat pass. "So, what shall it be?"

"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!"

Katherine mentally sighed to herself as it seemed as though Liv wasn't too creeped out by her comment, ad took a close look at how her uniform looked on her, given how she said the boys wore something similar. After a quick assessment, she looked back up at Liv's face, tentatively walked closer to her and said, "I think you look better in it though, can't imagine a boy wearing something like this and pulling it off." not noticing how she phrased that until it was too late, resulting in her mentally facepalming.

And with that, an awkward silence fell between the two as Katherine tried to figure out what to say next to not screw up any chances she had with such a pretty girl. All the while people walked around them, doing what tourists usually do.

Finally, to put the silence out if its horrible misery, Katherine almost awkwardly said, "So... what brings you here? Do you come here often? You said you knew the professor well..."

Liv noted, that Katherine maybe wanted to pull the uniform off of her, preferably in a more romantic environment.
The awkward silence was filled by Liv raising an eyebrow until Katherine asked, why she was here.
"I'm here on a class trip myself, hence the uniform.", she said and smiled slightly, "This is actually my first time here as well... it's a bit of a round trip we lassies of the Piscín are currently doing, sponsored by the Cult of Gavida and the Cult of Ladra. We've already been to Dumhach in the Archipelago, even saw the Mianach there!" She grinned at those memories. "As for the Professor, I know her from school. She sometimes teaches history lessons while teaching and researching at the University of Leuda."

[Adab]

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.

"Ah, good to know then. Thanks for the information!" Aida turned away with a cheerful smile and started towards the door of the inn, but she slowed with each step and, sure enough, she stopped halfway towards the door, glancing at the general direction of the receptionist. "Uh, do you have a map or something? A map of this town?"

[Mervay]

Lisolette Perspective,Filleadh House
"So Yven has found himself in front of an girl in love with him,wow,I saw his looks and he was surely hot,but what he said of him being single has sparkled something in the other Polish-Prussian" Those were my thoughts as my hands begun to open my violín case and began to prove it an little. I think that this could make something for later.

"So we might be witnesses to an new love story out of the one that we know. Interesting" I said laughing an little about that.

"Seeing this guys,I was wondering in that maybe,I could touch something with my violin for the moment. Of course if Cel agrees with that,so we can begin the dance now" I said now leaving my seat preparing myself,just in case.

[AHSCA]

The older teacher smiled slightly.
"Something along the lines of 'Mother of Light'.", she said with a small nod, "Considering, that Amy is a quite large light, that illuminates the lifes of many people, that could be fitting." She smiled at her daughter, softly placing her hand on her cheek. "Before all the others, she lit up my life."
Amy kissed her mother's hand and then looked at the two Islanders: "We'll be at the Main Square in a minute. I'll have to leave you there for a bit.", she said, "But we'll meet again, okay?"

"Aww that's so pretty and so very sweet." Kirie cooed a little. "You remind me a lot of my own mother. She's quiet but very kind."

"Yeah she really is great" Sora agreed in regards to his mother-in-law. Sounded like they were going to part company soon so Kirie bowed with Sora "Thank you for guiding us. We appreciate it so much."

"Thank you. We look forward to seeing you again soon."

[Prussian Polish Commonwealth]

[quote="The Selkie";p="34695055"
Filleadh House.
Yven grinned, his blush maybe a trick of the light, maybe not.
"Oh, I wouldn't call it 'shit', Marie.", he said, "Thank you, though." It was strangely endearing and cute, how she misspoke, flustered, clamped her hands over her mouth. "When we play music later, would you like a dance?"
That was half to bring her to other thoughts, partly because he really wanted to dance with her.

Uachtair Inn.
A waitress awaited him at the entrance to the restaurant, directing him to one of the free tables.
She was a redhead, her face freckled, her uniform of black and white more in line with what one usually called a maid-uniform, in the same style as the Mini-Maid serving Hilda and Frederik a two tables away. She was also quite busty.
"Good morning, Sir.", she greeted politely, "Today's breakfast recommendation are breadrolls with fruit jam, but we have a few other things on offer as well." She handed him a menu, where he would find the day's recommendation, waffles, cornflakes (with cow milk, goat milk or sheep milk), bacon and eggs, as well as drinks. One of the last posts mentioned there was coffee. "Don't worry about paying, it's already included in the room's price." She let a beat pass. "So, what shall it be?"[/quote]

Filleadh House
Marie nodded, her cheeks still scarlet from her screw-up earlier.
Irene's mouth was suspiciously firm, while Karl seemed on the edge of laughter. "Get a room, you two!"

Uachtair Inn.
Klaus flipped through the menu, either not noticing or ignoring the...assets on his waitress. Finally he closed it.
"Black coffee. Bacon and eggs."
With those 5 words done, he put his face in his hands and tried to think of anyone or anything but that woman.


Meirdreach Inn
Anne Stortebeker opened the door. Currently she look as ragged as they came; her once-elegant red evening gown was torn and stained, and she looked like she hadn't had a proper shower with hot water and soap for awhile. Although still rather attractive, give or take a few more years and that would fade too.
She went up to the receptionist(while dragging her 3 large, heavy bags* behind her) and tossed a British passport with a dirty printout showing a reservation she made.
"I have a reservation here."

*Too much in her bags, not enough in her head, as Duncan put it.

[Lillorainen]

(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.

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.

Filleadh House
Marie's looked a little surprised. "Single? Surely a hot guy like you would be crawling with gir-oh shit." She clamped her hands on her mouth. Oh God, did I really just say that out loud to him?

Uachtair Inn
Klaus nodded and climbed up to room 3-7. After struggling with the keys for a bit he opened the door, set down the suitcase, closed the door behind him, and collapsed into the bed. He was asleep within 5 minutes.

