Disclaimer- I do not own Tortall
Chapter One
Most people tend to believe that once an official peace has been signed and someone has 'won' then a war is over. This is a myth. The scars that a war leaves take years to heal and the army has to stay around to do it.
The two main problems that have to be faced are the bandits. All those mercenary soldiers with so much expertise at killing and looting but not much knowledge of how to live in peace suddenly find themselves without work and so some become outlaws.
The second problem is the refugees. Some don't want to go home, some do and find there land occupied by others – all of them poor and without any immediate way to support themselves.
Lady Keldary of Mindelan found that at the end of Tortall's war with Scanra she had to deal with both. New Hope was a village of refugees. As the only working town for miles they were the perfect target for raiders. Soon the village would have more warriors than the army's forts. At the same time Kel had to act as mayor and magistrate for the village.
She was more than a little frustrated by this second role. She hadn't been out in the field once since her little unofficial excursion into Scanra. It also meant she hadn't seen any of her friends since Neal's wedding. He had been one of the first men to leave active service after the peace had been signed. He had been on leave at the time anyway and so she hadn't seen him since then. Other than Merric she felt that she had not seen a familiar face in aeons.
This was one of the first mornings that she had been able to take a leisurely practice. She not only used her glaive for a pattern dance but went out to join in staff, sword and archery practice.
The children were glad to see her and she was glad to see them. With so many of the adults there was an invisible barrier which stopped them from becoming real friends. It was only to be expected, not only was she a noble, she was also the Protector of the Small- a hero.
Iriani the little seer girl came up to Kel. She had regained so much confidence since she had come to New Hope but today she looked miserable.
'Irani what's wrong?' Kel asked, the girl was twisting her hands. She looked frantic.
'He's coming.' it was whispered so faintly that Kel had to lean down to catch the words.
Who's coming?' Kel asked worried because Irani was.
'The scarred men'
Kel immediately feared that she knew who she meant. Joren had come out of the Chamber of Ordeal with a horrible scar running across his face but he couldn't be coming to New Hope, could he?