<strong>"I'm Randy."</strong>The boy replied from his lofty height.<strong>"What's your name?"</strong>He asked while he looked down at where Jaillen smiled at him and looked with her great green eyes.<strong>"You're pretty." </strong>He told her.<strong>"Are you my uncle Croix's girlfriend?"</strong>He asked.<strong>"Mom says he needs a girlfriend, and he likes you.  You should be his girlfriend."</strong><br/><br/>But he was already focusing his hyper-active-four-year-old-attention to the new vistas opened by his vantage atop his uncle's shoulders.<strong>"I can see everything from up here."</strong>He called out with childish enthusiasm.<br/><br/>But the view was mostly of the tops of people's heads and of the platform set up near the cathedral, where some people were standing around talking.<strong>"Ponies!"</strong>Called out when he turned his attention to the rear.<strong>"There are ponies!"</strong>He pointed back toward the Old Light, where the midway games and gypsy stalls where set up.  It was doubtful that he could actually see the ponies from his vantage, though it was certainly possible, as the ground did slant up toward the base of the ruined tower.<br/><hr/><strong>"Why yes."</strong>The pretty blonde acolyte agreed as she walked close beside the big martial cleric.<strong>"Yes, the company is very good indeed."</strong>She repeated.  The walked around the fringes of the crowd for a while, watching people and events, until their steps took them near the south wall of the cathedral where it overlooked the steep cliff overlooking downtown.  The view was lovely from there, and she moved closer to him, both hands on his upper arm, her one slender arms entangled around his thick limb.  Her pale, soft, billowy breasts pressed firmly against his scaled form, but she didn't seem to mind the chill of the metal.<strong>"It's lovely, isn't it?"</strong>She asked as the gazed over the tiled and thatched roofs of the lower city, the blues and greens and grays of the bay, and the towering headlands rising across the estuary from town.<br/><hr/>The determined trio slowly make their way north through the now mostly standing crowd.  Most people seemed to accept a position within the square and left crowding up closer to the platforms to those that actually wanted to hear the speeches.  Of course, being on the outskirts also meant they had the best position to exit the plaza when things were done.<br/><br/>Their press north got a substantial jump when a small opening formed in the crowd ahead of them, apparently foot traffic was breaking around a pair of obstructions - one not readily apparent, and the other a young merchant couple standing facing each other and arguing heatedly.   There was no telling what the argument was about, but they did catch her sputter out broken phrases.<em>"...can't believe..." </em>and shortly later<em>"... that hussy!"</em>She looked mad, he looked both angry and embarrassed.<br/><br/>The boy ignored the argument, but did concede Pill's point.<strong>"Well, sometimes when we're uptown, Jaltan likes to sneak around to the back of the Deer."</strong>The White Deer was the second of the town's two inns, up near Northgate, and not all that far from where they were, if they could fight their way free of the crowds.<strong>"He likes to beg scrapes from the cook there."</strong>The boy seemed disgusted at the idea.<strong>"I feed him good!  But he'd always looking for more.  Does he wanna get fat?"</strong><br/><br/>Pill knew the dog was well-fed.  In fact, she sometimes envied the plate Emil set out for the dog behind their modest house.<br/><hr/><div class="floatleft">(http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images19/MIXRottweilerItalianMastiffLeon6years150Pounds.JPG)</div>As Ray left the Inn, she passed a striking human man entering the establishment.  He was tall, urbane, with a dashing look about him, dressed in the shabby chic affected by the local nobility.  He looked her once-over, and then breifly in the eye.<strong>"Pardon me."</strong>He asked with automatic etiquette, and stepped aside for the elven woman to clear the door.  Outside, a massive mastiff of the local breed sat on his haunches, slobbering great amounts of thick drool from a thick pink tongue hanging from his open mouth.  He'd obviously been in a workout, as the day was almost chill and heat couldn't account for his labored panting.<br/><br/>