16 years ago; East Prussia
Klaus opened the door to find the house empty.
"Hey, honey, I'm home!"
Silence greeted him. He blinked, confused.
"Honey?"
After no response, he went inside.
"Anne? You home?"
He went through their flat, past the bedrooms and the bathroom into the kitchen.
A letter lay there.
Klaus picked it up and opened it.


Klaus;
Enclosed are the divorce papers.
I've had enough of you.
Goodbye.
-Anne

Klaus stared at the letter. He flipped to the next page to find the annulment, the court-ordered division of his property, and the divorce papers. His hand began to shake.
At that abrupt moment the sound of crying came from one of the bedrooms.
Klaus tossed the letter aside and rushed over-and found Karl, still there. He picked him up and cradled him, before picking up his bottle and feeding him.
"There, there, little guy. I won't leave you...ever."

Present time
Klaus awoke, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He rolled off the bed and went downstairs for dinner-or is it breakfast, or lunch? Goddamn time zones...

Filleadh House.
Yven grinned, his blush maybe a trick of the light, maybe not.
"Oh, I wouldn't call it 'shit', Marie.", he said, "Thank you, though." It was strangely endearing and cute, how she misspoke, flustered, clamped her hands over her mouth. "When we play music later, would you like a dance?"
That was half to bring her to other thoughts, partly because he really wanted to dance with her.

Lisolette Perspective,Filleadh House
"So Yven has found himself in front of an girl in love with him,wow,I saw his looks and he was surely hot,but what he said of him being single has sparkled something in the other Polish-Prussian" Those were my thoughts as my hands begun to open my violín case and began to prove it an little. I think that this could make something for later.

"So we might be witnesses to an new love story out of the one that we know. Interesting" I said laughing an little about that.

"Seeing this guys,I was wondering in that maybe,I could touch something with my violin for the moment. Of course if Cel agrees with that,so we can begin the dance now" I said now leaving my seat preparing myself,just in case.

Filleadh House
Chris inwardly grinned at Marie's misspeaking - Yven tried to act cool, which may have worked or may not, depending on whether or not his blushing was real, and not just a trick of the light. He invited her to a dance later on.
With that said, Chris, with his thoughts still round about more than a thousand kilometers south of here, remembered stuff that could happen when, or rather after dances, which could be very unfortunate, if one was already taken, but amazingly convenient, if one wasn't. Day One had been a good example for that, and Chris would probably forever be thankful for Mr. Folaíochta and Khana Amina being at the right place to the right time doing the right thing. This wouldn't be an issue with Yven and Marie in this case, though. Chris had quite noticed that he had became way more sensitive for things developing into a certain direction since he knew Cel.
Lise threw a little joke about a new love story going on, then asked if she might play her violin a bit, so the dance could begin now - Chris shrugged and nodded, indicating that he had no issues with that, and looked at Cel.

Uachtair Inn
The Mini-Waitress went off with their order and would very soon come back to serve them. Their advantage was that they were sitting pretty close to the kitchen door.
While waiting, Hilda had looked outside, onto the busy Main Street, where a young woman was trying to load two bags on the back of a brown-white pinto colt - one of them didn't quite want to fit, but the pony was calm and patient and let her correct that.
Hilda had to grin. She was quite aware that not every horse was as patient as this one.
Fred had to grin, too. He was aware that Hilda wouldn't be able to stop watching.

[Camelone]

Shella, The Free Lands of the Selkie
The Free Lands of the Selkie is not necessarily a land that many Cameloneans would ever consider visiting due to the religious differences and the lack of any warzone to go viking in but Bedivere found himself walking the streets of Shella nonetheless. The group from the Purgatio Exchange Program organized a sort of reunion and Bedivere thought there was no reason that he shouldn't go, he already finished one Viking expedition and thought it would be a good way to spend his down time before he had to go on duty once more. The trip here was not a terribly bad one, he had jumped on a ship that was bound for Shella that had room and there was no real storms or hiccups along the route so all in all it was a rather dull trip, thankfully.

For once his fellows from the student exchange would see Bedivere not wearing his military uniform as he had decided that while he should bring his dress uniform there was no real reason to travel in it or wear it at the moment. As both an officer in the army and the replacement for a royal prince Bedivere was able, and was expected, to present himself in a good fashion by his appearance and acts. He wore the clothes of what would be consider middle class to upper middle class back in the High Kingdom not even close to his working class family and background. His clothes, which included brown trousers, red button up shirt, a brown vest, a half-cap with the insignia of the Fellowship Cross sewed with the tartan of his clan on it due to the lack of any family coat of arms, and brown gloves, a slouch hat was on his head. He walked with a shillelagh as a cane and everything he needed for his stay thrown over his shoulder in a bag and tied around his belt was a set of prayer beads. As he walked he had to ask for directions multiple times before he finally arrived at the inn he would be staying at, the Píoráid Inn. Like what was stated earlier there were definitely perks in taking the spot of a royal prince in the military, without Edmund there probably would have been no way Bedivere got to where he was now.

Walking up to the front desk he placed his bag gently on the ground and smiled at the receptionist.

"Good day to you. I was wondering if you had any rooms available?" Bedivere was hoping for a yes so that he could put his things down and go and look for the rest of the other students from the Purgatio Foreign Exchange program.

[San Prospero]

*RETCONNED*

[Prussian Polish Commonwealth]

Filleadh House
Marie nodded, her cheeks still scarlet from her screw-up earlier.
Irene's mouth was suspiciously firm, while Karl seemed on the edge of laughter. "Get a room, you two!"

Ana giggled when Marie professed her love for Yven. "Hey Marie, don't you think you're a bit too young for romance? I mean, I'm a couple of years older, and I've still yet to find my Mr. Perfect."

Ana then added some clarification: "That doesn't mean I'm looking for a boyfriend now, so I'm sorry to disappoint anyone if that's what they were thinking."

Marie buried her face in her hands, while Karl sighed. "Ana, lay off her."
Irene nodded. "Chances are I'll be married off to someone important. If the Wittelsbachs die off as an independent dynasty they might as well make their last marriage important."

