Part 2 Problem Child

"Tiffany!" Came the shout across the yard.

The boy was face down on the ground with a small patent leather shoe in the middle of his back. She held his arm behind his back twisted painfully, and holding his wrist by both hands.

"But daddy," came the reply, her whining little girl voice drawing out the last syllable like she was somehow being unjustly oppressed. She stood there on top of the lad in her little pink babydoll dress. Her long raven hair in pigtails to her midsection exposing the points of her little pink tinged ears, and her bottom lip pushed out in a pout exposing the little tips of her tusks peeking out from her mouth. "He was being mean to me. He called me a savage."

Lord doctor Johnathan Harkness stopped to stand over the girl, still holding the crying boy in her painful death-grip. "So you prove him right by attacking and injuring him?"

Her shoulders slumped as she felt shame at her father's point. Her actions were hardly able to be deemed civilized. "I'm sorry." She replied.

"You might want to tell him that," he remarked, trying ever so hard not to find the situation humorous.

"I'm sorry," she repeated down at the boy twice her size.

"Maybe apologize after you release him." He added.

She let go of the bawling boy's arm and stepped off him. She grasped the hem of her skirt and looked at him through the top of her eyes as she lowered her head, "I'm sorry, Nelson."

The child scooted away from the girl as quickly as he was able, but Johnathan was over him in two steps, "hang on, let me see it." He examined the arm for a few moments as a crowd was already gathering. "It's fine, no injury but it will be sore for the next few days. You will be fine."

The boy ran straight to his mother, who whisked him away, paying care not to even look at Johnathan or Tiffany. But the murmurs were already spreading through the crowd. Savage half-breed, dangerous little monster, were among monikers that swirled through the crowd. How anyone could not love who Johnathan thought of as the prettiest little girl in the world continued to baffle him. He picked Tiffany up into his arms, it both alleviated the crowd's fears that she would suddenly run at them and attack and more importantly, let him protect her from any retribution by the crowd. "It's fine," he said, putting on his most diplomatic face, "kids fight, it happens all the time. Nothing to be concerned about."

"She attacked him," came a woman's voice, though Jonathan couldn't pick out who it was in the crowd.

"It was a tussle between two children," he assured them, "it happens every day, it is nothing to be concerned over."

He had brought her to the birthday party of another noble family knowing there may be trouble, he expected it anymore. It had been seven years since Selune died and he never felt shame for loving her, or for their daughter. He made no attempt to hide her. He raised her as any lady of noble birth, there was nothing savage about his little girl. Yes she may have a temper, but that is just as human as it was orc.

"Lord Harkness, these outbursts are not unusual." The crowd parted for a man in black robes. Older and sour-faced Johnathan immediately recognised the face of the headmaster of the only school in Winter Hollow. "I am not comfortable with teaching your daughter if she will end up making a habit of attacking the other students, provoked or not."

"She is not dangerous, headmaster," began Jonathan, "Tiffany is usually a perfect angel." A rumble of whispers through the crowd highlighted their doubts. Jonathan turned to his daughter, "you won't fight, right Tiffany?"

The little girl shook her head, sending her pigtails flying back and forth, "no daddy, I promise. I'll be a good girl, I promise." She finished by making a little X across her heart.

The crowd looked to the headmaster, some of their expressions broadcasting his need to come up with a logical excuse to remove the presence of the little half orc girl. "Nonetheless," he began, and already Jonathan's anger was rising, "I must think of the other parents who would be worried sick over a potential monster among their…"

Jonathan's fist was already connecting with the man's face before he himself even knew he was throwing the punch. The older man collapsed to the ground as the crowd stepped back in a seemingly choreographed fear response. "Never call my daughter that, ever!" he stated as he turned and stomped away.

"Lord Harkness!" The headmaster Shouted from the ground, "she will never be welcome at the academy."

"Fine, I will educate my daughter myself," Johnathan shouted back.

They left the grounds of the manor house, Tiffany still in her father's arms as he was still too angry to think to put the girl down. Not that Tiffany minded, in her father's arms was her favorite place to be.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her little head on his shoulder. After a few minutes she asked, "can we ride Firebrand when we get home? They had pony rides at the party but I didn't get to ride one. Even though mommy's horse is better, I still would have liked to ride one of the ponies"

Broken away from the angry torrent in his head Johnathan looked at the girl in his arms with a very questioning look, "surely you don't think you deserve a reward, Tiffany you got into a fight at the party."

"So did you!" She countered expertly.

"Yes but," he began, "that was just because… he was…" he paused as his logic stalled and finally replied, "fair enough. Just a short ride though."

The little girl squealed, and kissed Jonathan's cheek. "I love you daddy."

He inhaled deeply and squeezed her tight, "I love you too, my little darling."

"Tiffany!" Gordon yelled, "pay attention." The girl had been staring out the window while he was attempting to lecture her on applied mathematics. Her attention was never in the classroom, instead the outside seemed to call to her. Running around the grounds, riding her horse, her interests seemed to revolve around savagery in Gordon's opinion. He had been trying to teach her for three years. Johnathan had started in earnest, but his practice kept him far too busy. Gordon had been a teacher before becoming Jonathan's medical assistant, so duties fell on him. In his experience, Tiffany was bright but unfocused. She was well behind where a child her age should be in her education, because she simply had no attention span. "We were discussing powers of ten."

The girl sighed, "you were discussing powers of ten, Gordon. I was trying not to fall asleep."

"The impudence!" Snorted Gordon. "Your father has charged me with your education but you continue to behave as a savage." The look of anger from her at that word had Gordon regretting having used it, "my point my dear Tiffany is that I know you are not one. You are a bright, and gifted child who shares her father's brilliance, but you need to learn to harness it." He squatted down in front of her desk, "I know the potential that is in you, I just wish you would use it."

The clock in the room struck the midday hour, saving Tiffany from more learning. Gordon sighed, relenting to the child, "go, have lunch and I will see you next hour, hopefully more focused."

