The Master of Lake-town lived in probably the most magnificent building in the whole town and was the second tallest with the nearby bell tower being the tallest. The house had a unique design with what looked like spikes acting as gutters on the sides of the building. The roof was jet black lined with red at the edges whilst the rest of it was the same brown color of the boardwalks and the rest of the wooden buildings.

His bedroom had a huge bed with grey covers and white pillows. On the right side of the bedroom near the window hung a painting of his father, a man with a short white beard and hair, glasses, a barrette and a bear-skin coat. Nearby it and the window was an open balcony which had spots of snow on it. Adina was currently in the bedroom, getting ready to dump out some water from a recently fixed leak in the roof and naturally was doing some chattering.

"Can you believe that man?! He had the nerve to talk to me like that!" she barked as she opened the window "I swear that confounded bargeman gets on my nerves."

"Oh, grow up, darling." the Master dryly replied as he left the bathroom.

He was a man with short-cut dark grey hair with light grey streaks. He looked weathered compared to his daughters pale, youthful appearance. No sooner had he finished telling his daughter to 'grow up' then he started coughing a rather nasty cough. Adina quickly dumped the water, hurried to her father and sat him down on the bed and began patting him on the back.

"That's it, papa." she said "Let it out. That's it."

The coughing subsided and the Master sighed with relief.

"Where on earth did you get such a cough?" Adina inquired.

"Must be a cold." the Master replied, "Adina, would you be a dear and get me some water?"

She nodded and headed over to a water pitcher which was on a dresser under the painting on the wall.

"Blasted weather…" the Master said between another cough "…this cold will kill me, it will."

"People do not die from colds, papa." Adina said.

"Must be inherited from the family. I don't doubt it." the Master protested "Your great grandfather decides to boink his half-sister while married and then next thing you know here I am coughing like a cat with a hairball."

"Just because great-grandpa was a creep doesn't mean we get one another's illnesses." Adina said as she handed her dad the water "Besides we have other problems."

"Like what?" the Master asked as he finished chugging the water down.

"Well, Bard for one thing." Adina replied.

"Why must everything eventually lead back to that man?" the Master demanded as he got up and headed out the door.

How the hell should I know? Adina thought to herself.

"He's a troublemaker!" Adina insisted as she followed her father who opened the door to the study.

The study was a small room with a huge bookshelf in one part of the room filled with books. There was a wooden desk loaded with papers and an open book that was bookmarked on page 394 and a swivel chair. Nearby was a bird cage with a blue and golden macaw inside. Just above the cage door was a little sign that read 'Basil.'

"Good afternoon, Basil." the Master said as he passed the cage.

Basil squawked in response as the Master picked up the open book on his desk with his right hand and began casually reading it while Adina stood quietly nearby.

"Father, it's not just Bard." she said "Everyone's mood is turning ugly."

"They're commoners, Adina." The Master said without even turning around "They've always been ugly."

"Yes but…" Adina went on nervously "…there's been talk of an election."

The Master immediately shut the book and looked to his daughter with a shocked expression on his face.

"Are you serious?" he demanded.

"It's a rumor but possibly." Adina replied.

The master gasped in disgust and put the book down on the desk along with his glass of water (which he'd holding in his left hand) and began heading towards the door.

"I can't believe this!" he ranted as he walked out the door into the hall back towards his room "I won't stand for it!"

"I don't like this anymore then you do." Adina replied as she followed after her father.

"Doesn't matter!" the Master exclaimed as he walked out onto the bedroom balcony which had a full view of the town "The title of Master of this town has been in our family for three generations! And we've had to do whatever we can to keep it! Families family!"

"A messed up family." Adina muttered under her breath.

"Oh I'm sorry." the Master said sarcastically "Do I need to remind you what happened the last time the rabble was left uncontrolled?"

"I don't need you to." Adina said, brushing her hand over her neck scar.

"Who is the ringleader of these people?!" the Master asked "Who would dare to-"

It suddenly clicked in the Master's brain as he got a sly grin on his face and Adina had the same expression as she joined her dad on the balcony.

"Bard." they both said at once.

"Well, if he is behind all this, what do we do about it?" the Master inquired.

"In an ideal world, papa, we'd arrest him." Adina replied "But we can't do that without a warrant and he might have the favor of the people."

"Too true." the Master said "I guess we'll just have to wait for him to make a mistake on his own."

"I don't see how he could have the favor of the people anyway. What has he got to show for it?" Adina barked "Sure he's a working man. Friendly to others. Handsome...athletic…smooth.."

"What?" the Master asked in surprise.

