For reference, Lord Walter 51, Lady Paige 50, Ralph 27, Patty 30, Aine/Daithi 17, Patrick 13, Veronica 12, Cabe/Allie 9, Lisa 5, Taisce (tash-ka means treasure) 2
Aine stepped out of the Keep wearing her leathers. She seldom wore dresses like the other girls in school. The physical routines her Father had her training in to become a Paladin had long ago reshaped her body. He had been right; her muscles grew big through all of the training. And he had been right about the teasing. And the dresses also drew everyone's eyes to the muscles of her legs. It had been the hardest thing she'd put up with but she knew she had to. She was determined not to become a braggart knight.
Daithi saw her and frowned. He'd thought she had decided to wear the platemail armor their Father had Happy make her for the last day of school since everyone would be dressed in their best clothes, but because of her training as a Paladin, it was permissible for her to wear the platemail.
"Aine, did you forget today is the last day of school?" Daithi asked.
"No, I didn't forget; I just didn't feel like wearing the armor today. Why wear it for the last day? It isn't like I'm going to be fighting anyone Dai and there isn't anything really special about it. It is just ordinary platemail. Besides, I'm not a knight yet." Aine explained.
"Because Aine, everyone will be wearing their best for the picture after the graduation ceremony." Daithi told her.
Aine shook her head even as she made sure she didn't have any lint or other particles on the leather, now that she was out in the sunlight, which always drew attention to the particles that didn't belong there.
"Well come on then Aine, we'll be late if you dawdle much longer. Veronica and Patrick got tired of waiting and went ahead to school with Cabe and Allie." Daithi told her as he stood by the portcullis leading out the west wall of the Keep's outer courtyard. He stood with his arm around Betty, the young girl he was currently spending time with.
"I'm coming Dai, where's Lisa?" She asked as she began walking up to him.
"Dad took her down a short bit ago on Selase. He had to get something in Brightsong this morning." Daithi told her.
"Has your parents said if you can start dating yet Aine?" Betty asked her.
"On our last birthday they told me it was up to me to decide when and who I spend time with." Aine told her as they walked out of the portcullis.
"Really? Why haven't you been dating anyone? Well James is very interested, he's been wanting to ask you out all year. Would you like me to drop a suggestion to him for you?" Betty asked with a smile.
"No. If he isn't brave enough to ask me himself then he isn't worth consideration." Aine told her.
"Leave my sis alone Betty." Daithi interrupted his sister to give her a break from Betty's prying. "When she is ready I'm sure the guy she wants to know will know." Daithi told her.
"Are you still going to become a Paladin Aine?" Betty asked with surprise at Daithi's words on her face.
Aine rolled her eyes.
"Why do you think I do all of the exercises to build up my strength for Betty?" Aine asked.
"So when will you take your tenet test then? School is over for us after today, unless we go to university. I don't know if I want to go, to be honest. It's not like my parents will let me go though. You know how parents can be. Of course with how rich your Father is that makes a huge difference. Do you ever wonder how much wealth your Father has? Billy was trying to brag the other day that his Dad was the richest around here. That's such a laugh right? How could he be richer than the Lord of the lands, right? But you know, if a certain talented person was to ask I might even consider becoming a wife instead. A singing proposal would ensure a yes to the question." Betty hinted.
Aine shook her head. How Betty could ramble on like she does was beyond her. Thirty questions straight had been her record but seldom did they pertain to each other. Aine grinned as she recalled her Mother after meeting her the first time.
"I swear by Athena if Daithi is stupid enough to marry that girl I'll disown him. I've never heard anyone ramble on like that." Paige said from between clenched teeth after Daithi left the master chambers following dinner with her.
Her Father on the other hand had taken it all pretty well. Betty and her family were new to Brightsong but not the lands, having moved there last year from Aaron Springs.
Daithi pulled his hand away from her.
"Good grief Betty, we've only been hanging out for the last month. I told you, I'm not interested in settling down already. I haven't even gone out to practice my art. And Aine has already taken her tenet test but our Dad hasn't said if she has passed yet or not." Daithi said gruffly.
