A Horse Drawn Carriage

[Verdan]

Verdan carefully tied the horse to a spar nearby before slowly counting to twenty in his mind. He wasn't going to explode in this man's face. He'd show that pompous bastard. "Are only stable boys allowed to talk to someone as beautiful as your daughter?" he calmly replied to Mira's father's question with his own inquiry. He was not trying to be rude, he really wasn't. His own tone was not a defensive one but one that matched Sir Nightingale's: one of curiosity. Truly, was nobody but stableboys allowed to talk to her?..

[Mira Nightingale]

As Verdan spoke, Mira couldn’t help the faint blush that colored her cheeks. He was being complimentary, of course, and she should be flattered to receive a compliment from him. Even so, she couldn’t help but wonder if the only reason he said it was to try and humor her father, and not to be nice at all. Brushing aside the matter for the moment, she turned her immediate thoughts back to the matter at hand regarding the knight and the mage.

“So you are not a stable boy, and by your words just there you admitted yourself to having some sort of attraction for my daughter. She is betrothed, due to be married in a month to a man of high caliber in this city. Now, do you still have a reason to speak to her?”

His words were tricky, cleverly crafted. If Verdan did answer yes, then it would be apparent they had met before and she would have a lot of explaining to do. Verdan, on the other hand, would be pestered more, and her mother would hear every word of the discussion. With a soft sigh Mira turned her gaze toward Verdan, already accepting the hours of embroidery she was going to have to do as punishment.

[Verdan]

Verdan suppressed a self-confident grin. This man was no idiot, he could tell. However, Verdan had put up with worse. Telling the truth wouldn't hurt, would it? Deciding on this course of action, he took a deep breath before speaking.

"Admitted myself to having an attraction? I was merely making an observation about your daughter's appearance, not admitting anything. And yes, I am quite aware of her being 'betrothed.'" He spoke the last word in the same tone as Sir Nightingale did, thus mocking him. However, he did not say it in such a way that could possibly be considered rude, thus staying on the safe side.

"Is there a law that forbids people such as myself to speak to those who are engaged? Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I don't think so. Thus, I do not need a reason to speak with her. However, if it ails you so much, I was merely suggesting a horse for your daughter's carriage. Are you content now, sir?" he asked calmly.

[Mira Nightingale]

Mira watched, in horror, as Verdan spoke to her father like that. Oh, she didn’t doubt that she would get her ear chewed off once she got home. There was a chance she could complain of feeling faint from the day’s stress and get out of her punishment, but she wasn’t sure if that would work. Her family, disappointedly, knew her tricks too well. Resigning herself to contemplating her plan, she tuned out of the conversation being held and leaned against the door of one of the paddocks.

“Quite aware?” Lance repeated, eyeing Verdan with more mirth this time. His expression was quite obvious for Mira to decipher. She’s just been caught, her parents had now just found one of the reasons she stayed away from home for so long. Great. Just great.

“So you’re spoken with Mira before.” he continued, that statement not a question at all. Verdan wasn’t Shadow, who had saved her life; and he wasn’t Kane, who had put up with her extreme drunkenness the day after she had been betrothed, and had seen her safely home. Verdan hadn’t earned any respect from her family yet, and so they would treat him as such.

“I wonder,” he started, his voice playing games with the younger man, “If it was you who got her those ridiculous shoes, if it was you who was the cause of her coming home soaking wet and half naked one day, and if it was you who inspired her to play with rocks in the garden. Oh, suggesting a horse is nice of you and all, but I doubt that one horse makes up for the missing shoes, and the two ruined garments."

[Verdan]

"Yes, quite aware." Verdan said in a voice filled with as much mirth as the moody father. No stuck-up rich moron was going to outsmart this mage. Plus, the noble had made a horribly wrong conclusion. Not able to suppress a snicker, Verdan forced out the next words. "Actually, your daughter had told me just a short time ago that she was here with you, Sir, and she was making wedding preparations. That is how I am aware of her betrothal. Thus, you have no right to assume that I have spoken to Miss Nightingale before. How do I know her name? Why, everyone who has half a brain living in Avaren, or its neighboring cities," he added, secretly referring to Aesir, "knows the Nightingales. You are quite famous in these lands. Of course, how could someone as wise, respected and brave as yourself not be famous?" he finished, making a futile attempt at getting on the man's good side, doubting it would work. However, it never hurt to try.

