[FIN]Chance Encounters (Rennal, Hong, open)

[Merik Dragmire]

Merik strode through Westport a cloak hiding the sign of the Gerudo on his back and the hood obscuring his bright red hair, doing his absolute best to ignore the ships being loaded and unloaded down on the docks, before stopping outside the Drunken Zora to investigate a few of the wanted posters stuck to the wall.

"10,000,000 Rupee reward for the person or persons who bring in the Pirate King to the Hylian Knights, dead or alive." he muttered as he thought. You'll never catch me if you're going to offer so little...

"500 Rupee reward for information on the Gerudo thief known as Aveil." he read off the next, a slight smile forming. Well its good to know that some things will never change...

"Missing child named Rennal, parents desperate for information, report to the Knights, reward...blah blah blah." he rolled his eyes at the last one before walking into the tavern and taking a stool at the bar.

"Rum." he said as he caught the barkeep's attention and waited for his drink.

[Morrigan]

"Now look here little missy, you oughta run along home to your folks, not many here are as kind as me," a scrawny guy in the corner said with quite a bit of confidence in his tone, and an equal amount of condescending. He had about four guys around him, all of them bigger than him and definitely seeming like his guards. On the other side of the table as them....was a girl, pretty young too. Long blue hair with her trademark hat on her head, all four peaches in place atop it, she stood with an annoyed look on her face, red eyes deadpan staring at the little man in front of her. Really, why did she bother sometimes? Oh yeah, she was bored.

"And not many are as pathetic as you either. What's wrong with having me around to help out? Scared of petty myths about women at sea?" Hong responded to the man without so much as blinking. The man had a flash of terror on his face before reverting to a mix of anger and irritation. This girl actually worried him; not many were so ignorant of who he was that they opposed him so openly like this. She, on the other hand, wondered how people like this could even survive. Surely these guys can't defend him from everything, right?

"That's it! I've used up my kindness for the day! Butch, teach her a lesson about why you don't mess with me!" he shouted and pointed to the large man to his far left, who simply nodded before walking over to her. Hong's expression didn't change, though as the man approached she was channeling her chi into the ground beneath her. Earth's Stance was active, so she was pretty confident whatever this man did wouldn't phase her. After all, just about the only thing he could do to move her right now was pick her up, and why would he waste his time doing that? She was so little, a mere push would send her flying; at least, that's as far as he was concerned.

A loud slapping sound rang through the bar for a moment as the man's large hand collided with Hong's cheek. That was about the only effect it had though; she hadn't budged an inch. Not even her head had turned, leaving a large red hand print on the side of her face, but she didn't feel a thing. What was previously an annoyed grimace became a confident, arrogant smirk that was so wide it even showed her teeth. The little man on the other side of the table began to squirm; nobody had ever been able to resist the strength of his body guards before.

"My turn," she remarked, pulling out a small orange cylinder from her pocket. She held it over the table and from it sprouted a large sword blade, the weapon of choice for this incident being a slightly oversize zweihander. However, the way she formed it, the blade formed downwards, cutting straight through the table and digging into the floor a little bit. The blade itself was unusual, as it seemed to cycle through all the colors of the rainbow, constantly shifting and fading from one color to another. With a single, powerful swing of her arm, the sword continue to cut through the table, cleaving it in half. Her arm brought the sword around to rest on her shoulder, and she made the universal 'bring it' gesture with her free hand to the little man.

"Grrrr, you little brat! I'll show you who you're dealing with! Go boys!" the man shouted, the other three men moving to surround her. She didn't move from her spot, her smirk only continuing to grow as she intended to get some practice on these guy.

[Merik Dragmire]

Drink now in hand the King had turned at the first shouts to see what all the noise was about and was more than a little annoyed at the source: four men and a young woman. He was about to turn back to the bar when one of the men struck the woman full force with nearly no effect. Once she pulled out the, clearly magical, rod and materialized the huge blade he was quite interested.

