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Tranquil Waters: The Lead Crown Ch 4-5, En Passant

Umberto had been through Newport several times in his life, or, rather, several times in his OTHER life. Returning as a Templar, he found the newest experience completely different. Seated in the dining room of one of the finest inns in the Scholar Quarter, the Wolverine was surrounded with an entirely different type of crowd, with an entirely different purpose, and dealing with an entirely different set of worries.

It had been three days since he had delivered Evelyn and her son to the Princess' manor. Umberto had been diligent in his duties, having refused to deal with anyone other than Princess Noriene herself. The Princess turned out to be in possession of a ravishing beauty that made the Wolverine weak in the knees, but he remained vigilant to the Prince Regent's task set before him and therefore played his part flawlessly.

Princess Noriene, so far as Umberto could ascertain appeared to be overjoyed at receiving the young lady. She invited the Wolverine to join her and the Ermine woman for a late lunch, saying that after traveling with him for so many days Evelyn would probably take comfort in his presence during the time she spent adjusting to her new accommodations. The Templar couldn't help but smile when his former ward showed up dressed in a proper courtly gown; although far from royalty, Evelyn gave Princess Noriene a run for her money when cleaned up proper.

The Wolverine honestly hadn't known what to expect of the renegade Princess, but all of his preconceived notions were trampled to dust during the day he spent at her manor. Princess Noriene was proper, polite, welcoming, and open. She did not rise to the bait when Umberto occasionally injected little comments about the succession disagreement and even went so far as to compliment and extol her older brother. The only thing that gave the Wolverine even a moment's pause was during the toast when it came time for him to depart; the Princess wore a very familiar ring on her paw: a gilded gear on a simple golden loop.

That was two days ago, and Umberto lingered at the inn ever since. While he'd received a royal stipend for his trip, it had ended up being entirely unnecessary; the Princess had secured the room for him and given him leave to stay as long as he liked-- she understood the task of a guardian and did not expect him to be fully comfortable in leaving his ward right away. There were so many conflicting signals from the Princess, and he couldn't help but feel that there was no simple answer to any of the questions he couldn't even begin to formulate. Things were so much more difficult than working the lines on a galleon.

A soft, but still masculine voice cut into Umberto's thoughts, pulling his attention back to the inn room, "Only water?"

Looking up, the Wolverine met the brown-eyed gaze of a Doberman, "I don't much care for the drinks here." The man was dressed in a large traveling cloak, which wrapped its way around his body and, as he shifted from foot to foot, Umberto could see that he had nothing on under it aside from thigh-length britches.

The Dog gave a smile in greeting, and sat down at the table across from him, doffing his cloak as he did so in a way that transferred it skillfully to the back of the chair. The Doberman's fur was finely brushed, and he made no qualms about showing a lot of it. "Such a pity. I hear what they have to offer here puts everything else to shame."

Umberto found his eyes lingering on the Dog a little too long, so he moved them purposefully to stare down into his mostly empty glass of water, "You approach me quite casually, Sir. Perhaps you confuse me for someone else?"

The Dobie didn't miss a beat. He reached for the pitcher of water on the table and topped off the Wolverine's glass, "Sir Umberto, Templar to the Church, in service to Prince Thaddius. My Lady is covering the cost of your stay here, mlord... I would advise making use of that good will and finding a good... vintage."

Something about the way the Dog spoke put Umberto on guard; he could have brought up the lack of using the Prince REGENT's full title, or subtly suggesting that there was more to discuss than just wine, but what he ended up addressing was neither of those things, "The correct title of a Templar is not 'mlord'.

The Doberman did not even bat an eye, "I would happily call you whatever it is you wish for me to call you, Sir Umberto."

The Wolverine kept it professional and, even when the Dog began brushing errant droplets of water off of his meticulously clean black and brown fur, the Templar maintained an even tone, "I am afraid we have not yet met."

The Dobie nodded his head and he stood up. The Dog was of a light build, but he obviously kept himself in good shape, muscles visible right down to the washboard abdominals. Smiling openly his guest offered a well-executed courtly bow, "Brody, Sir Umberto, in service to my Lady, Princess Noriene."

"And why are you here now?"

Brody sat himself back down and leaned forward, a faint, playful smirk tugging up the corner of his muzzle, "My Lady is overjoyed at the gift presented to her by her brother and does not wish to be outdone... therefore she considers providing him a trained servant from her own household to assist him as he has done by providing my Lady with Miss Evelyn."

Umberto didn't bother hiding his concern, "How is Miss Evelyn?"

The Dobie's smile disappeared and he became immediately attentive to the change in conversation, "She is well, Sir Umberto. The past several days have been good for her, and she is coming to know my Lady's household."

