"Something in your eyes keeps calling me, something in the way you are sings out to me," the voice of the singing wench resounded in the young Elven man's ears, making him want to close his eyes and just get lost in the ecstasy of listening. And so he did, forgetting for the moment that he was supposed to be escorting an unruly customer from the building. That in and of itself earned him a bloodied nose as the patron, wishing to not be tossed out on his ear, lunged a short distance at the Elf with a fist leading the way. The pain washed over him, bringing him quickly back to the moment at hand and the job that needed to be done. His hand, despite being hit so violently, never once loosened on the man he was escorting from the premises. And as the man went to attack again, Raif darted his hand out, breaking the man's nose in repayment for bloodying his own.

"Come now, Jon, your wife and children are at home waiting. Don't make me hurt you so that you cannae provide for them." Chuckles from patrons close enough to hear, and most were that nearby for the fact a fight was always interesting, shamed the riotous man into submission. Seeing that Jon would indeed behave for now, Raif saw him out of the Inn and into the street, sending him upon his way with gentle words rather than tossing him out bodily.

Turning back after he closed the door upon seeing his business done, the young Elf winced under the hawk-like gaze of the elderly Inn keeper who had acted like a wench in her younger days. She had managed to get the Inn upon the death of the previous keeper, a man who was rumored to have been her long time secret lover. The part that got to the young one most was that she still tried to act like the relatively beautiful wench she once was by wearing skin-tight clothes. That wouldn't have been entirely too bad, if she weren't nearing the three hundred pound range and be just short of five and a half feet tall. He couldn't complain too much though, for she had taken him in as a scullery boy when he came to the city still wet behind the ears.

Since then, he had worked to elevate himself in the social caste of the Inn workers, from those who were like mere servants to those who actually had some means of authority. Having proven himself time and again to be helpful and strong, he was soon made the bouncer and protectorate of the wenches of the Inn, watching to make sure they were not getting any unwanted advances from the patrons. Or at least those who didn't have, or wouldn't put up, the money to pay for services rendered.

Living at the Inn wasn't unlike being a part of the family he never had or knew, but saw often in the small village that he left. The innkeeper was the mother he never had, and wasn't sure he wanted at times, but she was kind enough and helped him out when he needed it. Then there were the wenches themselves, of who were like sisters to him; they watched out for him by helping him to still learn the city and shared some parts of their wages with him. Each and every one of them saw something better in the young Elf, something that deserved to go somewhere in the world rather than to stay a bouncer for the remainder of his life until he was no longer of service and had to be let go. As one, they all thought that would be a waste.

Seeing that Julani, was motioning him over with Sara, by her side Raif had no choice but to make his way over there. Julani was the rotund, but happily so, innkeeper and Sara was the wench of whom he had saved from the manhandling of Jon. He saw clearly the smile that was breaking apart Sara's usual somber mood, and he even saw the slight pride that managed to show through the innkeeper's usual strict mannerisms. While he knew many of the wenches as sister, Sara was a new addition to the 'family.' She had come to save her elderly father from a debt that he owed, working in the room and sometimes on her back to earn the money that they both needed. Sara was a young half-elf, the first of his blood, even if partially so, that he had ever met. While he usually found the human females somewhat attractive, she had become an entirely different matter.

While he could joke and make sexual innuendoes innocently enough with all the other wenches, Sara had become the oddity there in his life. As much as he wished to be comfortable around her, he never could manage to do so. Whenever he was around her alone, his mouth dried up and his mind went entirely blank.

(un-finished)

::November 28, 2002 10:13 AM

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