Post by bebeschtroumph on May 22, 2012 22:57:22 GMT 10
Title:Knight-Master
Summary: Squire, retold from Raoul's POV. Some scenes directly from squire, some original
Rating: PG
A/N: I have a lot of this kicking around on my computer, so if you want to see more, let me know.
Chapter One: Conversations
Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak looked at Wyldon of Cavall across the fire. The older man looked pensive, staring into the flames. While Raoul had never particularly liked the man, he respected him, thoroughly. Raoul rearranged himself slightly on the ground, moving one bent leg so that his knee pointed to the sky. He rested one arm on that leg and leaned back on the other arm to support himself. Since Cavall didn’t seem inclined to start a conversation, Raoul spoke. “How are the pages settling into summer camp?” Third Company, riding back to Corus after dealing with a large band of ogres, had come upon Wyldon and the pages at their summer encampment.
Wyldon frowned slightly. “I never thought I would be saying this, but it would be easier if Mindelan were here. I suppose I never realized how the younger lads followed her.” Raoul doubted the man had wanted to notice. “She should have been born a lad.”
Raoul was very pleased Alanna hadn’t come on this particular ride. His reply was cheerful. “Well, I suppose she manages well enough as she is.” He paused, wondering if he should mention his decision regarding Mindelan, then decided he should, since Wyldon would probably be offended if he learned it from gossip. “I’m actually thinking of asking her to squire for me, unless she’s already attached. Those gods cursed ogres took longer than I expected.”
For the first time, Wyldon looked up from the dancing flames. He studied Raoul for a long moment, then nodded, slightly. “It should be a good match. She’s a serious, steady girl. She will help to balance some of the insanity of the Own.”
Wyldon didn’t make that sound like a compliment to the Own. Raoul grinned at him. “Perhaps we’ll just give her a bit of it. I know we’ve got more than enough to go around.” Cavall shook his head, but didn’t comment. The two of them had made peace with their differences years ago, and it wasn’t something they bothered to argue over anymore. “Tell me a bit about her. I met her on that spidren hunt the pages joined us on, and I had a conversation with her last fall, but I don’t know her.”
Wyldon was focused on the fire so long that Raoul thought he’d been forgotten. Just when he was about to clear his throat to catch Cavall’s attention, the training master spoke. “Don’t ever give her an order you think is impossible. Somehow, she’ll manage it.” Raoul let out a short laugh at that. Wyldon even smiled slightly. “She can be difficult to get a read on, but you get used to it. She spent far more time amongst the Yamanis than anyone should.” Wyldon made a face, as if the words about to come out of his mouth tasted bad. “She will do well in positions of leadership. She may have a fair hand for command.”
Raoul arched an eyebrow. He knew there was no love lost between the training master and the only lady page. From him, that was high praise indeed. Of course, Raoul intended to take the time to get to know her himself, in the three and a half years she was to be his squire, but it was good to see what other people thought of her, especially those with no particular reason to like her. Wyldon glanced up at Raoul again, then cleared his throat slightly. “This is going to be a problem no matter who she squires with, but being amongst your men, out in the field as you so often are, is not going to help her reputation any. You don’t seem to mind the gossip, but she is young. She might still change her mind.”
Now Raoul was doubly glad Alanna wasn’t about. “I’m fairly sure that the four years she spent training with you will have resolved any doubts about her choice. People will gossip. It’s the nature of the court. I will make sure she doesn’t give the gossips too many reasons to focus on her.”
Cavall nodded. “I suppose that is the most any of us can do.” The older man stood, rubbing his arm. “Well, I need to get some sleep. There will be rain in the morning, and I need to make sure the pages have properly stowed their equipment.”
Raoul nodded as Wyldon walked off into the night. He sat by the fire for a few more minutes before whistling out to one of his sergeants. Domitan of Masbolle sauntered casually into the fire light. “How long were you eavesdropping for, then, Masbolle?”
The sergeant stuck his hands into pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Eavesdropping, sir?”
Raoul rolled his eyes. “Make sure everyone’s gear is stowed away properly. It’ll be raining tomorrow, and I want an early start back to Corus.”
Dom sketched a salute. “Of course sir.” The young man turned to go but paused and looked back at his commander. “I’ve heard good things about Mindelan, you know.”
