Tucked away nice and comfortable in the office of his small townhouse in the city, where he tended to most of the day to day business of his position, Doryn had found that he had little patience for any of the things that he should be doing right at this moment. He had quite a number of things that he<em>should</em>be doing, too, ranging from adding some of his own notes to his files to going over reports from the bookkeepers. He even had a missive to the Duke that he had to finish composing that he was putting off in favor of pondering how exactly to apologize to Mercy.<br/><br/>That hadn't been his initial distraction of note, of course.<br/><br/>No, when he'd first sat down to do work after breaking his fast, Sir Aelland had been unable to think of anything except the meeting that between Ethirdir and Hani that they had brazenly arranged right in front of him. He'd tried to convince himself that it was just a buisness meeting, that Hani wasn't the type of girl to give her heart away in two meetings with some suave and mysterious Elf, but he'd seen the way that they'd danced together and he<em>knew</em>that the Elf had designs on her just as he was fairly sure that his favorite little barmaid was interested in him in turn.<br/><br/>It'd been a topic of conversation that had gotten him nowhere except a quarter of the way through a bottle from his private stock. He'd sent some Guards out to make sure that Hani would have an escort to her meeting, a subtle maneuver to remind her of him before she found herself alone with her new suitor, and then tried to focus on the other important matter. Really, he'd treated poor Mercedes quite horribly last night and even if he didn't like the girl,-- and he did,- he'd owe her some form of apology. He and Hani were... very good friends, at the least.. and a few words had settled there. With Mercy, though, he'd need to go a little bit further and he'd been pondering how exactly to arrange for... nearly an hour now..<br/><br/><em>He imagined that Hani and Ethirdir were having their meeting right now...</em><br/><br/>He'd thought of inviting Mercy to one of his events at his Estate, perhaps with the offer of a dress along with such, but he'd quickly decided that such would seem too romantic for his intentions and might even be rejected given the way that he'd treated the poor girl the night before. Many of his other ideas, ranging from inviting Mercy out to go riding to buying her some jewelry, were similarly dismissed. It was one of those things that had Doryn gradually realizing that he simply wasn't entirely sure how to apologize to a woman that he wasn't interested in romantically. Oh, to be sure, he'd talk to Mercy as well,-- he knew Hani would never let him get away with anything else and his honor demanded it as well,-- but he knew he needed<em>more</em>.<br/><br/>Plus, he also realized that the last thing he needed was to confuse poor Hani as well. It'd surprised him, shocked him really, that she'd not even realized the depth of his feelings for her. He had truthfully rather thought that they had a closer relationship than that but apparently she was almost entirely blind to his feelings on the matter. It had explained a few things, at least, he'd thought it strange that his little innkeeper's daughter would behave such<em>right in front of him</em>. If she'd not known how he felt, though, she wouldn't know just how much she was hurting him. She'd not realized that she had any<em>reason</em>to take her assignations with other men to more private endeavors if she hadn't realized how he felt.<br/><br/>"I've really screwed this up, haven't I, Friedrich?" he asked, idly.<br/><br/>The imposing bulk of full plate that hovered a few feet behind him, in a corner of the room, only shrugged lightly--<br/>--a very audible expression that sounded vaguely metallic given all the armor the bear of a man was wearing.<br/><br/>"I don't suppose<em>you</em>have any idea what I should do with Mercy?" he asked.<br/><br/>There was no responce, right away, but eventually the low deep voice of his most loyal man echoed back, "Have one of your men men escort her to and from the Inne. Until she asks you to stop."<br/><br/>"Hmmmm, that is a good idea," he notes, idly. "A gesture but not too intimate of one. I'll do exactly that. Anything else?"<br/><br/>"You'll have to talk to her, as well, Sir."<br/><br/>That made Doryn roll his eyes a bit. "Of course I'm going to talk to her."<br/><br/>"Begging Sir's pardon," the massive statue of a man said, once again going silent.