Neonlight cast hard shadows across the nightly city's rushing crowd. It was friday night.. finally. Wallace had been looking forward to this evening.

Remembering their very first encounter at Eilean Donil years ago and somehow in the mood of having some fun after the Coruscant's ugly environ had almost made him lose his humour the gendar had decided to surprise her..

A cunny grin on his face he was waiting for her arrival. He really wondered whether she would recognize him after this radical transformation.. he himself wouldn't have recognized the man who had been glancing at him out of the first mirror.. but the dude obviously stood under his command - and this always was a good start.

Fortunately - Wallace had never thought he would ever use such an expression within this context - fortunately it was still a good while until he would return to Shevina. Otherwise he would have never agreed to the barbers suggestion to try a 'more streamlined' hair-do. Nevertheless the good man had still been shocked upon the spiteful glance his customer had given him after his harmless proposal and somehow, although it would certainly be delicious to see her surprise, Wallace wasn't feeling all too comfortable within the expensive evening-dress they had sold him at the high-society boutique he reluctantly had visited two days ago.

Although this new attire did certainly suit the place far better than the metal, leather and velvet stuff he had been wearing in before the gendar felt as if he was dressed up for a costume ball - and the use of this troublesome piece of scratchy cloth they called a cravat remained an unsolvable mystery to him.

It was five past eight.. he still was standing outside the Emperors Inn, he wouldn't want Aina to feel lost around the unfamiliar place. Hopefully she would arrive in time...

As if by command, a small shuttle landed on the platform in front of the ‘Emperors Inn’, and Lady Aina of Teshwan got out of it, looking around excitedly. The young woman was dressed in an expensive wine-red gown. The silver-set sapphire around her neck perfectly matched the colour of her eyes. Though she had been sent here to become a Jedi, her father had obviously seen to it that she was fitted out like it was due to someone of her rank. Her long dark hair fell openly down her back as she laid her head into her neck to look up the facade of the impressive building.

’Everything’s so huge here… and I always thought Eilean Donil to be giant…’ Aina smiled upon the naivety of her childhood. In the last few days, her small world had grown into an endless-seeming universe of strange races, customs and languages. The capitol of the galaxy was an exciting place, so much was sure. But still, she couldn’t bring herself to feel at home in this never sleeping, over-sized city. Full of wistfulness she thought back to Donil, were no artificial lights drove away the smooth light of the moon and stars, to the pleasing sound of the surf down at the white cliffs, and the cry of the screech-owls in the woods… how she missed the embracing darkness of nightfall, when everyone at her father’s castle went to bed, and the only sounds to be heard were her light steps on the stairs to the big tower, where she had been sitting in many nights, for many hours, looking down at her clanlands, and thinking of her mother or of things to come.

Realizing where she was, Aina concentrated on the crowd again. But how hard she tried, she couldn’t find Wallace. She was quite sure he would have sent her a message if he was unable to come. So why wasn’t he here? ’Maybe he’s inside already.’ she thought, slowly advancing at the entrance.

Her silky gown was shimmering in an intriguing red as if dyed within the blood of long forgotten warriors while her remarkable long and dark hair lent her the appearance of a mysterious, shadowy angel. Her mere presence gave a certain splendour to the location. No wonder the people of Donil had suggested magical powers of her.

Lady Aina indeed was a treat for the eyes and Wallace enjoyed watching her graceful movements as she shyly advanced through the crowd until his bad conscience prevailed. It was by no manner of means courteous to let her wait, especially not around such unfamiliar territory. Slowly the noble moved out of the shadow into the cold light.

She had almost reached the entrance as a middle-aged man in dress suit discreetly stepped at her side. "Expect the unexpected." Although the man looked like a perfect stranger to her his voice sounded familiar.. and his grin even more so.

"When thou wander lost and adrift i will be there" ,quoth the sith...

Aina breathed in sharply as the man appeared at her side almost out of the nothing. It took her some long seconds to recognize him, and the surprise was clearly written on her face.
”Sir Wallace! What happened to thy hair?” the same moment the words left her mouth, Aina regretted them. They were an assault on politeness, and they would surely hurt him. She raised her hand to her mouth and said quickly “Excuse me, I have just been too surprised. I haven’t expected to ever see thee in an… outfit like this…”
She looked excusingly at him, her blue eyes wide open. ‘Damn! Why do I have such a quick mouth?’ It was the second time within a few days that it had put her into an embarrassing situation.

’When thou wander lost and adrift I will be there’ The gendar’s words sent a shiver down her spine. This seemed all so… unreal, like a dream. Aina almost felt like the main character in one of those fairy tales the people told their children.

After the first shock, she let her eyes wander over his appearance once more. It was an unusual sight, and Aina found it wasn’t suiting a gendar, but she had to admit that Wallace still looked good in those cloths. They gave the warrior a somehow softer look, without disparaging his manliness. And they didn’t change anything about his dominating charisma. There was an almost physically noticeable aura of power around him, that attracted and deterred her at the same time. For a short moment, the uncanny feeling she had had at Danster’s a few days ago returned, but she wiped it away like a piece of fluff on her extravagant gown.