"And her son?"

"My Lady is seeing to it that young master Theo is to begin instruction on scholastics and etiquette once he has settled in to his new life here in Newport. Princess Noriene hopes that the Prince will not object that the kit be taught to read and write as part of Miss Evelyn's compensation for the duties she will be given at the estate."

The Wolverine frowned, just a little, "Only so long as those duties do not debase or discredit Miss Evelyn, I am certain he would not object."

Brody's lips pulled back again into a very suggestive smile as his paw slid across the table to rest lightly on the Templar's, "Oh, please, m'Lord... I would hardly think it would be comely for the Princess to put her brother's gift of a trained servant to any kind of activity that would be seen as unbecoming of a lady."

The fur all over Umberto's body rose at the Doberman's touch and he quickly pulled his paw back out of range, "And you are a trained servant, I assume?"

The Dog's smile remained friendly, but lost a large amount of its lewd nature; despite that, the Wolverine still saw it in Brody's eyes, "I am familiar with personal care, Sir Umberto... dressing, shaving, and attending lords and ladies alike. I am skilled in the talents of massage as well as the Jiuyani study of Body Lines."

Umberto knew little of Jiuyan as only a few Ilyse seamen were assigned to ships with a berth at the island nation and he had never been among them, "What is that study, exactly?"

Brody's smile became almost seductive, "The art of slipping things into one's patient's body in order to relieve stress." The completely tasteless phrasing was clarified immediately as the Dobie drew out a long, finger-length piece of thin, finely honed metal, "Our bodies have currents, just like the sea, and within those currents are islands of energy that can be activated with the correct touch... sometimes a finger, and, at other times, a small needle."

The Templar's frown remained, "You call that a SMALL needle?"

The Dobie returned it to his pouch with a wink, "Size is relative, I suppose-- but I was also assigned for one very distinctive purpose that my Lady knows will be of utmost importance to any servant to Prince Thaddius: I do not have any white fur."

Sir Umberto's frown was wiped immediately from his muzzle by surprise and recollection; he'd heard on a number of occasions that the Church refused to let the Prince interact with anyone who had white fur-- such a decree seemed strange since Miss Evelyn certainly fit that description. He never received any clarification as to the matter. Troublingly, the complete stranger in front of him was apparently aware of it, and the question escaped the Wolverine before he could stop it, "Why?"

Brody inclined his head, jovial foolishness disappearing from his face replaced in an instant by professionalism, "My Lady respects her brother, and understands his affliction. She would not wish to compromise that."

It wasn't precisely the answer Umberto was looking for; the Doberman obviously misunderstood his inquiry... but he didn't have a chance to clarify as Sandoval helped himself to the third seat at the table, "Sir Umberto-- I didn't realize you were socialable enough to have friends. Who do we have here?"

The Templar motioned to the Doberman, "Brody... he is a gift to the Prince Regent from the Princess in exchange for Miss Evelyn."

The Human raised an eyebrow, "The exchanging of gifts between family when they cannot stand one another-- this custom shall always be a mystery to me."

Umberto glanced between the bemused look on the Doberman's muzzle and the casual, devil-may-care expression on Sandoval's face and shrugged. The Human had not followed him into the manor, and that was likely a good thing because the swordsman was astute enough that he would easily have noticed the cog ring on the Princess; things assuredly would not have gone well. Even as he contemplated what he would say to Sandoval, or if he would even discuss it at all, Brody ended up being the one to fill in the silence.

"We are in no hurry... I am certain my Lady would be gracious enough to allow you to stay several more days if it would help alleviate your stress... and, if it would help, I would be happy to offer my own services as well."

Rather than wait for Umberto to answer, Sandoval spoke up, "You are free of your task to protect Miss Evelyn. I would consider it a great honor and repayment for my services if you would aid me in following up on one or more leads I have discovered regarding--" the Human glanced around the room and leaned in a little closer, "...the organization we have discussed at some length... I have possibly made headway since we last met."

Umberto considered the possibilities: he did not mind the idea of staying on a few days at the inn to make sure Miss Evelyn was settling in-- alternately he could just go back to the Princess' manor and visit himself. Then again, he could not ignore the fact that Sandoval had been of help, so returning the favor was not out of the question... except that he DID have to get back to Graddin, especially if he was supposed to be delivering Brody.

The Wolverine let out a deep breath; returning to Newport WAS entirely different as a Templar... as a sailor he had others choose his path for him and suddenly he found himself carrying all that responsibility himself. He gazed at the two men sharing the table with him, both looking to him expectantly. Nodding, the Templar made a decisive choice, "Very well. I have considered the options-- here is MY plan..."