It was a cold, clear autumn morning in a small village in Dale. The ground was bedded in a thick coat of brightly coloured leaves which caught the early morning sunlight forming patterns of light in their shadows. A gentle breeze ruffled a few of the leaves which were promptly trodden on by a small, leather booted foot. A little girlish giggle came from the owner of the foot which was immediantly silenced by a glare from a nearby adult. The girl - a ten year old Riaru Berrybeck - resumed her bored expression and peered back at the group of serious looking adults in front of her.

She saw an attractive young man, possibly even still in his youth standing with his head bowed before a seated circle of comparitively elderly men and women. His hands were bound behind his back by a rope which appeared to cut deep into his skin and his once fine clothes looked rather muddy and dishevelled. The breeze ruffled his tawny hair moving a strand into his eyes and making him flick his head back to remove the strand. Riaru's eyes glittered and she caught her breath slightly as the man's features became visible for the first time that day, it seemed the sight of the bruised, rougish but still good looking features was something which appealed to her young mind, but perhaps it was just the circumstances which bought the man to be stood in front on trial in front of the village elders which sparked a glint of rebellious imagination.

A cracked, elderly voice was dronning on in the background, Riaru wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention of course, that voice belonged to her Grandfather and she was used to tuning out his pompous philosophy and democratic but judgmental ramblings. If she had have listened she would have heard many different ways of saying the two simple phrases; "you've bought this on yourself you miscreant" and "you've dissapointed us," but even at ten she had the good sense to figure this out for herself in the first two sentences of her Grandfather's speach. The young man seemed to be paying attention however, obsorving all the information to pick apart at a later date. Even him merely listening to her Grandfather seemed to impress Riaru.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw two identical young men approach, a couple of years younger than the bound youth and looking remarkably like Riaru herself. Her older brothers, twins too each other, were late as always and even Riaru tutted as they came to stand beside her. One of them whispered in her ear, "They passed sentence yet?" to which Riaru shook her head and then put her finger to her lip. Even if she wasn't listening she wasn't about to be disrupted by their usual antics and general annoying habbits. Her gaze moved back to the group before her and she continued to watch. 

Eventually her Grandfather stood, pointed his finger at the youth and came to the crux of his speech and everyone, even Riaru, started listening, "And so, by the power vested in me by the village elder's council, I sentence you Mister Dorain Duckwort to be banished from the village boundry, never to return again on pain of death for the terrible crime of con artistry in its vilest blasphemy. Effective immediately!" 

Silence met this proclamation from all assembled, the elders in their seated ring nodded their assent, the other villagers looked on with silent approval, even the youth didn't seem to fussed by his judgment, although given what his crime was, he was probably good at keeping his facial expression blank when it suited him. In fact the only person who seemed peeved was Riaru. Her small, childish features creased into a frown and she peered at the assembly disprovingly. She opened her mouth to protest but faltered at the last minute as Dorain caught her eye and shook his head slightly.

Several of the young men of the village who styled themselves as guards, even though everyone knew they wouldn't hurt a fly, marched forwards and grabbed Dorain by his shoulders, forcing him to walk through the crowd of villagers. As he passed Riaru he forcefully bought himself to a hault and peered down at the girl, much to the unnervement of all the other adults present, including the two guards. He smiled at Riaru and she grinned back saying simply, "Why did you do it?" He paused for a moment, let out a wild, rougish laugh and replied,

"Why does anyone do any art? For the appreciation of course! If you know the how little 'un, then always do it. In the end, you will be caught and everyone will know and at least one person, whether it be a little observent ten year old lass or the king of kingdom come, will appreciate what you've done."

The "guards" dragged him off leaving a bewildered but satisfied bunch of villagers, an angry old man who clearly didn't like his grandaughter being spoken to by any common criminal and the girl in question, little Riaru, staring off after the man and thinking very, very hard...