Disclaimer: See the past 26 chapters.
Muse responsible: Krathnae.
Sorry for the delay-I went to France for nine days! Whee!
I've allowed some time to pass. It's nearing Midwinter.
In the first chunk, please imagine Kamaria speaking with a Southern accent. It's funnier that way. But when that chunk ends, she goes back to her regular voice.
---------------------------------------------------------
Alain was sitting in Companion's Field, leaning against a tree, Kamaria sprawled on the ground making cloud-shapes. Looking up at Alain, her pale lashes fluttered for a moment, as she said, "Oh, Alain...describe my eyes to me."
Alain smiled fondly at his lifebonded, watching her silver eyes. "They're silver as the moonlight brought to life," he said, tenderly, looking down at her.
Kamaria sighed dreamily and sat up, leaning her head against Alain's shoulder...
A bell clanged. Loudly. Alain woke up with a start and said aloud, "What kind of dream was THAT?"
:A lovey-dovey one,: said Ramya, waspishly. :Filled with sticky-sweet sentiments and enough honey to put Sitara off sugar. And you. Were projecting it. Right. Into. My. Mind.:
Alain flinched. :I'm sorry, skyeyes,: he said, sheepishly.
:Don't even MENTION eyes right now, Chosen. Excuse me while I go eat lemons to get rid of the sweetness,: replied his Companion, acidly.
[Somehow,] thought Alain, bemusedly, as Ramya "exited" his mind and wandered off, grumbling, [I think that I am never going to live that down. Best not tell Kamaria.]
Getting up, Alain found some clean Grays and pulled them on, heading to breakfast.
Kamaria nibbled at her toast as Alain wandered in and sat down across from her. He leaned his cheek on one hand, elbow on the table, and after a short "Good morning," said nothing, instead simply staring at her.
Kamaria ignored this for a while, then, as she finished her toast, found the unflinching gaze had become slightly creepy. Waving a hand in front of Alain's eyes, she said, "Anyone home?"
Alain came back to himself with a start. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I completely forgot where I was."
That said, he helped himself to breakfast and set to inhaling the massive amounts of food, in the manner of 15-year-olds, determined to avoid talking. The very thought of the dream reddened his cheeks slightly...
Kamaria, however, was not paying attention, instead allowing her mind to wander. She was brought back to herself by Maerie, sitting down heavily beside her. "Midwinter's coming, the goose is getting fat!" sang Maerie cheerily as she purloined an apple from Kamaria and Alain's table's fruit basket.
"Mmph," said Alain, then swallowed and said, "It's getting colder, too."
Just then a page came nervously into the Trainee's dining hall, edging along the wall until he saw Kamaria, bolting to her table, dropping a letter, and hightailing it from the room. Kamaria picked up the note and looked it over, frowning in puzzlement.
Breaking the seal, she scanned the paper inside the envelope, at last her eyes locking on the signature. Kamaria groaned.
"Who's it from?" asked Alain, swallowing again.
"It's from my mother."
"Why's that so bad?"
"She wants me to come home for a formal Midwinter feast."
Alain picked up the envelope and looked inside it. "There's another note in here." Taking it out, he handed it to Kamaria.
Kamaria read this one and smiled in relief. "This one's from Father! He'd like you to come along, if you don't have plans, and..." Kamaria read the next line, "He wants you to bring your sister." Looking up, Kamaria added, "I can't imagine how he knew you had a sister."
Alain shrugged again. "When do they want us to leave?"
Kamaria looked over the date. "They'd like us to start out in four days, which'd get us there a few days before Midwinter. Yes? No?"
Alain nodded. Since his mouth was full-again-he added via Mindspeech, :Lirite will be thrilled.:
"Quit eating so fast, or I'll start thinking you've turned into Sitara," jibed Kamaria, gently. A thought occurred to the noble. "Does Lirite have a horse?"
Alain swallowed and thought. "She does. Once my family found she had Bardic, they gave her the newest filly, which I believe she has named Suarna-Star Dream, in Trade-tongue. What prompted her to name the filly that, I don't know."
