"Exiled"

"Exiled"​

Paulo strode into the Magistrate's Hall with confidence, possibly even a bit of arrogance. He and his minions had bribed enough of those who were about to hand down his sentence to ensure that it would be little more than a chastising, a figurative slap on the wrist.

And yet, the young heir apparent to the House of Havra found himself shocked as the Magistrate announced that he had been exiled for his various crimes. "You will leave from the City State of Malornia immediately and remain apart from it for a period of at least five annums. You will be permitted to take with you one servant, one horse, one sword, and one bag of gold."

A bailiff strode forth and offered out a leather bag that jingled of coin. Paulo pocketed it without survey its contents and value. He could tell in an instant from its weight that it wasn't much, at least relative to his now former life style. Of course, it was probably still more than an average Malornian peasant would earn in 5 years.

"May God have mercy on your soul," the Magistrate finished. "Guards!

A dozen Pike Men moved to take station around Paulo, then escorted him to the steps before the Hall. There was a crowd of people in the Square, standing still and silent. Paulo hadn't been the most familiar of Nobles in the small City State that was located near the north of the Italian peninsula, so the crowd below him was mostly servants and business associates to his family's estate.

Well, them and some of the many women, married and single both, who were part of the reason for Paulo's banishment. Oh, his exile wasn't just about where he'd been choosing to put his cock, though that had angered many a father and husband over the years. But the biggest reason for his being sent beyond the gates for half a decade was that his father was near death and, as the man's only legitimate son, Paulo was (or had been) about to inherit one of Malornia's most valuable estates.

But no more. Oh, when he returned in five years, Paulo could petition the Magistrate for the return of his Family's lands, and he would probably get most of them. But their value would be significantly diminished by then, with the stock animals stolen and the vineyards untended and gone wild. The best lands would have been confiscated to pay exorbitant taxes and levies, the purposes of which were simply to punish him while making other Nobles more wealthy.

On the steps, Paulo looked to the man who had not only been his family's most faithful servant for more than two decades but who had also been his closest friend for as long as he could remember. Paulo wanted to tell the man that he needed to stay here in Malornia, to continue the life he had here.

"I will go with you, of course, m'lord," Messa said before Paulo could even open his mouth. The latter tried to argue against his friend disrupting his life in this way, but Messa told him firmly, "With or without you, I will not remain in this city after what they have done to you."

"Then I will continue to put up with your annoying presence, my friend," Paulo laughed, patting Messa on the shoulder as they continued forth to the awaiting horses. As they mounted and began their trek out of the city, Paulo commanded, "But you will no longer call me m'lord, Messa."

"Yes, m'lord," Messa said, smiling broadly as he tapped his heels into his horses sides and said with a tone of resentment, "Now, Paulo, let's get away from this town."



They were escorted through the city gates, to and beyond the distant wall that surrounded Malornia's prized farm lands and vineyards before the mounted guards stopped to watch them disappear into the countryside. The pair spent the rest of the day walking or trotting their horses, taking breaks occasionally to rest, water, and feed the horses, before finally bedding down for the night near a stream.

The next day went as did the first, the two riding lightly northwest with no real destination in mind and few words between them. They passed merchants on the roads and saw peasants in the fields. At sunrise, Paulo had turned the rather plain looking interior side of his otherwise elegant cloak to the outside and shed his other accoutrements to make him look less a Noble and more a commoner.

By their second sundown in exile, with the dust of the road upon their clothes and in the their hair, they arrived at a small inn looking very much the worse for wear. Paulo pressed some coins into his friend's hand and told him, "Tonight we eat and sleep indoors. Board the horses. I will get us a room."

"Two rooms," Messa corrected, still viewing his friend as a Noble who, regardless of their lifetimes together, should have his own accommodations.

"One room," Paulo corrected. "Remember, we are but poor transients now."

He watched a laughing Messa head for a small, nearby stables and entered the tavern. It looked bigger inside than out, and yet despite the room and abundance of chairs there were but four rough looking men sitting at a table in a far corner.

