The soldier could only marvel at the cheerfulness in the girl's voice. Being caught by winter on the road, apparently without any plans already made where to spend the winter, was not a light matter in his book. To preserve such a merry tone about her, the young woman had to be blessed with abundant optimism, or perhaps only a dim awareness of how dangerous the open road could be for a lone traveler. But wondering about her state of mind did not absolve him from his duties.<br/><br/>"Well, lass, step right up." He gestured her towards the ramp and made to meet her at its upper end, level with the outer keep. "I'm sure we can find you a place to get some warmth in you, but as for entertaining here, that decision we'll leave to the baroness." He took a close look at the redhead, now that he saw her up close and nodded to himself. "Yes, I fancy she'd like to get to know you."<br/><br/>He left that unexplained and led the wandering songstress along the path towards the inner keep's gate. To their right their was no one in sight at the cottages that stood there, but behind the houses chicken chattered, to their left, in front of one of the timber storage buildings one of the kitchen help was splitting firewood from the stores there. Even on a gray and windy December day there was still work to do, and people about their daily business, just as they were inside the stone walls of the keep. A dwarf with graying brown hair, his beard plaited into a dozen braids swept the stairs that led up to the double doors of the temple, a sturdy stone building that betrayed no outward sign of its function. Off to the left one of the grooms was cleaning out the stable, now that half its occupants were down the hill, their stalls empty for a little while.<br/><br/>Mialla's guide led her through the front court, past half-timbered houses, wooden storage buildings and workshops shuttered against the winter air, onwards between the larger, more massive temple and the barracks into the inner courtyard. But here the guard swerved to the left and did make for the building adjacent to the larger two-story hall. He left his spear and shield just outside the door and led her inside, through a small vestibule into a large kitchen and its warmth. At least one or two people could be expected to be in the kitchen at almost any time of the day.<br/><br/>He was not mistaken, as two people were about their business in the large kitchen that looked almost cramped, despite its size. Shelves holding all manner of pots and pans, beakers and pitchers, plates and cups filled half the walls, a massive fireplace jutted deep into the room, two large tables flanked another fireplace in the center of the room center, and most of what space remained at the walls was filled with barrel and crates. In the dim light provided by the fireplace, two torches, and narrow beams of light filtering in through gaps in the closed shutters on the few windows, a man and a woman were at work, both in their 40s. He was slender, all bone and sinew, steel-gray eyes studying the new arrivals over an aquiline nose, briefly looking up from one of the tables were he was cutting onions. His companion, busy at the fireplace mulling some wine, was his opposite in built, small and round, a smile readily springing to her motherly face while her brown eyes displayed a guarded curiosity.<br/><br/>"Greetings, you two. This here is Mialla, asking for shelter. I thought it best to leave her here with you, in the warmth, for a moment while I inform the mistress." Turning to Mialla, the soldier said, "stay here a bit, with Petrus and Marian, and I'll see where I can find the lady."<br/><br/>"She's in her study," the woman, Marian, informed the guard, who nodded briefly, before he left through a door that had to lead into the larger main building at the center of the inner courtyard.<br/><br/>"Come in, lass, and sit down by the fire for a moment. Are you hungry?" Marian asked.