Hello again loyal readers! Thank you for the lovely reviews. They really do make my day.

Anyway, here is chapter 10. Its almost hard to believe that I'm this far in!

Quick warning - there's a lot of speaking in Outlander accents in this chapter, and they are IMPOSSIBLE to write. Please be nice. They've turned into a strange cross between old scots and glasgow.

Also, I'm aware that Outlanders are NOT in fact scottish, but I have decided in my infinite wisdom (derisive laughter) that their "native" language is Scottish Gaelic. So there's a lot of that in this chapter too. I've put a little * next to any Gaelic phrases and I'll translate them for you with phonetics for pronunciation in the footnotes.

Again, thanks for the support guys. You rock. Seriously. Keep up the hard work reviewing.

Alice's heart leapt and so did she. Without even looking properly she jumped up and threw her arms around the man behind her with breathless relief that Tarrant had come to find her.

The only problem was it wasn't Tarrant.

"Well ta for the welcome lass. Glad yer so happy tae see me again."

Farcane.

Oops.

Alice quickly relinquished the choking hold she had around Farcane's neck and stepped away, blushing profusely.

"Farcane, I'm sorry. I thought you were...someone else."

A friendly grin appeared across Farcane's face. "Well, ah guess ah wish ah was who ye though' I was. Wha' a welcome lass!" he teased.

Alice blushed an even deeper shade of red. "Well...ahem...yes...I..." She stuttered at her feet.

Farcane gave a good natured chuckle at her embarrassment. "Donnae worry lass, I'm only pullin' yer wee leg."

This didn't serve to make Alice feel much better, but she did at least manage to pull her gaze up from the floor and look Farcane in the eyes. Her mistake was understandable. Quite apart from the similar accents, Tarrant and Farcane did look rather similar. Maybe. If you didn't look too closely. Farcane had hair of a similar shade of bright orange to Tarrant, except that Farcane's hair was cut much shorter, so the tight curls didn't dominate his face, but rather framed it quite nicely. His eyes were a little smaller than Tarrant's, but they too were green, although a slightly deeper shade than Tarrant's. Farcane was also possessed of extremely fair skin and high, defined cheekbones. All in all, it was a rather easy mistake to make, or so Alice thought.

"Have ye got any plans fer the day lass? Only ye looked a wee bit lost and ah got some spare time tae show ye around if ye'd like it?"

Alice was rather taken by this charming stranger, and before she understood why, she had agreed to allow Farcane to show her around Witzend. Truth be told, she had been at a bit of a loss as to how to best experience the town. What could be better than being shown around by a local? Farcane beamed when she accepted his offer, and immediately offered his arm to her, which she gladly accepted, as he led her out of the library and back on to the main street in Witzend.

Alice and Farcane were sitting having tea together in a quaint little tea shop that was at the end of the main road when something occurred to Alice that she realised she probably should have noticed earlier.

"Farcane?" She asked

"Hmm?" he replied, having just taken a bite a scone with jam.

"Why is your accent different?"

He took a sip of tea to wash down the scone before replying "Ah guess ye mean why am ah talking like an outlander now when ah was talking like a toff earlier, aye?"

"Well, yes"

"Well Alice dear, this is how ah talk normally. When I'm in the shop and someone ah donnae recognise from Witzend comes in, ah put on mah neutral Underland accent. Its jus' easier tha' way."

"Whatever do you mean Farcane?"

"Well ye know how people can be tae outlanders like mahself..." he mumbled, suddenly embarrassed.

"No, I'm afraid I don't."

Farcane looked at Alice as though she had just said something extremely strange, like denying all knowledge of the colour of the sky.

"Are ye serious lass? Well then, ah guess ah had better be enlightenin' ye. See, years and years ago, long a'fore ah was born, there was a war in Underland. The 'normal' Underlandians won and mah people – the clans – were given the outlands as our lands. There's still a lo' of bad feeling between the two, even if we do live righ' next door tae each other. They donnae like tae hear folk talkin' like Outlanders. Makes 'em nervous. That's why we donnae use our own language anymore. We talk like them so as tae ease their minds. Bu' most of us still learn the language from our parents, like they did from their parents a'fore them.