[San Prospero]

*RETCONNED*

[Mediama]

[quote]Liv noted, that Katherine maybe wanted to pull the uniform off of her, preferably in a more romantic environment.
The awkward silence was filled by Liv raising an eyebrow until Katherine asked, why she was here.
"I'm here on a class trip myself, hence the uniform.", she said and smiled slightly, "This is actually my first time here as well... it's a bit of a round trip we lassies of the Piscín are currently doing, sponsored by the Cult of Gavida and the Cult of Ladra. We've already been to Dumhach in the Archipelago, even saw the Mianach there!" She grinned at those memories. "As for the Professor, I know her from school. She sometimes teaches history lessons while teaching and researching at the University of Leuda."Liv noted, that Katherine maybe wanted to pull the uniform off of her, preferably in a more romantic environment.

"Oh you guys are lucky, we had to fundraise for our spots. And we've only been to a few of the major cities and some smaller towns on the east side of the mainland." She sighed, "It was all worth it though, I've never had this much fun in my life, going to new places and all of that... Still I might just be a little homesick... I mean, here I am on my birthday going to new places with friends, but my parents aren't here to enjoy it with me."

Katherine turned to look out at coast, taking in the beautiful ocean view. She contemplated the fact that this was the first time she had actually travelled away on her own, with out her parent's watching her back. It felt liberating enough, but at the same time... it would've been great if her parents were here to celebrate her newly-minted adulthood. Her contemplation dragged out so that Liv was open to do anything she wanted.

[Prussian Polish Commonwealth]

Ana gasped when she saw Marie's reaction. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you!", she said softly.

"I have to admit, my upbringing has given me some bias in how I view relationships. I was always taught that you shouldn't date someone unless you're committed to raising a family with him. But that's the exception now, isn't it? You see, I've still got a lot to learn about living as a normal teen, since I never had a proper childhood."

Marie took her hands out of her face. "No, I'm fine, I'm just trying to do the thing that Karl always does when he's annoyed. He calls it a facepalm."
Karl sighed. "Yes, the usual result of dating is that you start a family. But dating is like the trial period. Then there's engagement, and if you really want to start a family you get married these days."
He then raised an eyebrow. "If you want to be technical, none of us got a proper childhood. Irene-well, once she dies the Wittelsbachs cease to exist as an independent thing. That kinda thing puts a whole load of pressure on her. Mother walked out on my dad when I was 1 year old, and Marie...well..."

[Ezhara]

The CDs came at a total of one Gil or 15 NSD...

Main Town Square
Music lessons, huh? Irene thought as she noticed the sticker, Oh, that's wonderful! Soon after she purchased her CDs, she made an adorable smile towards the employee managing the register in an attempt to calm him down, having seen & noticed his shaky grin. However, she would not stick around for long & exited the store to check on her brother.
After another awkward beat of silence because of Elliot's peculiar fixation on the toys, the boy would finally turn to look at the peddler & nod slowly, as though unsure. "I'll take the Tine," he stressed out the animal's name as though not certain that was its name, & his expression shifted into a confused one for a moment, as he was certain he had never seen nor knew the creature's name, "Um... plus that black fox, that cat thing, & that grey wolf. Sorry, I don't know their names. I'll be fine with any of the people available." He seemed distracted, but it didn't seem like there was anything to distract him.

---

Dramhaíl House Souvenir Shop
Oh, well isn't this an awful lot of tea? Carrie thought, rotating & looking through them as necessary to read their information. Upon noticing the endurance blend, she shoved her hand over her mouth to stifle her childish giggling. "Huh, sis?" Victoria said, running up to her, "What's so funny about tea?"
"Oh, it's... it's nothing!" she replied, barely getting it out without laughing, "Just looking for tea. For singing, of course. We could always use more, right?"
"Mmm, yeah, I guess," her sister nodded, also looking at the blends on the rack. Although she did notice the cause of Carrie's laughter, she skipped over those ones to look at the section that was much more important for their purposes. "Oh, here's what we're looking for," she said, collecting one from each of the three mentioned types for purchase later, "Think you can carry the book?"
"Yeah," Carrie took the book from her sister, & the two of them proceeded to the register to purchase their items.

[The Selkie]

Ana gasped when she saw Marie's reaction. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you!", she said softly.

"I have to admit, my upbringing has given me some bias in how I view relationships. I was always taught that you shouldn't date someone unless you're committed to raising a family with him. But that's the exception now, isn't it? You see, I've still got a lot to learn about living as a normal teen, since I never had a proper childhood."

Marie took her hands out of her face. "No, I'm fine, I'm just trying to do the thing that Karl always does when he's annoyed. He calls it a facepalm."
Karl sighed. "Yes, the usual result of dating is that you start a family. But dating is like the trial period. Then there's engagement, and if you really want to start a family you get married these days."
He then raised an eyebrow. "If you want to be technical, none of us got a proper childhood. Irene-well, once she dies the Wittelsbachs cease to exist as an independent thing. That kinda thing puts a whole load of pressure on her. Mother walked out on my dad when I was 1 year old, and Marie...well..."

