Post by kitsunerei88 on Jul 31, 2015 10:30:14 GMT 10
Title: Welcome to the Heroes Club
Rating: G
Prompt: Midwinter in Tortall, At War and At Peace, Festivities at Court
Summary: Returning to Corus at Midwinter after the end of the war, there were many things that Kel had not expected.
ED: Not my best work, and also I don't know where I was going with this concept OR what I was thinking, so critique away. D:
---
Midwinter 463 HE
Things were different in New Hope.
That was Kel’s first thought on returning to Corus. The war had ended some months ago, treaties signed and reparations paid, but Kel had remained in the north assisting with the reorganization of territories. It happened that her refugee camp had turned into a town, and most of her refugees had simply decided to make it their new home, but one could not have a town in the middle of military jurisdiction and things had become, legally speaking, complicated. She had been looking forward to a nice, quiet Midwinter in New Hope, surrounded by her people (for that’s what they were, until someone told her otherwise), when the royal decree had come.
Lady Knight Commander Keladry of Mindelan, it read, and Kel had winced. Little wonder Raoul never liked his title - it just sounded absurd. The Crown wishes to express its thanks and appreciation for your services in the recent Scanran War, and is pleased to request your presence during our Midwinter festivities this upcoming holiday season. We eagerly anticipate your confirmation of attendance and look forward to greeting you.
“It’s not actually an invitation,” Raoul had explained grimly when Kel had next been at Mastiff, showing her his own letter, duly addressed to Lord Knight Commander, Sir Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie’s Peak. “Or rather it is, but it isn’t. It’s one of Jon’s polite orders. You better make arrangements for your civilians to take over for the winter.”
It had simply gotten worse from there. Evidently, the Crown intended on pulling most of the troops from the border this year, and both Merric and Neal received invitations. Neal had almost cried from the joy, though Kel reminded him that he was free to leave New Hope when he so chose.
“But I couldn’t leave you here,” he had replied, sniffing in disdain. “Now, what should I get Yuki for Midwinter? It has to be extravagant.”
He never did decide what to give Yuki for Midwinter, and Kel had to endure his increasingly frantic entreaties during their long ride back to the capital. Merric, who had put up with it more gracefully than Kel would have anticipated, eventually took to throwing snowballs at him every time he brought it up.
As bad as the ride south was, the city was worse. Kel had arrived in Corus just after lunch, figuring that it would give them the afternoon to find and settle into their appointed rooms with a minimum of inconvenience to the Palace staff.
She had not counted on crowd of people flooding the streets minutes after her arrival, cheering her welcome to the City with cries of “Protector of the Small! Protector of the Small!”
I hate that name, Kel had thought, while she waved back hesitantly at the crowds. She might give speeches often enough in New Hope, but this… this was a little much. Merric had taken it all in with, again, surprising calm, and Neal had instantly become a player, bowing to the crowds on horseback, and it had taken them more than twice the usual time to make it to the Palace.
Things had not improved in the Palace. First, Kel’s appointed rooms were far from the others knights’ chambers. She also had rooms, plural, instead of just a chamber and dressing chamber as the other knights. Even with space at a premium, Kel had mysteriously been assigned a set of three chambers, including a study and an entertaining parlour, not that Kel intended on entertaining. Second, which was even worse, people Kel had known for years had begun looking at her like she was someone, something, different. She had run into Salma, who had actually curtsied to her and congratulated her on her successful command at New Hope. Lalasa had been the same as ever when Kel had braved the city yesterday for new dresses, but Tian, who was visiting the shop, was markedly nervous. When Kel braved the practice courts, the pages and squires, even those that Kel recognized vaguely as having been pages during her squiredom, stared at her with the kind of awe that Kel associated with the Lioness.
It was, to put in bluntly, creepy.
All of which brought her to her current predicament. She was on her third day at the Palace, and she was done. She could not, absolutely could not deal with the worship today. Neal had sequestered himself with Yuki in their rooms; Owen, Seaver, Merric and Esmond had gone to the City and, although invited, Kel had declined because, as she was reminded yesterday, the City was awful. People stared at her and threw flowers at her, and she had no idea where they even found flowers at Midwinter. Yet, hiding in her rooms just seemed pathetic, and, gritting her teeth and not exactly knowing where she planned on going just yet, Kel pulled the door open and ran bodily into a broad-shouldered, neatly-dressed, particularly handsome Domitan of Masbolle.
It spoke volumes about her mood that Kel didn’t even notice his handsomeness today, really.
