"So you'll help now?"

Hm... "Yeah."

Haha! Yes! "Knew I could count on you."

Giggle. "C'mon, let's go."

Off to prank the village with a badger.

And keep her eyes open for visiting pretty ladies...

And figure out a way to draw attention away from Mat, of course.

- Which she finds on accident, when she notices some ravens watching her. Little bastards.

But she's a bigger bastard with a keen eye and a deft hand and minions children who'll bring more rocks (or help throw) and also a baker's dozen of cats, so, her win.

It's not contest against the ravens, who go squawking away in a flurry of black wings as soon as the first of their number gets hit.

Then the chaos is repeated on the ground below as a furious badger charges across the common, hitting the group from behind.

Stepping out from the inn door, a woman in exquisite clothes observes these happenings with a faintly amused expression

(The five cats jumping up to high ground behind her are not amused.)

- Oh gosh she's pretty.

Katwyn is going to avoid the badger - and make sure no one trips over any cats, scooping one clumsy barely-not-a-kitten up as she does so, and somehow conveniently finds herself over by the pretty lady, several cats darting past them to the inside and the safety of high shelves. 

"Hi," she says, like an idiot. 

"Hello," she says.

Grin! "You're the one asking about history stories, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm something of a collector."

"I could tell you some."

"Oh?"

"I've gathered all the stories people here know, and some they don't - and I'd like whatever stories you have, too." Pause, and eyeing the chaos on the green. "Somewhere quieter."

"Back inside, perhaps?" she suggests.

"Sounds perfect."

She holds the door for the younger girl.

"What is your name?" she inquires.

"I'm Katwyn. What's yours?"

There's some comfortable tables in the corners - including one that's pretty much Katwyn's seat, with nice cushions and doodles of cats still scratched into the table's surface from when she first started living with the al'Veres. 

"You may call me Lady Alys."

"A lady. Don't see too many of those around here."

"Not in these days, certainly."

"Not in a long time - not in memory. Though," she leans forward conspiratorially, "There's some foundation stones of what must have been a massive fort," Grin, "Nay, a castle, buried in one of the hills, and there's some little fragments of pottery and knives and all... I think a very grand lady must have lived there once."

"That is certainly possible. Once, very long ago, this area was the seat of a great kingdom, one of the first to emerge in the aftermath of the Breaking."