Raoul sighed slightly and gave his head a shake. “I do remember some of the choicer excerpts from your cousin’s letters.” He made a shooing motion with his hands. “Run along then, Masbolle.” Once Dom was out of the reach of the firelight, Raoul stood, some of his joints popping in protest. Growing older really was getting irritating. With that cheerful thought, he went off in search of his tent.
The men of Third Company made good time the next day, despite the steady rain. Everyone was slightly miserable, huddled under oiled cloaks, and the constant stream of jokes and sarcastic remarks was a testament to that. They ate a cold lunch in the saddle, everyone quietly chewing on jerky and cheese while they rode. As it started getting too dim for the lack of light to be explained amount of cloud cover alone, Raoul sighed. Night was falling. They were probably a good four hours from the capital, and he wasn’t going to risk the horses in the dark and rain just so he could get dry and sleep in a bed.
He hand-signaled to Flyn. They would stop for a night at a well known camping point about fifteen minutes off the main road. The signal went down the column, and the lines of horsemen turned onto the side trail and started riding into the woods. Raoul was moderately surprised that they weren’t the first group of soldiers camped there.
As soon as he dismounted, Lerant of Eldorne had Amberfire’s reins and was whisking the horse away to be fed watered and rubbed down. He forced himself not to sigh. The lad meant well, even if he took his duties a bit too seriously. It came of being an Eldorne, he supposed. It had been a mistake to exile Delia rather than execute her, if only because of how the rest of the family had to sit under the cloud of her treachery. He stretched, hearing a few pops from his spine.
Looking through the camp, he smiled at the red-haired woman who was waving at him. “Raoul, you good for nothing giant of a man! Come give me a hug.”
He strode over to Alanna and hugged her, thumping his hand on her back several times. “Lioness! I thought you were at the coast.” He held her at arm’s length and grinned. “Did your feet start to itch?”
She laughed and shrugged slightly. “We had some piracy issues to deal with up the coast, and then Duke Baird got in touch. He’s calling in a favor.” Raoul arched an eyebrow at his longtime friend. “His son has a healer’s gift, but left the University to try for his knighthood. He wants me to take him as squire so the lad can learn healing as he trains for his Ordeal.” She sighed. “I can’t very well take Mindelan, and he’s a good lad. They’re close friends, according to Baird.”
Raoul followed her to the fire, though both of the knights were still huddled in their cloaks against the drizzle. He extended his hands as close to the flames as he could without burning them, trying to work warmth into them and ward off the chill that the rain had carried in. Apparently the weather didn’t know it was late spring already. Alanna was doing the same. She’d always hated the cold, even when he’d known her as Alan. His old friend nudged him with her elbow after a few minutes of silence. “So what has Third Company been up to, wandering about in the rain?”
“We had to deal with a band of ogres that had crossed over from Tusaine. They were giving the locals around Fief Tirragen problems. We’ve been out there for more than a month. Very sadly, we’ve missed the better part of the congress. According to Wyldon, things were starting to wind down when he left Corus with the pages a few days ago.”
Alanna nodded sagely. “We can’t help where duty calls us. I’d meant to be in time for at least some of the congress, but, well, spring is the time for pirates on the coast. Nothing to be done for it.” The diminutive woman rocked back on her heels and tried to look nonchalant. “Did Wyldon mention if anyone had taken Mindelan yet?”
Raoul grinned slightly. It must have killed Alanna to be forced to mention Wyldon, but she obviously wanted news about the lady squire. He shrugged, hiding his grin. “She apparently hasn’t been snapped up. If you can believe it, Wyldon couldn’t say a bad thing about her, except perhaps that she managed to pull off the impossible.”
Alanna cursed, not as under her breath as she probably thought. “Those idiotic fusspots wouldn’t know a decent squire if one bit them on the rear. Just because she has breasts they think she can’t possibly be as good as a man!” She threw up her hands in disgust. “Goddess curse my gift! If I had no magic, I would say damn the gossips and just take her myself. I could have given her so much advice these past years, if not for those idiotic conservatives!”
He had to laugh as Alanna’s rant degenerated into a string of growled curses, mostly about conservatives and which farm animals they were probably keeping company with. “Don’t worry about Keladry, Alanna. Well, maybe worry a little.” She gave him a curious glance and he winked at her. “I’m going to see if she wants to spend three and a half years traipsing around with the Own.”