"Gentlemen!" he called out as three of the four began to circle the girl, taking a long drink before continuing. "Before you make the horrendously foolish mistake of attacking this woman, I might remind you that you are most likely not being paid NEARLY enough to die or be maimed because your employer is a fool. Also I'm rather curious what it is that has led to this little encounter and would like to hear what both sides have to say before I decide exactly how big a fool your employer is."

[Morrigan]

The four men turned when Merik spoke up, realizing that he has a point and beginning to wonder if following this little man was worth while. They began to look at each other with confused, questioning looks, muttering to each other about how much their lives were actually worth. Hong was a little disappointed since the fight she was looking forward to might not even happen, not even tensed to fight now but just standing there idly tapping the blade against her shoulder and looking around, the peaches still remaining balanced on her head. The poor man sitting on the other side was quickly getting annoyed with both the new man who decided to chime in and his own subordinates, who weren't being paid to think!

"Fools! I kept you all out of prison and gave you the lives you have today!" he shouted, though it only had a flicker of effect. The four thugs looked at him for an instant when he shouted, before continuing to discuss amongst each other. A small chuckle came from Hong's mouth as she saw this, finding the man to be steadily more and more worthless.

"You! Stay out of this!" he shouted again, pointing to Merik with a trembling hand. He was steadily losing control of the situation and he didn't like it.

"I wanted to join the guy's crew and go sailing, but he refused to let me because of stupid stories, and well...here we are," Hong calmly summarized for the gerudo man with a shrug, figuring she was the only one who'd offer an explanation anyway. This little fool wasn't even worth joining anymore, now that she saw just how weak he truly was. She'd just have to find someone else's crew to join.

[Merik Dragmire]

"A good crew can't be bought, any real captain could tell you that...oh and if you intend to keep that hand you had best point it in some other direction." Merik said to the man coldly as he drained his drink, stood and walked over to the woman. "It amuses me that people still put any stock in those old tales, if nothing else I'd think captains would be more anxious to get women in their crews. In fact I once heard that with the exception of the Pirate King his entire crew is female...and well say what you want about pirates you can't argue that he is probably one of the luckiest men to sail the seas."

He turned and sized up the little man on the other side of the wrecked table with a smirk.

"So you're a captain? Probably have a little worthless fishing boat am I right?"

[Morrigan]

Hong liked this new guy. He actually knew what he was talking about. He looked kind of strange, what with the dark tan and bright red hair...but it was probably just a look from a different culture that she hadn't seen yet. Besides, he also mentioned something about a 'Pirate King'. That definitely caught her interest. Someone really existed who was so good he could be called the king of something? May be if she got good enough at fighting, she could call herself the Queen of Combat....or something like that.

The little man didn't exactly enjoy this guy though. He actually knew what he was saying, rather than going on word of mouth. Not only had he gotten ideas into the heads of his guards, he was also demeaning him...in front of said guards. At this rate his entire life would simply crumble to pieces and he'd have nothing left. He couldn't afford to stick around for that.

"I don't need to sit here and deal with this...c'mon boys, let's get out of here," he said as he got up and quickly made his way towards the door. The thugs looked at each other for a moment before exiting as well, though from outside the two would be able to hear this much...

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE LEAVING?!"

Hong couldn't resist after that and broke out into a short, but joyous laugh. It was so fitting that the man's lively hood would end up like that, ruined by a couple of people who just happened to be there when he was. While she was a bit down about the fighting dissolving before it began, at least she got a good laugh out of it.

"Aaaah, that was great.....so right for a him to end up losing his help. Bit of a kill joy though, I was looking forward to the fight," she thought out loud as she let out a sigh, realizing she was all ready to go now for nothing. The sword blade faded, leaving nothing but the orange cylinder, which she promptly slid back into her pocket before turning to face the man who more or less ruined the annoying one's career with a few well-placed words.

"So what's your story?" Hong asked abruptly, resting a hand on her hip as she looked up at the much taller individual. She wasn't really concerned about him, but it was certainly annoying to crane her head up to look at him. If he was interesting enough though and could at least make up for what she lost with the annoying guy, then may be his company would be worth it. Otherwise she'd probably just go back to walking around the dock looking for another captain to ask.

