Service it might have been, service she had agreed it was, but she had cleaned up his mess all the same - with a briskness and surety that might have been impressive, if it was not so irritating.

Conall couldn’t resist rolling his eyes at the demand that followed, well aware this would pin him down once more as rude and ungallant. She had pinned herself neatly to ridiculously schoolmatronly again, her talk of penance and all!

Still, he hadn’t forgotten that he had bolted in here to avoid picking a fight, not to be starting more, which he told himself was the reason for his heaving an exaggerated sigh and jerking his chin down in a nod. “My pleasure, ma’am,” Conall said dryly, thinking it best he swallowed his snort. It was needless effort, to be sure, but not the worst atonement he’d ever had to make; he glanced around for some sign of a server to intercept and be done with this endeavour, but there was no one in range, which left him to go approach the -

“Oh, there’s a bar!” Conall exclaimed to himself in pleasant astonishment, watching as a patron there was passed a drink that was most certainly not so staid as tea and cake. Perhaps this odd establishment was not so redundant as he had first imagined. Gesturing at the woman in a silent one minute, Conall strode over to the bar at the back of the room with a great deal more enthusiasm than he had previously displayed.

---