"Fine, be that way then." Betty told him and began walking quickly to get away from them. Not that either of them were interested in staying up with her.
"Sorry." Aine said softly.
"It isn't your fault Aine. I'd told her that same thing all last week. Ever since Tommy proposed to Anna, she just wouldn't listen to me. She's the one trying to live in a delusion. And don't let anyone push you into something you aren't ready for or know you shouldn't do. And if anyone gives you a hard time you let me know." Daithi told her.
Aine grinned.
"I'm a better fighter than you are Dai, I can take care of myself." Aine told him.
Daithi grinned.
"I know, but you are still my favorite sister and ain't anyone messing with you. At least they won't as long as I am able to do something about it." Daithi bumped her shoulder with his.
Aine smiled at him in gratitude.
As they drew near to the school house they saw most of the kids in the play yard beside the school. All of their younger siblings were standing in line to slide down the slide.
"Hey Daithi, it is good seeing you this morning." Thomas said.
"Good morning Thomas." Daithi replied wondering what he was up to.
"I was talking to your brother Aine, not you." Thomas and his little group of friends laughed.
Daithi's hands doubled up as he began to charge over when Aine's hand caught his tunic.
"Just stop Dai, he's so stupid he won't graduate before he's thirty." Aine told him.
"Aine you're so stupid you don't know your place. But I can help you with that, come on over here so I can teach you what you are good for." Thomas sneered at her.
Aine's eyes shot wide open even as Daithi growled and pulled free from her hand and charged across the intervening space.
Thomas was shocked but jumped up just in time for Daithi to plow shoulder first into his stomach. Both young men tumbled to the ground even as clenched fists flew about striking their targets best they could.
While Thomas was more than a year older than the twins and bigger than Daithi, Daithi impressed all of the other kids watching, including those with Thomas. Of course as soon as the fight broke out all of the other kids turned and came running over chanting, "Fight, fight, fight."
Aine was tempted to break it up but she was struggling with both the desire to protect her brother and desiring to see Thomas suffer for what he said.
"Stop it, leave my brother alone." Lisa demanded.
"Careful Lisa, they are too big, you could get hurt." Cabe grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him and Allie.
When it looked like Daithi was finally getting the best of Thomas, as Thomas began covering up more rather than hitting back at Daithi, two of his friends jumped in. Aine's eyes narrowed in anger and she growled. Rather than push through the circle that had formed about the fighting boys Aine did what she knew her Father would do and she leaped up and passed over the heads of the kids between her and Daithi.
As she landed her right fist flew out and struck Robert squarely in the jaw and he recoiled from that impact and fell backwards and laid there for a moment. Next her fist struck Tyler in the side of his face next to his eye and he fell to the ground crying.
Thanks to their involvement Thomas had gained the upper hand with Daithi and was on top of him trying to beat him.
Aine grabbed him by his belt and shirt collar. She heaved him as hard as she could and he went flying through the air. He crashed into Robert who had jumped up suddenly to try and flee. She reached down and took Daithi's hand and pulled him up and then glared at all of the kids.
"Does anyone else want me to show you what I'm good for?" Aine demanded in the commanding voice that she was developing.
All of the kids shook their heads even as they turned to go back to playing. Lisa ran up to Daithi and hugged him.
"Are you okay Daithi?" She asked her big brother. He'd been the one she was closest to. They had a great bond.
"Yep, I'm fine Lee." Daithi told her while hugging her back with one arm. His free hand touched his nose but didn't find any blood. "Yeah you better run Thomas. The next time you're rude to my sister I'm going to dance on your spleen." He yelled as Thomas disappeared around the side of the school house.
"Hi Daddy." Allie said seeing Lord Walter sitting on Selase watching from the road. Selase let out a shriek.
"I'd wondered why Selase was so upset. I did not expect to find out it was because my children were fighting." Lord Walter said sternly.