"Bards," said Kamaria, glancing heavenward. Alain nodded in agreement and returned to his food. Maerie, bored with being ignored, turned to Jakob, sitting one person away from Alain, and started a conversation with him.
Kamaria's first class was Diplomacy, which, to her chagrin, she was not doing very well in. She'd never been really comfortable at Court, but her mother had encouraged her to mingle. Kamaria thought guiltily back to the time she had tossed her drink in Vanessa's face-that was certainly not diplomatic.
The class today, though, was surprisingly easy-most of what was going on was review of Etiquette, which Kamaria had known practically since birth.
Following that was Weapons, then riding, then lunch, then an afternoon of History.
Herald Kyra stood at the front of the class, smiling slightly evilly as they filed in. [Not a good sign,] thought Kamaria as the Herald gleefully eyed her students.
"I have a surprise test for you today!" she chirped as soon as everyone was seated.
[She's chirping. Uh-oh...] thought Kamaria, exchanging nervous glances with Edim, Jakob, and Tara, her year-mates.
"Remember the Sweetsprings blunder exercise? You're going to do another just like it," said Kyra, grinning so widely Kamaria was surprised her face didn't split, "But in groups."
She flourished a sheaf of papers in her hand and pointed to different people. "You and you and you and you, that corner. That group of tables, cluster together. You and you and you, that corner. You five, over there. And everyone else, in the front."
Kamaria was in the group of three, along with Jakob and a Bardic Trainee named Reanne. Kyra plunked several papers and a blank piece of parchment on the table. "Begin," she said cheerfully, returning to the front of the room.
Reanne unrolled the parchment and read it off in her clear Bard-trained voice. "For this exercise, you have four units of the Guard, one infantry, one light cavalry, one heavy cavalry, and one archers and scouts, three Heralds-one with strong Thought-sensing and Mindspeech, one with medium Animal Mindspeech and weak Farsight, and one with medium Fetching and erratic Foresight. Karse has four army units as well, with two infantry, one heavy cavalry, and one archers and scouts. Karse also has four Sunpriests, one with each unit, Gifts listed below."
Kamaria listened intently as Reanne described the positions of the units, how fresh they were, what the terrain was, and how many Healers there were. Being a Bard, Reanne did not stop until she had read the entire sheet-up to and including, "This exercise was designed by General Garethe Chantrea."
Both Jakob and Reanne looked at Kamaria for a moment. Then Jakob looked away unfolded the map, and the three bent over it.
Kamaria stared at the map, taking it in with her mind. Without even thinking, she pointed at Valdemar infantry and heavy cavalry, moving her finger to a spot along the map, tapping it. "Those should go here, along with the Herald with Fetching."
Kamaria could almost see the troops in her mind, the lay of the land- forests, rough ground, cleared terrain, roads, and all. She "looked" along the terrain in her mind, looking along the map as she did so, and found another spot. "Half the archers go here, and the other half here. Um..."
"Light moves before heavy?" suggested Reanne, pointing. "Scatter their charge here and then let the heavy cavalry finish?"
"No," interrupted Jakob, "Their archers are here, according to the Herald with Farsight," he explained, reading along the sheet, poking the map with his finger.
Kamaria waved his finger aside. "No, I made a mistake. The infantry needs to move over here, along with the Herald with Foresight." She poked the map again.
The discussion continued for half a candlemark as they read along the directions and adjusted their forces accordingly. Kamaria had unwittingly taken charge, in a slightly out-of-character move for her. Jakob kept giving his normally reticent year-mate odd glances from time to time, but Kamaria did not notice-she was fully absorbed.
At last, they had their strategy laid out and planned in full. Moving the tokens Kyra had passed out after she had finished directions into their final places, Kamaria surveyed the arrangement with a slight frown until she was satisfied. Poking the heavy cavalry and nudging it an inch to the left, Kamaria relented and looked up.
"Time's up!" called Herald Kyra after a few minutes. "Let's check Tara's group, first."
The class clustered around the table, peering down at the arrangement.