Filleadh House.
Yven nodded, his face serious. "Cao and I are the heirs of a large company, Barriall Cobblers. If you find a factory made shoe in the Free Lands, chances are high, that we made it.", he said with a note of pride in his voice, "And if it is a leather shoe, you can bet, that I helped in the tanning-process."
He looked to me.
"Treoraí Optics is a company in the optical business, building cameras, sights, telescopes, you name it, we did it. Also working in he arms industry as of late, with Gabha Blacksmiths." Chris knew of all of that, that had been quite a few of the problems, which we had encountered during our days in the Archipelago. "None of us had a normal childhood either... plus the fact, that my Father is still enarmoured with the idea of marrying me off."
That was a bit of a sore spot for me and the little fox in my lap, knowing that, and feeling my heartrate spike, nuzzled my stomach, causing me to look down at him.
"None of us had a normal childhood, but while some try to make the best of it, others don't.", I wasn't thinking of someone specific at that, but if someone wanted to feel offended, then that person was free to. "It's important not to rest on the laurels of the forebearers of the banner, but to do the best with the time given to one."
Yven nodded. "Indeed.", he said and looked at Marie, a soft smile on his lips. "I'm not sure, whether or not I am the right man to raise a family with, at least not now.", he admitted, extended his hand: "But I know, that I am a nice chap to hang around with and a good dancer, so... may I ask for this dance?"
I nodded to Lise. "Take us away, girl!", I asked of her with a grin, winking at Chris - we would soon join them.

"Ah, good to know then. Thanks for the information!" Aida turned away with a cheerful smile and started towards the door of the inn, but she slowed with each step and, sure enough, she stopped halfway towards the door, glancing at the general direction of the receptionist. "Uh, do you have a map or something? A map of this town?"

The receptionist grinned and reached underneath his desk, pulling out a neatly folded map.
"Here ya go. Free of charge.", he said and checked it for a moment, "Yep, the English version. No offense to you, Miss, but I doubt, that you are able to read Selkie... anyway, here you go. All important and some unimportant tourist spots are marked, as is the Inn." He let a beat pass. "And if you feel lost, just ask the people around you. Might happen, that you find a tourist, who's as lost as you are, but chances are, that you find a local. Don't feel afraid, most are pretty nice."
He grinned at that.

Filleadh House
Marie nodded, her cheeks still scarlet from her screw-up earlier.
Irene's mouth was suspiciously firm, while Karl seemed on the edge of laughter. "Get a room, you two!"

Uachtair Inn.
Klaus flipped through the menu, either not noticing or ignoring the...assets on his waitress. Finally he closed it.
"Black coffee. Bacon and eggs."
With those 5 words done, he put his face in his hands and tried to think of anyone or anything but that woman.


Meirdreach Inn
Anne Stortebeker opened the door. Currently she look as ragged as they came; her once-elegant red evening gown was torn and stained, and she looked like she hadn't had a proper shower with hot water and soap for awhile. Although still rather attractive, give or take a few more years and that would fade too.
She went up to the receptionist(while dragging her 3 large, heavy bags* behind her) and tossed a British passport with a dirty printout showing a reservation she made.
"I have a reservation here."

*Too much in her bags, not enough in her head, as Duncan put it.

Uachtair Inn.
The waitress, while happy that a tourist wasn't spending half of the morning staring at her 'argumentation amplifiers', was a bit put off by the rather gruff and unfriendly tone the man used. She jotted down his order, confirmed it and asked for a moment to bring it.
And off she was.
In the restaurant, there was busyness, people eating and drinking and preparing themselves for the days, as well as waitresses, both in big and small, running around, serving food, drink, chatting with locals and tourists alike. It was a happy, glad atmosphere, of people enjoying themselves.
A table table over, a man was reading a newspaper, an older edition of the Silver Bay Herald, which proudly announced the second place for Piteog in the NASJAR-Race in the Dürrdürrwüste on the title page. The man, who looked a suspicious lot like the man on the title page, was more interested in some article within the paper, though, the mousy young man sitting next to him more focussed on a magazine, both in comfortable silence.

Meirdreach Inn.
The receptionist was not exactly used to polite customers, he would be the first to admit that, but that did not mean, that he would not appreciate some manners.
"Good morning, Ma'am.", he greeted a bit stiffly, before he looked at the printout, then at his Book of Reservations. He thought the woman to be, while unfriendly, to be moderately attractive. Her dress looked like it would fall off any moment. He nodded. "Yes, here you are. 2-9." He turned the book and offered his ballpen. "Here you go. Please make your sign here."
He turned to his board of keys and handed her the appropriate one, giving her the time, and then handed her the keys. "Second storey, room nine."
He pointed to his right, where stairs were.
No bellhop in sight.

Filleadh House
Chris inwardly grinned at Marie's misspeaking - Yven tried to act cool, which may have worked or may not, depending on whether or not his blushing was real, and not just a trick of the light. He invited her to a dance later on.
With that said, Chris, with his thoughts still round about more than a thousand kilometers south of here, remembered stuff that could happen when, or rather after dances, which could be very unfortunate, if one was already taken, but amazingly convenient, if one wasn't. Day One had been a good example for that, and Chris would probably forever be thankful for Mr. Folaíochta and Khana Amina being at the right place to the right time doing the right thing. This wouldn't be an issue with Yven and Marie in this case, though. Chris had quite noticed that he had became way more sensitive for things developing into a certain direction since he knew Cel.
Lise threw a little joke about a new love story going on, then asked if she might play her violin a bit, so the dance could begin now - Chris shrugged and nodded, indicating that he had no issues with that, and looked at Cel.

Uachtair Inn
The Mini-Waitress went off with their order and would very soon come back to serve them. Their advantage was that they were sitting pretty close to the kitchen door.
While waiting, Hilda had looked outside, onto the busy Main Street, where a young woman was trying to load two bags on the back of a brown-white pinto colt - one of them didn't quite want to fit, but the pony was calm and patient and let her correct that.
Hilda had to grin. She was quite aware that not every horse was as patient as this one.
Fred had to grin, too. He was aware that Hilda wouldn't be able to stop watching.

Uachtair Inn.
The girl outside was stepping back, bag in hand, and looking at the problem.
She softly petted the muzzle of her little pinto, absentmindedly, but lovingly, which he replied to by licking the hand, which caused her to smile and the her ears on her head to twitch. Folding them back to her head, she sighed, then went at it again, rearranging something in the bag and then trying it again.
Her little pinto let her do.
Finally, the bag hung, the girl going over to the first bag and taking out an apple and feeding it to the horse, who munched on it happily. The girl smiled as well...
...until the first bag got loose and fell to the ground.