"Oh how awful!" Alice exclaimed.

"Bu' its so silly don' ye think? Ah mean we're the same country ye' we act like enemies. Although some clans still ge' along alrigh' with the royalty. Mah clan for instance. Hightopps. We were at court a'fore the war and we still are."

"You're a Hightopp?" Alice asked, shocked.

"Aye, born and bred. Ye've heard of us then?"

"You came up." She answered quietly.

"Aye. Hightopps have been tailors as long as anyone remembers. We've been employed by the court tae make clothes for whoever happens tae be the monarch a' the time. Bu' only one of us a' a time. Which is why I'm stuck here in Witzend. There's already a Hightopp employed at Marmoreal. So ah got tae stay here and make clothes fer the lovely folk of the town and the odd passer-by, like yerself."

"Oh Farcane, I'm so sorry to hear that. But if it helps at all, your clothes are very beautiful."

"Well thanks very much lass. It helps a lo' tae hear a beautiful creature like yerself call anything of mine beautiful."

Alice blushed again, and looked down into her tea to hide it. Truth be told she was starting to feel rather guilty. Guilty for leaving Tarrant all on his own with Mirana. Guilty for going to tea with another man – another Hightopp no less. Guilty for leading this charming young man along by having tea with him. All in all she felt like she could do with getting back to Marmoreal soon.

But Farcane had other ideas. As soon as they were finished their tea he took hold of her arm and insisted on taking her around every shop in Witzend. He taught her to understand the currency they used in Underland and how much each of the unbelievably shiny little golden coins Mirana had given her was worth (quite a lot it seemed). By the time they arrived back in Farcane's shop in the early afternoon, she was almost sick fed-up of shopping. In fact, if she never saw another shop it would be too soon.

"Thank ye fer letting me show ye around the day Alice" Farcane said as he hung his coat on one of the hooks behind the door. "Ah had a really nice day."

"I did too." Alice replied, and she was pleasantly surprised that the words didn't taste like lies. She had actually enjoyed spending the morning with Farcane. However, when the young man's face lit up at her reply, she felt another pang of guilt in the pit of her stomach. They stood in companionable silence for a moment when Alice remembered something she hadn't realised she'd forgotten in the first place.

"Farcane? You said that Outlanders had your own language. Could you teach me a little of it?"

"Well if ye'd like tae Alice, then ah would be more than glad tae teach you! Right so, first of all there's 'good morning'. Repea' after me. Madainn mhath*.

"Madainn mhath."

"Very good Alice. Now try saying 'Mar sin leibh*'. It means 'Goodbye'"

"Mar sin leibh?" Alice replied uncertainly.

"Very good. Tapadh leibh*?" Farcane asked for next. "Tha' means 'Thank you'"

Again, Alice parroted it back to him as best she could.

"Tha gaol agam ort.*"

"Tha gaol a gum...uhhh"

Farcane laughed good humouredly at her attempt. "Try again lass. Tha gaol agam ort."

This time Alice got it right. "Tha gaol agam ort. What does it mean?" she asked, giggling at her feeble attempts to learn the language of the Outlanders.

Neither Alice or Farcane had noticed that Tarrant had entered the shop almost silently just as Alice had made her correct attempt at the phrase.

"Ye donnae need tae know wha' tha' one means Alice, a ghraidh*" Tarrant said, a hint of menace in his voice as he stepped towards the two of them, with orange flecks in his green eyes.

"Tarrant!" Alice exclaimed as she ran to embrace him. "You gave me a fright!"

"Aye, I'm sure ah did." He replied, his voice slightly less menacing, and the orange fading.

"Tarrant." Farcane greeted, most of his ordinary warmth gone.