Adina was snapped back into reality. "Nothing! Fuck Bard!"

Sounds like you're trying. the Master thought to himself.

/

Once he was sure they were not being watched, Bard quickly got to work emptying the barrels on his boat. Pretty soon all the girls were out of their barrels with their nightgowns, hair and the rest of them wet and covered in dead fish skin and they smelled horrible to match. The only person observing this was a strange looking man wearing a black sweater and who had a goatee and wore glasses. Bard quickly walked over to him and handed him the last of the money he had from the girls.

"You never saw them, they were never here." he said "The fish you can have for nothing."

"But they're dwarves." the goatee man pointed out.

"Yeah?" Bard asked "And?"

"Alright." the goatee man said dryly as he shrugged as he headed to the boat and began putting the fish back in the barrels.

The girls quickly got behind Bard as he peaked around the corner where the marketplace was. He then turned and looked at the girls, who were looking at him expectantly.

"I don't see any guards." he said "Now everyone stay close and follow me."

Everyone did as instructed and followed after Bard in a single file manner. The market place was very busy, even in the mid-afternoon. People were all over the place chatting, buying and selling. Some of them turned and gave the girls strange looks and began muttering amongst themselves. But from what Bard could see, everything seemed to be going better than he thought.

Until the guard showed up.

A guard armed with a spear suddenly saw the group as he was patrolling.

"Halt!" he barked "I said halt!"

The girls quickly hurried to where a group of clothing stands were, leaving Bard absolutely flummoxed. But as they rounded the corner they saw another guard appear into view.

"Oi!" he yelled "Stop right there!"

"Get back!" Traude ordered.

The girls were now forced under a pagoda like-structure with shopping stands around it with the poor shopping patrons at their backs. Bard stood by a nearby wooden pillar to see what was going on as an interested crowd started to take notice. So it was a surprise to everyone what happened next.

Two more guards headed into the pagoda along with the other two only to be met by the girls who then quickly disarmed them with mops and cooking pans and with quick blows to the head knocked them out of the fight. Even more impressive was that they were able to do it without hurting the shopping patrons. This unfortunately attracted the attention of someone else.

Braga and his group of guards walked in the scene due to hearing the kafuffle just as the girls hid behind the carts, ducked behind them and tried to keep the other unconscious guards out of sight.

"What's going on here?" Braga demanded.

"Ah, Braga!" Bard said suddenly, "Nice to see you again. How's the wife?"

"Goddamn it, it's you." Braga said in irritation, rolling his eyes "This is the second time I've encountered you today. What have you been up to, you fish-chugging bastard?"

"Nothing much." Bard explained "Just trying to get through this thing called life."

One of the shop owners watching was a brunette woman named Hilda Bianca, who was heavily pregnant. She looked down at her left side and saw Bertha, Beate and Bridget doing their best to stay quiet. The guard just in front of Bertha moaned in pain. Hilda quickly pretended to knock over a nearby flower pot and it cracked into pieces when it hit the guard's head. Braga took notice of this and looked with suspicion at Hilda.

"What was that?!" he inquired aggressively.

"Sorry, sir." Hilda replied "I felt the baby kick."

Braga raised an eyebrow. For a moment, it seemed like he'd walk over and look behind the carts where the girls were hiding, sweat dripping down their faces from the stress. Instead he looked at Bard and sighed.

"Oi, Braga!" said a shopkeeper.

They looked to see the shopkeeper holding up a woman's night-wear with a smirk on his face.

"Think you're wife would look great in this?" he snarked.

"What the hell do you know about my Denise?" Braga demanded.

"As much as anybody in this town has." the shopkeeper shot back.

A large group of people oooh'd and laughed, the girls trying their damndest not to laugh. Braga angrily flipped the man off, who seemed unphased by this.

"Come on, boys. We're done here." he said "

The guards then left the marketplace and as soon as they were out of sight, Bard walked over to Hilda's cart and looked down at Bertha, Beate and Bridget.

"All clear." Bard said "Time to move."

The girls did as instructed, made their way out of the pagoda and followed Bard whilst the market returned to it's busy self. Albeit a little quieter than before. On their way out, Beate looked to Hilda.

"Thank you so much." she said as she noticed her pregnant belly "How far along are you?"

"Only a few weeks left to go," Hilda responded.

"Oh, how w-wonderful!" Beate said smiling "Thanks again!"

And with that she trotted off following the others, leaving Hilda a little perplexed by what transpired.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes the fic is back! Not too many genderswapped laketowners but the idea of Richard E. Grant and Samara Weaving bantering as the Master of Lake-town and Adina (who I based their appearences on) was too good to resist.