Emer
It was seeming to be a bit of a rough day for the reserved guard.
Emer had started with her general duties of taking watch of the northern wall of the castle, not bothering with counting the minutes until she would have lunch. She found that time seemed to slow much more when you paid attention to it, so she'd rather be as patient and observant as she was taught to be. Although most of the guards mustered up some small talk with others nearby on watch, she kept a stony face and stared ahead with a blank expression. Heck, some people could've mistaken her for a painted sculpture! Yet once she was called off duty, she left the castle grounds to the market, grabbing some street food of meat on skewers with grain, adorned with some vivid herbs of the forest.
While eating, someone familiar walked up to her, a vendor of cloths that worked with her mother often. But the name escaped her. The man, clearly frail with a limp to his gait, politely asked about her day and how her work was going. Emer nodded along, finishing up the lunch before he finished. And it happened: he asked for a favor. A running of raw goods from the other side of the city back to him. "Will do," she stated with a signature guard's salute, both her arms crossed before her chest.
It was never just one thing, though. When she arrived to the indicated store, she was asked another favor before she could complete the other. And before she knew it, she was trying to accomplish three things at one time! But Emer would never complain about it, no, she took pride in being relied on so much. Even though she had another shift at the bay in about an hour.
She sped along quickly, utilizing her longer legs, ignoring the fact that Prince Kian happened to be out and about again (and she knew it too well, he often acted the same as always even though he was disguised). She started to pant a little when she finally approached the vendor from the beginning, handing him his goods and, with a curt wave, setting off again in a sprint to the bay. She dashed and dodged past people and bounded across bridges to reach at just the right moment, relieving her fellow guardsmen before returning to a stone-faced statue, gazing steadily at the water. But even then, her troubles wouldn't seem to end, for a bell rang out, one that shouldn't have been rung. She perked up, glancing at the tower that sounded it, waiting to see if it rang again before deeming it a mistake. It wasn't, oddly enough.
It rang again, signaling an approaching vessel. And so, Emer and the other guards prepared hastily, drawing weapons for approaching outsiders.
~
Emer was flustered upon leaving the gathering hall of the castle, Kian following with an odd hop to his step. She stormed quickly to the castle's library, where she knew Julia would be lurking.
"Stop walking like that, this is very serious," Emer snapped at the young prince behind her, her fatigue starting to sour her usually placid disposition.
"Woah, woah, chill," Kian exclaimed with his hands going up defensively. "The outsiders don't seem too awful right now! They're just gonna need supplies and then they'll leave again!"
She let out a sigh of pure frustration as she pushed the library door open. "You don't get it, it's not appropriate for us to go about our daily lives with them just watching our every movement! It's a breach in our security, they surely have something planned."
Kian shrugged. "Well, I understand that, but they can't try anything. We clearly outnumber them."
"Julia!" Emer called, ignoring Kian in that moment. "Please explain to the prince how bad this situation is! I'm starting to feel a headache coming along from all this excitement."
