<strong>"Oh."</strong>The boy responded to the big armored warrior. He didn't really understand everything the half orc said, and certainly didn't get the subtleties hinted by the words.<strong>"Is it hot in there?"</strong>He asked, but before he got his answer events pulled his interest away.<br/><br/><strong>"Thanks Pill."</strong>The boy replied, but immediately followed up with a yelp of protest.<strong>"What?  No!  I wanna look too!"</strong>A shot at his father showed the man occupied in conversation with one of the priestesses.  The one that didn't hardly wear nuth'n.  She kept looking past Da toward them, like she wanted to be somewhere else.  But Da was too busy staring at her almost naked titties to notice.<br/><br/><strong>"Da don't care, and Jaltan knows me best."</strong>He declared firmly, following along with the others through the gathering crowd.  Making any headway north against the press of people was proving nearly impossible.<br/><hr/><strong>"Ah.."</strong>The raven-haired young beauty began her reply, only to have a confident and powerful arm hooked around her trim waist with the hand at the end pressed firmly into her hip.  Her slender body stiffened slightly at first, reacting to the overly familiar action with instinctive protest.<br/><br/>The protest went unspoken though, as she found herself moving along, snugly nestled inside that possessive and powerfully protective arm.  Blackwell certainly knew how to hold a girl!  Even if it was only a casual grasp on the hip.  Her nubile body fit nicely inside the thug's circling arm, and she responded perfectly to every nuance of control: sliding in closer when pulled, relaxing when loosened, speeding her pace or skipping a step in immediate response to every unspoken command relayed by pressure of every miniscule push or pull.<br/><br/>The crowd thickened, and jostled them, but the powerful warrior absorbed the brunt of the contact, keeping the pretty Sora safe inside that protective band of powerful muscle.<strong>"I've never seen anything like this."</strong>She confessed to her escort.<strong>"I mean, there's a festival every year, but it's never been anything like this before."</strong><br/><hr/><div class="floatright">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/4/44/Barkeep_by_Jatep.jpg)</div>The White Deer was empty enough that Ray's footsteps echoed against the tavern walls as she approached the lonely bar.  Instead of the full staff usual at this time of day, only a single gruff individual stood behind the bar, polishing mugs with a moderately clean towel.<strong>"Hey there."</strong>The overweight man greeted when the elven woman approached.<strong>"What can I get ya?"</strong>The Massive bartender had the build of someone that had once been massively strong.  Strength that life and age had apparently turned mostly to fat.<br/><br/>Without waiting for an order, he moved over to the taps, readying the mug he'd so recently polished toward a the spigot near a barrel of cheap house wine as if he'd already decided on her order.<strong>"Not going to listen to the speeches and watch the show?"</strong>He asked.  The release of the swallowtails was something spectacular, and something he was obviously surprised an elf girl had decided to miss.<br/><br/>There was only one other person in the bar, an old man sleeping near the banked fireplace emitting an occasional soft snore.<br/><hr/>Jaillen stepped into the crowded plaza, along with dozens of other folk all eager to hear the speeches, or more aptly, listen through the speeches and participate in the following ceremonies, particularly the feast.  Her short stature worked against her now, as she couldn't see much more than a few feet ahead.  Mostly she saw broad peasant back and broader peasant backsides, though off to her left there seemed a small void in the crowd where there might be more breathing room.  A brown and white dog, apparently some sort of terrier breed, ran through the open area, apparently intent on heading north against the current of bodies pressing east.