“Ah, good timing” he said, caught in the motion of knocking, then spotted the look on her face. Oddly, he grinned at her. “Getting to you yet?”
“Sorry?” Kel asked, polite even while cranky.
“The Protector of the Small thing,” he replied, leaning against her doorframe. She thought about shoving him out of the way, but given that she wasn’t even sure where she was going yet, she reconsidered. “And the way the pages, squires and other knights are looking at you, of course. Did you brave the knights’ mess hall last night?”
Kel made a face. She had, and the closest experience she could come to it was the first day she stepped into the pages mess hall on her first day in the Palace. She had walked in, and the room had fallen silent. Owen had outright informed her, in his tactless way, that as a commander it was surprising she sat with them at all. “I did.”
Dom laughed. “You’re always welcome in the Own’s mess hall, but I can’t guarantee you’ll get away from it there; we have a lot of new boys. Either way, Sir Raoul’s invited you over - he’s having a small get-together in his chambers and asked me to invite you along.”
“What’s the occasion?” Kel asked, intrigued. It was somewhere to go, at least. And given it was Raoul, and Dom, she probably wouldn’t have to deal with more Protector of the Small, or milady, you must dress to suit your status, or well you’re a commander so no one expects you to sit with us kind of comments.
“You’ll see,” he said, stepping neatly out of her doorway. “It’s a ... special kind of gathering.”
Raoul’s rooms were conveniently located just down the corridor from her own rooms - a mark of her increase in status if there was one. “I brought her,” Dom announced as he opened the door to his sitting rooms.
Kel blinked in surprise. Aside from Raoul, comfortably installed on a large armchair near a crackling fire, there was Alanna, Daine, Numair, Buri, Vanget haMinch and, of all people, Lord Wyldon.
“Protector of the Small!” Alanna called out gaily, waving a cup of what Kel assumed was fruit juice and making room for her on one of the couches. “You look like you need a drink. If I were hosting, I would have real drinks, but since it’s Raoul’s turn you’ll have to deal with fruit juice instead.”
“Er,” Kel said, staring around the room. “I’m afraid to ask, but what is this get-together?”
“It’s the Heroes Club,” Daine replied from her seat on the floor, between Numair’s legs. “We get together whenever His Majesty forces us all to attend a particularly extravagant festival... particularly when it is held in a member’s honour. In this case, since it’s being held for the commanders of the Scanran War, you meet the criteria. And you have to have a ridiculous name that people call you by or scream at you on the streets. I’m the Wildmage, obviously. Numair is usually just that mage.” She emphasized the last two words, widening her eyes and adopting a tone of awe, making the capital letters obvious. That Mage.
“You forgot your Carthaki title, my dear,” Numair added, ruffling her curls affectionately. “What was it again? The Destroyer? The Hag’s Power on Earth?”
“We don’t need to get into that,” Daine replied, smacking him on the knee.
“I’m told I earned a nickname after the war,” Dom added. “But I haven’t heard it yelled at me on the streets yet - I and my crew got the crowds, but I don’t remember a specific name...”
“The Falcon is what I heard,” Alanna interrupted smugly. “Though I’m buggered if I know why. And I’m the Lioness, to no one’s surprise. King’s Champion, Finder of the Dominion Jewel, all that. Come on Raoul, old man, introduce yourself by title.”
“The Giant-Killer,” Raoul admitted, wincing. “The Lord Knight Commander of the King’s Own.”
“Which, fortunately, does not mean I am Lady Commander of the Queen’s Riders,” Buri cackled. “That’s why I resigned from the Riders. But I got stuck as the Rider, and sometimes I hear the Queen’s Shadow.” She made a face. “I would much prefer an animal, at least it’s not embarrassing. I don’t even follow the Queen around, so the Queen’s Shadow, I don’t even...”
Vanget laughed, a harsh sound. “This is the first time I’ve returned to Corus in almost a decade - to say it was a surprise is an understatement. I’m apparently the Tower, which I am told I earned when I cleaned Northwatch out and took it back from the Scanrans. I was only dragged to this group this morning - no one cared about us in the north for decades of border control, but after a war, suddenly I am a hero for doing my job.”
Kel cracked a smile, the old man’s sarcasm echoing her sense of the situation, and turned to Lord Wyldon who, oddly, did not look quite as discomfited by the gathering as she expected. “And you, my lord?”
“The Shield,” he replied, poker-faced. “Immortals War. But I’ve also heard the Stump in recent years.”
The glint in his eye told Kel that he knew perfectly well who had dubbed him “the Stump.”
“In any case,” Alanna interrupted brightly, “Welcome to the Heroes Club!”
