Ironheart;
Prologue
"And there was us… an' there was always Gilneas."
Eleven years ago to the day, Gilneas was sweltering. The unnatural heat wave had oozed over the land like a wet and humid blanket – and to all accustomed to the rain and chill they had next to no idea on what to do about the change. Windows had been thrown open to let in the air, and noble ladies dressed in their lightest attire without showing too much in the way of skin or immodesty. Peasant children ran naked through the streets to step in puddles caused by the night's rain and a lazy state of content had all but descended on the nation. It was if all had become one – like a river running slowly through the plains.
Of course, even with the heat there was no need to neglect the call of the light, and most of the populace slugged their way to the various churches to pay their respects and send off their prayers. These two were no exception. Two children dressed in their Sunday best – he with his thick woolen tunic and slicked hair to expose the sweat on his brow and she with a violent pink dress two sizes small – they were odd as odd could be. Yet they relished in it. He was a nobleman of a small house; obtaining some wealth but far from the reaches of the inner court. She… well she was as poor as one could almost go.
"Wot? Scared o' a little adventure, Bel? Come on! No one is eveeeen going to notice we left," Catil began, tugging down on her best friend's sleeve. The boy rolled his eyes and tried to puff his chest out importantly – all while trying to ignore the fact that her tugging down on his clothes was starting to give him a rash from the heat.
"It's not that I'm scared. I just know that my Mum is skin the both of us if we get caught. You saw how angry she got last time. I'm not ending up as a throw rug!" he countered. Catil crossed her arms over her chest, her eyebrow rising comically higher on her forehead.
"Uh huh –which means you're scared."
"I'm not scared!"
"Oh yeah? Prove it!"
These two children where as thick as thick could be. Like a pair of socks or salt and pepper shakers; one could simply not exist without the other, despite their differences. Today was no exception. She would stand there and point at his "obvious" fear, stating that he would be nothing but a big baby if he did not come with her. He would try to rationally convince her otherwise, before giving up and following along with her plans only because it was easier to amuse her than to endure her wrath.
"Catil, it's the wall. The Greymane Wall. You know that thing everyone tells you stay away from?" Belvet would respond, his voice low so there was a little possibility of people hearing them. He grabbed the girl's arm to shuffle her to the side, flashing a bright smile at the passersby before returning that stern expression back the auburn haired female. "Suppose we got to the wall then. What after that? We scale it, we look over and we pat each other on the backs going 'good work chaps' and go home. Is that really that exciting?"
"That," Catil began, reaching up to flick Belvet rather harshly on the nose. She grinned wickedly, her tongue poking through the gaps caused by the loss of her baby teeth, "is the reply o' a scaredy-cat. I though ya were noble, Bel. Y'know, standin' tall and proud against all odds? Isn't tha' how you guys go' there in the first place?"
"I'm not scared!"
The sun had begun to set the afternoon they climbed the wall. To say that they thought they would escape such an adventure unharmed was an understatement. Catil's dress had torn, her hair was mangled and it was obvious she had been doing things that she knew her parents would not approve of. Belvet had left his jacket on a tree near the wall which he would come to find missing when he was gone. Upon getting home, the mark left on his bottom by his mother would be quite severe, but for the moment even he seemed not to care for consequence.
"Well this is freakin' borin', huh?" Catil said, leaning over the top of the wall to peer around the ivy that had slowly began to creep its way up and into the cracks of its foundation. "I expected maybe some kind o' wasteland, y'know? Maybe some kind o' scourge attack or somethin'. All those things ya hear in stories!"
"And why would you want to see that?" Belvet countered, leaning up against the stonework rather awkwardly. His eyes darted around him, as if he expected danger, but he did not try to openly show his fear. "That's why the wall was built – to keep out the danger. You wouldn't see it here, but a few days ride? I bet you would. It wouldn't be spiders or bears either, Catty. You know that."
"Yeh? And ya don't think we couldn't take it on?" Catil turned, placing her hands on her hips as her brown eyes trailed over her best friend's skinny form. "You and me, Bel, we coul' do it! Imagine tha' somethin' happened and we left. Your magic and my… well harvest witchin' is pretty shit, but my powers too – we could do it! Do you see it?"
And Belvet just shook his head, the way that Catil expected him too. But he smiled regardless, as if he knew that by making the motion it would please her somewhat. He pushed himself off the stone and stepped forward to look over the wall, out to the setting sun before them.
"Yeah. I bet we could," he finally replied, his hand reaching out to catch Catil's calloused one. "Although you'd be getting into fights with everyone in every way you could. I'd have to be the dignified one and get you out of trouble."
"There wouldn't be any trouble! I'd punch 'em out!"
They'd laugh then - innocent children naïve of the world and oblivious to the looming danger. While years and years away, the signs had begun. And they, even with the excuse of youth, ignored it.
"Yeah, well, let's just hope you don't do that. We'd end up in the stocks."
"Well as long as we don' end up out o' the wall we'll be sweet, yeh?"
Belvet just chuckled once again and squeezed his best friend's hand, slowly pulling her away from the wall. "C'mon. It's getting dark. Reckon my Mum will cook us potatoes when we get home?"
"She better! She knows they're my favourite!"
"If I had known then? Fuck, I would'a done anythin' I could to preserve us. That day was anticlimactic, but it was the start o' everything. We… we were perfect then – Bel 'n I. Untouchable. So we thought; so we believed. The day we left th' wall. Nah, we were screwed from that day. It's funny y'know? You never see until it's too fuckin' late."
Author Notes: Yay! New story time. c: This little baby is based of my character Catil who is based in Moon Guard Alliance. I had to remake her recently because of OOC gaming issues, but she's my nearest and dearest. This is her history.
Names may/will be changed because I don't want to be accused of taking people's characters as my own. Though I only claim to know Kit-Cat.
Enjoy!