Alanna was speechless for a few seconds before she actually jumped into the air and leapt on him, knocking him back from the fire and hugging him, clapping him on the back forcefully. “Raoul, you wonderful man! You are absolutely perfect!” She grinned as she rolled off of him and back onto the ground, her violet eyes sparkling in the firelight. He raised an eyebrow in question. “As much as you hate it, you are going to be completely in the public eye for the whole of the progress, and so will your squire. Plus the Own is always out on official business. No one will be able to say she didn’t earn her shield if she squires for you.” She smiled happily. “My father likes her, you know. Says she has a good head on her shoulders and that she’s steady. Nothing like me of course. Apparently she can hold her temper. He thinks she’ll make an excellent knight.” She was beaming now. “When I was hinting about it at midwinter, you seemed completely uninterested. I hadn’t even thought to ask you to take her, since you haven’t taken a squire since that whole ridiculous situation with Gary when the two of you had my year mates for squires.”
Raoul winced. That whole situation had been a nightmare. "I wasn't uninterested. I've had her in the back of my mind since we went spidren hunting with the pages her first summer. You were irritated that Jon was telling you, rightly so, that you couldn't have her as squire, and you were waxing melodramatic, so I was ignoring you."
She snorted. “I wasn't being melodramatic. Jon has been ridiculous through this whole situation. I hadn't even mentioned that I might want her as squire, and he had to go and issue me that ridiculous decree of a letter saying that it completely out of the question. Gary wouldn't hear a word I had to say, so you were the only one I could complain to. Still, you could have told me you were considering her, or I wouldn't have been making wracking my brain to think up a favor you owed me. Let’s hope things with Keladry go more smoothly.”
He barked out a laugh. “Let’s see if she’ll have me first, then we can start thinking about everything else, alright Alanna?”
Alanna’s smile was wide when she looked up at him. “Oh, she’ll take you. I’m sure you’re her second choice, right after me.”
He shook his head but eventually nodded. Alanna was probably right. He was sure Kel had admired the only female knight since she’d known Alanna existed. “Well, you’re probably right, as much as it humbles my pride to admit it.” He stretched his arms above his head and resettled his oiled cloak. The rain had slacked off and now it was just the trees dripping on them. “I’d better make sure everyone is getting settled in, and see if dinner is happening any time soon.”
Alanna was humming to herself as she waved him off. He shook his head and went to find Flyn. As he walked away from the fire, he was forced to turn back as Alanna called after him. “Raoul, I’m expecting regular reports! I want to know everything about her!”
Summary: Squire, retold from Raoul's POV. Some scenes directly from squire, some original
Rating: PG
A/N: I have a lot of this kicking around on my computer, so if you want to see more, let me know.
Chapter One: Conversations
Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak looked at Wyldon of Cavall across the fire. The older man looked pensive, staring into the flames. While Raoul had never particularly liked the man, he respected him, thoroughly. Raoul rearranged himself slightly on the ground, moving one bent leg so that his knee pointed to the sky. He rested one arm on that leg and leaned back on the other arm to support himself. Since Cavall didn’t seem inclined to start a conversation, Raoul spoke. “How are the pages settling into summer camp?” Third Company, riding back to Corus after dealing with a large band of ogres, had come upon Wyldon and the pages at their summer encampment.
Wyldon frowned slightly. “I never thought I would be saying this, but it would be easier if Mindelan were here. I suppose I never realized how the younger lads followed her.” Raoul doubted the man had wanted to notice. “She should have been born a lad.”
Raoul was very pleased Alanna hadn’t come on this particular ride. His reply was cheerful. “Well, I suppose she manages well enough as she is.” He paused, wondering if he should mention his decision regarding Mindelan, then decided he should, since Wyldon would probably be offended if he learned it from gossip. “I’m actually thinking of asking her to squire for me, unless she’s already attached. Those gods cursed ogres took longer than I expected.”
For the first time, Wyldon looked up from the dancing flames. He studied Raoul for a long moment, then nodded, slightly. “It should be a good match. She’s a serious, steady girl. She will help to balance some of the insanity of the Own.”
Wyldon didn’t make that sound like a compliment to the Own. Raoul grinned at him. “Perhaps we’ll just give her a bit of it. I know we’ve got more than enough to go around.” Cavall shook his head, but didn’t comment. The two of them had made peace with their differences years ago, and it wasn’t something they bothered to argue over anymore. “Tell me a bit about her. I met her on that spidren hunt the pages joined us on, and I had a conversation with her last fall, but I don’t know her.”
