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MacKensie placed her knife and fork together on the empty plate and then dabbed her mouth with a napkin.  Frederick was an exceptional cook and had likely been so for a long time, but after watching and learning from James who, last week, had treated everyone to Mexican cuisine for lunch one day, Frederick had been experimenting with new combinations of spices and further enchancing the variety of amazing dishes he could produce.

The innkeeper soon spotted that she had finished and came over to take her plate.  MacKensie suspected he had been chomping at the bit to ask for her opinion on his new variation.  "All done, Miss MacKensie?"

She nodded gratefully.  [Colour=Pink]"Yes.  Thank you so much, Frederick."[/colour]

"Aaaand?  What do you think?"

[Colour=Pink]"A veritable festival for the senses,"[/colour] she gladly told him.  [Colour=Pink]"You have outdone yourself, Monsieur.  Truly a delight."[/colour]

He was quite clearly proud of himself and took her plate away along with another thank you from Mackensie and a shared smile.

It was getting late and the day had been long.  [i]Every[/i] day had been long in this tense build-up to the big battle, but this one had left her extra tired.  Clive and Barracker had both already returned to the inn, MacKensie letting them know that she wanted to introduce Alison to them and had set a lunch date for tomorrow, asking them to attend and telling them that it was very important.  Clive had been his usual steadfast and cheery self, but Barracker had been acting suspiciously odd.  The Paladin had been asking after Zell - who was nowhere to be found this evening - and it sounded like the englishman was in trouble.  [Colour=Pink][i]What has that idiot done now?[/i][/colour] she'd thought.  But whatever Zell had done, it must have been serious because Second Chance's two frontliners had struck up a fondness for eachother from the beginning and had seemed fairly close ever since.  Barracker was a serious and stoic individual, but there was a different, more intense look in his eyes this time.  It was a little worrying, but MacKensie did not pry and hoped that it would work itself out.

She stayed up to see Fenna, James and Adam and let them know about the important lunch date tomorrow.  She neglected to tell anyone that Alison was from their world, as she thought it would be fun to give everyone the big surprise when they were all gathered together.

Unfortunately, the encounter with Adam was the last thing on her mind before going to bed.  It was awkward for her, although her self-control hopefully stifled it enough that it would not be noticed and rub off on the Druid.  She done no crime, but she was full of guilt.  She was naturally friendly with everyone, but after developing an attraction to Zell and Adam - and knowing that they both felt something for her too - that natural friendliness had become a weight around her neck and the basis of her self-accusations of being a flirtatious coquette.  And now - lying in bed in silence and darkness - her final moments before sleep were spent thinking about the way she'd left things with Zell, the morning after their 'non-date,' and full of admonishments that she could never forgive herself if she tore any kind of rift in the group.