It was time to put some of her mistakes right. “This dress suits thee.” she smiled, insecurely fingering on the expensive sapphire-equipped ring that decorated her left hand. The jewels had belonged to her mother, and that made them more valuable than the silver and gems could ever be worth.

Dismayed and unbelieving he raised his hand to his head as if to find out what she was refering to. "Oh dear, it is gone.." ,replied he wide-eyedly, "this hath to be a witch's work.."

Oh no, he wasn't feeling offended, she was completely right after all.. the haircut looked horrible. Nevertheless Wallace had refrained from killing the barber, it hadn't brought back his former look anyway and it was just a superficial change after all. The times the noble would have bothered his head about something as trivial were definitely over - a dying foe wouldn't muse about his hair-do.

The Shevinian grinned. He quite frequently did when she was around for somehow he was enjoying her company and right now Aina looked just too cute.. wide-eyed with the realization she had just comitted another breach of propriety in his presence.

"Alas Aina, thou shouldn't judge people by appearances.." ,whispered he smilingly, "..they can be bogus."

"Nevertheless i love the way thou look.. and not just tonight, Milady." Playfully he offered his arm to show her in. "Shall we ?"

[i]'Shall we present them with courtous behaviour ?'[/i] ,was what he had asked - Aina wasn't sure how she knew but hadn't there been this roguish look upon his face ?

"Aye no, they don't even deserve it.." ,continued he in his devilish mood. "So... would ye like to be free ?" ..Free, FREE.. Had he just blinked conspiratively ? "I might forget about our aristrocratic descent.. for this one night."

Another moment Aina looked shocked as she saw the dismayed expression on the gendars face, then she understood his joke and burst into a short, quiet laughter, laying her hand over her lips like she did every time she laughed. Solely the word ‘witch’ made her wince slightly. In the last days she had almost forgotten how it was to be called a witch, but in a somehow strange way, the mere carefree mentioning of this word recalled every memory of the last two years at Eilean Donil.

”Thou would have made a fine jester, Sir Wallace, if thou wouldn’t be such a noble man.”
Aina took the arm he offered and smiled at him. She liked this man more and more. ‘I can’t understand why father doesn’t like the McGreggors, if they art all just a little bit like Wallace…’
Never judge people by appearances… yes, he was right. Especially the last few days had shown her that there was often more than the eye could see.

"So... would ye like to be free?" She threw a searching look at him. What he suggested seemed like an impossibility to Aina. Never would she have thought of giving up the courteous behaviour which she had been told her whole life, and shall it only be for one single night.
With a look in his fascinating green eyes, she threw her concerns overboard. She was at Coruscant, not at Shevina, nobody here would disapprove if she didn’t cling to courteous rules. The only one who could have found disapproval about it had just suggested it.
Another look followed, searching for any signs that he was just testing her, but he really seemed to take it seriously, and so the young woman decided to just enjoy this evening and relaxed. When they entered the glorious, bright lit entrance of the ‘Emperors Inn’, she was all smiles.

None of the discreet guards held them back when they entered the club. In their expensive attire they simply did not look like the kind of people who would come here to make trouble. Alas - never judge people by appearances...

But who could have suspected anything bad ? Aina's open smile simply was a wonderful sight. '[i]Never before political affairs had such a fair face..[/i]' ,Wallace smiled inwardly as he escorted her into the tastefully furnished location, '[i]..and since her father would surely suffer a heart attack if he knew of his daughter's little escapade our date hath something of a clandestine rendezvous..[/i]'.

The thought was exciting. This was something new and more important - it was distracting. Distracting enough to take his mind off the unease he constantly felt around Coruscant. It really seemed he had a personal feud with this planet..

Some guests as usually looked up to catch a glimpse at the newcomers yet in this case a good deal of eyes rested a bit longer upon the arrivals. The Emperors Inn was a comparatively sophisticated pub still they both were a bit.. overdressed and the fact Wallace was escorting her in the oldfashioned way would only emphasize this impression.

As they had taken seat in one of the less visible areas most of the onlookers had focused their attention back on their own business but Aina's enchanting appearance had indeed drawn a few very interested stares, McGreggor noticed it with mixed emotions. On one hand he was angered about their intolerable lack of courtesy.. on the other hand he could not deny a little gloating.. for in the end it was him who escorted the target of their desire '..and none of ye mishapen figures will molest this lady, this much is clear..'. People were always seeking for something new.. yet some games never lost their attraction although they probably were as ould as mankind.

Aina had sorted her gown, Wallace had distributed some more threatening looks - they were ready so far. "What wouldst thou like to drink.. m.. uhm.. ?" ,the Othalan gave a crooked smile - it was not as easy to do without the usual form of address. In order to behave like a commoner he would have to 'drop the noble'... it would be a trial.. and the manner of speaking was only the start.

"It's kinda strange to wear such noble stuff, isn't it ?" ,he tried a first sentence. He had heard colloquial basic before yet it felt unfamiliar to actually speak it. He glanced at her amusedly. "Judgin' by their stares i guess we've overdone it tonite.." ,he added lowly. Aina could hardly suppress a chuckle - Wallace' unsteady colloquial speech sounded simply hilarious. He obviously was serious about his suggestion..

Wallace McGreggor & Aina of Teshwan