Wyldon was focused on the fire so long that Raoul thought he’d been forgotten. Just when he was about to clear his throat to catch Cavall’s attention, the training master spoke. “Don’t ever give her an order you think is impossible. Somehow, she’ll manage it.” Raoul let out a short laugh at that. Wyldon even smiled slightly. “She can be difficult to get a read on, but you get used to it. She spent far more time amongst the Yamanis than anyone should.” Wyldon made a face, as if the words about to come out of his mouth tasted bad. “She will do well in positions of leadership. She may have a fair hand for command.”
Raoul arched an eyebrow. He knew there was no love lost between the training master and the only lady page. From him, that was high praise indeed. Of course, Raoul intended to take the time to get to know her himself, in the three and a half years she was to be his squire, but it was good to see what other people thought of her, especially those with no particular reason to like her. Wyldon glanced up at Raoul again, then cleared his throat slightly. “This is going to be a problem no matter who she squires with, but being amongst your men, out in the field as you so often are, is not going to help her reputation any. You don’t seem to mind the gossip, but she is young. She might still change her mind.”
Now Raoul was doubly glad Alanna wasn’t about. “I’m fairly sure that the four years she spent training with you will have resolved any doubts about her choice. People will gossip. It’s the nature of the court. I will make sure she doesn’t give the gossips too many reasons to focus on her.”
Cavall nodded. “I suppose that is the most any of us can do.” The older man stood, rubbing his arm. “Well, I need to get some sleep. There will be rain in the morning, and I need to make sure the pages have properly stowed their equipment.”
Raoul nodded as Wyldon walked off into the night. He sat by the fire for a few more minutes before whistling out to one of his sergeants. Domitan of Masbolle sauntered casually into the fire light. “How long were you eavesdropping for, then, Masbolle?”
The sergeant stuck his hands into pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Eavesdropping, sir?”
Raoul rolled his eyes. “Make sure everyone’s gear is stowed away properly. It’ll be raining tomorrow, and I want an early start back to Corus.”
Dom sketched a salute. “Of course sir.” The young man turned to go but paused and looked back at his commander. “I’ve heard good things about Mindelan, you know.”
Raoul sighed slightly and gave his head a shake. “I do remember some of the choicer excerpts from your cousin’s letters.” He made a shooing motion with his hands. “Run along then, Masbolle.” Once Dom was out of the reach of the firelight, Raoul stood, some of his joints popping in protest. Growing older really was getting irritating. With that cheerful thought, he went off in search of his tent.
The men of Third Company made good time the next day, despite the steady rain. Everyone was slightly miserable, huddled under oiled cloaks, and the constant stream of jokes and sarcastic remarks was a testament to that. They ate a cold lunch in the saddle, everyone quietly chewing on jerky and cheese while they rode. As it started getting too dim for the lack of light to be explained amount of cloud cover alone, Raoul sighed. Night was falling. They were probably a good four hours from the capital, and he wasn’t going to risk the horses in the dark and rain just so he could get dry and sleep in a bed.
He hand-signaled to Flyn. They would stop for a night at a well known camping point about fifteen minutes off the main road. The signal went down the column, and the lines of horsemen turned onto the side trail and started riding into the woods. Raoul was moderately surprised that they weren’t the first group of soldiers camped there.
As soon as he dismounted, Lerant of Eldorne had Amberfire’s reins and was whisking the horse away to be fed watered and rubbed down. He forced himself not to sigh. The lad meant well, even if he took his duties a bit too seriously. It came of being an Eldorne, he supposed. It had been a mistake to exile Delia rather than execute her, if only because of how the rest of the family had to sit under the cloud of her treachery. He stretched, hearing a few pops from his spine.
Looking through the camp, he smiled at the red-haired woman who was waving at him. “Raoul, you good for nothing giant of a man! Come give me a hug.”
He strode over to Alanna and hugged her, thumping his hand on her back several times. “Lioness! I thought you were at the coast.” He held her at arm’s length and grinned. “Did your feet start to itch?”
She laughed and shrugged slightly. “We had some piracy issues to deal with up the coast, and then Duke Baird got in touch. He’s calling in a favor.” Raoul arched an eyebrow at his longtime friend. “His son has a healer’s gift, but left the University to try for his knighthood. He wants me to take him as squire so the lad can learn healing as he trains for his Ordeal.” She sighed. “I can’t very well take Mindelan, and he’s a good lad. They’re close friends, according to Baird.”
