Thank you to the Shang Leopard for Betaing this little story.
I do not own anything
The man wiping the counter looked up as his tavern door swung open. The soldier who stepped through the door headed straight for said counter, sat down and ordered a drink. As the bartender when to fetch it the man beside the soldier asked what brought him to the little tavern beside the Great Road East and the River Olorun.
"I'm from Whitehorn, but working in Corus." The new comer answered.
"And what were you doing in Corus? You some big shot I should be nice to?" The man asked jokingly.
"Nah, I'm just a soldier."
"Nick and I were both soldiers." The bartender indicated the third man a he slid the drink towards the soldier. "At the Drell River."
"Which way are you headed?" Nick asked.
"Back to Whitehorn. I've finally got some time off now that all the midwinter fuss has died down."
"Midwinter fuss?" The bartender asked, "That's what you call the holy celebrations?"
"Oh, no that's not what I'm talking about. Or ain't you heard the news?"
"What news?" Both the bartender and Nick asked.
"One of them squires was actually a girl!" The two older men started laughing, but when the soldier didn't join them they realized he wasn't joking.
"You're serious? A girl?"
The soldier nodded, "In fact, it was the prince's squire to be exact."
Both Nick and the bartender looked at each other. "That's not possible." Nick argued, "We've both meet the prince's squire. He fought with us at the Drell River."
"Fought dam well too." The bartender added. Nick nodded.
The soldier was shaking his head. "She's a girl sure enough, was duelling and her tunic got cut open, right in front of the whole court."
"A little redhead, fiery temper and mean sword. Alan's the name." Nick asked for clarification's sake.
"That's the one! 'Cept the name's Alanna. The whole court says she's the prince's lover, it's the only reason she made it this far."
That got the men's attention. They might not have know that the little squire they took under their wing at the River Drell was a woman, but they weren't about to let that change the facts they knew.
"You ever meet him, er her?" Nick asked.
"You ever saw her fight?" the Bartender wanted to know.
"You know she got taken prisoner at the River Drell, and survived?"
"You know she's one of the best swords-...person that ever lived?"
By this point they were both staring pointedly at the young soldier and he wasn't too sure he liked how loud they'd gotten.
"No, I ain't done none of those things, I'm just saying what I heard."
"Well mind what you say around those of us who have fought with her."
With that the two locals moved off to go about their business. For the next few days they could be seen shaking their head at any given moment and muttering "A girl! I can't believe it!" The soldier for his part was a little more quiet than usual.
If you've ever thought of it and want to suggest someone else to write about go for it.