<span style="color: #FFFF00">"Bar wenches have more class, Ben,"</span>Barth replied as he fished dry clothes from the bag she'd unceremoniously kicked over to him.<span style="color: #FFFF00"> "And their asses are made for squeezing. Yours, I could probably use for smithing if I didn't have an anvil handy. Thing's like a damn rock."</span><br/><br/>It wasn't often a Prince would speak to his bodyguard in such a fashion, but then again Ausan was a friend to him first, and everything else second. His father had insisted, more than several times, that he take on a more "traditional" protector, meaning a man, but Barth wasn't keen on some guy following him around watching him piss on the side of barns. No, he didn't need anything else so long as he had Ausan. Of course, his dad would say he was simply adding to the retinue, not replacing Ausan (he wouldn't dare insult her father), but Barth knew the King just wanted a pair of eyes on him. For whatever strange reason, he didn't trust his son. The nerve.<br/><br/>He undressed, not sure if she'd left yet or not (he didn't care what she saw, she was basically a brother in arms to him), but he purposely left his damp hair untouched as he pulled on the fresh garments. A short time later he had buckled on his sword and was heading to the spot where he knew he'd find her - the stables. Ausan seemed hard to those who didn't know her, but she always had a soft spot when it came to the innocent, animals chief among them. And her horse chief among those. Of course, she wouldn't ever use those particular words.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FFFF00">"You two lovebirds done, or should I come back?"</span>he asked with a grin as he walked behind her and her horse, running a hand through his hair and flicking water droplets onto her face. Sometimes he was convinced the woman could actually speak to animals, which made sense given that her father sometimes seemed more bear than human.<br/><br/>The Lindenian Royal swung up onto his own steed and waited as she finished her ritual. It wouldn't take too long to ride back, but he didn't want to miss the visitors from the south. With his luck they were probably just there to complain about the lack of rainfall (as if anyone could fix that), but he had a feeling there was something important happening.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FFFF00">"When you're ready, let's be off."</span>