Paulo hesitated to look the men over before nodded and smiling to them politely. He continued farther inside, finding an older man (presumably the inn keeper) sound asleep behind the bar, sitting upon a tall stool, his weight wedged between two untapped beer barrels. Paulo hesitated, not wanting to wake the inn keeper from his peaceful state.

Then, she came into view. The peasant girl was one of the most beautiful creatures Paulo had ever laid his eyes upon: flawless skin, long golden hair, deep blue eyes, and a well curved body that he was sure had caused many a man before him to stiffen down below their beltline.

"Girl!" one of the men in the corner called out. "Bring your pretty young self and four more tankards this way."

Paulo wondered whether the young woman was a virtuous peasant girl or a tavern wench. To be honest, he wasn't sure which he was voting for: it had been three days since he'd last had a warm, wet hole in which to pleasure his cock. A common whore would be nice about now, though Paulo would have to leave his friend down in the tavern for a bit as they were to share a room this night.

Then again, Paulo also found himself hoping the young thing was as virtuous as the Virgin Mother. He wasn't sure why he wanted this: if she had maintained her purity until now, it wasn't like she was going to give it up to him now.

Was she?


(OOC: If you wish to change the peasant girl's image, we can discuss that. I just needed an image, and I thought this girl was attractive.)


Paulo de Havra (image)
28 years old
6'0", 185 #; fit.
Curly brunette hair.
Blue eyes.

***********deleted***********

"Girl!" one of the men in the corner called out. "Bring your pretty young self and four more tankards this way."

Carina had been in the middle of crossing the room to clear away the mess left on one of the tables by a just departed customer when one of the men seated in the corner had called out to her.

"Right away sir," she called back to him with a well practiced and polite smile before hurrying over towards the bar to retrieve the drinks that he had requested, noticing Paulo as she did. Her eyes shifted from him over to her father, the inn keeper, asleep behind the bar.

"My deepest apologies sir, I did not see you enter!" she told him, a slight look of embarrassment crossing her lovely face, "Please excuse my father, he's had a very long day. If you'll give me just a moment I'll be right with you."

Grabbing four tankards, two in each hand, she made her way over to one of the tapped beer barrels and began to fill them. Noting his dusty and road weary appearance she spoke up again.

"You must be tired from your travels. Please, take a seat while you wait. Anywhere is fine. I'll be with you shortly."

She offered him a quick smile before taking the now full tankards and making her way over to the men seated in the corner.

Paulo's eyes didn't leave Carina as she went about her work. She was captivating, from her flawless face to her shapely body. He was hungry, having not eaten since the night before. Moving to the fire pit in the middle of the tavern, Paulo grasped in a gloved hand one of the legs of the small pig, pulled his dagger, and sliced the limb off with a simple movement. He returned to watching the blonde as he carefully nibbled at the hot meat.

"Sit with me, girl!"

One of the men grasped Carina after she'd dispersed the tankards and pulled her into his lap, laughing with the others. Paulo didn't like the look of the situation, but he was one man and they were four. He moved slowly toward the travelers, keeping his movements casual as if he was simply wandering about.

Paulo wanted to see how the young woman handled herself before offering her his assistance. He was also hoping that his back up would arrive from the stables before any troubles arose, if they arose.

Carina had just finished dispersing the requested tankards to the men when one of them suddenly grasped her by her shapely hips and rudely pulled her into his lap.

"Sit with me, girl!"

A quick look of annoyance and unease momentarily flashed in her eyes as the men laughed around her, but she quickly recovered. Unfortunately this was far from the first time that she'd had to deal with unwelcome advances from the male patrons of the tavern. Her hand itched to give the man a good hearty slap across the side of his face, but she knew that doing so would likely cause more problems than it would solve. Part of maintaining a successful tavern was keeping the customers happy, even the handsy ones. Though she wasn't about to just give up her virtue and let them have their way with her either! Luckily she had become fairly skilled at diffusing such situations over the years.

