Even though Lyn did her best to avoid contact with the man, almost as soon as he raised his hand to her she felt the sting of his skin on her cheek. Her altercations with some of the humans of the city had been loud before but none of them had ever turned physical and she hated that she couldn't fight back. Using all of her control, Æolyn managed to only give the man a small shock, something that he may or may not have noticed, and she felt a bit torn in her feelings. She knew she should be thankful she didn't do more damage to the man, but the stinging in her cheek wouldn't let her celebrate.
Taking a step back from her stand, Lyn removed the hand she'd instictively put over her cheek as if checking for bleeding though she knew it wasn't. "I can't believe!" she shrieked, not able to finish her sentence as she suddenly grew extremely angry. Æolyn moved to quickly get around her stand, intent on defending herself despite not knowing how to do it without magic. But before she could get around the wooden structure, someone else appeared. Lyn didn't get a good look at him but she saw a flash of armor and all she could think was 'great, just what I need: the guard'. She rolled her eyes as she drew in a deep breath to calm herself. If she couldn't do magic before she really couldn't do it now.
Lyn brushed a hand over her hair, taming some of the fly aways that had occured during this confrontation before looking up at the man and smiling lightly. He was older than Æolyn, that much she could tell, though she didn't know by how much. He had an intelligent aire about him that said he'd seen more than his fair share of the world. He commanded respect from everyone around him all without saying a word; something Æolyn admired instantly in him.
The metal-clad hand this knight had put on Mr. Smith's shoulder was obviously causing the man discomfort. He wriggled under the contact, trying to get away quickly but failing dramatically. The expression on his face read that he obviously didn't want to be in this situation. Normally, the guards had sided with the humans in their arguments with Lyn so why this one hadn't joined in with Mr. Smith was a puzzle to her.
"G-g-good morning, ser," Mr. Smith stammered still trying to get as far away as possible. "This lady is charging an out rage for second rate produce you see. We were simply haggling and it got..."
At his first statment, Lyn's brow furrowed in confusion and she jumped in before he could brush the scene off as simple market banter. "Simply haggling?! Have you shems always 'simply haggled' by beating up someone who can't fight back?!" she asked, the tone of her voice rising in anger as she spoke. Taking another breath she turned to look at her savior and began pleading her case. "Ser, my produce is not second rate and this was not simply a haggling squabble," she explained, not sure how to convince him she was in the right. She was an elf after all and it seemed that was enough to deem you a leper in this city.