The city of Eversong was awashhh in the glow of early evening sunlight, the white marble walls reflecting the changing colors of the sunset brilliantly. The brush, grass, and trees glowed almost orange in the reflected sunset, the Silvered River running close to the road appearing to have jewels fragmenting across the surface. All in all, creating a rather romantic setting. Perhaps a Little too poetic for some peoples liking, but who didn’t wax poetic every now and then? On the back of her steel gray stallion, Branna Winter quirked up The corners of her mouth as she surveyed the capital city before her, one of her hands shielding her eyes.

“Maybe I take the dramatic musings a little too far sometimes, wouldn’t you say Storm?” Branna mused out loud to her horse, casting a quick look down at the back of the stallion‘s head. He cocked an ear at her, but otherwise chose not to respond. “Thanks for that,“ she huffed, grinning as she dropped her hand from her eyes to rub briefly at the side of her companion‘s neck.

Branna wasn’t the most beautiful of women, but she did all right for herself if she put some effort into it. Granted, that wasn’t very often, not with her occupation, but at least she didn’t scare the strangers she met out in the country. She was short of stature, just managing to pass five feet, but was lean and fit. Her skin, suntanned from all the hours she spent traveling, bore several scars across her forearms and two parallel lines that marred one of her cheeks, but was otherwise free of blemishes. Her midnight dark hair, pulled back from her face in a braid that trailed nearly to her waist, offset the only feature she liked about herself, her clear blue eyes. Tugging at the front of her leather jerkin and passing a quick look over her dusty travel worn breeches and cloak, she had to admit that her current appearance screamed adventurer. Not that she minded. The more she looked like a capable ranger, the more likely she was to be hired to escort some nobleman or rich merchant.

Nudging Storm into a gentle trot, Branna guided her mount towards one of the large gates leading into Eversong, digging around in one of her saddlebags as she went until she retrieved her formal residency papers. Security had been tighted around the capital the last several weeks and most suspected it had a lot to do with recent attacks on outlying cities. No one was sure if enemy forces had infiltrated the country or if a capable bandit group was responsible for the devastation, but the citizens were increasingly nervous. Branna had even heard a rumor that Freeport, The largest and most economically profitable port city in the kingdom, had fallen under attack. It was when she had gathered this information that Branna had decided to head back towards the capital. With any luck, she’d be able to find more solid information about the current happenings. Showing her papers to one of the guards on duty at the gate, she was waved in a Quick moment later, joining the throng of citizens already in residence.

The interior of Eversong was even more radiant than the exterior of the city had been. The majority of the buildings had been constructed of white marble, edged and laced with gold and silver, with the rest of the construction made out of pale gray stone blocks. Even the edges of the river, which ran through the center of the city, had been lined with marble and stone, creating a natural canal. The river was spanned in several places by tall arching bridges, connecting The Northern and Southern halves of the city. All of the structures, theresidential buildings, the businesses, the government buildings, were maintained and kept clean fastidiously, giving the entire city a glow all of its own. With her horse‘s hooves clacking against the cobblestone streets, Branna couldn’t help but smile as she looked at her surroundings, finally feeling as if she had come home.

“Let’s Head over to the Griffin’s Wing and see if Stanley has any information for us, shall we?“ Branna queried allowed to her stallion, clearly in the habit of talking with the beast after spending so much time alone with him, mentioning one of the more popular inns within the city. Storm snorted, almost as if in response, then turned down a side street as his reigns were gently tugged, picking his way through the crowd.

Where Othen originated from nobody would ever have thought about building anything like Eversong. Way too much noble metal, marble and other white stone whose polished surfaces were crying out for everlasting cleaning action and careful handling. Way too much in terms of confining nature to arbitrarily chosen bounds with decorated river banks, luxurious bridges and probably quite a lot of other stuff Othen had not even discovered so far. Maybe even just way too much of everything. It wasn't that he'd despise the inhabitants of Eversong for anything of this, but his people just would not feel comfortable here and neither did he to a considerable degree.

