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The soldier looked around the pub once again and spoke to the small crowd of men there: "I am the Captain of the Bodyguards of King Edward. The King will not be staying here of course, but I will and I am a powerful man. I warn you that two kings and one would-be-king will be residing in yourâ€|quaintâ€|village for some weeks until they have determined who shall rule over Scotland. Watch yourselves and do not offend any of the King's men in any way or your head shall be a topic of conversation. I am Captain Corf." And Captain Corf strode out of the tavern with his cape flying behind him. When all the Kings and would-be-kings and their men had settled the village folk were still a bit nervous. For the first fortnight women wore their finest dresses and men made sure they took care to not stain their clothing as much as usual. Soon though, the fact that deliberations which would determine the fate of a country became not quite so fantastic and soldiers and villagers became relaxed and then friends. Captain Corf did not stay in Oisin's tavern any longer than he had to,
and preferred to hang about the local nobleman's castle where the two kings
and DeBruis were staying. Rowan had disappeared not a half a day after she
heard of the deliberations and told no one except Oisin. But around the time
that friendships had formed and new jokes had become old, she returned during
the night. In the morning Daoine had found her in the barn where he was
fetching eggs from the chickens. She had fallen asleep on some hay and her
hair was completely covering her face. Daoine sat down to look at her and how
locks of her hair were the same color of the hay, others red as the sunrise
outside and others brown as a doe's eyes. But then she stirred and her hair
fell from her face to reveal skin ranging from blue-black to yellow-green.
She had one eye blackened; the other one purple, her jaw was severely bruised
and her lips' normally smooth outline was broken with small and large cuts.
Daoine sucked in his breath and his eyes grew wide and his skin pale. He made
noise only for a few seconds but Rowan woke up with a start. She stared at
him and he could see she was discreetly trying to focus her eyes on the
blurry form in front of her. Finally she resorted to squinting and her lips
parted. "Oh, I did not want for you to see so! No! You must go, quickly!" She
rose while speaking and Daoine saw her wince and some more bruises on her
arms and legs, which she quickly covered by pulling down her sleeves and
skirt. "No, no, no! This is not supposed to happen!" Rowan mumbled, while
trying to get past Daoine who stood rock firm in her path.
 
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