[Merik Dragmire]

Merik led her to a less demolished table in the corner, away from the crowd, and sat down.

"My story? I'm afraid there isn't much to it. I'm the ruler of my people, I'm heir to a great legacy and I'm currently the topping the "Most Wanted" list of the Hylian Knights and if they actually discovered who I am they would have to come up with a number higher than #1 to put me at. I was originally known as the King of Thieves though in the last ten years I've become more commonly known as the Pirate King. When it's not a major important matter I go by Merik." he said as he gave a signal to the barkeep that he wanted another drink. "I'm sorry I ended the fight, I really wanted to see what you could do but I had to be sure the idiots didn't actually work for me."

[Morrigan]

Well, the guy certainly didn't try to hide who he was. Hong went with him out of curiosity as to who he was, and frankly now this guy had her interest. Not only was this guy the most wanted man alive, he was also a king and had an entire pirate crew. That was certainly something worth looking into. At the very least this guy could make a good sparring partner, though ideally she could join his crew and sail with him.

Wait...she knew she had heard something about people who looked like this guy. What were they called.....started with a g.....ge.....goron? No, not them.....Ger..udo? I think that's what it was. The Gerudo......I think we had a Gerudo disciple at the dojo. Only reason Master trained her was because.....that's right, they were a warrior race,

[/color] Hong thought to herself as a wide grin began to form on her face. This guy ruined her fight, but he could more than make up for it if he was the king of the race of warriors. That would be much more interesting than some thugs.

"Don't apologize, because see, you've got what it takes to make it up to me. See....I could turn you in for a massive bounty, have more money than I know what to do with, and live comfortably for the rest of my life....but that wouldn't get me anywhere. You look like a Gerudo, which means if what you're saying is true, you're the King of the Gerudo. They're a warrior race of people....which means you've gotta be the best one there is," Hong began to explain, making sure to keep her voice down enough so other people wouldn't hear. It'd make things complicated if others knew the Gerudo King was in the bar, especially if they figured out he's the Pirate King too.

"So, I've got a deal for you; we step outside and have a match, one on one. I win, I get to join your crew and train with them, because I've got a grudge match to settle. You win, I keep your identity a secret and we go our separate ways. You in, Merik?" Hong held a hand out for the handshake of agreement if he was confident enough to take her on. Really, did he have anything to lose? If he wins he gets a new crew member, and if he loses he doesn't get turned in anyway. She had everything to gain from this and he had nothing to lose, so where was the down side?[/blockquote]

[Merik Dragmire]

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you but being the king of a race of warriors doesn't automatically make you the best, among the Gerudo there is only one male born a century and that male is always the king." he replied somberly as he quickly drained his new drink before smirking and shaking her hand. "That being said I've earned the right to be called the best warrior more than a few times over. We'll go down the shoreline a bit, make sure nobody tries to call the guards to break up a fight."

He stood up and walked to the bar, giving the barkeep enough rupees for his drinks and to replace the table before walking out the door and to a secluded spot about a mile down the shore.

[Rennal]

In this secluded spot was only person, Rennal. He sat far from the sand of the shore, beneath a tree, reading the only book he'd taken from home. The book his servant, Jarreth, handed him before he left his room. It had gold lettering on the front of he leather bound rice paper. Fragile, but beautiful. He'd only begun to read it, since he wasn't that big a reader, but Jarreth had been proud of his gigantic book collection, all fiction. He had his head in the clouds, believing in the impossible, but he was loyal. Compassionate and loyal Jarreth was the only person from home that he missed. He wished he could contact Jarreth, but that would be a sure giveaway of his identity, even if he used his nickname.

He sighed, swallowing a lump forming in his throat as he put a bookmark at the end of the chapter and read the first page of the book again. His servant's initials were written in the careful, simple penmanship of Jarreth just below the book's title, "Lost Call of the Sirens." A book about a Siren who lost her voice, caused by the Dreamcatcher, who controlled dreams at will, and could even turn dreams into reality. At least that's what Jarreth said it was about. It had been his favourite book, full of action, romance, deceit, treasure, monsters, magic, and even family. Rennal had insisted he kept it, but Jarreth had insisted he take it even more. It had been the only copy on the island. It must have been hard for him to give up, Rennal thought.