[Mira Nightingale]

“Well, I thank you for knowing our names, and your… complements, if they can be called so.” Mira’s father said curtly, sizing up the young man before him one again. There was a lot neither of them knew about the other, but it seemed that those things would become apparent with time. As for Verdan’s comment about the Nightingale family being well known, that was too true. Aesir knew the Nightingale’s indirectly, through Mira’s mother, the Lady Elizabeth Jane. Her name before marriage was Ladson, and that name was well known throughout the city of mages, because of who else that name belonged to. The necromancer, Mira’s grandfather, who died doing the ultimate magic: revival of the dead. Neither Mira nor her father knew about her mother’s past, though, since the woman kept it well hidden.

“If there is nothing else you would like to say, stab- boy,” Lance started, stopping himself briefly before saying stable boy. Verdan had said that he was not, so he would accept the youth’s words. “then we best be going. We do have a wedding to plan, after all.”

[Verdan]

"No need for gratitude," he said smugly, "It is but my humble duty." He took a shallow bow before patiently waiting for the uptight man to finish babbling. "No, sir there is nothing that I wish to say before your departure. I never really had to say anything before your arrival either. It was you who began accusing me of crimes I did not commit. However, if you need to go, I shall not be one to stop you. Good day, Sir. Mira." He finished his farewells, nodding curtly to each individual as he named them.


((Midget post. Ah well, you're leaving anyways.))

[Mira Nightingale]

“Bye.” Mira replied with a frown directed at Verdan. He was making everything so difficult. Her parents would never, ever accept him now! As her father suggested leaving, it was because he had gotten his answers, no matter how much Verdan denied them, and because he was all right with the prospect of Mira associating with the commoner. Verdan just had to make some nasty comment and completely ruin everything! She’d never get to visit Aesir before she got married now!

Both their backs were turned and two steps had been taken when her father swung back around to face Verdan. “Crimes, boy?” he repeated with a growl in his deep voice. “Witchcraft is a crime. I could arrest you now, and bring you to the Queen so you can hang like the other heathens. It’s quite obvious, too. The cloak, the staff, and my daughter’s occasional meddle with things she learned from you. No, boy, you have committed crimes against the crown. Leave now before I change my mind and do decide to arrest you.”

One long second passed before Lance turned once again, took Mira by the arm, and headed toward the door with a slow, steady pace. He didn’t look back once, but Mira did. One fleeting glance was sent back at Verdan, and she wasn’t sure whether she was proud of him for standing up for himself, or pissed at him for denying that he knew her. Either way, in the end it didn’t really matter.

[Verdan]

As the noble was ranting on and on about how Verdan was a mage, and all the clues that led him to believe that, a smile grew wider and wider across his face. Finally, the mage burst out laughing, true and sincere laughter ringing through the stables. "Ok, genius, you got me." he said with sarcasm accenting the word 'genius.' "I'm a mage. And I'm pretty damn proud of it too." Verdan continued, no longer caring about his speech. "And I'd like to see a fat idiot like yourself even attempt to take me down." he continued self-assuredly. "Unless of course, you're to terrified to confront me all on your lonesome and will probably call about fifty more like yourself to help out. A very fair fight that would be..." Verdan finished, still chuckling slightly.

[Laura Summers]

it was just unluckly for verdan that the priestess was coming for her horse and spotted verdan who she knew a mage it was even more unlucky that she was with troops and demanded"gaurds arest that demon"and the gaurds closing in on him.

[Mira Nightingale]

Mira blanched as Verdan insulted her father. Fat? That was the most ridiculous thought she had heard. And needing others to fight with him? Oh gosh, that sounded like a challenge to her ears, and her father never resisted a challenge. Sure enough, the not fat at all man drew his sword and leveled it at the mage. “Say that again, boy.”

Sir Lance Arthur Nightingale, one of the best knights in the realm, and then Verdan, a mage-in-training. Mira didn’t want to know how this was going to turn out. Verdan looked like he usually did, but since Lance was outside the walls of the city, he was dressed comfortably and for strife. He didn’t look anything like the pompous noble she was marrying. Several of her friends had harbored secret crushes on her blonde, lean father, but the girl’s chatter and compliments had always made her sick to the stomach.

Suddenly, and randomly, a woman ran through the aisle screaming for guards to arrest the demon. Mira looked about frantically before she realized that the lady was talking about Verdan. She opened her mouth to say something, but her father spoke first. “Lady, leave the guards out of this. I will deal with this boy.”