The four guards patrolling below spot a young woman on the wall of the castle and call up to her.
"Hey, Elyssa!" one of them shouts, "your shift's over, yeah? You wanna meet us down at the gatehouse and hit the taverns tonight?"
Elyssa Laurentine wouldn't have wanted to associate with common rabble like these people on her best day. Now, fresh from a cold, dreary, miserable shift guarding North Tower Two, she'd rather chew glass than spend even more time in a room with any of them voluntarily. That she is slumming on common guard duty while that mongrel Outlander dog VALARI has been assigned to a post on the Queensguard by a post that her OWN FATHER and his bought-and-paid-for general had recommended her for was beyond galling. She looks and calls down to the other guards with an apologetic smile.
>"I am beyond flattered by your offer, friends, and on a future night soon I'll gladly accept. But I hope you'll excuse me this time, my father insists on some personal studies that I've not yet completed, so I must return to my chamber for an hour or so, then get some rest. I rise with the sun tomorrow for my next shift."With a couple of good-natured jeers and shouts of encouragement the group of guards moves along their way. Elyssa is inclined to do likewise, making her way towards the tower with the stairs, when she spies a petite, orange haired young woman crouched upon the wall nearby. There is something familiar about her: Elyssa feels she must have seen her in a magazine, or maybe on television. She's certainly very striking; that's the kind of face *and figure* that one will remember.
>>19818040>>19818043Slowly, Elyssa approaches this interloper, a little suspicious and a little intrigued.
>"Pardon me, I don't think we've met. What is your business here on the wall, at this time of night?" 