"Thomas started it Daddy. He was very rude to Aine." Veronica spoke up first.
"And Daithi just wanted to stand up for her since he knew she would just let them continue to tease her and be rude to her." Patrick nodded.
"Be that as it may, there are rules in place for such things my children. Are you both okay? Do I need to take you to see Allie?" Walter asked somewhere between stern and concern.
"I'm fine Daddy, they are only good at running their mouths. They won't challenge me." Aine told him.
"And Aine stepped in when Robert and Tyler jumped me from behind so they didn't get to do too much damage. Although I suppose I'll have a black eye." Daithi told him.
"My Lord, I am so sorry, I was inside helping Tina with her placement paperwork for college or I would have prevented this." Florence said.
"You aren't at fault Mistress Florence. Kids are sometimes unruly and you never know when it will happen for sure." Walter nodded.
"Are you going to thrash Thomas and his friends Uncle Walter?" Little six year old Tiffany, his sister's second daughter asked hopefully.
Lord Walter grinned and shook his head.
"It looked to me like the cowards had more than enough Tiffany, but I believe I will be having a conversation with them and their parents." Walter told her with a wink. "Mistress, if you would arrange a sit down with them I want to address this situation." Lord Walter told her.
"I will, my Lord. Being the last day, will this evening after the festivities be okay or would a different day work better for you?" Florence asked.
"I will make the time for the meeting, Mistress Florence. I know because I am the Lord that you want to give consideration for something like this but I am just a parent here and I need to be available when you need it." Walter told her softly.
"Well in that case, my normal procedure is to have the parents come right away. And with this being the last day it is probably for the best to do it now." Florence told him.
"Very well then." Walter nodded as he slid off Selase.
Florence looked around and saw the three young men peeking out from the far side of the school house and she glared and pointed at the ground in front of her. She smiled watching the three of them slink slowly towards her.
"The three of you will go fetch your parents, right this minute." Florence told them as they got close.
All three swallowed hard even as they nodded and took off.
Thomas's parents lived on one of the farms nearby and they were the first to arrive. Tyler's Father was on duty at the Bridge so his Mother showed up and Robert's Father and Mother showed up last. All the rest of the kids were left to enjoy more play time as the adults and five teens entered the school house.
"I'm sorry for having to disrupt your day but we had another situation erupt today of all days with Thomas, only this time your boys joined in. And this time it went a bit further than normal though. Unfortunately I was helping another student with their prep work for college." Mistress Florence started.
"I'm sure I don't need to introduce our Lord here, but just so everyone else knows, this is Steven and Mabel, Thomas's parents. This is Diana, Tyler's Mom and this is Gus and Ginger, Robert's parents. So, would one of you five care to tell everyone what happened?" Florence began once everyone was sitting.
None of them were willing at first and Aine finally sighed as she stood.
"It began as it usually does, with Thomas insulting Dai and I. Calling out like he was saying good morning to Dai but when he responded back Thomas cracked that he was talking to Dai not me." Aine told them. "I kept Dai from going over and giving Thomas what he wanted while saying he was so stupid he wouldn't graduate until he was thirty. That's when Thomas said I was so stupid I didn't know my place but if I would come over to him, he'd show me what I was good for."
Everyone heard Lord Walter's teeth grind together at that.
"That angered Dai so much he broke free from my grasp and charged over and both of them started fighting. At first I wasn't going to get involved. Dad has worked hard trying to teach me restraint. But as Dai had gained the upper hand in the fight, Tyler and Robert jumped Dai. So I stepped in and ended the fight as gently as I could. I'm sorry." Aine said before she sat back down.
Daithi put his arm around his sister.
"Thomas is the rudest, most foul mouthed braggart at school. He's quick to run his mouth and insult people but can't be bothered to try and actually do the work he's supposed to do like everyone else. And he always gives Mistress Florence the hardest time." Daithi spat.
"Daithi, that is enough young man." Walter said harshly.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
To the Adventure! -Tim