Tiffany dashed out of the room for the dining hall. Maisy met her with lunch, and the girl ate, as always with ferocity. She was done in minutes, as she often did, so she could spend the rest of her hour outside.

Tiffany ran out to the grounds behind the house, still deciding how to spend the remainder of her hour of freedom, she could take Firebrand through the wood and jump hurdles, or grab the polo mallet and knock the balls around. Then she noticed her father knelt down in front of the marker for Tiffany's mother.

"Daddy?" She said, touching his shoulder. His eyes were wet when he turned, which he quickly tried to wipe away.

"Hello sweetheart," he said with a small sniff, "I was just talking with your mother."

Tiffany looked puzzled at this, "can she hear you?"

"Maybe," he replied, "she told me once that orcs believe that when someone dies they don't go anywhere. They remain with the ones they love, watching over them and guiding them until they themselves join them." He wrapped his arms around the girl and hugged her. "So in a way I guess she can."

The girl detached herself from her father and touched the gravestone, "I miss you mommy. I wish I had the chance to meet you." Her sad expression changed to one of frustration, "I bet you never had to sit through school."

Jonathan laughed, "no, I'm sure she didn’t." He turned her back to face him, "but she was smart, resourceful and cunning and she had to learn all of that practically rather than having someone like Gordon to just teach it to her. So you're a lucky young lady."

"I don't feel lucky," she replied, "I feel bored."

"Well you need an education, and since some people, who won't be named, are short sighted, prejudging stick-in-the-muds…"

"The headmaster," she said, rolling her eyes dramatically before looking back at her father and giggling.

"Right," he said smiling, "and because he is so stuck in his muck, we have to make sure you are educated so you can be as brilliant as I know you can be." At that Johnathan lurched at his daughter and tickled her mercilessly.

The two wriggled around in the grass, tickling and laughing for longer than they should have. Tiffany was late getting back to class.

"Tiffany!" Called out Jonathan as he stepped out onto the grounds behind the manor. He didn't see his daughter anywhere, but she had apparently set up a row of three archery targets at the edge of the wood. A quarter of the distance from the veranda where he stood also lay three polo balls. He looked at the two seemingly disparaging object sets in growing confusion as to how his daughter was planning on connecting them, when he heard the hoof beats. From around the corner of the house, Firebrand was at full gallop, Tiffany atop the saddle in her blue party dress and riding boots, polo mallet outstretched. Her hair whipped behind her in her twin ponytails as she thundered past her father swinging the mallet into the first of the balls. She immediately pushed off from the saddle, spreading her legs out as the horse sailed out from under her and landed next to the remaining polo balls. In one overhand double swing she sent the balls rocketing behind the first toward the targets.

With a thump, thump-thump, the balls landed , near-perfect center of the hay targets. "Woooo!" Cheered Tiffany, as the young woman bounced up and down, mallet raised in both hands over her head.

"Young lady, what are you doing?" Her father asked, as she turned around to give him the most beaming smile he'd seen in a long while. His heart soared when he could see her this happy. She should be happy today, but he feared how alone she had been in recent years.

"Well, I dont have anyone else to play a proper game with," she began, walking up to her father, "so I have to invent a new game to play."

His heart sank at the realization of how accepting she had become of her circumstances. "Aw, baby girl. It's your sixteenth birthday, I did offer to throw a party. You should be debuting."

Firebrand came trotting up, and she grabbed the reins, stroking the horse's nose, "you know no one else would show up, daddy. I can't debut just to you, Gordan and Maisy." The horse nickered, as if annoyed, "yes, and you Firebrand."

Now Johnathan was crestfallen, "I'm so sorry. This isn't fair." He hugged his daughter, and kissed her head. She was already his height of six feet and could theoretically get taller still. "So then let's have dinner at the Oxbow tonight. We can make it a party at the tavern, you are a grown lady today, there is no reason to stay cooped up on the estate."

"It never ends well, daddy," she shook her head, "you remember last time."

"You have not left the grounds in four years, darling." He said with a more somber and worried tone. "I'm sure no one remembers what happened last time."

"A lady screamed just because I smiled at her." She replied, biting her lip as she did when embarrassed. "The town militia showed up. I hadn't done anything and they made us leave on the grounds of causing a panic."

"Sorry, my dear," he sighed, "that was my fault." He took her arm as they walked the horse back to the stable. "Ever since Justin became the commander of the guard, he has taken it out on me that I lied to him years ago about your mother."

"The first time," she smiled dreamy eyed over the story of how they met. She never tired of hearing it. "You saved her and told him you hadn't seen an orc."

"Yes," he responded, smiling as well, "and he won't let me forget making him look like a fool."

"And you healed the orc queen, and then you fell in love."

"It wasn't quite that quick." He argued, "but we got to know each other, then respect and appreciate each other. I didn't know I loved her till she was nearly fully recovered. I realized I would soon have to go on with my life without her in it. She was smart, firey and," he paused, lost in a far away memory of her, "beautiful." His dreamy look fell away and he smiled at Tiffany, "Just like her daughter. And just like her daughter, I could not imagine living without her."

"But you were of different worlds, star-crossed lovers unable to be together," Tiffany continued, in an over dramatic tone, "bound only by your love and the child that love created. A child destined to one day change the world between human and orc." She clasped her hands together in front of her chest and batted her eyes at Johnathan.

"You laugh now," he said, suddenly more serious, "but that is exactly our hope for you." He looked to the direction of the town, although the house blocked the view, "and you deserve more than idling away on these grounds. You… we need to make them accept you. So get all pretty, my dear Tiffany, and I'll give you your present before we leave."

Alright daddy," the girl relented, "but remember this wasn't my idea when the pitchfork wielding peasants show up."

They put Firebrand away and the girl dashed away ahead of her father to get ready.