Shella, The Free Lands of the Selkie
The Free Lands of the Selkie is not necessarily a land that many Cameloneans would ever consider visiting due to the religious differences and the lack of any warzone to go viking in but Bedivere found himself walking the streets of Shella nonetheless. The group from the Purgatio Exchange Program organized a sort of reunion and Bedivere thought there was no reason that he shouldn't go, he already finished one Viking expedition and thought it would be a good way to spend his down time before he had to go on duty once more. The trip here was not a terribly bad one, he had jumped on a ship that was bound for Shella that had room and there was no real storms or hiccups along the route so all in all it was a rather dull trip, thankfully.

For once his fellows from the student exchange would see Bedivere not wearing his military uniform as he had decided that while he should bring his dress uniform there was no real reason to travel in it or wear it at the moment. As both an officer in the army and the replacement for a royal prince Bedivere was able, and was expected, to present himself in a good fashion by his appearance and acts. He wore the clothes of what would be consider middle class to upper middle class back in the High Kingdom not even close to his working class family and background. His clothes, which included brown trousers, red button up shirt, a brown vest, a half-cap with the insignia of the Fellowship Cross sewed with the tartan of his clan on it due to the lack of any family coat of arms, and brown gloves, a slouch hat was on his head. He walked with a shillelagh as a cane and everything he needed for his stay thrown over his shoulder in a bag and tied around his belt was a set of prayer beads. As he walked he had to ask for directions multiple times before he finally arrived at the inn he would be staying at, the Píoráid Inn. Like what was stated earlier there were definitely perks in taking the spot of a royal prince in the military, without Edmund there probably would have been no way Bedivere got to where he was now.

Walking up to the front desk he placed his bag gently on the ground and smiled at the receptionist.

"Good day to you. I was wondering if you had any rooms available?" Bedivere was hoping for a yes so that he could put his things down and go and look for the rest of the other students from the Purgatio Foreign Exchange program.

Píoráid Inn.
The receptionist of the Píoráid had seen quite a lot of figures in his time, but the lad standing before him... was not even remarkable. One had to add, that this was from a man, who literally served a Sheikh, when he was around the lad's age, so he was a bit biased.
He had to shake his head, though.
"Sorry, lad, no rooms available.", he said, "If you have a reservation, we'd have one, but without... I think, that the whole town is full as well." With the Harvest Festival today, that was no wonder. "Can't even give you the stables."

The older teacher smiled slightly.
"Something along the lines of 'Mother of Light'.", she said with a small nod, "Considering, that Amy is a quite large light, that illuminates the lifes of many people, that could be fitting." She smiled at her daughter, softly placing her hand on her cheek. "Before all the others, she lit up my life."
Amy kissed her mother's hand and then looked at the two Islanders: "We'll be at the Main Square in a minute. I'll have to leave you there for a bit.", she said, "But we'll meet again, okay?"

"Aww that's so pretty and so very sweet." Kirie cooed a little. "You remind me a lot of my own mother. She's quiet but very kind."

"Yeah she really is great" Sora agreed in regards to his mother-in-law. Sounded like they were going to part company soon so Kirie bowed with Sora "Thank you for guiding us. We appreciate it so much."

"Thank you. We look forward to seeing you again soon."

Amy bowed her head in return. "The pleasure was mine, Sora, Kirie.", she said and smiled, coming to a decision, "Ah, screw it!"
And with that, she went forward and hugged both of them at the same time, sweeping them up between her arms. Belana laughed at that sight.
"I'd love to see you again, today or tomorrow or whenever the winds make us drift together again.", she said and kissed Kirie onto the forehead. "And may Rhiannon bless you, Kirie, with lots of happy little Kiries and Soras running around causing mischief!"

"Oh you guys are lucky, we had to fundraise for our spots. And we've only been to a few of the major cities and some smaller towns on the east side of the mainland." She sighed, "It was all worth it though, I've never had this much fun in my life, going to new places and all of that... Still I might just be a little homesick... I mean, here I am on my birthday going to new places with friends, but my parents aren't here to enjoy it with me."

Katherine turned to look out at coast, taking in the beautiful ocean view. She contemplated the fact that this was the first time she had actually travelled away on her own, with out her parent's watching her back. It felt liberating enough, but at the same time... it would've been great if her parents were here to celebrate her newly-minted adulthood. Her contemplation dragged out so that Liv was open to do anything she wanted.

Liv, someone, who was apart from a beloved as well, joined Katherine's side, softly taking her hand and squeezing it.
"I know, how you feel.", she said and gave her a small smile, "When I returned home from my first trip abroad with my class, in Rural School, the first thing I did was hugging my Mam for minutes on end, even crying a bit, I think. I was ten Springs and we'd been there for a week. She let me do." She smiled at the memory. "I remember, what she told me later: A bird doesn't fly, if it always stays in its nest, now does it, Livvie?"
A moment passed.
Then Liv leaned over, grinned and kissed Katherine onto the cheek: "Happy birthday!"

The CDs came at a total of one Gil or 15 NSD...

Main Town Square
Music lessons, huh? Irene thought as she noticed the sticker, Oh, that's wonderful! Soon after she purchased her CDs, she made an adorable smile towards the employee managing the register in an attempt to calm him down, having seen & noticed his shaky grin. However, she would not stick around for long & exited the store to check on her brother.
After another awkward beat of silence because of Elliot's peculiar fixation on the toys, the boy would finally turn to look at the peddler & nod slowly, as though unsure. "I'll take the Tine," he stressed out the animal's name as though not certain that was its name, & his expression shifted into a confused one for a moment, as he was certain he had never seen nor knew the creature's name, "Um... plus that black fox, that cat thing, & that grey wolf. Sorry, I don't know their names. I'll be fine with any of the people available." He seemed distracted, but it didn't seem like there was anything to distract him.

