The Pub itself was a fifteenth century barn. It used to be one of the suddenly required rest stops for the horses, carriage drivers and passengers from the days when the Cornwall to London road was a major trade route.

 Locals also began to use the place as a meeting spot and somewhere to get away from home and enjoy an ale with their mates. They could discuss farmer things and the outside elements that affected the valley, usually wars and economic depressions.

Eventually public houses were just called Pubs.

These days the landlord and lady were not necessarily farmers just people who leased the building from the brewery.

They still lived in the farmhouse that sat directly behind the huge pub.

A warm glow emanated from the two large windows at the front of the structure.

As Rachael stepped onto the wooden steps that led up to door, she could feel a vibration through her boots.

The traveler was suddenly in front of her; he grabbed the iron handle and pulled open the huge wooden door, which was one half of the original barn doors.

The smell hit her first, ale and humans, and an energy that shouted that people were having fun. It reminded her of that time just a few weeks ago when she walked through the nearby town just after being fired and watching and listening to all the people having fun in pubs and in the streets. She had been crying. Funny, that was when she had first seen the traveler, throwing his colorful rings into the air.  Now here she was, markedly happier and going into a pub with the very same traveler.  Before she could dwell on it any longer, the tall man beamed down at her, with that I-know-everything-is-going-to-be-okay-smile. Her trepidation melted away. She was tough inside. Somehow she knew he sensed that, maybe because she tried to shoot him or because she whacked farmers around the head with Russian pigs. At this moment though she felt everything was in him.  Her heart was racing, if she went in here, if she let herself be protected by him and if she liked it, and “I wish I had my Purdey, and, and……. oh my look at this place.”