She descended the stairs in a green flowing gown, with long gloves and her hair down out of her usual pigtails and falling over her shoulders in big bouncy curls. This covered the tips of her ears and partially obscured her face, if she didn't look up at you you might not even notice the points of her teeth.

"How do I look?" She giggled, giving her father a little curtsy.

He smiled, but reached up to brush her hair away from her face, "you look lovely, but you don't need to hide who you are, sweetheart."

Tiffany stepped back and readjusted her hair back to where it had been, "I know, but I think we should start safe and then see from there."

Johnathan gave up with a slight smile, "fair enough." He consoled himself that at least she was willing to leave the house. "But first, your present."

He led her to the study where a small chest lay on the table. He opened it and inside were two small blue gems on silver chains. "You remember my friend Korran from the wizard college? He told me of a gemstone that glowed in the presence of spirits and used to detect hauntings."

She looked at him puzzled, not sure where he was going with this present of his.

"Well," he continued, seeing she seemed lost, "I gave him some…remnants, I had of your mother and he tuned these to her spirit." Her eyes began to light up in recognition. "One for each of us, so kind of a present for us both."

"So we will know when she is with us?" Beamed Tiffany.

"Yes, exactly." Johnathan cheered.

They looked down in the box and their feelings fell, the gems did not glow. "Maybe it's too bright in here?" Said her father, blowing out the candles to no avail.

"Maybe she's just busy elsewhere right now?" Said Tiffany, trying to salvage her father's spirits, "maybe her tribe needs her at the moment? I love it daddy, and we can keep watch and see if they glow, I'm sure it won't be long."

He put the gem around her neck, and she spun a small circle before helping him put his on. "Come on, didn't we have dinner plans?" Said Tiffany.

They boarded the carriage and talked the whole trip to the Oxbow. The two were relaxed to the point of laughing by the time they stopped.

The Oxbow was a large building that housed the town's largest tavern and pub, even possessing on its upper floor rooms for travelers, and for patrons who got a little too merry and had to sleep it off for the night. They entered the establishment with Tiffany around her father's arm, looking down at her feet to not draw attention. The owner greeted Johnathan with a hug and the two exchanged pleasantries and laughed. They were seated at a corner table, lit by candlelight. It was private enough that Tiffany relaxed her worries of being stared at and smiled at her father.

Before leaving, the owner offered to bring a bottle of wine to the house. "The least I can do, your lordship, for saving my wife and son."

He scuttled off, leaving Tiffany looking questioningly at her father. "I delivered his son a year before you were born." He smiled and settled back, "the midwife had given up on them both, so I rode out in the dead of night. I reached in, removed the cord from around his throat and pulled him out. Both lived and Gregor has been accommodating ever since."

"You do so much for people, Daddy." Tiffany smiled, "you should be in the baron's position, not him."

"I do my best where I am." Replied her father. "I am grateful for everything my decisions have brought me so far." He grasped her hand in his and she blushed.

"Hello Doc," said the chipper young man who practically slid up to their table. He sat a bottle of wine and two glasses before he tipped his hat and bowed to Tiffany, "and Miss. What can I fetch you fine folks tonight?"

"Hello Gladstone," responded her father, "we would like the finest feast you can muster. Price is no issue, it is her birthday today."

"Happy birthday, Miss," he said to Tiffany with a chipper tone. She smiled up at him at first, forgetting this would expose her teeth. His smile seemed to disappear for a second before returning in full force. He squatted down to eye level with her, as she now tried to avoid looking at him. "Mum made a cake today, I shall bring you both a piece for the celebration, on me." He looked back and forth between them, Johnathan nodded and Gladstone dashed off to the kitchen.

Jonathan opened the bottle and poured into both glasses, "see, some people are pleased to meet you." Tiffany looked toward the kitchen door to see Gladstone by the bar, talking with other young men his age. He indicated in her direction with a nod of his head and Tiffany quickly turned back as the others started turning to look. She kept her head pointed at the table while her ears burned. A few sips of the wine quickly calmed the burn. "Yes Daddy." She agreed, hoping to end this topic of conversation.

Gladstone soon returned with the food and the two ate and talked, Tiffany carefully avoiding conversations of other people her age. Soon the plates and bottle were empty, the young waiter had not brought the cake, nor anything else to drink. They had seen him bustle around the other tables and figured, or at least hoped, he had just gotten busy.

Johnathan spotted Gladstone at the bar again and said to Tiffany, "why don't you go up and ask Gladstone for another bottle and ask about your cake."

Tiffany stared wide eyed at her father, "me?"

"He liked you, and this will give you an opportunity to talk to someone your own age, instead of your boring father." Johnathan smiled.

"You're never boring, Daddy," she played with her hair, but stood up eventually and headed toward the bar.

Tiffany stepped nervously to the bar and got Gladstone's attention, "my father and I require another bottle, if you please. And you mentioned cake?"

"For the birthday girl, right," said Gladstone, shocked, it seemed at first when she approached but his service smile soon returned as he spoke, and he dashed off to the kitchen.

"You know tomorrow is my birthday," said the taller boy on her side of the bar. "I'm turning eighteen and I'm also having a party. My father is letting me have it in our stable house tomorrow night. You should come," he flashed a dazzling smile at Tiffany, "we could use some pretty girls at the party."

"Really?" Asked Tiffany, who could feel her ears getting hot again, for some reason. "You would want me there?"

"I insist. It's at Sitwell Place, on the city's north side."

"Ok, I will,"said Tiffany, again playing with her hair, "sure."

Johnathan watched as his little girl, all grown up, talked with the boy behind the bar. He smiled at her and then another boy leaned in and began to talk to her. A boy he recognised immediately. Jasper! Son of Justin, captain of the guard and who persecuted Tiffany every chance he could. Johnathan prepared to get up and rush to her aid, but she soon turned back to the table, face flush but smiling and playing with her hair on the way back.

When she reached the table she was aglow, "I take it that went…well?" He asked.