Kyra looked at her piece of paper and moved the Karsite pieces into position. "Now, I, the enemy, following my strategy and using my Sunpriest with Farsight, will move here and here, and oh, I'm stopped there, but unfortunately my archers have gone around behind and cornered your Heralds. Oops." Herald Kyra smiled wolfishly. "But then you've got some of my Sunpriests now, so let's call it a draw."
Sighs and shrugs around the table. "Jakob's group now!" said Kyra, her smile unmoved.
The class shifted over to Kamaria's group's table. Kyra looked down at the arrangement, glanced at Kamaria, and referred to her paper. "I move here and here, and uh-oh, your Foresight has determined that already, so I send a Sunpriest to hold that line but whoops, he's down-"the Herald provided a running commentary as she moved her pieces. "And I am defeated. Good job, Reanne, Jakob, Kamaria. Next!"
Two losses, another draw, and another win concluded the class. "Very good, all of you," said Kyra, returning to the front of the room. "Just so you know, we'll be working on more of this strategy class to give you a practical look at History. Kamaria, if you see your father this Midwinter, could you kindly persuade him to come to Haven and teach Strategy? I'm all right, but he's the best."
Kamaria nodded and left with the rest of the class.
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More strategy! Funfun. Reviews are muchly loved!
Have pain au chocolat today! (Yes, I've been in France.)
Lurks in Shadows: Here's your new chapter!
PrettyKittyOreo: And thank you for your undying praise! ^_^
Songwind: I know. Bards. Tsk, tsk! Maybe they should have...I dunno...little parakeets to control them or something. But I shouldn't encourage Misty about that too much-she just might follow the suggestion, and then where would the shamelessness of Bards go?
Hawk: I know!
Cerulean Sky: No, I didn't know it was one of your favorites, but now I do! And they don't mindlink in EVERYTHING they do. They could, but they don't.
BrokenSkye: Not necessarily, but it helps if you know that Sunsinger and Shadowdancer were a lifebonded couple.
Cookxenya: And here's your bright shiny new chappie.
Queen's Own: Here's your update as well.
Shahanna: Gomen nasai! *ducks head* Um...go buy an ice cream at DQ?...
~Fireblade K'Chona
Muse responsible: Krathnae.
Sorry for the delay-I went to France for nine days! Whee!
I've allowed some time to pass. It's nearing Midwinter.
In the first chunk, please imagine Kamaria speaking with a Southern accent. It's funnier that way. But when that chunk ends, she goes back to her regular voice.
---------------------------------------------------------
Alain was sitting in Companion's Field, leaning against a tree, Kamaria sprawled on the ground making cloud-shapes. Looking up at Alain, her pale lashes fluttered for a moment, as she said, "Oh, Alain...describe my eyes to me."
Alain smiled fondly at his lifebonded, watching her silver eyes. "They're silver as the moonlight brought to life," he said, tenderly, looking down at her.
Kamaria sighed dreamily and sat up, leaning her head against Alain's shoulder...
A bell clanged. Loudly. Alain woke up with a start and said aloud, "What kind of dream was THAT?"
:A lovey-dovey one,: said Ramya, waspishly. :Filled with sticky-sweet sentiments and enough honey to put Sitara off sugar. And you. Were projecting it. Right. Into. My. Mind.:
Alain flinched. :I'm sorry, skyeyes,: he said, sheepishly.
:Don't even MENTION eyes right now, Chosen. Excuse me while I go eat lemons to get rid of the sweetness,: replied his Companion, acidly.
[Somehow,] thought Alain, bemusedly, as Ramya "exited" his mind and wandered off, grumbling, [I think that I am never going to live that down. Best not tell Kamaria.]
Getting up, Alain found some clean Grays and pulled them on, heading to breakfast.
Kamaria nibbled at her toast as Alain wandered in and sat down across from her. He leaned his cheek on one hand, elbow on the table, and after a short "Good morning," said nothing, instead simply staring at her.
Kamaria ignored this for a while, then, as she finished her toast, found the unflinching gaze had become slightly creepy. Waving a hand in front of Alain's eyes, she said, "Anyone home?"
Alain came back to himself with a start. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I completely forgot where I was."
