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Erik knew that the calm wasn't going to last.

You didn't spend most of your life on the water without knowing that the flat calm was only as sure as the next cloud on the horizon. Storms came and went, ebbed and flowed. There were some you could watch approach, others that turned a clear blue sky to the dark grey of impending doom. He wouldn't trade a moment of it.

For now, though, he was going to enjoy the stars overhead, the sound of water against the hull, and the memories of watching a MacDuff put the crown on Bruce's head. Between that and reuniting Chief with his bride? It hadn't been a bad month. It wouldn't always be like this and there wouldn't always be victories. They'd started a dangerous campaign and would be fighting major and minor battles along with the overall war to clear the damned English from their lands.

Erik MacSorley knew how to take advantage of every opportunity, even when the opportunity was for nothing at all to happen.

Chuckling to himself, he decided celebrations might just be in order. Meg, he knew, would welcome him and the rest of his crew with open arms...and possibly open legs. Cheered by that, he roused himself from the deck and went towards the hatch to let the lads know of his plan. His clansmen were always more likely to step lively when they knew what the payoff was.

He wasn't two steps below decks when he realized something had happened, something even Campbell couldn't see.

He was in a castle of some sort. It had to be that because no keep was as appointed as this. The floor felt strange under his boots, the air had lost the scent of the sea, and everything about where he stood fairly screamed out wrong.

Deftly, he pulled his sword from his sheath and kept his eyes out for whatever had caused this magic.

OOC: Erik is dressed like this but with Matt Barr's face.

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For the first time since he'd stepped into this strange place, he felt at ease. And it wasn't just having a beautiful woman on his arm, either. "I don't know that I'd be callin this place a haven, but the world I left was much like yours. M'country's fightin fer it's independence from a country that wants t'rule ours for nothin more than taxes and their own selfish desires t'expand their borders. Would that I could go t'yer land, m'lady, I'd take on those that would threaten ye."

"Would that you could," Zelda agreed. It was a nice sentiment, fighting to reclaim the Hylian throne but it was one that seemed so far out of reach while wrapped in the safe embrace of the Nexus.

"There is nothing I want more than to know my people are safe and myself on the throne but at this juncture, it is too much of a liability to stage a coup now. If I die, I become a symbol of rebellion but I leave our people without anyone to take my place and without anyone to set their hopes on. It is a difficult path." Zelda sighed softly and gave him an apologetic smile.

"But surely you do not wish to be burdened with my troubles. Come, tell me more about where you hail from. What is it like, living near the sea?"

Erik couldn't help thinking that King Robert would like this lass, who was fighting a struggle not like his own.

"Ach, lass. If only I could find m'way back there and take ye t'see it. There's nothin quite like it. The sound, the scent, lyin on deck with nothin but the stars and the soft swell of the waves rockin ye t'sleep. I never feel quite right unless I've got the sea on th'air. But as we're fightin a war, there are times I'm called t'be away. Thankfully, there's enough mess close t'the shorelines t'keep me near it."

"I have never seen the sea. I do not even know how to swim," Zelda admitted, somewhat embarrassed at that. It was such a simple thing but it had been a luxury that the princess of the realm had been unable to engage in. "I suppose I could manage not to drown but that is about all. Spending the day at the shore sounds wonderful."

"Don't know how t'swim?" he asked as though the concept of that was foreign to him. Most likely because it was. "Then I'll make it m'purpose t'see to it ye have such a skill at your service, Princess. There's got t'be a loch around here somewhere we can see about lettin ye learn t'float at least."

"There is a pool here where people can swim," Zelda said, lips quirking up in a bit of a smile.

"It is indoors, though, and not anything like a proper lake or a river. Still, I guess it would serve to teach me how to stay afloat. Hopefully I do not sink beneath the waves like a stone. That would be my luck, wouldn't it?"

"Indoors? How can ye have water indoors?" Erik left that confusing bit of information aside and pulled up his shoulders. "Do ye think I would let ye sink t'the bottom, lass? If I mean t'teach ye the joy of swimmin, I'll be right there with ye t'see ye learn it properly. Ye've m'word on it."