Where Othen's people lived things were kept much closer to nature for the sake of simplicity and disguise. His people did not know about the kingdom's true military strength, but given what kind of style its towns and citites featured they assumed it had to be very significant -- too significant for what they themselves could have established on the field of battle. There was absolutely no interested in any offensive action, but neither was there any interested in a defensive one. They had decided to stay hidden in their remote, but vast refuge many centuries ago and so far that plan had played out quite well.

This didn't mean though that they tried to avoid any contact at all, in fact Othen himself was the proof of the very opposite. He was a scout, someone sent in disguise in order to enter the kingdom's heartland, make contact with other scounts, exchange information and extract them along with his own return. There clearly was no better place for this than Eversong, but this evening he was not on duty so to speak. His stay in the Griffin's Wing was a purely private affair as he simply had wanted to try out how things were in one of those large taverns.

It was safe to say that, in full spite of his disguise, Othen still stuck out like a sore thumb. The man had wrapped himself into rough and thick linen that already had lost quite a bit of its white color, but there was nothing he could do against the tattoos in his face. The more or less fine black lines and patterns, along with the fact that his skin seemed to be thick and hardened from prolonged exposure to a traveler's environment, were blatantly visible. No hair was to be seen on his scalp so it was both tanned and tattooed, too. His body appeared to be very thick and massive, his thighs bulging over the chair's edge on both sides while his broad shoulders forced other people to the sides a bit. He not only was a scout, but also a warrior. One of the brute strength sort who put it to the extreme, but with that linen on top one could also have thought of him being a little fat.

A small tankard rested on the table in front of him and Othen looked at its contents as if he had just been insulted by them. Well... his tongue certainly had been. How could those people here drink this stuff ? Beer was a mystery he currently was absolutely unwilling to solve by continuing to consume it, so his eyes started to just stare at the front door of the main hall he was sitting in. Othen's thoughts slowly drifted away to other things...

Delicious smells wafting through the air were successfully making Branna’s mouth water as she headed into one of the restaurant and temporary lodging districts, dinner and the beginning of Mary making spilling out of open doorways and tempting passerby‘s to come inside with both sites and smells. Living off of trail rations and whatever she could hunt up for herself for the last several weeks, everything she was presented with was a temptation. Baked goods, cakes, roasted meats, all of them looked like the most delicious thing she had ever laid eyes on. Biting at her tongue and doing her best to ignore the growling in her stomach, Branna pressed on towards her destination, resolving to get herself some dinner when she stopped in.

“If i’m not careful, I’m going to spend every last coin in my purse,” she sighed, averting her gaze from an arrangement of fruit filled cakes displayed beautifully in one of the window she was passing by.

There was a sense of real relief when the Griffin’s Wing finally came into view, the two-story edifice warm and inviting with an open Front door and windows aglow with fire light. Sighing audibly, Branna slid from Storm’s saddle and led the stallion around back, passing him off to a stable worker and handing over a few copper coins to get her horse a proper rub down and some oats along with his hay. At last, with a feeling of anticipation, she hurried back around to the front of the inn, important items stowed away in her pack from her saddlebags.

Warm stew and bread scented air almost immediately enveloped Branna as she stepped through the front door, provoking a fresh wave of saliva in her mouth. She grinned to herself automatically, thinking that Stanley’s wife Harriet must be in charge of kitchen duties for the evening before she felt as if someone were watching her. Automatically, her bright blue gaze swept over the common room, almost instantly settling on a bear of a man sitting alone at one of the tables and taking up his fair share of room and then some. He was watching her, or at least the front door where she happened to be. She offered him a quick quizzical smile before hurrying across to the counter at the back of the room where she could see Stanley‘s balding head poking over a few of the other patrons.

“Well well, if it isn’t Branna of the Wilds, Come back to civilization to grace us with her presence,” Stanley boomed as soon as he caught sight of her, offering her a genial pat on her shoulder. “What can I do for you lass?”