---

Dramhaíl House Souvenir Shop
Oh, well isn't this an awful lot of tea? Carrie thought, rotating & looking through them as necessary to read their information. Upon noticing the endurance blend, she shoved her hand over her mouth to stifle her childish giggling. "Huh, sis?" Victoria said, running up to her, "What's so funny about tea?"
"Oh, it's... it's nothing!" she replied, barely getting it out without laughing, "Just looking for tea. For singing, of course. We could always use more, right?"
"Mmm, yeah, I guess," her sister nodded, also looking at the blends on the rack. Although she did notice the cause of Carrie's laughter, she skipped over those ones to look at the section that was much more important for their purposes. "Oh, here's what we're looking for," she said, collecting one from each of the three mentioned types for purchase later, "Think you can carry the book?"
"Yeah," Carrie took the book from her sister, & the two of them proceeded to the register to purchase their items.

The register-guy only got more nervous at a pretty lady smiling adorably at him, but he managed everything perfectly, even bowing to her lightly and thanking her for her business.

The peddler, meanwhile, took the best of his animal figurines of the ones specified, then looked at the people, which he had on offer. Of the people, he gave him a shepherd, sitting on a stone and playing the flute, a pretty girl with flaming red hair, and for the horsemen a marcach, spear raised and ready to strike at a hapless opponent.
Carefully packing them away in a wooden box filled with straw, so that nothing would break, he handed everything to Elliot. The box said something about being from Barriall Cobblers.
"The box's free of charge.", the peddler added and grinned: "Makes a total of three Gil, five Umha or fifty NSD. Whichever you prefer."

Dramhaíl House Souvenir Shop.
The register guy here was a lot more secure in his job then his colleague a few shops over, smiled at them: "Good morning!", he said and noted the stuffed toys, nodding. "Right, Kieran said something about that. Please put everything you haven't purchased yet on the desk!"
Once that was done, he was checking everything for their prices, noting them down and then getting to adding everything up. While some of the items carried bar codes, not all did, for example the tea, which made this necessary.
It didn't take long.
"Here we go.", he said and smiled at both of them, "Total would be 45 NSD or three Gil."

[Mervay]

Filleadh House.
Yven nodded, his face serious. "Cao and I are the heirs of a large company, Barriall Cobblers. If you find a factory made shoe in the Free Lands, chances are high, that we made it.", he said with a note of pride in his voice, "And if it is a leather shoe, you can bet, that I helped in the tanning-process."
He looked to me.
"Treoraí Optics is a company in the optical business, building cameras, sights, telescopes, you name it, we did it. Also working in he arms industry as of late, with Gabha Blacksmiths." Chris knew of all of that, that had been quite a few of the problems, which we had encountered during our days in the Archipelago. "None of us had a normal childhood either... plus the fact, that my Father is still enarmoured with the idea of marrying me off."
That was a bit of a sore spot for me and the little fox in my lap, knowing that, and feeling my heartrate spike, nuzzled my stomach, causing me to look down at him.
"None of us had a normal childhood, but while some try to make the best of it, others don't.", I wasn't thinking of someone specific at that, but if someone wanted to feel offended, then that person was free to. "It's important not to rest on the laurels of the forebearers of the banner, but to do the best with the time given to one."
Yven nodded. "Indeed.", he said and looked at Marie, a soft smile on his lips. "I'm not sure, whether or not I am the right man to raise a family with, at least not now.", he admitted, extended his hand: "But I know, that I am a nice chap to hang around with and a good dancer, so... may I ask for this dance?"
I nodded to Lise. "Take us away, girl!", I asked of her with a grin, winking at Chris - we would soon join them.

"So all of you come from noble and wealthy families that have power in The Free Lands,and without normal childhood's. I guess that most of us here are from some noble and powerful family in our nations" Lise says thinking about it.

She was part of the first group,the nobles. Her family was an powerful one in home,The Devienne's were people related to the arts and medicine since the XVIII century. When her parents gave birth to her first daughter,Lisolette. They promised that they were gonna give her an normal childhood,as they prepared her for take the lead of the family and teach her the art of music and medicine,which they accomplished. Lise was an prodigious,completely smart,capable of touch any song with any instrument,completely knowing most of the medical camps and being capable of perform some medical work if she wanted in the future.

Now with the normal childhood,they did their best for gave her that,she was raised for act like an normal girl and not act like some arrogant person. Which made that girl they know now,but being friends with powerful people,teaching her everything she needed to know in home during her first years of live without being capable of go to an school until middle school and other things,wasn't something that she considered part of an normal childhood,but at least her parents tried to give her that to her.

Lise sighed when she remembered that,but still she enjoyed it. Celina gave her green light for begining to touch something with her violin and begin that dance of couples.

"I hope that you love the tango. Because that's what,I'm gonna touch" she said confident,now she was in position and begun to touch an old tango.

Por Una Cabeza,that was the song that Devienne was touching. She believed that it would be one song that will make that everyone joins an couple here. This song was one that her family used during their 23th anniversary as an married couple and it was an romantic song for them. She would love to dance this song with her true love,but since that didn't appeared,she was happy enough with this for now.

[San Prospero]

*RETCONNED*

[AHSCA]

Amy bowed her head in return. "The pleasure was mine, Sora, Kirie.", she said and smiled, coming to a decision, "Ah, screw it!"
And with that, she went forward and hugged both of them at the same time, sweeping them up between her arms. Belana laughed at that sight.
"I'd love to see you again, today or tomorrow or whenever the winds make us drift together again.", she said and kissed Kirie onto the forehead. "And may Rhiannon bless you, Kirie, with lots of happy little Kiries and Soras running around causing mischief!"