That said, he helped himself to breakfast and set to inhaling the massive amounts of food, in the manner of 15-year-olds, determined to avoid talking. The very thought of the dream reddened his cheeks slightly...
Kamaria, however, was not paying attention, instead allowing her mind to wander. She was brought back to herself by Maerie, sitting down heavily beside her. "Midwinter's coming, the goose is getting fat!" sang Maerie cheerily as she purloined an apple from Kamaria and Alain's table's fruit basket.
"Mmph," said Alain, then swallowed and said, "It's getting colder, too."
Just then a page came nervously into the Trainee's dining hall, edging along the wall until he saw Kamaria, bolting to her table, dropping a letter, and hightailing it from the room. Kamaria picked up the note and looked it over, frowning in puzzlement.
Breaking the seal, she scanned the paper inside the envelope, at last her eyes locking on the signature. Kamaria groaned.
"Who's it from?" asked Alain, swallowing again.
"It's from my mother."
"Why's that so bad?"
"She wants me to come home for a formal Midwinter feast."
Alain picked up the envelope and looked inside it. "There's another note in here." Taking it out, he handed it to Kamaria.
Kamaria read this one and smiled in relief. "This one's from Father! He'd like you to come along, if you don't have plans, and..." Kamaria read the next line, "He wants you to bring your sister." Looking up, Kamaria added, "I can't imagine how he knew you had a sister."
Alain shrugged again. "When do they want us to leave?"
Kamaria looked over the date. "They'd like us to start out in four days, which'd get us there a few days before Midwinter. Yes? No?"
Alain nodded. Since his mouth was full-again-he added via Mindspeech, :Lirite will be thrilled.:
"Quit eating so fast, or I'll start thinking you've turned into Sitara," jibed Kamaria, gently. A thought occurred to the noble. "Does Lirite have a horse?"
Alain swallowed and thought. "She does. Once my family found she had Bardic, they gave her the newest filly, which I believe she has named Suarna-Star Dream, in Trade-tongue. What prompted her to name the filly that, I don't know."
"Bards," said Kamaria, glancing heavenward. Alain nodded in agreement and returned to his food. Maerie, bored with being ignored, turned to Jakob, sitting one person away from Alain, and started a conversation with him.
Kamaria's first class was Diplomacy, which, to her chagrin, she was not doing very well in. She'd never been really comfortable at Court, but her mother had encouraged her to mingle. Kamaria thought guiltily back to the time she had tossed her drink in Vanessa's face-that was certainly not diplomatic.
The class today, though, was surprisingly easy-most of what was going on was review of Etiquette, which Kamaria had known practically since birth.
Following that was Weapons, then riding, then lunch, then an afternoon of History.
Herald Kyra stood at the front of the class, smiling slightly evilly as they filed in. [Not a good sign,] thought Kamaria as the Herald gleefully eyed her students.
"I have a surprise test for you today!" she chirped as soon as everyone was seated.
[She's chirping. Uh-oh...] thought Kamaria, exchanging nervous glances with Edim, Jakob, and Tara, her year-mates.
"Remember the Sweetsprings blunder exercise? You're going to do another just like it," said Kyra, grinning so widely Kamaria was surprised her face didn't split, "But in groups."
She flourished a sheaf of papers in her hand and pointed to different people. "You and you and you and you, that corner. That group of tables, cluster together. You and you and you, that corner. You five, over there. And everyone else, in the front."
Kamaria was in the group of three, along with Jakob and a Bardic Trainee named Reanne. Kyra plunked several papers and a blank piece of parchment on the table. "Begin," she said cheerfully, returning to the front of the room.
Reanne unrolled the parchment and read it off in her clear Bard-trained voice. "For this exercise, you have four units of the Guard, one infantry, one light cavalry, one heavy cavalry, and one archers and scouts, three Heralds-one with strong Thought-sensing and Mindspeech, one with medium Animal Mindspeech and weak Farsight, and one with medium Fetching and erratic Foresight. Karse has four army units as well, with two infantry, one heavy cavalry, and one archers and scouts. Karse also has four Sunpriests, one with each unit, Gifts listed below."
