Friendly Witterings

- Verden, a small town outside Skeldergate Forest, early evening, 547 DBTR -

"Well thank you. I am very much enjoying my time here. It's a pleasure meeting you, Orla. Feel free to take a seat. I don't mind a little company, unless of course you have some place to be."

"No, not really," the wheat-haired Fairy elf replied, casually taking the chair beside Nate. “I'm staying here at the inn too. I live a couple of leagues beyond the village and I'm just passing through on my way home again."

She was reading Nate's emotions and some of his surface thoughts, and so she was not offended in the least by his seemingly snooty refusal to accept her hand. He obviously did not have much life experience and had never had any real contact before with ordinary commoners, people who he was raised to believe were a bit ignorant and almost beneath his notice; it was sad and kind of pathetic, when you thought about it. A visit to one of Verden's most far-flung and remote villages was just the thing the young prince needed to get him out of the suffocating royal bubble he had lived in all his life.

Up close, Orla noticed how Nate bore not only some resemblance to his father Asgurt, but also to his grandfather King Alberic II, who she had met more than half a century ago; Alberic had been more personable and worldly, but would grow more ruthless and fanatical in his latter years. Of course with humans traumatic events tended to shape them to a great extent, and Alberic had a lot to deal with in his time beyond the normal day-to-day worries of a king. Who knew what Nate would have to face in the years to come? It was never too soon for him to become wise.

Orla sat with her hands resting on the arm of her chair and beamed a warm expression to the future monarch. "I'm glad you've been enjoying yourself. This is a beautiful countryside, if I might say so, Your Highness. Not far from here is a valley where there are groves of wild apple trees. The fruit is very tasty and all the blossoms attract swarms of hummingbirds of every colour; they're really something to watch! On a clear day you can also see the breathtaking Dalen Alps. Sometimes they almost look like they're floating in the clouds. I've always meant to go see them but, of course, it's illegal to cross the border without a very good reason. And I'm a law-abiding sort of girl, when I can help it." She smiled wryly.