"I was invited to a party tomorrow night!" She was ecstatic, bouncing up and down as Gladstone arrived with the bottle and cake, "this is the best birthday ever."

"I'm sorry to take so long, I guess I got busy." Explained the boy, "what's this about a party?"

"Your friend's birthday party, tomorrow," she began, "he invited me."

"Great," he smiled but looking surprised, "see you there, I guess."

When he returned to the bar Gladstone confronted his friend, "you invited her to the party?"

"Yes Stoney, what about it?" Replied Jasper.

"That is the half-orc girl." Whispered Gladstone through clenched teeth. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking," said Jasper with a sly smile, "that we needed entertainment for the party. Have you ever had an orc before? Because I haven't, and I'm anxious to try it"

Gladstone gave him a disapproving look, "just be careful," he said, "and don't be too big an ass, she seems like a nice girl actually."

"Aw, you got a crush on the orc girl, Stoney?" smiled Jasper, then laughed as his friend shook his head, "relax, if she really is a nice girl then maybe that just means we won't have to defang her first."

Tiffany practically bounced into the house. She had put her signature pigtails back up on the carriage ride home, once more putting her orc features on full view. Johnathan couldn't be happier that she was proud of what she was once more. But he hoped this really was the other kids in town accepting her.

Johnathan yawned and stretched his arms, "it has been a long day, what do you say we head to bed and continue celebrating tomorrow?"

"I guess," she whined, defeatedly before remembering something, "oh, I haven't taken care of Firebrand yet." She dashed for the stairs, "I'll just change and do my chores Daddy, then to bed I promise."

"Don't dawdle," he yelled up to the retreating girl, elated to see her happier than he had seen her in a long time.

Tiffany, now changed into her thick leather chore jumper and work boots, made sure Firebrand was fed and had water in his trough before scooping the dung ridden hay into the nearby wagon. They had people who did these things for the other horses that pulled their carriage, but Daddy made sure Tiffany took care of Firebrand. He told her this is what made him officially her horse, and this responsibility is what bound Tiffany and Firebrand together. She spread the new hay beneath the horse's feet and spent several minutes stroking his nose and talking to him before slipping the horse an apple and leaving the stable.

The stable was at the edge of the wood next to the path that led down to the back gate. She heard the rustling of the vines on the gate and could see, even in the dim light, an arm fishing around the edges of the gateway. She walked to the gate wondering who would be at her father's secret gate at this hour. Still wondering if she should have fetched her father when she reached the gate she saw the dirty, olive skinned appendage examining the hinges, and realized anyone who was here in need of aid would have pulled the rope for the bell.

Tiffany grabbed the wrist by both hands and placed her foot against the gate, "hello," she said calmly, as the arm suddenly thrashed in panic trying to pull back out of the bars. "Is there something I can help you with?" Straining against the arm that was trying to pull itself free.

A string of syllables that Tiffany didn't recognize came from the other side.

"I'm sorry, I don't speak orc," she could see through the space the arm took up that it was a young orc her age, and in turn he could now see her. The thrashing stopped and he stared at her through the vines, "I asked," he began in the common tongue, "what is such a pretty orc girl doing on that side of the wall?"

"So you were reaching through my gate on the off chance of finding an orc girl?" She replied, still holding his arm in a tight lock. Tiffany was putting on a stern face but her ears were already beginning to get warm as she thought, 'he called me pretty.'

"No…I," he began, he looked down in shame, "we were hungry." He looked back up into her eyes, "I am part of a hunting party. We have been out for a month with no luck. The farmers have scared off or poached all the game. We are out of supplies and some of us won't last the trip back home without something. In all honesty I was hoping to steal some food for us. I'm sorry."

Tiffany struggled trying not to cry in front of the young warrior. "No, it's alright." She released his arm, "you're desperate. I can sympathize."

"I was not aware there were orcs inside the city. Are you a prisoner?" He asked.

"No," she answered quickly, "I live here. My name is Tiffany."

"I am Tarse," he responded, "Tiffany is a beautiful name, but not an orc one."

"My father is human, I am only half orc. He is the lord here and my mother was an orc."

"Was she a slave?" He asked softly.

"No, my daddy loved her," she said, feeling tears welling up again. "Her name was Selune."

His eyes widened, "the queen?" And then her identity seemed to dawn on him as he dropped to one knee with his fist against his heart, "my princess, I didn't know you existed, I'm sorry I didn't know you." He stood back up. "You said, was. Does the queen not still live?"

"No," she said, this time not able to stifle the sniff, "she died as I was born. I never knew her."

"Yet you feel her loss as we do." He reached through the bars and took her hand. "Our people shall know of you. They need hope. That is," he said, turning his head again, "if any of us make it back."

"Wait," she piped up, "don't leave yet."

Tiffany ran off back to the stables and dug into a storage chest. She returned with a heavy sack and tossed it over the wall. It landed with a thump behind Tarse. He opened the bag and found it filled with apples. It was a bag of treats for Firebrand, but Daddy could buy more for him.

"It's not much," she smiled, "but what kind of princess doesn't take care of her people?"

"It's enough," he smiled, "thank you." He began to walk off and turned after a few steps. "It may take a little bit for some of the others to regain strength. May I see you again tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow night?" She asked, and then added, "yes. Right here again, after the watch bell."

"Then till tomorrow, my princess." And he slung the sack over his shoulder and ran off.

Tiffany skipped back to the house, feeling her birthday kept getting better and better.

Johnathan met a still perky Tiffany for breakfast the next morning. She skipped up to his chair and kissed him on his cheek.

"Good morning daddy." She practically sang.

"Good morning, Sweetheart." He replied, "I see someone is excited for today." He put his fork down and looked at her, his worry bubbling up still. "Are you going to be alright at this party? Should I escort you?"

"Daddy!" She complained, "I'm sixteen, no one else my age will have their parents escorting them."