The well practiced smile back on her face she laughed along with the men, the sound of which was slightly forced but not enough that most listeners would have been able to pick up on it. While still laughing she gently grasped one of the man's hands upon her hip, lifting it up as if to wrap his arm around her shoulders, but then instead of doing so quickly danced up and out of arm's reach from him as she released the hand.

"Thank you for the offer sir, but I must get back to work," she said politely with a smile as she backed away, "I don't think my father would be very pleased with me if he awoke to find that I had been sitting and chatting when there was another customer waiting to be helped."

Paulo was impressed with the young woman's dismount from the ruffian's lap. The man himself was too thrilled and tried to get her back, reaching to clutch her wrist but losing it when she gave it a twist. His friends divided their reactions between teasing the man and offering the young beauty a better lap in which to sit.

When she finally turned her attention back to him, Paulo asked her for two flagons and two platters of what ever they had ready in the kitchen. Just as the man at the table had, Paulo reached out to grasp the maiden's wrist. But he turned her hand gently and pressed a silver coin into her hand.

"This should cover us," he said, giving her a moment to identify the coin. It was more than enough to pay for the food, drink, and room he and Messa would need this night. He then pressed a smaller silver coin into her hand, smiling as he said, "And this is just for you."

He looked beyond her to the man who was only just now rising from his stool, blinking the sleep from his eyes. He looked back to the blonde beauty, winked, and said, "I won't tell your papa about it if you don't."

He backed away, turned, and found a table as far away from the four loud men as he could. A few minutes later, Messa would arrive.

Carina had been surprised when she had looked down and realized the value of the coin that the man had placed into her hand, even more so when he had placed another within it and insisted that this one was just for her. At his playful wink and remark she couldn't help but smile slightly, a genuine one this time, and then pocketed the coins as she hurried off to fetch the food and flagons that he had requested.

She retrieved the flagons from the bar first, handing her father the larger of the two coins as she did so before disappearing into the kitchen for a few minutes and then returning to his table with two large plates of food.

"Is there anything else I can get for you sir?" she asked hesitantly, wondering for a moment if he might be expecting some other kind of 'service' from her in exchange for the coin he had given her.

Paulo's eyes never left the young beauty as she made her way about the establishment. She returned to ask if he would need anything more, to which he quickly said, "You're name would be a good start."

He waited for her response, then contemplated what he should tell her about himself. Paulo had had two days to consider the five years ahead of him, and he'd decided that he needed to become a new man: no past, only a future; no longer a Noble but instead just a common man.

It was going to be hard to make the adjustment. He'd already made his first mistake, pressing the coins into the barmaid's hand. A common man would have been more stingy with his money. His act had been that of a man who had never worried about not having money.

"My name is Paulo de Vastani," he said, sticking with his given name for convenience but using the name of a Noble family from deep in the Papal States that had died out a generation ago. He looked up to see the second traveler approaching the table and quickly lied about him as well. "And this is my brother, Messa de Vastani."

Messa gave Paulo a look of confusion, then removed his cap and gave the young woman a slight bow. He said politely before sitting, "M'lady."

"We are transient," he continued, using a word that in this day and age meant only that they were travelers without a determined and definite destination. He gave the blonde's body a quick glance that was supposed to be inconspicuous but likely wasn't as sly as he'd hoped. He looked back to her sparkling eyes and finished with a suggestive smile, "No where to be any time soon, so, maybe, if we come to like your little village..."

He didn't have to finish, ...maybe we'll stay a while, because it was probably pretty obvious.

"You're name would be a good start."

"Carina Cucinotta, sir. This is my family's tavern...though by your earlier comment I believe you had already noticed that," she answered, smiling slightly in reply.

She listened politely as he gave her his name in return, a second young man joining them as he did whom Paulo introduced as his brother. She smiled slightly at the second man's slight bow and polite greeting to her before he sat, her eyebrow lifting up a bit in surprise when Paulo reported that the two of them were transient. They certainly looked the part with their rumpled clothes and covered in road dust as they were, but their manners were rather different than most of the other drifters that had come through the town and visited the tavern thus far. Then again though...

Her eyes caught the quick glance over that Paulo gave her body which he followed with a suggestive smile.

