Anwyn smirked back at him. "As it was, we didn't need your help afterall", she giggled, taking great enjoyment in her secret, "Mestru Merrick helped me to come up with a idea ... and MAYBE I'll tell you two about it LATER ... if it works".
"'Tis enou'!" Gwenn said sharply, having had enough.
"NO", Anwyn interrupted equally as sharply, scowling right back at him, "I DON'T have to take orders from YOU -- you're NOT MY PARENT !".
"Aye, ye do! While ye're in the city!", Gwenn insisted just as vigourously.
"Not unless it's OFFICIAL business. This is my OWN personal business, so it's none of YOURS", she told in return, determined to be just as stubborn as HE was being.
Oberon's ears perked up as he approached. Settling himself down on a rooftop, he watched in confusion. At first, he wasn't certain what to do in THIS sort of situation. For now, it simply looked like a squabble between two human-chicks who BOTH 'belonged' to his Human-Sister. Finally he decided that, at long as neither one of them was getting damaged, then he likely didn't need to summon either her or Brother-Uncle to deal with them.
Gwenn's reply was even sharper as he replied "I dunna ken what ya think ye're doin' here, but ye're goin' back now. Ye can tell yer idea ta Kay". He grabbed her arm and began pulling her toward the spaceport.
Anwyn's reaction to Gwenn, was more instinctive than polite, as her well-trained reflexes kicked in. As much as she disliked having to use those skills for REAL combat instead of just for recreational exercise, all those years of lessons meant that there were certain actions that just automatically triggered a certain kind of spit-second response in her. So, with a sharply-pitched snarl like that of some sort of hunting cat, she twisted-and-pulled abruptly and slipped through his grasp as easily as if she'd been a stream of water.
Gwenn's trained reflexes had kicked in also, but he hadn't time to adjust for the fact that Anwyn was so much smaller than the men he was used to dealing with. His other hand grasped air, and his attempt to kick her feet out from under her was just a fraction of a moment too late.
So he found himself abruptly left holding nothing but Anwyn's over-tunic as she slipped through the gate into the stranger's yard, and latched it shut behind her.
Since Gwenn didn't seem to notice Anwyn's sketchpad and pencil (which lay where they had fallen) Burl sighed, then walked over to pick them up. He did NOT want to get himself into the middle of what was clearly a family dispute, but it was starting to look as though he wouldn't have much of a choice in the matter.
"Are ye daft?", Gwenn shouted after Anwyn, "Have ye nae shame? I ken ye dunna care what trouble yer actions may bring me -- mayhap ya even think it cute or amusin' -- but do ye nae care what yer actions do ta Kay?" Gwenn asked angrily.
"That's NOT FAIR of you, Gwenn MacConal", Anwyn replied angrily through the gate, using his full name for once. "I'm almost FOURTEEN of your years old ! And I'm a TERRANAN citizen, NOT one of YOUR people ! And I DON'T need a babysitter. And I'm NOT doing anything WRONG", she added insistently. *Well*, she thought to herself, *technically, I'm probably trespassing if the owner of this place objects to me being here admiring his roses. But he'd have to tell me that himself. And maybe he won't mind*.
"Well then act like it!" Gwenn shouted to her. "An' ye wouldn't be allowed here, even accordin' to yer own rules, were it nae fer Kay!" Gwenn shouted to her back.
Anwyn decided not to bother replying to THAT comment -- it had too much to do with why her current task was so important to her. And it wasn't HER fault that a bunch of Service bureacrats had decided that teenagers were second-class citizens. And anyways, she reminded herself, she shouldn't let herself het too distracted from why she was REALLY here -- she could alwatys argue with Gween LATER.
Then, calling up all her courage, Anwyn walked up the path to the house. As much as they annoyed her sometimes, she would rather have the two young men be HERE, rather than having them running off like a pair of tattle-tales.
"Where d'ye think yer goin'?" Gwenn added as he saw Anwyn approach the house. "By Zandru, I'll nae be challenged on account o' you!", he swore angrily. Then he reached through to unlatch the gate, before opening it and beginning to follow her.
Burl didn't know what to do. He walked to the gate, still holding the pad and pencil, looking anxiously around for signs of citizens running to Anwyn's (or the home-owner's) defense. After a few moments, he sighed, tucked the pad and pencil into his pouch, and started to follow Gwenn.
From inside his house, Donal heard shouting, then the sound of his gate swinging shut, followed by the sound of more shouting. He paused for a moment and stopped packing things into his travelling-trunk. Perhaps someone had come to visit and was trying to hail him. If so, then it would make for a welcome break, and hopefully distract him from his worries.
Looking out his window, he saw a rather odd trio of teenagers coming up his front path. The strange young brown-haired girl was significantly ahead of both the rather determined-looking younger Guardsman and the embrassed-looking older one. By her tunic and trousers, his first guess was that she might have come from Thendara Guildhouse. But then again, if that was the case, then why would her companions be male instead of female ? And whose child WAS she, that somebody thought her important enought to need TWO Guardsmen to escort her around ?
*How odd*, he thought to himself curiously as he walked over and opened his front door, *there has GOT to be some sort of story behind this*.
As the door opened, Gwenn's hopes for getting Anwyn quietly back to the base sank. *Now she's done it,* he thought. He turned to Burl. "Burl, go get Kay," he said urgently. "Her last name's MacDonal'-- tell the guard (the one who has a Darkovan brother, you know the one) an' that it concerns an underage Terranan citizen. Hurry!" Burl nodded and left as Gwenn turned back to face the man whose privacy Anwyn had just invaded.
"Ben Dia, mestru", Anwyn said politely in her best Casta, when the door of the house opened to reveal the same face that she'd been hoping to see. Having a choice between the four languages that she knew, she'd decided to GUESS. She was silently grateful that, so far, her dream-vision hadn't led her wrong. And doubly glad that she'd gotten far enough ahead of Gwenn that he hadn't been able to stop her. But, by the rumpled state of the man's plain wool tunic and trousers, she had clearly interrupted whatever he had been busy doing.
"I was told to look for ... Uilleam ... here, so I hope I've come to the right house. My name's Anwyn McCarron", she continued nervously, making another guess and feeling horribly unsure as to what to say next.
Donal looked at the girl in great surprise, noting that her Casta had that odd sort of accent that he'd noticed in many Terranan. He also noted that her surname was of the wrong form to be a Renunciate name. So perhaps his initial guess was wrong then. And even more puzzling, how had she known to come here ? And who had sent her ? By the way in which she'd asked, he was fairly certain that she'd never actually MET his Uilleam.
Feeling more confused-and-curious than ever, Donal decided to test a different guess. "I'm pleased to meet you, young lady", he replied in Standard, "My name's Donal MacLeod, and you are entirely correct that Uilleam lives here. I'd be happy to call him for you ... you've arrived at a particularly-fortunate time. Perhaps you two can be of assistance to each other ... he badly needs a new friend right now".
Noticing that the girl had clearly understood what he'd just said, Donal didn't wait for her to reply. Instead, he stepped back for a moment and turned to shout into the house (in casta) "Uilleam ! Come here !", before Anwyn could bring herself to ask him to explain his last comment.
Then he turned back and informed Anwyn (in caheunga this time) that his Uilleam would be out in a few moments. Donal was rather intrigued to see signs that this strange girl still understood him (and apparently she hadn't even found his switching of languages to be in any way unusual). That in itself was another odd piece to this puzzle.