Johnathan nodded but the worry only got worse.

Tiffany spent the morning making sure Firebrand got in all his training and exercise for the day as after lunch she didn't leave her room. Tiffany spent hours trying on every dress she owned before trying all the ones she liked on again. By the time she decided what to do with her hair the sun had begun to set.

Tiffany descended the stairs in a powder blue dress that sparkled with light as she moved, and her hair cascading down one side, covering one ear but dramatically revealing the other. It was sort of a 'proud of what I am, but just in case' stance. Johnathan was still worried about this party, but she had to make friends, they had to get people to accept her if they were ever to heal this rift between the town and her mother's people.

Tiffany stopped three steps from the bottom, and performed a perfect curtsy.

"You look beautiful, sweetheart." He said with pride. She let out a little squeal as she shuffled her feet in excitement. He should only have to worry about the boys because she's a beautiful girl, not because of what she was. He aided his daughter down the last steps and escorted her outside to the waiting carriage. He waved as she rode off and out of the front gate.

The carriage house had been emptied, except for the hay left in stairstep stacks covered in blankets for sitting. There were tables of food, barrels of wine and mead with goblets on a table nearby. A group of minstrels were playing lively music the guests were dancing to, and it all came to an abrupt halt when Tiffany entered.

The entirety of the party watched her as she stood in the open door of the building. Tiffany smiled, raising her hand up in front of her and shaking it back and forth in a little wave. She was still so excited to be there, she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet as she waved, this made her dress shimmer and catch the eye of everyone in attendance. "Hi!" She said in a sing-song tone, "thank you for inviting me." She looked around at the faces present, almost all of them unknown to her. When she finally saw someone she recognized she gave another energetic wave, "hi Jasper, happy birthday!"

Gladstone pushed his way up to Tiffany and took one of her hands. "Hello," he said nervously, looking about as various types of grins and a few frowns began to spread through the crowd. From amusement at the awkward girl, to the hilarity of her actually showing up, to Jasper's predatory grin that was barely on the verge of laughing maniacally, "Tiffany, right? Let's get you a drink." He led her away from the visibility of the entryway and to the place where the barrels of drink were stacked. "Here you go," Gladstone said as he handed Tiffany a goblet of wine.

"Thank you." She said and did a little curtsy before accepting the glass. Daddy had trained her from the time she could walk in manners and etiquette. He felt the more euriodite she could act, the less people would see a savage in her. So Tiffany sipped the drink and tittered, Gladstone laughed and tried to be charming, but his goal in entertaining her was only in hopes that she would not become the entertainment for the others. A goal doomed to failure.

Galadria had her aspirations set on Jasper as worthwhile husband material. Her father owned the largest store in town and the son of the commander of the city militia was politically advantageous. Jasper's attention seemed to be hung on the nobleman doctor's half-breed daughter for reasons the young blonde couldn't seem to fathom. But Galadria wasn't going to risk her future on a mere accident of infatuation. So she shuffled her hench-girls to the drinks table to intervene. So the daughter of the stable master, and the daughter of the baron's major domo slipped up next to the laughing Gladstone and Tiffany.

"Oh Stoney, don't hog the most interesting guest here," the broom handle thin redhead girl teased in her nasally voice. "Some of us would also like to get to know…" she paused and waved a hand at the half-orc girl.

"Oh, Tiffany," she spouted, finally catching on that these were meant to be formal introductions, "Tiffany Harkness."

"Yes, the Doctor's half breed." The red haired girl said with a big smile before shifting her tone at Tiffany's frown, "oh, I mean no offense, Zedraia here is part gnome after all." Indicating the chestnut haired girl's larger than normal nose.

"I am not!" The girl replied, "my father is the city stable master and my mom is quite human." She offered a hand to Tiffany who took it and shook.

"Oh, I have a beautiful horse named Firebrand. I believe my father purchased him from your father."

"That must be the colt he got from his red Ginny and his black stallion." She gushed, raising the ire of her companion whose subtle poking was undermined in one fell swoop. "I must see him some day."

"Well I am Darcianne, my father is the baron's major domo. And anyway I'd rather hear about you Tiff," the haughty girl interrupted, "than some beasts. Where have you been hiding? And where did you get such a lovely dress?"

"Bellisarra made it, my daddy commissioned three for me." Tiffany answered with a giggle. "And where I've been hiding is on my father's estate. People have never been exactly welcoming of me

"Wow Darcy, you are still on Bellisarra's waiting list and Tiff has got three dresses from her!" Zedraia laughed, prompting a sour look from her thin companion.

"Figures a half-elf would be more commendable to another half-breed." Murmured Darcianne in a low tone that went unheard by the other two girls as they giggled while Tiffany twirled in the dress, sending more lights dancing off the fabric.

Gladstone however, heard Darcy perfectly, "behave Darcianne, her father is a lord so she was probably sure she'd make commission." He childed the girl as he leaned in to whisper even more quietly, "what are you up to?" Darcianne shrugged innocently, but a glance over her shoulder was all Gladstone needed to understand the plan. "Galadria," he scoffed, "of course. Still doing her dirty work?"

"My fiancée is a lord, thank you." Deflected Darcy. "And I can have my own plans, can't I?"

"No," was his reply, "you're not smart enough." And he tipped his goblet of ale back.

Darcy's ire was quickly interrupted by a voice from behind, "Stoney! Making my girl mad again?" The boy, quite a bit bigger than the others, wrapped his arms around Darcy. "And who are these other beautiful…"

Tiffany's spinning was interrupted by a voice she thought sounded familiar. She looked at a boy she had not seen for many years, "Nelson?"

As Tiffany stopped her twirl, her face complete with the one pointed ear and tusks became visible to the newcomer.

The boy's face went pale and his eyes wide as he recognised the grown form of the girl who had tortured him at a birthday party years ago. "Y…you!" He began to walk backward, sweat running down his back. "St..stay away. Keep away from me!"