Kamaria listened intently as Reanne described the positions of the units, how fresh they were, what the terrain was, and how many Healers there were. Being a Bard, Reanne did not stop until she had read the entire sheet-up to and including, "This exercise was designed by General Garethe Chantrea."
Both Jakob and Reanne looked at Kamaria for a moment. Then Jakob looked away unfolded the map, and the three bent over it.
Kamaria stared at the map, taking it in with her mind. Without even thinking, she pointed at Valdemar infantry and heavy cavalry, moving her finger to a spot along the map, tapping it. "Those should go here, along with the Herald with Fetching."
Kamaria could almost see the troops in her mind, the lay of the land- forests, rough ground, cleared terrain, roads, and all. She "looked" along the terrain in her mind, looking along the map as she did so, and found another spot. "Half the archers go here, and the other half here. Um..."
"Light moves before heavy?" suggested Reanne, pointing. "Scatter their charge here and then let the heavy cavalry finish?"
"No," interrupted Jakob, "Their archers are here, according to the Herald with Farsight," he explained, reading along the sheet, poking the map with his finger.
Kamaria waved his finger aside. "No, I made a mistake. The infantry needs to move over here, along with the Herald with Foresight." She poked the map again.
The discussion continued for half a candlemark as they read along the directions and adjusted their forces accordingly. Kamaria had unwittingly taken charge, in a slightly out-of-character move for her. Jakob kept giving his normally reticent year-mate odd glances from time to time, but Kamaria did not notice-she was fully absorbed.
At last, they had their strategy laid out and planned in full. Moving the tokens Kyra had passed out after she had finished directions into their final places, Kamaria surveyed the arrangement with a slight frown until she was satisfied. Poking the heavy cavalry and nudging it an inch to the left, Kamaria relented and looked up.
"Time's up!" called Herald Kyra after a few minutes. "Let's check Tara's group, first."
The class clustered around the table, peering down at the arrangement.
Kyra looked at her piece of paper and moved the Karsite pieces into position. "Now, I, the enemy, following my strategy and using my Sunpriest with Farsight, will move here and here, and oh, I'm stopped there, but unfortunately my archers have gone around behind and cornered your Heralds. Oops." Herald Kyra smiled wolfishly. "But then you've got some of my Sunpriests now, so let's call it a draw."
Sighs and shrugs around the table. "Jakob's group now!" said Kyra, her smile unmoved.
The class shifted over to Kamaria's group's table. Kyra looked down at the arrangement, glanced at Kamaria, and referred to her paper. "I move here and here, and uh-oh, your Foresight has determined that already, so I send a Sunpriest to hold that line but whoops, he's down-"the Herald provided a running commentary as she moved her pieces. "And I am defeated. Good job, Reanne, Jakob, Kamaria. Next!"
Two losses, another draw, and another win concluded the class. "Very good, all of you," said Kyra, returning to the front of the room. "Just so you know, we'll be working on more of this strategy class to give you a practical look at History. Kamaria, if you see your father this Midwinter, could you kindly persuade him to come to Haven and teach Strategy? I'm all right, but he's the best."
Kamaria nodded and left with the rest of the class.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
More strategy! Funfun. Reviews are muchly loved!
Have pain au chocolat today! (Yes, I've been in France.)
Lurks in Shadows: Here's your new chapter!
PrettyKittyOreo: And thank you for your undying praise! ^_^
Songwind: I know. Bards. Tsk, tsk! Maybe they should have...I dunno...little parakeets to control them or something. But I shouldn't encourage Misty about that too much-she just might follow the suggestion, and then where would the shamelessness of Bards go?
Hawk: I know!
Cerulean Sky: No, I didn't know it was one of your favorites, but now I do! And they don't mindlink in EVERYTHING they do. They could, but they don't.
BrokenSkye: Not necessarily, but it helps if you know that Sunsinger and Shadowdancer were a lifebonded couple.
Cookxenya: And here's your bright shiny new chappie.
Queen's Own: Here's your update as well.
Shahanna: Gomen nasai! *ducks head* Um...go buy an ice cream at DQ?...
~Fireblade K'Chona