[h1][b]Sir Tamlorn Winter-Rose[/b][/h1][hr] Carnations, arum-lilies, bluebells, and daisies wove a flower crown around Tam’s head. The dark-shadowed pools of his eyes were half-lidded, watching his feet carry him away, whilst his mind rested on the shore of recent memories, trying to clutch every detail as they washed away between his fingers. What was he doing wrong? His brow furrowed. Mud splashed at his boots, and the butt of his spear. Buildings huddled over him as he emerged from the alleyway. 

Though he was plainly dressed in a cotton shirt and tan breeches, people stared at him and shuffled out of his path as he stalked. He did not notice. This was the third day and he had still made no progress with his sister; she would simple play with his hair and put flowers in it and never meet his gaze or answer his questions. A hand came unbidden, his own, to stroke a braid in his hair. A smile split the frozen lake of his features, and a deep sigh rushed out. As surely as his sister vexed him, he also knew their love would persist, he just had to bare his punishment. After all, he deserved it. 

Tam blinked. The swelling waft of sweat and the noxious perfumes made his eyes water. He had arrived. He looked back down the road; had he really been that wrapped up in his petty thoughts? Truly, all his training could not keep his mind clear when it came to his sister. That brought a single, rueful exhale. 

The crowd perched upon the stands, like crows waiting for the wolves to leave. With the motley of faces before him, Tam felt his stomach trip, as though the floor had fallen away. Their eyes were truly those of animals, the way they bore into the slaves on auction, hungry, and shot sidelong daggers at their rivals, and Tam had never noticed before. [i]Was that ever me?[/i] He sat on the closest seat, blinking furiously to chase the black spots on his vision away. His forehead rested upon his spear shaft. Surely someone would notice him, even with his years-long absence, and he was not in the right mind for idle conversation, and nor could he be seen as weak. He just had to hope they thought him beneath their concern. 

The auction did little to improve his mood. Disgust turned his eyes to dark quagmires, but he kept his face purposefully blank. He knew a lot of the nobles, of course; he had rubbed shoulders with them, before the business of the rebellion. Enslaving them undermined the power of nobility, enemy of the Empire or not. 

Though, it was not until Jehenne Alcroft was brought in that Tam felt the embers of anger flicker to life, hot inside his chest. He knew her, yet knew her brother better; an unabashed soul, proud but honest - Tam counted him among friends, and wished they could have been closer still. That he was absent was a grim foretelling. Perhaps he escaped? No, Tam crushed that hope as quickly as it came, before it could find roots and tear at his heart. Maybe he could bid for her, his family name held credit. Already interest was being shown, though. Her confusion twisted in his stomach as sure as any knife, and thrice as cold. Embers were fanned to flames. There was a chance if things did not get too expensive -

[color=FFB6C1]“I bid 5 million for Jehenne & Rote.”[/color]

Tam deflated. Too high. He hand clenched around his spear as though he were trying to crush it. The bidder was the gloating young woman with hair of fire. At the mention of the woman’s name, a von Hammerwhirl, Tam straightened. A mage von Hammerwhirl, an oxymoron sure as any, to those that knew them. He eyed the staff, thinking. 

Shouts. Kaufmann’s shouts. The deranged shouts of a desperate man gone mad. Tam's grip on his spear loosened, and he shifted his feet uncomfortably in his boots. Such a spectacle was hard to watch; nobles should not be broken in such a manner. 

His eyes then came up to rest on Jehenne, hoping she would meet his gaze. She would not share that fate, he owed that much to her brother. But could he let her go free either? She was a criminal. What would he do once he had her? 

That, he supposed, was a bridge to be crossed once he reached it.