<span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>Location:</strong></span>Plantation of Sesus Baral<br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>Time:</strong></span>Early Morning, halfway between breakfast and lunch<br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>Tagging:</strong></span><strong>Singing Sparrow, Sesus Shaoji/Towering Oak, Third Spear</strong><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>NPCs:</strong></span><strong>Sesus Baral</strong><br/><hr/><br/>The cusp of the southron threshold was favorably warm this morning which made for pleasanter work amongst the servants--or were they slaves?<strong>Towering Oak</strong>, or at least someone going by the name, had already arrived some time earlier and had been tended to by a handful of the servants.  They were nothing if not dutiful...orderly...as if they had been trained more for service in a military than for work around a plantation.  It could have just been a peculiarity of Baral's influence on them, but maybe there was something more to it.  Regardless they had expediently hurried off<strong>Oak's</strong>belongings into one of the spare guest-houses--perhaps coincidentally the one with the largest bed, obviously meant for a couple--and showed him around the property briefly.  Baral had not yet shown himself, they had made some excuses about him being occupied inside, and left it at that.<br/><br/>Not only was<strong>Oak's</strong>smoke-induced languor interrupted by the approaching woman<strong>Singing Sparrow</strong>, nearly every man--and most of the women--looked up to watch her approach.  To some it was as if the sun itself had cracked open like an egg and some beautiful creature had been born out of the brilliant golden light.  It was the sort of thing that youthful lusting was born out of, and now the younger men had something to idly daydream after during their chores.  Some of the more steely workers--while still taking lengthy notice of<strong>Sparrow's</strong>appearance--prodded their less resolved companions back to their work.  A team that appeared to have been working on taking care of drying some linens now eagerly approached<strong>Sparrow</strong>, the same handful that had taken care of seeing to situating<strong>Oak's</strong>belongings.<br/><br/>"W-Welcome, miss," the eldest of the trio of women greeted<strong>Sparrow</strong>obviously somewhat surprised at the way the woman looked.  "You're, uhm, Singing Sparrow, aren't you?" she asked, "The Master said a woman named that was coming but not...uh, that you were quite so pretty...I mean, uhm," she began to falter over her words as red crept into her cheeks, "I mean, to say, let us help you get your things!  We've gotten one of the guesthouses ready for you to stay," she finally manages to get the real message out, her companions giggling silently behind her.<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://i.imgur.com/PZjopJk.png)</div>"And that," came the voice of a man who had long since been used to shouting orders from the doorway of the main building, "Lily Flower, is our friend Third Spear."  The voice came from an older man with bronzed skin and black-like-burned-coals hair.  He had a neatly trimmed goatee, and while he seemed to not have any trace of a gray hair there was a certain<em>age</em>in his skin and in the twin flickering coals of his eyes.  He dressed in a mix of styles from the Delzhan, Realm, and Prasad empires, favoring darker colors with a few flourishes of color.  The only weapon he carried seemed to be a large dagger in an ivory scabbard tied in his belt, it looked more ornamental than practical for a fight, but certainly even a broken claw can scratch.  This was their host,<strong>Sesus Baral</strong>, who greeted them all with open arms.<br/><br/>"Friends!  Welcome," he said towards both<strong>Singing Sparrow</strong>and<strong>Third Spear</strong>who had approached some distance behind the courtesan.  "Oh, and the young scoundrel as well," he added casting a look to<strong>Oak</strong>before letting out a loud laugh and reaching over to clap him powerfully on the shoulder.  "Come, come!" he continued, waving a hand to urge them all to come closer, "Lily Flower there can help you get your things settled, but I think first thing is first," said looking over to<strong>Sparrow</strong>, "I believe you are the woman unfortunately enough to be spending her time with this old rascal," he explained giving<strong>Oak</strong>another, lighter clap on the shoulder.<br/><br/>"Go on now, introduce yourself," he added giving<strong>Oak</strong>a slight push, both socially and physically.