"Nelson?" Darcy stared at her man in confusion, "Nelson, you're making a fool of yourself."

"Nelson," said Tiffany with a smile, "I'm not here to hurt you, you silly."

Nelson backpedaled directly into the stacked barrels of wine and ale, tripping over the lowest level and sending several of them rolling into the open area where others were dancing. Nelson ended up flat on his back, first on top of the barrels then the floor of the stable as he rolled off them.

The runaway barrels knocked over a few dancing couples on the floor.

"Please, I'll be nice, just don't hurt me." Nelson pleaded, throwing his arms up to ward off the girl.

"Nelson," hissed Darcy, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Nelson, you look like a tit," said Jasper plainly, standing over the boy now and offering a hand up. "We are all friends here." He stood a now calming Nelson back to his feet and addressed the crowd, as Tiffany attempted a curtsy to the shaken Nelson, "terribly sorry, I'd forgotten Nelson had a history with our dear Tiffany. It seems both were present at my birthday, what, ten years ago was it, or nine? Anyway, the two had a disagreement, where it seems little Tiff may have embarrassed poor Nelson."

"The crowd tittered and guffawed, and Nelson grew red.

"That's right, she broke his arm." A voice shouted from the crowd.

"I did not," cried Tiffany, "I just twisted it. And I was sorry." This only spawned more laughs from the party and a redder Nelson. Darcy was livid, this tart showed up and not only dressed better than her, but humiliated her fiancée.

"Lighten up Darce," came the whisper over her shoulder. Galadria positioned herself next to Darcianne, causing Galadria's yellow dress to sparkle like Tiffany's, and fluttered her fan in front of her mouth as she continued, "what we have planned for her will insure she never shows her face in town again"

"Good," sneered Darcy, "it better be horrible." To which Galadria just giggled at this.

Jasper raised a goblet, "to lady Tiffany, noble of Winter Hollow, and a scrapper so keen she's practically one of the boys."

To this everyone cheered, but somehow all this 'acceptance' just made Tiffany more nervous than the jeering.

"Say that's a wonderful thought," segwayed Jasper expertly. "I have that bottle of dwarven whiskey I was planning on imbibing with just my boys and me. Why don't you join us Tiff?"

"What, me?" Asked Tiffany, shocked. She looked over at Galadria, expecting her to be angry but found the girl all smiles instead.

"Yes," said Jasper, "if you quaff as well as you fight it will be a most exciting time." Jasper beamed a smile at her and any resolve melted.

"S…sure," stammered Tiffany, as Jasper was already leading her away by the hand before she replied.

A couple young men followed who were all smiles like Jasper except, Tiffany noticed, Gladstone who looked rather grim, and Nelson who was still red with anger.

There was a back room to the stable house where the six of them stood next to a barrel with an ornate bottle sitting on top.

Jasper uncorked the bottle and produced six glasses. He handed each person one after filling each half full.

"To new adventures, new lives," began Jasper's toast, "and new friends," he ended saluting Tiffany with his glass.

Everyone up-ended the glass, spurring a fit of coughs from Tiffany. Jasper refilled her glass as she tried to get the fit under control.

"Easy," he said softly, patting her back, "this takes getting used to. Here," he said, handing her the refilled glass, "try again."

Tiffany took the glass, not noticing it was filled more this time, and tried to swallow the whole thing again. Numbed to the burn, she only coughed a little this time. Her face and ears felt pleasantly warm and she had the urge to giggle. A refilled glass was already in her hand as the boys cheered her on. One more quaff was met with cheers and no coughing. The room however seemed like how the boat felt daddy took her out on once on the river.

Jasper was laughing as his vision swam in front of Tiffany's eyes. Suddenly his lips were pressed against hers.

"No!" She said with a slur as he pulled back off of his kiss.

"What?" Said Jasper, as he placed his hand on her waist. "Don't tell me you didn't enjoy that."

He leaned in to steal another kiss as she pushed back on him and tried to step away. She ended up shoving him several feet but stumbling backwards because of it. She collided with the barrel and knocked the bottle to the ground, its contents pouring out on the ground.

"Skite!" Swore Jasper, "the bottle." He rushed to pick it up but more than half the whiskey had poured out. "You know how expensive this is?" He glared at Tiffany. "Now you really owe me."

There must have been a rope hanging from the rafters that Tiffany hadn't noticed, because quickly Nelson was behind her as the two boys Tiffany hadn't heard the names of each pulled an arm back for Nelson to slip into a loop over her wrists and pulled it tight. Tiffany stumbled several times, but the rope kept her on her feet.

"What…" started Tiffany, but her head was so foggy even her anger was muted. But fear was in full force as a cold sensation ran down her spine. "What are you doing?"

"We are all going to get the price of that bottle out of you, of course." Laughed Jasper.

"Hey," said Gladstone, grabbing Jasper by the arm, "this isn't what we planned."

"This was always the plan, Stoney." The answer came from the doorway where they entered.

"You weren't invited, Galadria." Said Jasper flatly.

"Oh I'm not going to miss the beast being put in her place." The snobbish girl smiled. "Besides, I need to make sure you aren't having too much fun. You are spoken for after all." She strode up to the bound Tiffany, struggling against the rope. Galadria took Tiffany's chin in her hand, "your father may be a noble, but you'll never be more than a dirty orc."

"I'll not be joining." Said Stoney. "You said we'd have fun, you didn't say we'd be forcing it on her."

"Please, this hurts." Whined Tiffany, beginning to cry.

"So did you trying to rip my arm off," snarled Nelson. He struck her across the face with his hand before stepping around behind her. With one big tug he ripped the back of her dress down to her waist.

Galadria was giggling at the girl's debasement. "Gods, she even cries weird."

"That isn't crying," said Gladstone shakily. The room fell silent as the growl grew in volume.