"No where to be any time soon, so, maybe, if we come to like your little village..."

On second thought, maybe they weren't so very different. She smiled in return, but took a slight step back from the table.

"I see," she replied with a nod of understanding, "Well you are welcome to stay with us here at our inn for as long as you like...shall I have a room prepared for the two of you then?"

Cucinotta, Paulo thought as Carina continued, searching for the surname in his memory. It wasn't there, though. But then, that shouldn't surprise him: she and her father were peasants or at the least poor land owners living in the next over Duchy. Paulo would have little reason to know, let alone remember their family name.

She continued, "...shall I have a room prepared for the two of you then?"

"Yes, please," Paulo told her. "End of the hall, away from the stairs if possible. For a bit more quiet."

That wasn't entirely the reason, of course. If they were at the end of the hall and they heard footsteps near the door, Paulo and Messa would know that the person approaching was coming to their room as opposed to simply passing by.

You would have thought that being exiled from his home and travelling to the next Duchy would put Paulo out of the reach of his enemies. But there would people who wouldn't want him to return ever again, let alone at the end of his five year expulsion.

Carina left to prepare their room and deal with other patrons as well. Paulo ate and drank and, when he glanced to his friend and caught sight of a well known expression, he asked with feigned surprise, "What?"

"We're supposed to moving farther away from Parma," Messa told him.

"And we are, my friend," Paulo responded. "We'll continue west soon."

"How soon?" Messa asked with an accusing tone. "What I mean by that, of course, is how soon do you think you'll find yourself between that young things thighs? So that you can count your victory and get us back on our trek."

Even before Messa finished, Paulo was laughing. His friend knew him so well. He caught sight of Carina once again descending the stairway and watched every step until she was once again at the bar to tend to a trio of patrons who'd just entered.

"A day, maybe two," Paulo told his friend, his gaze still on the blonde beauty. He looked to Messa, confirming with conviction, "A couple of days."

"Two days," Messa repeated. He pulled a pair of silver coins from his pocket, tossed them on the table, and told Paulo, "Match'em."

Paulo knew what this was all about and wasn't surprised when his friend gestured Carina over to them one again. Messa handed the coins to the barmaid, telling her, "My friend and I have a bet, but someone has to hold the wagers. Please, find a safe place for these."

Paulo studied Carina's expression concerning the vague explanation, then after she left again told his friend as he stood, "I'm tired and I'm going to bed."

"I'll be up in a bit," Messa told him, hoisting his flagon, finishing it, and gesturing to Carina's father, who was finally up and about and performing his duties. As Paulo stood to leave, Messa pointed out quickly, "We didn't wager on my bedding the barmaid."

Paulo only laughed. His friend wasn't exactly a woman's man, and to be honest, Paulo didn't recall a time when Messa had been with a woman who didn't later depart with a handful of the satisfied soldier's coins. He headed up the stairs, casting one last long look down at Carina before gesturing a polite farewell to her.

Paulo would continue to sit near the fire and eat and drink for a couple of hours before finally rising and unsteadily making his way up to the room. Falling onto the bed still in his clothes, he awoke his lightly sleeping friend. Paulo went to his friend to strip off the man's coat and boots before pulling a blanket over him. Then, Paulo returned to the main floor and, thankfully, found Carina still tending to the tavern's customers, who now numbered something near a dozen and a half.

"Girl!" yet another loud, obnoxious patron was calling from a distant table. "Dammit, girl! Where's out fuckin' drinks?"

Paulo could see that Carina and her father were overwhelmed. He went to the bar, removed his sword belt, and hid the weapon behind the counter. Carina's father donned a confused expression as Paulo lifted a tray of flagons waiting for his daughter's availability.

"Which table, my good man?" Paulo asked.

"I don't seem to recall hiring a bar maid with such a flat chest," the old man responded with a laugh. He gestured to the table with the loud customer, and said with a smirk, "Betcha don't get the tips my lovely daughter gets."

Paulo laughed as he headed out, confirming, "Betcha you're right."