Both were surprised by the hug but hey islanders were also known to be very friendly to strangers so this was all right. "Well we sure hope to see you again, Amy." Kirie agreed. Sora went a little wide eyed seeing his lovely wife being kissed on the forehead, Kirie blushed but again they didn't mind. "Thank you so much!" Kirie thanked at the well wishes and blessings for them "And I hope our Goddesses bless you with fair skies for soaring through." They bid farewell to their new found friends.

"They were so nice." kirie giggled "I'm glad our first bit here this day was so great"

"Yeah I liked them. Pretty ladies--You know what I mean just they are nice."

"mmmmm" Kirie pouted at him

"Aaw someone has a pouty face" he kissed her

"You're right, they were pretty." Kirie sighed a bit. Sora whispered something in her ear making her blush "See this is why I love you, Sora. Well now we're here let's see what else is around." Kirie sniffed the air a bit when a scent caught her attention "Something smells tasty I wonder what kind of food they have."

[Kuronami]

"I see.", Ayden said at her story, a small smile on his lips, "I'm sure, that the Gods will appreciate you going to such lengths for their blessings. My own Dad was similar. Granted, he was a businessman, but still... he retired by now, my younger brother leads the store nowadays."
He let a beat pass.
"If you want to celebrate with farmers and fishermen, though, you've certainly come to the right place!", he claimed, his smile widening, "Sure, the locals are more focussed onto sheepherding and fishing then actual farming in the plant-raising sense, but they are honest and good people." He leaned over to whisper to her. "And their Milk-Spirit is something to behold!"

"I sure do hope so. Well I feel plenty blessed already. My husband and beautiful daughter. But some more good fortunes can always be good for us." She listened further to him describing more of the Selkie people's agriculture was more focused on livestock and fishing but didn't matter "Sounds wonderful. Well we all have a similar calling. That's important, we feel a need to work with our hands work with animals and work for a greater good." She could only react to the whisper with a "Oh my. That's somethin' good to know I reckon' " She chuckled a little.

[Prussian Polish Commonwealth]

"Ah, good to know then. Thanks for the information!" Aida turned away with a cheerful smile and started towards the door of the inn, but she slowed with each step and, sure enough, she stopped halfway towards the door, glancing at the general direction of the receptionist. "Uh, do you have a map or something? A map of this town?"

Marie took his hand with some trepidation. "...with pleasure...but I can't dance."
Karl was now gasping for air, while Irene continued watching the proceedings with a suspiciously firm mouth.

Meirdreach Inn
Anne sighed and dragged her bags up the stairs one by one. With that done she unlocked the door and changed into something less ragged.
While she didn't like wearing a t-shirt with jeans it was the best she could do.
She went downstairs and went up to the receptionist. "Anywhere I could get a bite to eat?"

[Camelone]

Shella, The Free Lands of the Selkie
The Free Lands of the Selkie is not necessarily a land that many Cameloneans would ever consider visiting due to the religious differences and the lack of any warzone to go viking in but Bedivere found himself walking the streets of Shella nonetheless. The group from the Purgatio Exchange Program organized a sort of reunion and Bedivere thought there was no reason that he shouldn't go, he already finished one Viking expedition and thought it would be a good way to spend his down time before he had to go on duty once more. The trip here was not a terribly bad one, he had jumped on a ship that was bound for Shella that had room and there was no real storms or hiccups along the route so all in all it was a rather dull trip, thankfully.

For once his fellows from the student exchange would see Bedivere not wearing his military uniform as he had decided that while he should bring his dress uniform there was no real reason to travel in it or wear it at the moment. As both an officer in the army and the replacement for a royal prince Bedivere was able, and was expected, to present himself in a good fashion by his appearance and acts. He wore the clothes of what would be consider middle class to upper middle class back in the High Kingdom not even close to his working class family and background. His clothes, which included brown trousers, red button up shirt, a brown vest, a half-cap with the insignia of the Fellowship Cross sewed with the tartan of his clan on it due to the lack of any family coat of arms, and brown gloves, a slouch hat was on his head. He walked with a shillelagh as a cane and everything he needed for his stay thrown over his shoulder in a bag and tied around his belt was a set of prayer beads. As he walked he had to ask for directions multiple times before he finally arrived at the inn he would be staying at, the Píoráid Inn. Like what was stated earlier there were definitely perks in taking the spot of a royal prince in the military, without Edmund there probably would have been no way Bedivere got to where he was now.

Walking up to the front desk he placed his bag gently on the ground and smiled at the receptionist.

"Good day to you. I was wondering if you had any rooms available?" Bedivere was hoping for a yes so that he could put his things down and go and look for the rest of the other students from the Purgatio Foreign Exchange program.

Píoráid Inn.
The receptionist of the Píoráid had seen quite a lot of figures in his time, but the lad standing before him... was not even remarkable. One had to add, that this was from a man, who literally served a Sheikh, when he was around the lad's age, so he was a bit biased.
He had to shake his head, though.
"Sorry, lad, no rooms available.", he said, "If you have a reservation, we'd have one, but without... I think, that the whole town is full as well." With the Harvest Festival today, that was no wonder. "Can't even give you the stables."

"Hm. Did you receive a call from a Prince Edmund O'Devlin by any chance to reserve a room for Bedivere Callaghan? He just told me about this place but there may be a possibility that he reserved a room for myself. He's a good lad but a little on the unreliable side with his head in the clouds at almost all times." Bedivere inquired as from his conversation with Edmund he didn't make it sound like he reserved a room for him but just recommended the place for him, though he could very well have done so as there was no telling with that guy.

[Lillorainen]

Ana giggled when Marie professed her love for Yven. "Hey Marie, don't you think you're a bit too young for romance? I mean, I'm a couple of years older, and I've still yet to find my Mr. Perfect."

Ana then added some clarification: "That doesn't mean I'm looking for a boyfriend now, so I'm sorry to disappoint anyone if that's what they were thinking."

Marie buried her face in her hands, while Karl sighed. "Ana, lay off her."
Irene nodded. "Chances are I'll be married off to someone important. If the Wittelsbachs die off as an independent dynasty they might as well make their last marriage important."

