â€œWhat do you do with a leaking tankard?<br/>What do you do with a leaking tankard?<br/>What do you do with a leaking tankard?<br/>Beat it into armor!â€<br/><br/>The cheerful words of a rather nonsensical song drifted on the cooling wind, disturbed only by the solid clipity-clop rhythm of horse hooves on hard packed dirt and a cheerful laugh that was admittedly, very out of place in such a tense, quiet setting. It seemed that even the road leading to Needle was plagued by the restless silence engulfing the town and the sudden burst of happy noise made the air shift uncomfortably.<br/><br/>Above the sun was disappearing, turning the horizon a bloody red while the sky turned to twilight purple. It made clearly known to the rider below her lateness. She should have been here hours ago, not because someone was expecting her that early, but because sheâ€™d hoped to visit someone before going off to attend to business. It seemed though that she wouldnâ€™t be able to and could only hope she got a little more downtime on this job than she had on the last.<br/><br/>She always did hate when she couldnâ€™t get to know her charges better, she much preferred to make friends with those under her care but in the last few cities sheâ€™d been called to it had been far more battle and far less social work. She missed it, and it worried her. It seemed there were now so many more threats out there, and apparently they were particularly active here.<br/><br/>Flicking her bangs out of her eyes Charlotte, Charlie, clamped her mouth shut, putting a break on the silly song. While sheâ€™d love to keep singing, she didnâ€™t want to disturb the peace, no matter how strained it was. She was just entering the town now, and it saddened her to see the state it was in.<br/><br/>Sheâ€™d been here plenty of times as a child. Her family just down the river they often came up to supply goods or visit her aunt and cousin, but she hadnâ€™t been here in years, the last seven had been spent off and about as a solider. From what she could see, this place had changed, and not for the better. It had certainly never been a party town, but there had been at least a little liveliness to it.<br/><br/>She looked around, the smile on her face falling a little at how desolate the place seemed, and continued on her way, steering the mare under her through the quiet streets. She could remember this place well enough to know where this particular tavern was, it had been favored by one of her older brothers as a place to spend time when they came to visit and she could still recall dragging him out a few times when it was time to go.<br/><br/>Those were happier days, but far less interesting and so she smiled at the thought and approached her destination.<br/><br/>She dismounted with the ease of someone who has spent their life on and around horses, because she had, and handed her chestnut mare off to a young stable boy.<br/><br/>As he disappeared around the back she stretched, patted down her clothes, smoothed her bright , braided hair, and then went on inside. She blinked at the dimness of the place and smiled at those who gave her curious glances. She was dressed as usual and so it would be rather hard to mistake her for anything but a solider, but that cheerful smile on her face often made people skeptical of her chosen occupation.<br/><br/>She made quick, confident strides through the place and, as directed, asked the barkeep for a man named Holt. Once she was directed to the table started over, her smile falling a little when she saw how many had already gathered.<br/><br/>She did very much hope that she wasnâ€™t too terribly late, and gave a nervous little, tittering laugh as she<br/>approached.<br/><br/>â€œEvening everyoneâ€ she waved, her voice chipper as it usually was. â€œHope you all are well.â€ She took a seat at the table and pawed again at her bright red bangs; theyâ€™d grown a little and were trying to shadow her eyes but she could see fine. It was more of a gesture of habit than anything , brought about by a slight nervousness she sometimes felt when meeting new groups of people she was to work with. Something about other soldiers always got her a little worked up.<br/><br/>She still had it in her to smile at them though, smile brightly and ask â€œI havenâ€™t missed any business have I?â€