<br/><br/>He wrote up the order itself, sending it on with instructions to have Vaughn take care of the matter for him, though knowing that fellow he'd probably in turn find another Guard to pull the duty. Well, unless Vaughn had a thing for Mercy himself which Doryn wasn't entirely sure of. That ruffian flirted with wild abandon but even Doryn had a hard time getting a read on how he<em>felt</em>; unlike some people that he was rather more intimately familiar with and to much less impressive degree.<br/><br/><strong>Lady Elena Rockwell</strong>.<br/><br/>She'd just been an idle conquest at first, his first after he rose to the ranks of the Nobility, the youngest daughter of a prominent (but not<em>too</em>prominent) Noble House that he'd met at some Soiree. The rumor had been that she was a untouched, an innocent, and oh she'd detested him at first. It'd been so passionate, even, the distaste that she had for him when they'd first met and for months afterwards. He was just a Northern savage given a battlefield promotion, a toy of the Duke, a<em>servant</em>to the<em>true Nobility</em>. Not even a little worthy of her attention.<br/><br/>It'd been early in his new career, before he'd begun to make a name for himself, and unfortunately she was one of the ways in which he'd made his name. If he hadn't been<em>so very good at his job</em>, the scandal that had come from taking her into his bed might have ruined him, and in its own way it might still. Her name was, even now, still at the place of honor in ever odds-board of which woman he'd end up having as his wife and he couldn't truthfully deny the odds-makers their favorite in this case. He'd thought her an ingenue, a novice and an innocent, but she'd been none of those things.<br/><br/>Honestly, at this point, he wasn't even sure she'd actually been a Virgin...<br/><br/>..some tiny part of him wandered if the whole 'I hate you so much' business had been a charade.<br/><br/>When he'd first learned that<em>she</em>had been the source of the rumor that he'd taken the Lady Rockwell's maidenhood, it'd been that kind of world-shaking moment like he so often put those who he brought to justice though when his entire world had shattered and he'd looked at everything in an entirely different manner. He'd have almost respected the woman, honestly,-- she was cunning, she'd set her eyes on what she wanted and taken steps to make it (or in this case, him,) hers, and woven quite the intricate web,-- she had ensured that it<strong>made sense</strong>to marry her.<br/><br/>She hadn't been able to force the endeavor, though, and despite the fact that he respected the Cunning Manipulator far more than he had the Shy Haughty Ingenue, he'd never felt like he could give her what she wanted and for the first time in what felt like forever he finally understood exactly<em>why</em>. He had somehow fallen in love with the Innkeeper's Daughter. She was the one that he wanted, even if it seemed insane,-- not just because of her position but because of<em>everything</em>.<br/><br/>She was a criminal!<br/><br/>He was the Captain of the Guard!<br/><br/>He was fairly sure that she wouldn't even accept a proposal if he gave one, and he wasn't in a social position where he could make that kind of offer without knowing for sure what the answer would be. If he proposed to Hani and she turned him down, the social capital that he'd lose would be... incalculable.. never mind the insult that he'd be giving to every Noble House that had implied after his marriage prospects. No, if he did something like that and she said no then he would<em>have</em>to marry Elena. If, in fact, even the Lady Rockwell would accept his proposal after being so insulted.<br/><br/>It was an impossible position that he found himself in.<br/><br/>"My Lord," Fredriech said. "It is almost time."<br/><br/>Doryn glanced at the window, looking over at the city as it spread out below him, nodding a bit.<br/><br/>"Indeed it is. I suppose we'd best be on our way then," the Knight-Captain said, slowing raising to his feet. "...meh.. I didn't get hardly anything accomplished today."<br/><br/>"Women will do that to you, every time, my Lord."<br/><br/>"Hah!" Doryn said, glancing back at the ever-impenetrable plate of full armor that arrayed itself behind him. "Thank you for that, Fredriech."<br/><br/>"Of course, my Lord."<br/><br/>With that, they left Doryn's office,-- and soon, the townhouse itself,- heading to the meeting that Doryn knew he couldn't be late for.