Carina had been so busy attending to the many patrons that had suddenly filled the tavern within the past couple of hours that she had not even noticed that Paulo had descended the stairs and entered the main floor again until he was suddenly passing by her, a tray of flagons in hand. Much to her surprise she watched as he went and delivered the flagons over to the table that had been awaiting them. He didn't stop there either.

As she continued to attend to her duties Paulo jumped right in to help with attending to the crowd, serving drinks and clearing tables right along with her. She was beginning to wonder if maybe he'd already lost the bet he'd made with his brother earlier that evening and this was part of their wager, though he'd not requested her to retrieve the coin he'd given her earlier. She'd been curious as to what exactly the wager had been naturally, but of course it would have been impolite of her to inquire.

When he passed by her again on his way to get a serving of the roasting hog that someone had requested she reached out to stop him, her hand lightly grasping the top of his forearm.

"Thank you for your help good sir, but you yourself are our guest here. You need not help with the work," she told him quietly under her breath.

Paulo contemplated the ridiculous: telling Carina the truth, that he was doing this in the hopes of getting into her good graces, and then into her young and likely very tight pussy. But, sensing she was not that type of tavern wench, he had an idea that that would likely defeat his purposes altogether.

"To be honest, m'lady," he instead began, "I am hoping that perhaps I may meet someone, a patron, who I might learn is in need of a laborer. My brother and I are short of coin."

He laughed a bit, feigning embarrassment as he glanced about for eavesdroppers. "The coin we gave you earlier, for the meal, the room, the bet. They are nearly the last in our purses. To be honest, I was a bit freer with them than I should have been, not wanting you or your father to think me indigent as well as transient."

A male voice cut in from nearby, "Chop some firewood,"

As Paulo turned, he caught the young beauty's father passing by with yet another platter full of flagons. Without slowing the man looked to Carina and said, "Show him the wood pile, daughter. Let him earn his meat and mead."

The man continued onward, and Paulo looked back to Carina. He shrugged, telling her, "I can use an ax well enough."

It was late, now near midnight, and Paulo didn't know whether he would be put to the task of chopping wood, allowed to continue serving, or told to sit and remember that he was a guest. But which ever Carina indicated as the course of action, Paulo would comply with a smile and slight bow of flirtatious respect.

Understanding and sympathy shone in Carina's eyes as Paulo explained the predicament he and his brother were in. Her heart went out to him, wanting to help. She was grateful when her father passed by and gave his consent to let the young man earn his keep with them, instructing her to show Paulo their wood pile so that he could chop firewood for them.

"We have enough firewood already chopped to last us until closing tonight, Papa." she called to her father, "And as dark as it is outside it would be difficult for him to see his work clearly should he attempt to chop more now."

She worried her lip for a moment as she came to a decision.

"I can show you the wood pile in the morning if you would still like me to," she told Paulo finally, "For now you can continue to help in here until closing as we are very full tonight."

"Besides," she added with a smile, "As you said, it might give you opportunity to meet others who are in need of a laborer. Perhaps you will be able to find more work for yourself and your brother."

Paulo again gave Carina a slight bow of his head, telling her with humor, "As you wish, m'lady."

He returned to delivering platters and flagons and clearing tables. There were a great many laughs and jokes from the patrons at Paulo's expense, some of them playful, some of them simply mean and crude. Most of the latter came from men who were already well intoxicated or simply asinine, comments easily ignored by the Nobleman.

It got very late, and as half of the patrons were leaving on their own, Carina's father (who Paulo had learned was named Fabbro) was helping the drunker ones to the door. Soon, only Paulo, Carina, and her father were left. Paulo continued to clean up some tables until Fabbro waved him off, telling him, "Tomorrow! Sleep, go to bed."

Paulo had been watching the older Cucinotta drinking as he worked and wasn't surprised to see him teeter off to a hall and disappear through a door to what could only be assumed to be his bedroom. After his afternoon nap, Paulo was wide awake and had no desire to go upstairs to the certainly snoring Messa. He found his original seat near the fire and settled in with a bottle of wine. Fabbro had claimed it was the best in the house, and yet Paulo winced at the substandard taste. He laughed, wondering if maybe this was his future.

