[Not trying to decorate myself with the merits of another writer, I would like to mention beforehand this is in large parts the transcript of an IM roleplay between razzles and myself. The good parts are most likely not mine.]<br/><br/>Janica was in a bad mood. It had rained all day and her traveling attire was soaking wet, but not the way she liked to be wet. Discontented she watched the path ahead as her horse trudged on, its head also low and its step slow, but even in her bad mood she would not mistreat the poor animal. It was not the horses fault that things had gone wrong, and neither was the weather the real reason for her grumpyness.<br/><br/>That whole mission had been a disaster. She was supposed to bring back the runaway son of some rich Duke of ThisAndThat alive, so that lad would marry his designated wife. After she had seen that wife she could understand the lad, but money was money or so she told herself. She should have stopped right there. Turns out the young man was a smart one, and it took her almost half a year, a good deal of her savings and a trip across half the continent to finally track him down. And if that was not enough she could not bring herself to turn him in when she finally had found him. He looked so miserable, he and his cute lover. Yup, the lad was gay, had been all his life, and hoped that over in Athenium where this was common practice he could live out his sexuality unmolested. At least they were bi-curious enough to give her a nice little fuck – actually more than one – in compensation for all the lost money, but the fact of the matter remained that she was almost broke now, since the Duke surely would not give her a single coin for her expenses. She badly needed a vacation.<br/><br/>Angry – mostly at herself for having taken up such a job – she continued her way. The sun or what could be seen from it through the dark clouds was already setting, and she needed a place to sleep for the night. She was a tough girl, more than just a girl actually, and sleeping out in the open, even in this pouring rain would not really harm her, but her leather pants and cuirass were already clinging friggin uncomfortable to her and she definitely preferred a roof over her head and a dry place to sleep. Just as she had resigned herself to her fate she saw the top of some castle tower peeking over the next hill. Maybe...<br/><br/>And indeed, twenty minutes later she was approaching one impressive looking estate. It seemed this was a rather peaceful country as the defensive fortifications were not that impressive – she had not put much effort in trying to find out as her plan was to get across as fast as possible -  but this resulted in a quite inviting impression. So she did not hesitate as she rode up to the door and called up to the guard on top of the gatehouse “Hello there, I'm just a lone traveller. Care to give me shelter for one night?”<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>