AN: The plot will clear up and be a little more coherent later on in the story.

I swear.

The girl sucked in a lungful of air, noticing the smell of ale and wine and bodies and the noise of frivolity. She scanned the crowd for any face that might possibly be that of the helpful stranger.

She had only managed to get a quick look at him. Dirty brown tousled hair, slender build, piercing eyes…. blue or green maybe… she wasn't sure. In fact if he changed his clothes and combed his hair, she probably wouldn't recognize him. He had looked, well… not disheveled, but definitely not dressed for a social event such as this. He should be sticking out like a sour thumb, but no such luck…Where was he, her mysterious savior, her partner in crime? She wasn't sure whether to be relieved or alarmed that the man was nowhere in sight.

She kept to the shadows. The sack on her shoulder was heavy and she had to walk slightly bent over to ease its weight. Still, she was glad to be able to stretch her legs at all after spending all that time in such a confined space. This had to be the craziest thing she had ever done. It had been a stupid idea. She had been careless and almost gotten herself caught… but the adrenaline rush was unlike no other!

A hand caught her elbow. A warm breath tickled her ear, "What is your name, girl? "

She jumped at this, even though she should have been expecting it. It was him; she recognized his grey woolen cloak. He looked different up close, sharper somehow. There was an intensity about him that was vaguely unsettling. "Who are you?," she asked eyeing him suspiciously.

"I believe I asked you first", he smirked at her, digging his fingers into her arm and forcing her to walk with him.

"Uh uh, you jumped me, and besides I'm a lady, so I think my question is more justified," she returned dryly, tilting her head to send him a rather pointed look. "You better tell me your name mister…. and while you're at it, would you please take your hands off me!"

"Now, now, my lady, such hostility," the young man hung his head with great emphasis. Then, swung it back up with a grin. "I offer you my help, and all I get is suspicion?"

"I said-" she ground out, twisting her arm out from his grip in a nimble move, ".HANDS ." Her last words were spoken in a voice loud enough for passers-by to hear.

"Alright, alright, no need to cause a scene." Scowling, he hastily stepped back. "You don't want to draw attention to yourself anymore than I do. We should stick together; we seem to be here on similar business… "

She shot him a look of mock indignation.. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm merely here for the entertainment."

"Sure, and that thing you are lugging around is nothing but a sack of rotten apples for the pigs. Come on, I saw you in there, I saw you take it.. take that.. whatever that is!?!"

"It's a sack of flour, and I didn't steal it!…. I mean, I obviously took it without permission, but I did leave a silver coin in its place and another two coins for the bride and groom by the gift table," she said with a vague hand gesture meant to somehow rationalize the events of the evening.

"Of all the things to steal, you take sack of flour?!?"

"I'll have you know that sack of flour can feed a family for a whole month… and I didn't steal it, alright!," the girl said, getting back into her defensive stance.

"You do know what a mill is, right?! Wheat goes in, flour comes out… It's painless, no sneaking around required, and it's cheaper too…."

"Maybe I like a good challenge."

"Maybe you're plain crazy. Three silver coins for one sack of flour, that's not exactly what I would call a bargain. "

"Call it whatever you want, I'm leaving now." The girl grabbed sack off the ground and slung it back over her shoulder.

"Look, no wait!" he said, lunging forward. "I just think you should get your moneys worth, that's all. In fact I think I could help you with that," he snapped his fingers as if he was a magician and the rabbit had just reappeared.

"Oh, really?!? I don't recall asking you for help. I can handle things perfectly well by myself."

He ignored her protest. "Have you seen the amount of freshly baked bread they have over there, in those big containers by tables to the left of the grea-…"

"Yes, I see them." she interrupted impatiently, not giving him time to finish the sentence.

"I bet we could take one of those, well not the actual container necessarily but the content, the bread, and no one would be any wiser. They wouldn't even know it was gone."

"And how exactly are you planning on getting away with that? You'd have to carry that thing trough the crowd and right across the entire inner courtyard to get to the gates?!."

"Let's make a bet; if I can pull this off, you will have to…" he scratched his head, pretending to think. "… bow down and kiss my feet."

The girl made no effort to mask the disgusted look on her face.

"Hey now, what's with that look?! There is nothing remotely gross about my feet …. But alright, I'll think of something else, something a little more appropriate for a lady. Let's see… If I can pull this off, I expect you to tell me your name, what you're doing here and answer any other questions I might have, alright?!"

She nodded, accepting the terms. "And if you fail?"

"I'm not going to fail but if I do, I'll eat my hat."

Her eyes narrowed. "You don't even have a hat!"

"That's how sure I am," he shot back, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Tell you what, if you lose, I want a piece of your action!"

"My what?!," he asked, feeling himself get somewhat flustered.

The girl smirked. "I doubt you are collecting rotten apples for the pigs in that basket of yours. We are here on similar business remember?!"

"Oh, you want in on the food?!," he concluded, giving himself a mental slap on the forehead.

"You got yourself a deal!"