Raoul followed her to the fire, though both of the knights were still huddled in their cloaks against the drizzle. He extended his hands as close to the flames as he could without burning them, trying to work warmth into them and ward off the chill that the rain had carried in. Apparently the weather didn’t know it was late spring already. Alanna was doing the same. She’d always hated the cold, even when he’d known her as Alan. His old friend nudged him with her elbow after a few minutes of silence. “So what has Third Company been up to, wandering about in the rain?”
“We had to deal with a band of ogres that had crossed over from Tusaine. They were giving the locals around Fief Tirragen problems. We’ve been out there for more than a month. Very sadly, we’ve missed the better part of the congress. According to Wyldon, things were starting to wind down when he left Corus with the pages a few days ago.”
Alanna nodded sagely. “We can’t help where duty calls us. I’d meant to be in time for at least some of the congress, but, well, spring is the time for pirates on the coast. Nothing to be done for it.” The diminutive woman rocked back on her heels and tried to look nonchalant. “Did Wyldon mention if anyone had taken Mindelan yet?”
Raoul grinned slightly. It must have killed Alanna to be forced to mention Wyldon, but she obviously wanted news about the lady squire. He shrugged, hiding his grin. “She apparently hasn’t been snapped up. If you can believe it, Wyldon couldn’t say a bad thing about her, except perhaps that she managed to pull off the impossible.”
Alanna cursed, not as under her breath as she probably thought. “Those idiotic fusspots wouldn’t know a decent squire if one bit them on the rear. Just because she has breasts they think she can’t possibly be as good as a man!” She threw up her hands in disgust. “Goddess curse my gift! If I had no magic, I would say damn the gossips and just take her myself. I could have given her so much advice these past years, if not for those idiotic conservatives!”
He had to laugh as Alanna’s rant degenerated into a string of growled curses, mostly about conservatives and which farm animals they were probably keeping company with. “Don’t worry about Keladry, Alanna. Well, maybe worry a little.” She gave him a curious glance and he winked at her. “I’m going to see if she wants to spend three and a half years traipsing around with the Own.”
Alanna was speechless for a few seconds before she actually jumped into the air and leapt on him, knocking him back from the fire and hugging him, clapping him on the back forcefully. “Raoul, you wonderful man! You are absolutely perfect!” She grinned as she rolled off of him and back onto the ground, her violet eyes sparkling in the firelight. He raised an eyebrow in question. “As much as you hate it, you are going to be completely in the public eye for the whole of the progress, and so will your squire. Plus the Own is always out on official business. No one will be able to say she didn’t earn her shield if she squires for you.” She smiled happily. “My father likes her, you know. Says she has a good head on her shoulders and that she’s steady. Nothing like me of course. Apparently she can hold her temper. He thinks she’ll make an excellent knight.” She was beaming now. “When I was hinting about it at midwinter, you seemed completely uninterested. I hadn’t even thought to ask you to take her, since you haven’t taken a squire since that whole ridiculous situation with Gary when the two of you had my year mates for squires.”
Raoul winced. That whole situation had been a nightmare. "I wasn't uninterested. I've had her in the back of my mind since we went spidren hunting with the pages her first summer. You were irritated that Jon was telling you, rightly so, that you couldn't have her as squire, and you were waxing melodramatic, so I was ignoring you."
She snorted. “I wasn't being melodramatic. Jon has been ridiculous through this whole situation. I hadn't even mentioned that I might want her as squire, and he had to go and issue me that ridiculous decree of a letter saying that it completely out of the question. Gary wouldn't hear a word I had to say, so you were the only one I could complain to. Still, you could have told me you were considering her, or I wouldn't have been making wracking my brain to think up a favor you owed me. Let’s hope things with Keladry go more smoothly.”
He barked out a laugh. “Let’s see if she’ll have me first, then we can start thinking about everything else, alright Alanna?”
Alanna’s smile was wide when she looked up at him. “Oh, she’ll take you. I’m sure you’re her second choice, right after me.”
He shook his head but eventually nodded. Alanna was probably right. He was sure Kel had admired the only female knight since she’d known Alanna existed. “Well, you’re probably right, as much as it humbles my pride to admit it.” He stretched his arms above his head and resettled his oiled cloak. The rain had slacked off and now it was just the trees dripping on them. “I’d better make sure everyone is getting settled in, and see if dinner is happening any time soon.”
Alanna was humming to herself as she waved him off. He shook his head and went to find Flyn. As he walked away from the fire, he was forced to turn back as Alanna called after him. “Raoul, I’m expecting regular reports! I want to know everything about her!”