When Tiffany looked up her eyes seemed to burn with an inner light. In one tug she pulled herself off the floor and folded herself to pass through the hoop of her arms. Before her feet returned to the ground she kicked back catching Nelson square in the chest, sending the boy back several feet onto his back. When one of the nameless boys charged her, Tiffany wrapped the rope around his neck and pulled it tight. The other boy ran up to help his friend who was rapidly turning blue, and received a kick to the knee. As he fell she drove her knee into his chin, dropping him cold. Tiffany bit on part of the rope and tugged, loosening the knot and letting the rope slip off her hands, and the boy to crumple to the ground.

Japer rushed at her as she picked up a scoop shovel and smacked him upside the head with it, sending him into the hay. She spun around and caught Gladstone similarly across the back of his head.

Tiffany flung the shovel behind her as Nelson regained his feet. The handle collided with his jaw, leaving Galadria the only one standing. Tiffany strode over to the girl who was wide eyed in fear, and drove her fist into Galadria's face. When everyone was on the ground Tiffany breathed a string of slow deep breaths that gave way again into sobbing.

She looked up suddenly with wide eyes.

The last thing Tiffany remembered was Nelson smacking her, now she was suddenly free and everyone was unconscious. She wiped her tears and pulled up the front of her ripped dress which was now hanging dangerously low on her body, and ran from the room.

She raced past the crowd of guests as they laughed, trying to hold in more tears as they jeered her state. After Tiffany had left the stables Darcianne looked through the open door to see the others lying on the floor, "oh my," she gasped, "call the guard!"

Tiffany ran non-stop all the way across town to her father's estate. But instead of going inside she ran around back and collapsed next to the stable, sobbing. Why had they done that? Why treat her like that? And what had happened to them? These questions were all at the forefront of her mind. Her whole reason for being invited was to torture her it seemed. She had her soul crushed by false intentions and fake smiles.

"My princess," came a call from the back gate, "are you alright?" She recognised the voice of Tarse, the young orc she met last night.

She rushed to the gate still wet faced. She reached through the bars to the young orc boy, "they were so cruel." She openly wept again as she recounted what had transpired to him without a second thought.

"It sounds like they will regret disrespecting you." Said Tarse with a smile, "but the rest of those cowardly humans need to pay. Open this gate and let me avenge you my princess. I will bring you their heads."

"No," she shook her head, "no one needs to die. My mother was trying to prevent bloodshed."

"My apologies, princess. At least let me torment them, as they did you." The boy pleaded to her through the gate, "at least let me burn down that building they demeaned you in."

Tiffany was hurt, and sad and most importantly she was angry. Before she had considered the consequences, she had pulled the lever that opened the gate. Tarse stepped through and took her hands with a smile on his face. Then another orc appeared, and another, until a dozen orcs surrounded her.

"Oh they will pay, princess," said Tarse in a more vicious tone, "for more than just how they treated you." The orc boy suddenly struck her hard with the back of his hand, sending her to the ground. "Tie her up. We'll take her back with us for the new queen. You two come with me." He indicated three members of his band with a point of his finger. "Dalzia needs Selune's sword. The rest of you hit the town and take what you can, burn the rest."

= While the rest scattered, one orc remained. He pulled a rope from his pack and bent down over Tiffany. She lay on her side not moving until the orc bent down to grab her wrists. Just as he reached for her she kicked her legs against the back of his knees sending him falling behind her. Tiffany rolled over, taking the rope he dropped and wrapped it around his throat. She held it pulled tight, with her knee against his back until he stopped thrashing. When he was finally still, she got up and ran into the stable.

Three orcs burst into the manor, one stopped to search the sitting room off the veranda, the next split off into the library and Tarse entered the main hall to find Johnathan standing there.

"What do you want?" The doctor asked, backing toward the wall.

Tarse pulled out an ax and replied, "the queen's sword, give it up and you may live.

The sing of a saber leaving its sheath rang in the hall as Johnathan pulled it from a display stand behind him. He assumed a fencing stance, the point toward the orc. "You all killed her sixteen years ago, and now you care about what happened to her and her things?"

Tarse swung the ax at him only to have Johnathan catch the blade under the ax head.

Eight orcs made for the front gate only to encounter an entire squad of town guards entering the grounds, escorting five battered youths that had seen better days. Commander Justin, who was about to call for lord Johnathan held his hand up to halt his troops. A flick of his hand saw five soldiers drop to one knee, crossbows at the ready. The orc band stopped in their tracks and glanced at each other for but a moment before raising their axes and charging.

Blade and bough clashed viciously as Johnathan and Tarse traded blows, circling each other in the great hall. "We were trying to end the bloodshed, bring peace to our peoples and return to you the right to your lands. And you killed her for that!" Johnathan was using the fight to vent over a decade of frustration at the death of his beloved Selune. Fencing skill blurred with pure rage and sent the only moderately experienced Tarse on the defensive.

"She betrayed us, she soiled herself before the tribe and let a human take her no less." Spat the young orc. "And gave birth to that abomination outside."

Johnathan roared with anger, suddenly sidestepping instead of parrying the orcs' next blow. As his ax blade bit into the floorboards, the noble slashed angrily at the back of his leg, "my daughter," then across his right arm forcing him to release the ax, "is not," Johnathan finished by shoving the saber through Tarse's left side, "an abomination!" The doctor caught the orc as he fell back, whispering into his pointed ear, "I did not take your queen. She gave herself to me because we loved each other. And I did not take her sword, it has not left her side." At this Johnathan ripped the sword from his side and let him fall to the floor bleeding.

Johnathan looked up into the doorway to see another young orc staring as the human had dispatched the leader of his raiding party. Before the doctor could take a step the orc dashed off, blowing on a wooden object that gave a loud droning sound. The crashing of a window soon followed as now two orcs made a run back for the gate.

The orcs dispatched to raid the town screamed and raised their weapons before charging the waiting militia. Five fell immediately as the crossbowmen unloaded, and pulled back as half a dozen town guards filed around them to engage in melee. The fight lasted only moments, orcs lay dead and only two humans hurt.