“Evening Stan,” Branna shouted back over the noise of the crowd. “I’ll take some of your stew and bread, especially of Harriet is in the kitchen. And I also need a room for the night. After things settle down, I’ve also got some questions.“

Stanley raised his eyebrows, but smiled understandingly nevertheless. She was always in here asking questions after all. “Will do. Find yourself a seat and I’ll have One of the girls bring you your food.“

“Thank you,” Branna called back, waving One of her hands as she turned away from the counter and scanned the available space. After a moment, she shrugged to herself. Why not? He was certainly intriguing enough, and she had always had a problem with curiosity. Weaving her way through the tables, the raven haired woman made her way towards the man she had spotted earlier, coming to a stop across the table from him and offering another smile. “Mind if I sit here? I don’t bite, promise.“

Still staring at the front door, Othen had spotted Branna the moment she had crossed the threshold of the main hall's entrance. However, at least at that moment, he had not paid much attention to her. Some other patrons had turned their heads and tracked her steps towards the counter with greedy eyes, but he broke his line of view after a mere few seconds. Well, if he was honest to himself this wasn't because she wouldn't be attractive at all, but his orders were quite strict when it came to doing anything that could trigger unnecessary attention. Him tracking her probably wouldn't have made much of a difference in the environment of the Griffin's Wing, but still... And he felt tired.

Branna caught him veering around the humble remainders of beer that were left in the depths of his tankard. Othen's eyes blinked a few times when he noticed her -- and this time he couldn't stop himself from inspecting her up and down a little. Yes, she was definitely attractive. Various aspects about her also allowed him to make an educated guess about her fighting capability and his experience found it to be very considerable. If he should start a little smalltalk ? That couldn't hurt, or could it ? Anyway, the big man's first reaction was to put up a gentle smile and offer her the seat requested. There was plenty of room left around the table, at least if he put his colossal legs aside a little. The furniture of this tavern wasn't exactly designed with men of his proportion in mind so his knees reached well into his neighbourhood. He pushed back the chair in order to make room and as he made use of the chairback the latter produced a symphony of creaking.

"May I introduce myself ? I'm Othen, just... Othen." and he offered her his open palm. At least so far he had not crushed any poor fellow's ankle with it, but it certainly looked as if capable of such a thing. "Don't worry, I'm gentle." Othen added in an attempt to return the favor of Branna's words. "With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking ?" At least in Othen's mind he currently was doing his best in order to present his friendly side to her as he saw absolutely no point in doing anything else. This journey had to be more than just a job, this capital city was bound to offer more than just information about military planning. Othen felt confident that he could allow himself to be entertained a little, as long as his activities remained below the radar so to speak of course.

Something had started working in the back of his mind though. He'd need a good cover story and it had to be consistent with the numerous other cover stories he had delivered so far to various people. His true task never left him, quite a bit to his misfortune at this point.

Lips turning up at the corners in an appreciative smile at his own humor, Branna took The proffered hand into her own. Or at least, she would have, if the man‘s hand hadn’t been so much bigger than hers. Placing her hand in his instead, she did her best to apply pressure to his palm with her fingers and made an effort to move her own arm in the handshake. She was used to feeling short and small around other people all the time, but this man had her feeling like she was a child again. A very small child.

“Othen,” she repeated politely as she took the seat across from him at the table and dropped her bags at her feet. “ pleasure to make your acquaintance.“ As she then unclasped her cloak and draped it over the chair behind her, she then offered her own name. “I’m Branna.”

One of the serving girls approach the table at that point, curtsying politely as she placed a bowl of stew, a loaf of bread, and a flagon of water on the table in front of Branna, mumbling a quiet apology under her breath before hurrying away again. Sighing saufley to herself as she watched the girl rush off, Branna then simply gave her head a small shake before picking up the loaf of bread and tearing a piece free. Dipping One end into the stew, she then transferred the bite into her mouth, almost releasing a moan of pleasure as the flavor hit her tongue. Restraining her self as to not start snarfing down her food as quickly as she could get it into her mouth, Branna posed a question to her table companion, though she wasn’t long in tearing off another piece of bread. “So, Othen, what brings you to Eversong?” She was positive she had never seen him around the city before. Someone of his size just stood out that way, she was sure she would remember if she had spotted him in the past.

Othen noticed that she was struggling with actually shaking his hand, so he silently decided not to prolong this any further then absolutely necessary in order for things not becoming awkward. Having retracted his arm, he patiently waited for her meal to be served and for her to dig into the first bits of it.