Rating: G
Prompt: Midwinter in Tortall, At War and At Peace, Festivities at Court
Summary: Returning to Corus at Midwinter after the end of the war, there were many things that Kel had not expected.
ED: Not my best work, and also I don't know where I was going with this concept OR what I was thinking, so critique away. D:
---
Midwinter 463 HE
Things were different in New Hope.
That was Kel’s first thought on returning to Corus. The war had ended some months ago, treaties signed and reparations paid, but Kel had remained in the north assisting with the reorganization of territories. It happened that her refugee camp had turned into a town, and most of her refugees had simply decided to make it their new home, but one could not have a town in the middle of military jurisdiction and things had become, legally speaking, complicated. She had been looking forward to a nice, quiet Midwinter in New Hope, surrounded by her people (for that’s what they were, until someone told her otherwise), when the royal decree had come.
Lady Knight Commander Keladry of Mindelan, it read, and Kel had winced. Little wonder Raoul never liked his title - it just sounded absurd. The Crown wishes to express its thanks and appreciation for your services in the recent Scanran War, and is pleased to request your presence during our Midwinter festivities this upcoming holiday season. We eagerly anticipate your confirmation of attendance and look forward to greeting you.
“It’s not actually an invitation,” Raoul had explained grimly when Kel had next been at Mastiff, showing her his own letter, duly addressed to Lord Knight Commander, Sir Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie’s Peak. “Or rather it is, but it isn’t. It’s one of Jon’s polite orders. You better make arrangements for your civilians to take over for the winter.”
It had simply gotten worse from there. Evidently, the Crown intended on pulling most of the troops from the border this year, and both Merric and Neal received invitations. Neal had almost cried from the joy, though Kel reminded him that he was free to leave New Hope when he so chose.
“But I couldn’t leave you here,” he had replied, sniffing in disdain. “Now, what should I get Yuki for Midwinter? It has to be extravagant.”
He never did decide what to give Yuki for Midwinter, and Kel had to endure his increasingly frantic entreaties during their long ride back to the capital. Merric, who had put up with it more gracefully than Kel would have anticipated, eventually took to throwing snowballs at him every time he brought it up.
As bad as the ride south was, the city was worse. Kel had arrived in Corus just after lunch, figuring that it would give them the afternoon to find and settle into their appointed rooms with a minimum of inconvenience to the Palace staff.
She had not counted on crowd of people flooding the streets minutes after her arrival, cheering her welcome to the City with cries of “Protector of the Small! Protector of the Small!”
I hate that name, Kel had thought, while she waved back hesitantly at the crowds. She might give speeches often enough in New Hope, but this… this was a little much. Merric had taken it all in with, again, surprising calm, and Neal had instantly become a player, bowing to the crowds on horseback, and it had taken them more than twice the usual time to make it to the Palace.
Things had not improved in the Palace. First, Kel’s appointed rooms were far from the others knights’ chambers. She also had rooms, plural, instead of just a chamber and dressing chamber as the other knights. Even with space at a premium, Kel had mysteriously been assigned a set of three chambers, including a study and an entertaining parlour, not that Kel intended on entertaining. Second, which was even worse, people Kel had known for years had begun looking at her like she was someone, something, different. She had run into Salma, who had actually curtsied to her and congratulated her on her successful command at New Hope. Lalasa had been the same as ever when Kel had braved the city yesterday for new dresses, but Tian, who was visiting the shop, was markedly nervous. When Kel braved the practice courts, the pages and squires, even those that Kel recognized vaguely as having been pages during her squiredom, stared at her with the kind of awe that Kel associated with the Lioness.
It was, to put in bluntly, creepy.
All of which brought her to her current predicament. She was on her third day at the Palace, and she was done. She could not, absolutely could not deal with the worship today. Neal had sequestered himself with Yuki in their rooms; Owen, Seaver, Merric and Esmond had gone to the City and, although invited, Kel had declined because, as she was reminded yesterday, the City was awful. People stared at her and threw flowers at her, and she had no idea where they even found flowers at Midwinter. Yet, hiding in her rooms just seemed pathetic, and, gritting her teeth and not exactly knowing where she planned on going just yet, Kel pulled the door open and ran bodily into a broad-shouldered, neatly-dressed, particularly handsome Domitan of Masbolle.
It spoke volumes about her mood that Kel didn’t even notice his handsomeness today, really.
“Ah, good timing” he said, caught in the motion of knocking, then spotted the look on her face. Oddly, he grinned at her. “Getting to you yet?”