"Farcane." Tarrant replied, equally icily, with a slight incline of his head.

Alice was extremely confused by their icy greetings. "Do you two know each other?" she asked both of them, looking from one to the other.

Farcane cleared his throat awkwardly and shuffled his feet as Tarrant explained, his voice back to its normal, lisping manner of speech. "Alice, allow me to introduce to you my nephew, Farcane. Although I believe such introductions are by now rendered unnecessary."

Alice's jaw just about hit the floor at this revelation. "Your...your nephew?"

"I'm afraid so Alice." Tarrant replied, still maintaining his icy demeanour. It unsettled Alice to see him like this. He had never even been this cold to Iracebeth, and heaven knew he had every reason to be.

"I trust Farcane has been pleasant to you this morning?"

"He's been the perfect gentleman actually." Alice replied, eager to thaw the atmosphere that had entered the shop with Tarrant.

"Well that's good then. I suppose I should thank you Farcane, for taking care of her. Heaven knows what could have happened if she'd been allowed simply to wander around. My fiancée does have a tendency to get into trouble."

Alice was chagrined by this comment, and Tarrant's announcing that they were engaged. She had no idea why it bothered her so much when just days ago she had been so desperate to let everyone know about their engagement. She supposed it was because it seemed as though Tarrant was using it to make Farcane jealous. But before she had to time to protest anything Tarrant had said, she was being eagerly ushered out of the shop by Tarrant. She just had time to call over her shoulder, "Mar sin leibh!" to Farcane, before the door slammed shut behind them.

"Tarrant!" She chastised him as soon as they were back on the main street. "What on earth was all that?"

"Nothing Alice dear, just making sure that Farcane knows what was is his, and what most certainly is not."

"Tarrant, he's your nephew! And anyway, it's not his fault. It's not as though he knew we were engaged when he offered to show me around."

Alice knew as soon as the words left her mouth that they were a mistake. She wished more than anything that she could just go and gather them all up off the ground and stuff them back into her mouth. Sadly, that was not an option.

"What do ye mean he didnae know tha' we were engaged?"

"Well...I- I mean it never...umm...he didn't..."

"Do ye mean tae tell me lass tha' ye spent the whole morning with a handsome young lad and it never once crossed yer mind tae tell him ye were engaged!"

Alice couldn't bring herself to answer. She couldn't even bring herself to look at Tarrant, because she knew full well what she'd see if she did. Two wide orange eyes, looking expectantly at her.

"Well?!" Tarrant demanded. "Have ye nae go' anything tae say?"

Alice couldn't think of anything she could say to make the situation better, so she decided to just be honest.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled, tears welling in the her eyes. "I never intended to hurt you. I never intended to lead him on. It was a mistake. It won't happen again."

And just like that Tarrant had swept her into his arms, forgiving her instantly. He knew in that instant that there was nothing he wouldn't forgive his Alice if she asked him to. Just seeing her biting her lip and trying to force back her tears that he was responsible for had felt like someone had driven a knife into his chest.

"Alice a ghraidh, please donnae cry. I'm sorry." He whispered into her mess of blonde curls. "Shh its okay. How would ye like to see ma house?"

Alice looked up at him with her big damp eyes and a big smile on her beautiful face.

"I would love to Tarrant."

Tarrant didn't even bother replying, he just started leading her down the street towards his home. Their home, soon. Suddenly, he was the one fighting back tears. Tears of joy.

So all the Scottish Gaelic stuff:

Madainn Mhath - pronounced Mah-deen Vah

Mar sin leibh - Mar shin luh-eeve

Tapadh leibh - Tap-uh luh-eeve

Tha gaol agam ort - Ha gaol ackum orsht. (gaol with the 'ao' pronounced like a long i like in inside but elongated)

You'll have to wait to hear what the last one is ;)

Anyway - thanks for reading. Please review I really do appreciate them and...yeah...you guys are awesome sauce! ~L