Then he caught sight of Carina again and thought, If this is my future, I could most definitely life with it. He waited to catch her eye and waved her over, asking, "Will you sit with me a while?"

If she did, he would ask her about herself. If she didn't, he'd just sit back and enjoy the evening until he drifted off in the glow of the flames.

"As you wish, m'lady."

Carina smiled slightly at the humorous tone of Paulo's reply before returning to her own work. She found her attention shifting over to him periodically throughout the remainder of the night however, impressed that he was able to dismiss the teasing remarks of the other men...even when they were said in a less than playful manner that caused her brow to furrow slightly with disapproval in response. His work ethic was also impressive, continuing to help clean up even after closing until her father finally told him to stop.

She had been giving the bar a final quick wipe down when he'd caught her attention and waved her over to where he sat at a table near the fire.

"Will you sit with me a while?"

She hesitated for just a moment, but then set the cloth that she had been using down on the counter and crossed the room to join him. The expression on her lovely face was slightly weary after such a long night of work, though not overly so since unlike her father she had not been sampling the drink that night while working.

"I'm surprised that you are not eager to head upstairs to your room," she commented in a good humored tone as she took the seat across from him at the table, "After your travels and then a night of work here as well I would think you would be tired and ready for a warm bed."

"Warm bed," he repeated, chuckling. "There's a big hairy Italian upstairs warming my bed right now. I'm not really that eager to go up."

He laughed again and finished off the glass of bad wine, grimacing yet again. He studied Carina for a moment, then asked quite bluntly, "Do you have someone pre-warming your bed for you, Carina?"

Carina nodded with understanding and laughed a bit along with Paulo at his joke about a hairy Italian warming his bed, knowing that he must have been referring to his brother Messa. The laughter in her eyes died however at his following question, his bluntness surprising her.

"No, I do not," she replied, her cheeks flushing slightly in embarrassment as she gave him a pointed look, "I am not that kind of girl Signore de Vastani."

"Paulo," he corrected quickly. "Please call me Paulo. And I didn't mean to imply..."

He let the thought go, instead gesturing toward the seat across from him. "Please, sit. Join me."

He filled his own glass and set it nearer her, then took a swig directly from the bottle. "I met a gentlemen tonight, a land owner with some problems with men stealing his sheep. I suggested that I might be able to help him with his situation. It would mean my staying in the area for a while. I would need a room for a while."

Paulo had been studying Carina's reaction to what he was telling her, finishing, "Do you think you could put up with me being under your feet for a bit?"

"Please, sit. Join me."

Carina's gaze shifted to the glass of wine as Paulo set it near hear and then back again to his face as he continued to speak, hesitating a moment and wondering if it was wise to join him in a drink. They were alone now in the tavern, her father and the other patrons fast asleep now in their own rooms...and he was clearly attracted to her. She was not so naive as to miss the way he had been glancing at her that evening, and years of working in a tavern full of drunken men each night had given her more than a little insight into the way the male mind behaved. Still, his little question aside he had been nothing but gentlemanly towards her that evening, and she of course would not forget how hard he had worked to help her father and herself that night.

"Do you think you could put up with me being under your feet for a bit?"

She joined him at the table, taking the seat that he had gestured towards and sitting across from him.

"As I told you earlier this evening, you are welcome to stay with us here as long as you like Si- ... Paulo," she replied, offering him a small smile to let him know that she had forgiven his earlier remark as she reached for the glass of wine and took a sip.

Paulo studied Carina, sipping straight from the bottle again. He couldn't take his eyes off her. He couldn't believe she was just a common bar maid. Wealthy merchants and Nobles passed through this little town almost every day, sometimes staying overnight in one of the tavern's rooms. It surprised Paulo that one of these well-to-do men hadn't yet scooped up the blonde beauty as a mistress. Even some of the land owners would have viewed the peasant girl as worthy of warming his bed in private and gracing his home's halls in public.