Zelda laughed lightly. "All right, then, I won't be allowed to drown. That is the first hurdle breached, then, isn't it? Next, I'll have to learn how to actually propel myself in the water and not flop around like a dying fish."

"Ach, that's good but sometimes it's just as much fun t'float upon it, lettin the swells and currents carry ye where they will. Nothin in the world like it," Erik commented and it was clear just how much he loved it. "Once we get ye floatin, I'll find a ship, even a skiff, and we'll harness the wind and I'll show ye what it is t'fly."

"A boat sounds infinitely preferable to being tossed about on the waves," Zelda said, half teasing.

"Am I to presume you are actually part fish then, as comfortable as you are with the water and how much you dislike being trapped indoors? It would explain a great many things."

"Would that I was, Princess," Erik said on a mock sigh with a hand to his chest. "Then I could live in the water all the time and never need for land. But I fear I'd miss those things we can do that fish cannot." He added the last while leaning in towards her ear, then threw a wink at her as he straightened.

"And what does that entail, exactly?" Zelda had little experience with the opposite sex aside from actually pretending to be a boy for a while when she masqueraded as Sheik. Her future had all but been stolen from her.

"Dancing, I presume?"

"Of course," he responded, without breaking the grin off his face. "Though I'll admit I'm not much for dancin. Never had cause t'learn. Maybe ye could teach me, a trade for swimmin lessons?"

"I could certainly teach you to dance," Zelda said, eying him carefully. "You are quite a bit taller than me, however, and it may prove awkward at first. I am afraid you make at least three of me."

Possibly an exaggeration but not by much.

Because the mental image was a delightful one, and he'd seen more than one of his clansmen fall to the charms of a tiny one, he knew the benefits of such an arrangement. "Ye are a wee one, lass, but there are ways around that, so I've seen, and more than likely will save yer toes from being trampled."

"I have learned to be nimble when necessary," Zelda said, her smile just a bit broader than before.

"Only when necessary, though. What do you know of dancing, Erik? Do they dance often in your homeland?"

"Not as often as we once did," he confessed. "Weddings, the occasional night of drinkin and celebration of a victory in battle. War doesn't lend itself t'much dancin, I'm afraid. But I know it's a brilliant excuse t'hold a lass close to ye without setting anyone's tongues t'waggin about impropriety."

"Yes, dancing does serve that excellent purpose. I only hope I get a chance to engage in some soon. Too long has my country had other pressing concerns to allow itself something so frivolous as a dance."

Zelda gave him a soft smile. "It seems wrong to want such pleasurable things when work is to be done."

Now there was a smile worth seeing again, Erik thought. "Aye, ye've a point there. But at the same time, isn't it those times of dancin and laughin that make us take up the sword again t'see to it there are more? Too much war is almost as bad as too much time at leisure. Ye have t'take the small doses of peace where ye can." He laughed a little. "Learned that well enough in Ireland. They're a fierce lot when fightin, but they know the benefits of takin a night when ye can t'enjoy a bit of drink and merriment."

"This place is relatively calm," Zelda told him, motioning toward a particularly lovely floral arrangement. "It is a balm and solace to my war weary soul."

Erik turned behind him and plucked up a flower from one of the arrangements and presented it to her when she straightened. "Then lets make the most of the gift we've been given, Princess. Leave our wars behind us and live for the moment we're in."

Zelda flushed a little pink. She had never been courted or given a gift by a handsome man before and as innocuous as it was, she was still a little stunned that someone had noticed her in that way. She took the flower and sniffed it delicately before tucking it behind one ear.

"Come, I should show you the rest of the grounds. This inn is quite expansive, which is good if you are stuck tarrying here for a while."

Erik decided then and there that if the beautiful little blush he saw on her cheeks was the response, he'd be coming up with flowers more often. "I could think of worse places t'be stuck, Princess, and but I doubt I'd ever have been able to come up with near as delightful company, even in my fondest dreams."

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