Le Soleil Marché - The Sun Market.

He would have sworn that his heart stopped beating at that very moment, and he found himself at a loss for both breath and words. Her grey eyes absolutely intoxicating, her hand fitting in with his as if it were a glove. How could he say no? The answer was obviously yes, the trick would be getting control of his mouth to say those simple words.

"Yes! I think we could come to an understanding Eleniel, I would love nothing more than to do so in fact."

His hand tightened around hers, not enough to hurt, but enough to say that he was there, and that he did not want her hand to leave his any time soon. He maintained her gaze even as he spoke, unwilling and unable to tear himself away from her.

He grinned at her, his eyes still having only left hers but for a moment to blink. Her dazzling smile only made him want to stay rooted in that spot forever, and it reached her eyes and they seemed to sparkle even more brilliantly than before. He paused at her words though...come to think of it he had no idea how they were supposed to work either. It was one of those things you were just expected to know atsome point in your life, nobody ever actually told you what the rules were.

"Perhaps we should not call it understandings though? I would not want people to think there is some shady or even...unsavory business being conducted. I don't know much about courting a woman, they never bother to teach it, but I am certain it is a long drawn out process that is boring and full of petty rules. Why don't we just be adults about it and enjoy each other's company?"

"Eleniel, the only reputation that I care about is how you view me, and how my people view me. Everyone else can go hang for all I care."

His tone was soft, displaying a rare show of emotion from the usually calm Lord. His eyes still held hers as tightly as his hand did, and his voice betrayed no doubts and no hesitation.

"I have no desire to rule over more lands or seek alliances with the other Lords. After the cities, my fiefdom is the most prosperous, its people the happiest, and what I don't provide for them I get through trade. You make me happy Eleniel and that is enough for me and likely my people."

"Whatever shall I do! Forced to enjoy the company of a beautiful elf, surely no man has ever faced the trials and tribulations you inflict upon me!"

His tone matched hers, teasing her about the validity of her "threat", but still implying that he would love nothing more. Most of his advisors would be furious but they could all hang if they thought he cared what they thought of his personal life. All they did was squabble and try to curry his favor anyway.

"Eleniel, I do think we should celebrate this decision, perhaps over dinner? I am certain there has to be at least one good restaurant in Travere right?"

This was the capital city of Gauldin, there had to be at least one good restaurant, hopefully a fancy one, given how he was dressed for the day.

"I think that would make for a lovely evening, and it certainly sounds better than whatever food I will eat in the company of my drunken knights, and probably a quieter, more peaceful evenimg as well."

If he could even find his knights at this point. Last time they came to Travere the lot of them had gotten drunk in a tavern then spent two whole days in a brothel. The establishment's proprietor had likely made enough money off of them to retire, and he had heard that several of the brothel's employees had been too sore to walk for severap days. He chuckled at the memory of their stories, each one outdoing the other until he had put a stop to it. They worked hard and were otherwise the equal of any knights in the land, so he let them have a few days off in the city after the official business was done.

What to wear was not something that had ever occurred to him, and once again he was grateful that Eleniel was thinking properly. The restaurant sounded absolutely lovely, and he certainly would not want to miss what she called "pretty as possible, or the chance to actually dance with her. He met her gaze with one of his own, a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Eleniel, I find it hard to believe that you are not currently as pretty as possible. I am of course not accusing you of lying Eleniel, just that I find it very difficult to believe that you could possibly get any prettier. I may also want to change, dress down a bit perhaps, this outfit is stifling, but one of the only few I own deemed by my advisors to be good enough to meet with the king in. Dinner can be whatever time you wish it to be, I am used to eating at all hours of the day."

Her tone certainly gave him the impression that she would take delight in almost every time she proved him wrong, but such were woman according to his head butler,who was the cynical old man who ran the Keep's staff.

"Sunset sounds perfect Eleniel, as does that plan. And for the first time in my life, I sincerely looking forward to being proved wrong. Now, lets check out that shop over there."

He almost gestured with the hand she was holding, before remembering that it had a function at the moment and his other hand didn't, so he gestured towards a local butcher stall that was offering free samples. He made a mental note to never be one of those Lords who brought their wife with them to battle. Eleniel was an incredible distraction on his normally focused mindset, not that he minded, the strange feeling that he felt when she was around was a good one, even if it was a new one.

Lord Soult thoroughly enjoyed the remaining hours he had spent with Eleniel, even going so far as to purchase a border collie puppy from one of the pet vendors. His fief was low on cattle dogs, and he figured if he could breed enough of them, he could trade them to the orc tribes on his land. That, and he had always liked border collies, his parents had owned a pair when he and his brothers were little, they reminded him of a happier time. The time to leave had come upon them though, and it would have brought him sorrow if he did not get to see her in only a couple of hours.

"Do not fret Eleniel, I enjoyed my afternoon immensely, and I found myself distracted by a very specific pretty thing all day today." The smile had not left his face all day, to the point where his face was actually starting to hurt. A small bark rang out from the bundle in his arm, and a cute little nose poked out from inside, followed by bright blue eyes surrounded by black and white fur.

"Guess she is awake now huh? I really need to figure out a name for her."

"Yes of course you shall Eleniel, I look forward to it. And that is excellent advice, she should be fine in my room for a few hours while we are at dinner. I'll get the tavern keeper to look in on her while I am gone."

He did ask for the directions, and was impressed at the level of detail she imparted, though he supposed it made sense since she had been a Ranger before. The puppy growled again, and he remembered it had been a few hours since the small puppy had eaten. He watched for a few moments as Eleniel walked away, before turning and heading back to the tavern he was staying at.

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