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Laurna MacNear
Bristol Faire
July 2001

William MacNear, of Cladich, Loch Fyne, Argyll, was a tall, burly man, redhead and blue-eyed.  He served under King James IV, ever loyal to the Scottish crown. One of the few survivors of the battle of Flodden, tales of his brave adventures traveled far and wide before him. His good looks brought much attention from the ladies. With the transfer of the chieftainship of MacNear to him, many fathers sought his attention for their daughters. Will finally settled on the Mairi, daughter of George and Isla Gunn. Small in nature and quiet, Mairi was overwhelmed by being chosen by the handsome laird of MacNear and welcomed her marriage to him.

There were to be six sons born in the image of their father to the lady and while it was advised against, Mairi, found herself once more pregnant. Her seventh children was the daughter she had ached for, Laurna, but Mairi was to take ill and die when her daughter was only seven days old.

The Gunn clan attempted to keep contact with their own, but William MacNear refused their tokens of family and kinship. The grief at the death of his wife swallowed his heart and left him a cold and hard man.

Four of her six brothers were killed in battles fighting on the side of Mary, Queen of Scots. As Will MacNear watched his family die in battle he came to despised anything and everything English. Laird Will MacNear, answers only to the call of the Chieftain of the Clan McNaughton and in his own time. He has lost his taste for blood and war and would prefer not lose his last two sons.

Laurna's life changed one evening when she slipped out to attempt to find a favourite hound. Her father had refused to search for the animal, claiming it was one less mouth to feed. In her search, a mercenary answering to the Blackness Castle's lord, Cullen Dracmor discovered her. The men would have sported with her, but the lord stopped them. They were far from the border and the stolen cattle needed to be pushed further from their homes.

Discovery due to a woman was not on his agenda. Since he couldn't depend on her to not raise an alarm, she was placed behind him and taken back to the Castle Blackness.

Laurna has resided in the household of Lord Dracmor for more than six months. She remains bitter that her father has made no attempts to rescue her and has a hard time believing that Dracmor has made no demands for ransom. She remains in a twilight zone, a part of his household and yet not.

The only female in a household of men, Laurna was more often than not overlooked, forgotten and she answered to none. This comes back to haunt her in the household of Lord Dracmor. She is lacking in domestic skills and finds it hard to slip away. A hard lesson has been learning to keep her tongue; the sharp edge of the Lord's tongue has cut her more than one. She learns much as she observes the other women gathered about him about being a lady in the house of a lord when she is not fighting her confinement. Exposure to the English that Lord Dracmor keeps company with confuses her, as they are not what her father has led her to believe.

Like many captives, Laurna has a love/ hate relationship with her new lord. It is hard for her to stay away from the charming rogue and yet her heart tells her that there can be nothing from him for her. She is not of the right status and a highlander on top of it. Her future appears uncertain. Calling herself foolish, she has no desire to leave the side of Lord Dracmor, but any attempt she made to escape would be stopped by the band of mercenaries he keeps on hand. What he claims, he keeps and a part of the Clan Dracmor she will remain.

**Picture taken by Lady Cecilia ( http://huzzahforfaire.homestead.com/index.html )