“Sorry?” Kel asked, polite even while cranky.
“The Protector of the Small thing,” he replied, leaning against her doorframe. She thought about shoving him out of the way, but given that she wasn’t even sure where she was going yet, she reconsidered. “And the way the pages, squires and other knights are looking at you, of course. Did you brave the knights’ mess hall last night?”
Kel made a face. She had, and the closest experience she could come to it was the first day she stepped into the pages mess hall on her first day in the Palace. She had walked in, and the room had fallen silent. Owen had outright informed her, in his tactless way, that as a commander it was surprising she sat with them at all. “I did.”
Dom laughed. “You’re always welcome in the Own’s mess hall, but I can’t guarantee you’ll get away from it there; we have a lot of new boys. Either way, Sir Raoul’s invited you over - he’s having a small get-together in his chambers and asked me to invite you along.”
“What’s the occasion?” Kel asked, intrigued. It was somewhere to go, at least. And given it was Raoul, and Dom, she probably wouldn’t have to deal with more Protector of the Small, or milady, you must dress to suit your status, or well you’re a commander so no one expects you to sit with us kind of comments.
“You’ll see,” he said, stepping neatly out of her doorway. “It’s a ... special kind of gathering.”
Raoul’s rooms were conveniently located just down the corridor from her own rooms - a mark of her increase in status if there was one. “I brought her,” Dom announced as he opened the door to his sitting rooms.
Kel blinked in surprise. Aside from Raoul, comfortably installed on a large armchair near a crackling fire, there was Alanna, Daine, Numair, Buri, Vanget haMinch and, of all people, Lord Wyldon.
“Protector of the Small!” Alanna called out gaily, waving a cup of what Kel assumed was fruit juice and making room for her on one of the couches. “You look like you need a drink. If I were hosting, I would have real drinks, but since it’s Raoul’s turn you’ll have to deal with fruit juice instead.”
“Er,” Kel said, staring around the room. “I’m afraid to ask, but what is this get-together?”
“It’s the Heroes Club,” Daine replied from her seat on the floor, between Numair’s legs. “We get together whenever His Majesty forces us all to attend a particularly extravagant festival... particularly when it is held in a member’s honour. In this case, since it’s being held for the commanders of the Scanran War, you meet the criteria. And you have to have a ridiculous name that people call you by or scream at you on the streets. I’m the Wildmage, obviously. Numair is usually just that mage.” She emphasized the last two words, widening her eyes and adopting a tone of awe, making the capital letters obvious. That Mage.
“You forgot your Carthaki title, my dear,” Numair added, ruffling her curls affectionately. “What was it again? The Destroyer? The Hag’s Power on Earth?”
“We don’t need to get into that,” Daine replied, smacking him on the knee.
“I’m told I earned a nickname after the war,” Dom added. “But I haven’t heard it yelled at me on the streets yet - I and my crew got the crowds, but I don’t remember a specific name...”
“The Falcon is what I heard,” Alanna interrupted smugly. “Though I’m buggered if I know why. And I’m the Lioness, to no one’s surprise. King’s Champion, Finder of the Dominion Jewel, all that. Come on Raoul, old man, introduce yourself by title.”
“The Giant-Killer,” Raoul admitted, wincing. “The Lord Knight Commander of the King’s Own.”
“Which, fortunately, does not mean I am Lady Commander of the Queen’s Riders,” Buri cackled. “That’s why I resigned from the Riders. But I got stuck as the Rider, and sometimes I hear the Queen’s Shadow.” She made a face. “I would much prefer an animal, at least it’s not embarrassing. I don’t even follow the Queen around, so the Queen’s Shadow, I don’t even...”
Vanget laughed, a harsh sound. “This is the first time I’ve returned to Corus in almost a decade - to say it was a surprise is an understatement. I’m apparently the Tower, which I am told I earned when I cleaned Northwatch out and took it back from the Scanrans. I was only dragged to this group this morning - no one cared about us in the north for decades of border control, but after a war, suddenly I am a hero for doing my job.”
Kel cracked a smile, the old man’s sarcasm echoing her sense of the situation, and turned to Lord Wyldon who, oddly, did not look quite as discomfited by the gathering as she expected. “And you, my lord?”
“The Shield,” he replied, poker-faced. “Immortals War. But I’ve also heard the Stump in recent years.”
The glint in his eye told Kel that he knew perfectly well who had dubbed him “the Stump.”
“In any case,” Alanna interrupted brightly, “Welcome to the Heroes Club!”
Maybe once we'd have seen it during Smackdown!