Then he saw a pair of people strolling up the beach from the direction of the tavern out of his peripheral vision. He closed the book and carefully placed it back in his bag, then stood and slung it over his shoulder. He wasn't sure whether to go up to them and greet them or give them peace. That would probably be even more suspicious than greeting them, maybe they would think he's spying on them. But then again, maybe they didn't want to be interrupted. A man and a woman strolling together, alone. But wouldn't they be holding hands? So, against his better judgement to just leave, he strolled down to the sand, hating the texture of the sand beneath his boots, but appreciating that at least he wasn't barefoot, and waved to them just as they were about to pass him.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said, then suddenly wished he had thought of a reason for talking to them. This would be awkward. "Where are you headed?"

[Merik Dragmire]

"Hardly interrupting, the lady and I were just looking for a place far enough from town for a nice friendly sparring match without the troublesome guards being called." Merik replied as he took a look at the young man. "A bit young to be hanging around Westport by yourself aren't you lad? You should probably go find your parents lest you run into any of the more unsavory types that frequent these parts."

[Rennal]

Rennal frowned at his comment. "I'm quite old enough to take care of myself, thank you. I was trained from an early age to be handy with a blade." He looked Merik up and down. He didn't seem out of the ordinary, albeit a bit tan. Maybe he just spent a lot of time in the sun. "Friendly sparring, huh? I've had experiences with those. Nearly chopped his head off."

[Merik Dragmire]

"Training and sparring is all well and good but its not until the first time that you slide your blade into a man's guts and watch his life slip away that you know you are really ready to take care of yourself." Merik said as he unhooked his cloak, removed his tunic and carefully folded it over a silver whistle before sitting the three items on the sand. Without the cloak and his tunic, the gems circling his arms glittered brightly in the light as he took a few seconds to enjoy the warmth of the sun on his skin.

[Rennal]

Rennal stared at the gems for a few moments before he forced himself to take his eyes off and face Merik. "I've done it before, though. Killing someone, I mean."

Of course, he was lying. Rennal had never had the guts to kill anyone, and in Hyrule with monsters, it's a wonder how he managed to stay alive. He figured if he could just negotiate right, he could avoid anything more than a friendly spar.

[Merik Dragmire]

Merik studied Rennal's eyes for a moment before smirking at him.

"If you say so lad..." the Gerudo replied, though his tone clearly said that he knew better. "Well I'm sure you'll find a chance to prove yourself...unless you don't in which case I guess you'll just be dead."

[Rennal]

Rennal furrowed his brow. Clearly he didn't believe him, and it irritated him. "So you don't believe me. Why don't I prove to you that I can kill a man?"

He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, his fingers drumming along it in anticipation. He would have fun with this if he accepted.

[Merik Dragmire]

The Pirate King caught the look in Rennal's eyes and couldn't help but laugh as he watched the lad's hand go to his blade, knowing he must seem a fairly easy target completely unarmed.

"Alright boy, who is it that you plan to murder?"

[Rennal]

Rennal hated the thought of being a murderer. "I didn't exactly think murder. But the more respectful fight to the death." Mother was a murderer. Of other races.

Then he nodded briskly and took his hand away from his sword. "Yeah, I'm not really a murderer. I only kill when I need to, which isn't that often." He laughed nervously. "My name is Iadar, by the way. Got a name?"

[Merik Dragmire]

Merik smirked again as Rennal's hand moved away from his sword.

"Merik, and don't worry it wouldn't have been a fight to the death; I'd have let you live when all was said and done Iadar, no point in killing you for no reason after all."

[Rennal]

Rennal chuckled, looking at his feet. He prayed Merik couldn't see how embarrassed and dishonoured he felt for backing out of his own challenge. Honour was held high at home, and he could just hear his mother now: You're a disgrace to the household, Rennal. You'll never make it as head.

He sighed, shaking off the thought, and met Merik's gaze. "Nah. It doesn't seem right, weighs down on my conscience."