"What brings me here ?" he repeated, buying himself one more moment of thinking before actually providing an answer. "Maybe you have already considered it, but I am a blacksmith from a small village close to the border. Normally I have a lot of very ordinary business to do: Horseshoes, nails, prongs and a great variety of farming tools. Sometimes however I receive more special requests since it seems I'm the only talented blacksmith in the neighbourhood and then I have to get some higher quality ingots or even different metals then steel in the first place. Eversong, despite the long travel, still is the best place to get this. There are vendors in other towns that are much closer, but sometimes they are sold out and I'm under time pressure."

Othen was both confident and satisfied with himself. That cover story was good -- and not that overused yet. Part of him hoped that Branna wasn't the kind of person who'd not stop drilling until having asked every imaginable question, but another part hoped for a nice conversation and actually felt regret for so blatantly lying at her.

"I think that explains why almost nobody has seen me here before. I just don't live here usually. Do you ?"

Pausing in the act of taking a drink from her cup, Branna’s eyes briefly traveled over Othen’s massive frame, lingering particularly on his considerable biceps. All at once, a grin split across her face and she had to hastily swallow before the laugh that came next could choke her with the water in her mouth. Ducking her head, she quickly rubbed her fingers across her mouth, wiping away any lingering water before turning her full grin on the man.

“I can honestly say that you’re being a blacksmith did not cross my mind and I feel slightly foolish for not even considering it,” Branna admitted with a soft laugh, tearing off another piece of her bread and dipping it in her stew. “I would have pegged you for some sort of warrior, what with all your muscle.“

The raven haired woman waved her chunk of bread in the direction of Othen’s impressive display of muscles to make her point before putting the food in her mouth. What she wouldn’t give to have a bit more muscle mass herself. The muscles she did have came from a lifetime of hard work, but even then she was still slim. She got that from her mother she suspected. Then again, her more delicate appearance had helped in a few situations where an adversary had underestimated her abilities. Still...

With an inaudible sigh, Branna Took another bite of her food before getting back into the conversation. “It makes sense that some of the rarer metals would only be found in the capital. I’ve had to come back here myself on more than one occasion to find specialty items. But I usually end up coming back to Eversong at one point or another. Because yes, I do live here. Some of the time anyway.”

Dipping The last piece of bread into her bowl, Branna finished off the loaf before finally picking up her fork and starting in on the meat and vegetables.

“I have a small dwelling here in the city, but I spend most of my time out on the road, in the wild, places like that” she explained, spearing a piece of potato and popping it into her mouth. “I hire on as protection for traveling merchants or nobles most of the time, but I’ve been on a few exploration teams as well. And of course I am always drawn back out on solo adventures myself.“ She grinned, giving a short sword at her waist a pat.

“What project are you working on that brings you here to look for metal?” she then asked, fishing out a piece of meat before pausing and looking at Othen’s cup. “Would you like another? My treat.“

Othen couldn't help but just started to grin as he heard Branna's words. It seemed she had profoundly bought his cover story, even so much that a part of himself started to feel very sad to have come up with it in the first place. If they'd become friends, what would happen once she'd find out the truth or he'd just have to tell her ? Yet this wasn't the reason why he was grinning slightly. That was caused by nothing but the bubbly light-heartedness the woman displayed.

Othen put his lower arms onto the desk in front if him, gently interlocking his fingers with each others. One could truly say that his arms were at least as thick as other people's thighs, probably even more. "A warrior ? No, not me. You'd be surprised to hear that I wouldn't deem myself particularly suited for a warrior, neither do many of the people around me. I guess I'm too sluggish, but maybe I'm just in the need for the right kind of enemy others can't fight ? Who knows!" He laughed, the intensive sound triggering some of the other patron's attention again for a brief moment.

The man decided to approach the pile of meat, picking out one of the larger pieces in order to start shoving it right into his mouth. There was never anything wrong with fresh meat, but Othen was known for eating a lot of each and pretty much anything anyway. Probably one of the other things Branna would be able to guess easily ?

