Ceroill hoped that Kay would be comfortable on his sitting room couch. Sipping his tea, he waited for Gwenn to return, and pondered the strange events of this day. He would have to apologise for being closed to regular business all day, he would have to get some more food, ideally some pastries from down the street. Those should have enough sugar in them to take the volume of his headache down another notch, and for Kay as well. Some raw meat for the hawklet, something for the kitten. Not to mention sanitary arrangements for them. Fortunately, Oberon had proven that he could take care of himself. Ceroill sighed. *There are things to be said for a dull life*, he thought to himself.
When Gwenn came back downstairs, he addressed Ceroill. "Mestru Merrick, I thank'e for your hospitality, for I cannae take Kay to the barracks wi' me an' I ha' nae place in the city for her. I canna' stay the night, much as I would wish to, but I will try an' receive leave to come tomorrow to see her home. Please send if ye need me."
Ceroill nodded. You are quite welcome, young man, as is Kay. I understand about the complications, which is one reason I brought her here in the first place. If you didn't have your duties, there are some very comfortable chairs in the sitting room as well as the couch. You will be welcome as always whenever you return, and I will indeed send if there is need."
Anwyn paused in her stroking of the kitten, and looked up at the three men and the owl. She wasn't sure what she should do next. Part of her had wanted to tag along with the two ladies who had just left. That magic stuff was way cool. What if she could learn how to do THAT ? Another part of her was torn between whether it would be more interesting to follow Gwenn and Louis back to the Base, or whether her curiousity would be better served by hanging around right here.
Mairead answered the question for her. Wriggling off Anwyn's lap, she meowed impatiently at the girl, then started to wander in the opposite direction. Her little tummy was rumbling, and she needed to water a handy patch of ground. *Maybe Mestru Merrick doesn't WANT an unattended kitten loose in his hop*, Anwyn thought to herself, *and what if she ISN'T housetrained ?*. She didn't want to interrupt, so she simply followed the kitten silently out of the kitchen. Nobody noticed her leave. But that was okay.
A few minutes later, Ceroill was showing Gwenn and Louis out the back door, when he thought of something. "Do you happen to know what kind of food Kay prefers, or hates for that matter? I don't want to do her harm by giving her something she might be allergic to", he asked.
"You are too kind, Mestru Merrick," Gwenn replied. He hesitatingly added, "I ken not if she is allergic to anything, but she enjoyed the rabbithorn stew, fruits, cheese and bread at The Roasted Lamb."
Finally, the crowd was gone. As he began to straighten up what little there was to straighten, Ceroill had another sudden thought. That young lass with all the energy...I wonder if she decided to hang about ? He didn't recall seeing her leave, but she wasn't anywhere in sight either.
He began a systematic, though quiet search of the ground floor, and tried using the link with Oberon to monitor the upstairs. The answer came back as a distinct negative. Only Kay and the hawk were upstairs. and Oberon didn't know the exact location of the kitten, except for the fact that she was nearby and not in distress. Using the link was still somewhat painful, but at least now he knew that Kay wasn't being disturbed by the hyperactive teen.
At last, Ceroill made his way to the attic, hoping against hope that it was uninhabited. He very much needed some peace and quiet, to try to sort things out.
Meanwhile, after they left Leaves (en route to the base), Gwenn turned to Louis. "I ken not what your relationship is wi' Kay, Mestru...." Gwenn waited for Louis to supply his last name, then continued, "but ye do na' seem to mean her dishonor. I thank ye for coming when she was taken ill."
Louis smiled sadly. "Kay is...a unique person. We..." He grinned "...almost got married." Louis turned to face something else. He had no intention of providing the boy with more details.
"Aye?" Gwenn said, noting that Louis looked away. "Odd, that. She didna' mention any such occurrance to me at the oath-taking." Gwenn left it at that, mentally noting it for discussion with Kay later. Kay's illness really came at a bad time--but then, had she not taken ill, Gwenn probably wouldn't have known about Kay's escapades.
When they made it to the Base gate, the guard moved to block Gwenn's entrance. Gwenn announced (in Cahuenga), "I am Gwenn MacConal, brother of Kay MacDonal, who works here and has taken ill in the city. I must inform her employer." As he did so, Gwenn unconsciously took an assertive stance, standing straight with his right hand on his knife. The picture of him in front of the tall Terranan guard would have been laughable if it wasn't apparent that Gwenn was deadly serious.
Slowly, so as not to disturb the guard, Gwenn reached into his pouch and pulled out the guest pass that Kay had given him. "Here is m'..." Gwenn paused, at a loss; he didn't know what the small piece of paper in the smooth clear wrapping was called. "writ," he finished.
The guard looked at the pass, then asked to see Louis' again. Since Gwenn was in Louis' company, the guard had no choice but to let him enter. Once they were inside, Gwenn said apologetically, "Kay said that this paper would work as long as I was in the company of someone. Would ye escort me to her employer, so that I may tell him of her circumstances?"
Louis stopped dead in the tracks. He had no idea of who Kay's employer would be. He frowned, trying to remember where her uniform was from, but it was to no avail. Unfortunally he hadn't seen much of her uniform, and, if he remembered correctly, she wore other clothes with it. He sighed and turned to Gwenn. "Sorry, I don't know who her employer is, but I do know how to check that. If you will follow me..."
Gwenn stopped when Louis did. Gwenn frowned slightly. He was confused. They were going to wed and this man didn't know who Kay worked for? Who did he ask for Kay's hand ?