"Tell me about yourself, Carina," Paulo asked. He asked about her father, the business, other family, the little village, and more, listening intently to each of her questions. Finally, he asked, "Why aren't you married? You're a beautiful woman, Carina."

Carina was surprised to find herself opening up to Paulo as they talked at length with one another. It had been a while since someone had sat and listened so intently to what she had to say. She spoke to him about her running the tavern with her father, their life and friends within the little village where they lived, and even about her mother whom had fallen ill five winters prior and died of a fever.

She smiled slightly and shrugged her shoulders in response to his question about why she was not yet married, a slight blush blooming in her cheeks at him having called her beautiful.

"I suppose the drunken stories and remarks shared between men that one overhears when working in a tavern makes a woman wary of being bound to one of them for the rest of her life," she replied, adding with a bit of a self-depreciating laugh, "Papa says I'm overly selective."

Paulo understood Carina's opinion on men in general. He'd known a lot of men who fit her description of them. Hell, he'd often been one of those men, and if he was still back in Malornia, he'd probably still be one of them.

"You'll find a good man one day, m'lady," Paulo told her. He lifted the bottle to his lips, only to find it empty. Despite his afternoon nap, he found his eyes once again weighing heavy, and Paulo assumed that Carina had additional tasks to perform before she put the tavern to bed before putting herself to bed. He stood, bowing with a bit of exaggeration as he told her, "I must bid good evening to you m'lady to lay my head down."

He could have left it at that, but instead Paulo took one of Carina's hands and, leaning forward, lifted it to kiss it on its back. He said softly, "M'lady."

Paulo made his way to and up the stairs, glancing back at her three or four times, he wouldn't recall later. In the room, He found Messa on his belly with his face and one arm dangling off the bed. He had managed to rid himself of his boots and coat but was otherwise still dressed. Face down, thankfully, his usual snoring was absent.

Paulo shed his own boots and coat, continuing with his shirt and under shirt. Her rarely shed his pants and socks in what he considered a vulnerable sleeping situation This night was one. He didn't know this little village. He didn't know the people in it. He didn't know whether or not men from Malornia might have followed him and Messa. Hell, for all he knew, Carina's father might slit his throat in the middle of the night and steal his silver and sword.

He laughed at that last as he laid back and closed his eyes. Fabbro didn't seem the throat slitting type. The lowly inn keeper seemed the type who just wanted to earn coin to take care of his daughter. Paulo respected that. He thought of having such a daughter, earning a living to take care of her, raise her to be a happy, carefree child.

Paulo's last thought as he was drifting off to sleep was of having such a daughter with the beautiful young blonde downstairs. And he couldn't help but slip his hand under his loosened belt to jerk himself to a quick release, remembering to withdraw his hand so that his sleeping bedmate didn't awake to a scene that would be fodder for jokes for years to come...



Paulo had never been one to sleep for many hours in a row, even after a bottle of bad wine and two flagons of ale. He was up shortly after sunrise, dressed, and heading down to the tavern level of the establishment. He found neither Fabbro nor Carina, yet a large skillet of bacon only now heating over the open fire pit in the tavern's center told him that some one had already begun their day.

He used his own knife to cut another chunk of well cooked meat from the remains of the pig's carcass still on a spit over the coals, poured himself a flagon of very weak ale that was meant more for safe, healthy hydration than for intoxication, and headed out back of the building. As expected, Paulo found a wood pile and an ax. After sitting for a moment to eat his breakfast and simply enjoy the sounds of the waking world, he went to work splitting wood.

"You'll find a good man one day, m'lady,"

Carina smiled slightly at Paulo's words. She certainly hoped he was right and that she would find a good man to share her life with eventually. Someone good and kind who would be loyal to her, who didn't want to just use her for a quick roll in the hay or as their mistress. Someone who loved her, and whom she loved as well. Maybe she was asking too much. Still, she had always thought that it was far better to be alone than to have the wrong person as company.

He rose then and she smiled at the bow he gave her, wondering again at the way he seemed so formal at times though he and his brothers were but poor transients. She wished now that she had thought to ask him about himself and his family more as they had talked instead of just rambling on about herself.