"I'm trying to get the materials for a special kind of sword. You know... the steel you can get accross the kingdom isn't bad, not at all. However there is steel even better than that, a compound so good that you can slam a freshly sharpened edge against a piece of rock and you won't have a visible dent in it. Of course it's extremely expensive, but I have a customer whom I hope will be worth all the effort. You don't get these kinds of materials in some small village with limited means of processing."

Othen hoped that he didn't overcook it with this statement, but at least it would be a good explanation for his presence here. Branna mentioning her adventures outside of any settlements did trigger his interest though. "So you're coming around a lot, including the wilderness ?" Othen's eyes became brighter than before, perhaps even full of hope. "You... wouldn't mind some company, would you ? I've always wanted to break out of my box and go on some exploration myself, finding some of those minerals and materials they sell you myself. I normally just never have enough time to make a long journey through the land myself, but this time it would count to my job because I have to get back anyway! And you look like someone who indeed might have a lot of experience!"

Of course him not having had much to do with the wilderness was quite a bit of a lie, but the interest to spend some time with her together was real. Branna was attractive and seemed to be on a level of wit that he liked.

As Othen had smiled at her wider and wider, Branna found that she couldn’t help but smile back at him. And then he laughed, a booming, cheerful, sort of sound and she found that she was drawn in to laughing along with him,, her own more of a light trilling sound, despite the heads she could see turning in their direction. Life wouldn’t be half as interesting if you didn’t occasionally get stared at for laughing. Better that than something more embarrassing.

“Be that the case, I’m pretty sure you could do some decent damage if you simply dropped something on an enemy. Like a boulder, for instants,” Branna responded with a cheeky grin, briefly pantomiming lifting something heavy over her head and dropping it onto an unsuspecting foe. Chuckling softly, she dropped her arms to the table.

As the conversation shifted to Othen’s project, her head tilted slightly to one side. Steel like that sounded almost too good to be true.Then again, she was no expert in metal quality. For all she knew, this harder steel was well known among the merchants.

“I might have to get me such a sword at one point. If I can afford it that is,“ she amended, not sure if her salary would be enough.

When Othen seemed to perk up at her Sharing information that she did some exploration, Branna couldn’t help but smile. It was almost like a child getting excited over a present. A very large child. The imagery made her almost laugh, but she just managed to hold back the impulse.

“Thank you for that. I’ve had some people tell me otherwise,“ she admitted, brushing a piece of her hair that had come undone from her braid off of her face. “And no, I wouldn’t mind some company. I don’t have any current jobs lined up and have been meaning to travel into some unsettled areas.“

Briefly taking a drink from her cup, she then asked, “When will you be wanting to head out?”

"Hmm..." Othen murmured more to himself than towards Branna or anybody else. It was a sound indicative of him thinking too much to produce anything more meaningful.

"I have a few things to pick up before I can leave the city, but I know precisely where to go so I don't have to search the proper merchants first. Given the current progress of the day they won't be available until early tomorrow I think, but after that I'd be ready. How does that sound ?"

Othen realized that he was in a bit of a situation: He just had to buy some stuff that he had not intended to buy originally. If he would come back to Branna without at least one bag filled with some stuff that looked like metal or minerals she could very well grow suspicious. So him saying that he'd have to visit some merchants tomorrow early wasn't even a lie, but he'd have to make sure that whatever deception he'd buy would be as cheap as possible. He needed coin for food and water and there also was a stable's owner to pay for keeping his horse supplied.

"Are you going by foot or on horseback ? I'm doing the latter, but we could just as well meet at the east gate instead of the stables."

Othen hoped that Branna would not burst out in laughter at this point. Experience told him that people tended to turn their heads a lot when seeing him riding, so he couldn't rule out that she might find the mere thought of him doing so amusing.

"We could also meet pretty much anywhere else. I suppose you wouldn't have much trouble finding me even in a crowd, would you ?"

The big man smiled as he put up the rhethorical question. Nobody had ever had much trouble finding him in a crowd, except maybe if said nobody was a dwarf who couldn't see anything else than the groins of those standing around him. Branna was not a dwarf though, and if she truly was an experienced adventurer there was no reason to mistrust her abilities. Othen felt like he'd be in good hands with her, but he was unsure if he could do the same for her. His smile inadvertently faded as Othen found discomfort in these thoughts.