"What in blazes is going on here?" Seethed Justin.

"It has to be a coup," said Jasper, still holding his bruised head, "first his monster attacks us at my birthday party, then he releases more orcs to sack our town."

Justin eyed his son with more than a little suspicion. While he had his problems with Johnathan and his soft leanings toward these savages, he doubted his half-breed daughter's actions were entirely unprovoked. Justin always knew the girl was dangerous, but she wasn't overtly savage. There had to be at least some teasing, and it still wasn't an excuse for violence. "I'm sure." He replied to his son, prompting the boy to look away in shame.

Justin stepped over the orc corpses and strode with grim purpose to the manor home. He was met on the front steps by the lord doctor, saber still in hand, both it and his tunic stained in blood.

"Johnathan," Justin began, "your girl attacked these people at the party tonight. Where is she? And whose blood is that?"

"I don't know." He replied, looking over the young boys and Galadria. The blackening of both her eyes confirmed her nose was broken, and the boys were riddled with bruises and contusions but she could have done worse to them. It was just as he feared, the party did not go well. "I did not see her return tonight, so thank you for that added worry now. As for the blood, as you see I also had a run in, however mine remains alive." He finished as he indicated the dead orcs on his lawn.

Justin quickly sent two men in to collect Tarse. "Where did they come from John?" He said with a raised eyebrow, as he always did when he already knew the answer to a question.

"They must have breached my gate." His answer was not as decisive as Johnathan would have liked. Be knew what Justin's response would be.

"That gate should have been bricked up years ago." Justin sighed and shook his head. "Rest assured it will be now." He produced a set of manacles, "lord doctor Johnathan Harkness, you are under arrest for putting this town in danger from your association with these savages and the threat that association poses. As will your daughter, when we find her." He placed the manacles on his wrists with a click.

Tiffany emerged from the stable, having changed her torn gown for her leather work jumper and riding boots. She galloped through the doors astride Firebrand, polo mallet in hand and pigtails trailing behind her.

The two escaping orcs found themselves the target of a one horse cavalry charge. The mallet impacted the hornblower square under the chin. Tiffany flung herself off the back of her horse to swing again but he dove into a roll as the weapon whizzed over him. Tiffany swung herself back into the saddle to pursue when she noticed her father being led away in chains from the house. She galloped toward her father, but as she got halfway Johnathan noticed her and called out, "no Tiffany, run! Don't worry about me, run! Go to our fallback!" Tiffany pulled Fairebrand to a stop. Tears poured down her face once more tonight as she nodded and turned the horse to race to the back gate. Tiffany thundered out of the city as they shoved her father into the wagon.

Lord Johnathan Harkness sat on the straw coating the floor of his stone cell. His noble clothes traded for prisoner's rags, when they stripped him down. The windowless room was pitch dark, but soon the door opened, spilling light in from the doorway, and a guard carried in a chair to sit down in front of Johnathan. Justin entered behind the guard and sat in the chair. "Your daughter has eluded us, but I assume your fallback is your sister's home in Glennfennin. Rest assured I have dispatched soldiers to fetch her from there." Johnathan could see the visible uncomfortableness grow on Justin's face, "Gladstone luckily for her has confessed that her attack was not unprovoked. It seems some of my son's friends were attempting to…," he paused, seeming to search for the most delicate way to phrase it, "take her by force." Jonathan's face twisted in pain over what his little girl nearly suffered. "So the assault charges were dropped, none of the other parents wanted their children painted in an accusatory light."

"And I'm sure Jasper had nothing to do with that either," Johnathan said dourly.

"Galadria assures me he had no part in that." But his eyes couldn't meet the doctor's eyes when he spoke.

Now Justin rose and paced behind the chair, "the three orcs that we captured," the statement received a snort from the doctor, as all his orcs were dead and the live ones were courtesy of him and Tiffany. "have confirmed your daughter opened the gate for them. That is treason. She will hang when we find her."

Johnathan growled when he sentenced her, attempting to leap at the commander but the chain on his ankle prevented him from getting far from the wall. "Don't you touch her." Johnathan screamed.

"I'm sorry my lordship," he attempted to say in a placating tone, "she is dangerous, just like her mother. And you will remain here until we apprehend her."

Johnathan screamed as Justin exited the cell, dragging the chair behind him. Sealing the room in darkness once more.

After a few minutes he grew silent, then placed his fingers down his throat and began to retch. His sick landed in the hay along with a silver chain and gem, glowing blue in the bile.

"My love," he said, beginning to weep, "you are here." The lord doctor glanced blindly about the cell as he spoke, "I miss you so much everyday. I love you so much, but I am fine. Do not worry for me. But please, our daughter needs you more than I. Please, if you can protect Tiffany. Please." The glow of the gem faded as he continued to weep, until the cell was dark once more.

The tavern at Buzzard Bluff was raucous and loud already when Tiffany rode up to the hitching post, and the sun was just now starting to rise. She couldn't go to aunt Florence's house, Tiffany was sure Justin was smart enough to search the homes of family members for her. She needed to free her father, and that meant a lawyer to acquit him, or mercenaries to break him out. Both required gold, of which she only had her pocket money. She had to earn more. Her option now was adventuring. Winter Hollow had its share of these murder hobos that drifted through town on their way to the orc plains. They were always flush with cash from tomb raiding and mercenary work. She needed enough to buy one of her options, and working with some of them in option two would give her an idea of who would be best to hire, and how much she needed.

She finished tying off Firebrand and started walking to the door of the tavern she noted was colorfully named the Buggered Orc. She sighed and took in a deep breath before taking her next step. Just as her boot touched the planks of the porch in front of the door the wood shutters of the window in front blew out in a torrent of flame and wood splinters, hurling some random bar patron out with it. From inside a voice could be heard shouting, "damn it Harley!"