He bid her a good night and she was about to reply likewise when suddenly his hand was upon hers as he lifted it to his lips and kissed the back of it, the action causing a tingling sensation to run up her arm that stunned her into silence. He departed then and made his way up the stairs to his room as she too rose and began to clear away the empty wine bottle and glass from the table, but she did not miss the way that his handsome face turned to glanced back at her several times as he left, nor did she fail to notice the strange way that her heart seemed to quicken when he did.

Once he was gone she quickly gathered up the remainder of the empty flagons and tankards that had been left behind by the patrons of the tavern that night and took them into the kitchen. She would wash them in the morning, but she had already stayed up a little later than usual talking with Paulo that night and she had to get to bed if she was going to wake at her usual hour.

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The next day she awoke bright and early, quickly grooming and dressing herself before heading out of her own little room and to the kitchen where she sliced up some bacon and set it in a skillet over the fire pit in the tavern, leaving it there to cook while she went back to the kitchen and set to work washing what was left of the dishes from the night before. She was just rinsing the last tankard when she began to hear the sound of someone chopping wood out behind the building. Was her father already awake? He usually was a later sleeper than she. Leaving the kitchen to investigate, she made her way out to the back of the building, smiling when she noticed that it was not her father but Paulo that she had heard chopping away at the firewood.

"I see that you found the wood pile without my assistance then?" she called to him in greeting as she made her way over to him, the smile still in place upon her face.

"I did, m'lady," Paulo replied, continuing with his gentlemanly ways. He lifted the ax and let its sharp blade fall hard into the chopping block, then finished off the last of the weak ale. "Thought maybe I could earn my breakfast."

He pulled wriggled his tunic's waist band around and upwards enough to wipe away the sweat building on his brow and neck. For a moment, his very fit abs were on display, though that hadn't been Paulo's intentions. He lowered his shirt again, retrieved his empty tankard, and neared Carina.

"Can I thank you for the bacon cooking over the fire?" he asked with a smile. I caught sight of it coming down this morning."

Paulo filled his arms with firewood before heading back into the tavern. Most of it went into a pile near the pit, but he did feed the fire after asking Carina how hot she wanted it. He dipped his tankard into a large cast iron pot over the fire pit to fill it with water after confirming that there was tea to be had, then found his usual chair in the corner by the fire place, which was still warm with coals but had no active flames dancing in it.

As there was no one else in the tavern but he himself, Paulo asked Carina to sit with him again, insisting that her work could wait a few moments at least. "We passed over a river as we were entering the village, and a trail paralleling its bank, through the flowering trees. Would you walk with me there?"

At Paulo's comment about earning his breakfast Carina had glanced over and noted with approval the size of the pile that he had chopped that morning before turning back to him again just in time to catch the brief flash of his stomach on display to her as he lifted his tunic, the sight of it causing her heart to quicken within her chest even more intensely than it had the night before. She simply smiled and nodded in response to his question about the bacon, words failing her for a moment. Hoping that he had not noticed she watched as he gathered up the firewood and then walked with him back into the main room of the tavern.

Once the fire pit had been tended to, at Paulo's insistence that she sit with him for a moment Carina went ahead and joined him for her breakfast. Choosing a small portion of the now cooked bacon for herself, she placed it atop a slice of bread left over from the evening before and then fixed herself a tankard of tea as well before taking the seat across from him as she had the night before.

She paused and thought a moment when he asked if she would take a walk with him. Her father could complete the rest of the preparations when he awoke for when the tavern re-opened later that day, but she had been planning on going to the village market that day to re-purchase a few items they were running low on. Still...she supposed she could wait until the following day to run her errands in the market without it causing any harm.

She nodded her agreement and could not help but smile at his obvious happiness in response. They sat and chatted for a bit as they finished breakfast and then headed out to the trail that he had mentioned together.

"Where are you and your brother from originally? Do you have any other family somewhere?" she asked him curiously as they walked together, "In all of our talk about my family and life last night I did not get the chance to ask you about yours."