Ana gasped when she saw Marie's reaction. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you!", she said softly.

"I have to admit, my upbringing has given me some bias in how I view relationships. I was always taught that you shouldn't date someone unless you're committed to raising a family with him. But that's the exception now, isn't it? You see, I've still got a lot to learn about living as a normal teen, since I never had a proper childhood."

Marie took her hands out of her face. "No, I'm fine, I'm just trying to do the thing that Karl always does when he's annoyed. He calls it a facepalm."
Karl sighed. "Yes, the usual result of dating is that you start a family. But dating is like the trial period. Then there's engagement, and if you really want to start a family you get married these days."
He then raised an eyebrow. "If you want to be technical, none of us got a proper childhood. Irene-well, once she dies the Wittelsbachs cease to exist as an independent thing. That kinda thing puts a whole load of pressure on her. Mother walked out on my dad when I was 1 year old, and Marie...well..."

Marie took her hands out of her face. "No, I'm fine, I'm just trying to do the thing that Karl always does when he's annoyed. He calls it a facepalm."
Karl sighed. "Yes, the usual result of dating is that you start a family. But dating is like the trial period. Then there's engagement, and if you really want to start a family you get married these days."
He then raised an eyebrow. "If you want to be technical, none of us got a proper childhood. Irene-well, once she dies the Wittelsbachs cease to exist as an independent thing. That kinda thing puts a whole load of pressure on her. Mother walked out on my dad when I was 1 year old, and Marie...well..."

Filleadh House.
Yven nodded, his face serious. "Cao and I are the heirs of a large company, Barriall Cobblers. If you find a factory made shoe in the Free Lands, chances are high, that we made it.", he said with a note of pride in his voice, "And if it is a leather shoe, you can bet, that I helped in the tanning-process."
He looked to me.
"Treoraí Optics is a company in the optical business, building cameras, sights, telescopes, you name it, we did it. Also working in he arms industry as of late, with Gabha Blacksmiths." Chris knew of all of that, that had been quite a few of the problems, which we had encountered during our days in the Archipelago. "None of us had a normal childhood either... plus the fact, that my Father is still enarmoured with the idea of marrying me off."
That was a bit of a sore spot for me and the little fox in my lap, knowing that, and feeling my heartrate spike, nuzzled my stomach, causing me to look down at him.
"None of us had a normal childhood, but while some try to make the best of it, others don't.", I wasn't thinking of someone specific at that, but if someone wanted to feel offended, then that person was free to. "It's important not to rest on the laurels of the forebearers of the banner, but to do the best with the time given to one."
Yven nodded. "Indeed.", he said and looked at Marie, a soft smile on his lips. "I'm not sure, whether or not I am the right man to raise a family with, at least not now.", he admitted, extended his hand: "But I know, that I am a nice chap to hang around with and a good dancer, so... may I ask for this dance?"
I nodded to Lise. "Take us away, girl!", I asked of her with a grin, winking at Chris - we would soon join them.

Uachtair Inn.
The girl outside was stepping back, bag in hand, and looking at the problem.
She softly petted the muzzle of her little pinto, absentmindedly, but lovingly, which he replied to by licking the hand, which caused her to smile and the her ears on her head to twitch. Folding them back to her head, she sighed, then went at it again, rearranging something in the bag and then trying it again.
Her little pinto let her do.
Finally, the bag hung, the girl going over to the first bag and taking out an apple and feeding it to the horse, who munched on it happily. The girl smiled as well...
...until the first bag got loose and fell to the ground.

Uachtair Inn.
Hilda continued watching. Fred had an occasional look, too, so he quite did see how she was trying to handle this issue.
For a short moment, they believed that she had finally managed to fix the bags, she took an apple out to reward her colt for all his patience - then the first bag fell to the ground.
"Doesn't look as if that was going to work well ..." - Fred said, in the weird mixture of German and Danish their family had established, especially because their mother only spoke German fluently. "She could need help."
"Sure, you and your experience with horses will be very helpful. Oh wait, which experience?" - Hilda said, giggling.
"It's enough to fix bags, and to be able to tell a horse apart from a field mouse" - he replied.
They waited for a moment, to see whether it would work out now or not.

Filleadh House.
Chris had just listened to the ideas of certain cabbage-heads from certain families planning to marry their children off - there was not really any new information to him ...
Yven would probably be busy trying to swallow Marie's little, sheepish admission down, that she couldn't dance.
But Chris knew who could. Someone who had been blessed by Abhcan, the Selkie-Goddess of Dance and Music, quite a couple of times (despite knowing that Lodan Lir, the God of the Seas, was more of Chris' favorite) during their stay in the Oileánra-Archipelago.
He now followed Cel's wink. Both got up, led by Chris, in the manner they had practiced it for a longer time. Lise started to play; Ana sang.
As usual in a tango, and other dances that were, if even remotely comparable with it, this dance wasn't awfully fast, on the contrary, and much of physical closeness was involved - which, in this very case wouldn't be that much of a deal.
Being far away from being an expert, Chris relay on his beginner's luck, yet, after all these dance nights in Dumhach, he probably was too advanced to really need it; and indeed, the way he led her over this quite unusual dancefloor, would make the others around assume that there was quite some routine in it. Plus, their height difference was perfect, at the very least compared to the Khana, who had been way bigger than him, and Little Marla, who had been half as high.
Thus, he had no issues getting her onto his arm and back, Cel rotating that way multiple times in a row, whenever it fit the rhythm of the song, always at the right places. Like they had done that often. They could even close their eyes and still be sure that they would not step on each other's feet.
They were in their flow again, nearly missing the end of the song when it came. It was just so nicely flawless, with - and that was probably the most important point -, no kangaroo jumps involved.
The end came, and Chris said, grinning, "Perfect as it used to be!"