The captain was shocked out of whatever his revelry had taken him inside his own mind, and turned to Niah with the smile any common soul plasters on their face when dealing with a rich person... then that slipped away as she told him what she required of him. Evacuating the city?<span style="font-style: italic">Damn Holden's,</span>The captain thought half-heartedly.<span style="font-style: italic">Working with them my whole life and they still surprise me.</span>He readjusted his seating to turn and face Niah more directly, stroking his beard as he phrased a reply. You had to be careful how you told noblemen things.<br/><br/>"Now, Miss Holden, I'm afraid that..." He began to tell her, pausing momentarily when Brom caught his eye with his own. There was something urgent and faintly threatening in the bodyguard's gaze, but he pushed on after a second thought. "Well, see, I don't think..."<br/><br/>"Oi! Cap'n! Oi!" Came the yell from the docks, and a shipmate came sprinting up the road to the dock itself. He was a younger boy that had been lollygagging around, gathering gossip. "News from the front! Travelers sayin' there was a battle, there was, and not far too! Can ya believe it?"<br/><br/>The captain stopped whatever he was about to say, going just a little bit white, or at least as grey as his hair. The boy might not fully realize what having a battle nearby meant, but all the fully grown men within earshot certainly did. Another battle meant another defeat, more than likely, and that meant the battle lines were pushed back just a little further. The Enemy was creeping ever closer like a rising tide. Thankfully it was just the gossip of an overeager boy, but captain Johern had just heard the same news twice... and Niah couldn't possibly be gossiping if she'd been asleep this whole time.<br/><br/>"Alright, Niah, but only because I've known you since you was a little girl. If I look like a fool here, I'll expect compensation." With that said to her, he got up off the railing and raised his voice at his crew working on dock. "Slackjaw, Nobby, Coots... go into town and warn the people."<br/><br/>Three faces looked up to him, and one asked, "Of what, cap'n?"<br/><br/>"That the Enemy is coming."