The New Kingdom

In a port town of Korr Alacasta lead his horse threw the streets, he wore his normal attire, his armour and claymore were carried by his loyal horse as he reached an intersection, he had never been so far away from his homeland and was curious about the state of the lands, and if it was the type of place his quarry would go to ground in. He tried reading the signs on the shops but the writing was completely different to what he knew.

 

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"With your father ill and you running the farm in his place must be hard. Many must be saying that as a woman you should let another take charge and yet you do not kneel to their wills."​

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Accurate. Very accurate.​

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She would have applauded that conclusion, it was spot on, however she held her applause forever. Clapping would just seem completely out of place.​

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"This is what caught my attention. Such an admirable quality should be rewarded, or least defended. And a contract with myself would do just that. No deal is fit unless both sides gain something, so crops will be needed for the wedding. Perhaps even to feed our troops. What say you?"​

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She was stunned at this, it was not what she had expected at all to come out of this meeting, she couldn't help but smile for a second before she forced herself to stay serious. She curtseyed and bowed her head slightly saying, "It would be an honor to serve the kingdom in that way, Your Majesty."​

 

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Exiting out of the port area, Zephiel began to run forward into town with a smile. From the rumors it was stated that both Lazinth and Korr were run down places that had suffered their shares of war damage. In the eyes of Zephiel this place was not as bad as what the rumors had stated. He found the place to be quite quaint and was a nice place to be around. By the time he had reached the town the sun had already begun to set and many people began to start heading indoors to get ready for the night. With a smile Zephiel decided to explore around the town for a bit before finding a place for him to rest in. Usually at this time the drunkards would roam the streets so interaction really was not the best option for the Vermillion. As he continued to walk down a certain man caught the attention of his eye. Zephiel had been far and wide and had made many friends along the way. The man before him seemed familiar and by coming closer he realized just who it was. "Hey Alacasta!" Zephiel yelled as he ran up the knight he knew with a smile "Long time no see! I never expected to see you here in Korr" Zephiel said.

 

Alacasta turned at hearing his name, but as soon as he saw who it was he regretted it. Having reacted there was no way he could feign ignorance at Zephiel’s presence, “Zephiel, we meet again” Alacasta said in the dull voice as “I am surprised you’re still alive, last I heard you had that cult from the west hunting you down after what we did” He started walking his horse down the street to what appeared to be a tavern “Why are you in this country? I have work to do and I don’t need you here, in fact I insist you move to the next country so I can finish”

 

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The queen smiled, glad to have wrapped this up as she was now feeling tired. If only the messenger she sent out wasn't so slow, then they could have done this much sooner. However, no matter how annoyed she felt her expression remained the same, hiding all traces of discontent and tiredness.

Standing now, Abigail stepped away from her throne. "I am glad. With that matter we can move on, as the hour grows late. If you wish, there are guest chambers you may sleep in for the night. My way of apologizing for the late meeting. If not then least have a guard escort you home. Even if you can fend for your own there streets is no place for anyone to be on their own in the eve."

 

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Zephiel's eye immediately twitched upon noticing the famed knight and he instantly recalled just what was up with his friends behavior "....right its always nice to have a conversation with you Alacasta" Zephiel said with a groan as he closed his eyes with a sigh and began to follow him. Alacasta was never the greatest person to talk to but at least he could call him a friend. "If your genuinely wondering about those cult pursuers then I'll have you know I already dealt with them" Zephiel said with another sigh as he shook his head "my reason here is simple really, its like any other place I've been to, a new adventure calls and this place is doing the calling. I see no reason to leave now" Zephiel said

 

“So in other words you’re just going to cause problems for everyone while you go about your way trying to find the strongest person to fight? Glad I know beforehand” Alacasta asked as he tied his horse out front of the tavern and went inside, the inside went silent as he entered.

 

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His eye twitched once more as he entered the tavern along with Alacasta "Hey thats not true!" Zephiel said as he noticed the tavern turn silent upon their entrance "errr...yeah..I'm not trying to to do anything of the sort. True I may be searching for somebody that is strong but I sure as hell would not get anybody unwillingly involved with my search" Zephiel said with a sigh as he turned away "If you have other business then I will not stand in your way, simple as that" Zephiel said as raised his hand in farewell as he began to leave the tavern. The night was still young and Zephiel still decided to explore around some more. The option of going to an inn or not was a tough one since he did like to sleep under the stars.

 

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She wasn't sure how to accept that offer at first.​

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Keeva did not know if curtseying again would make her look rude or inexperienced with meetings, which she was, but she curtseyed again anyway as she spoke, "If it is no trouble on you, I would like to accept your offer of the guest chamber."​

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She knew it was a decently long ride, let along walk, back to the farm. Surely her father would be taken care of by the men who were there. Keeva was still nervous though, and at this point it was a little clear in the way her motions flowed.​

 

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Kaileigh was most definitely not nearly as intoxicated as the Captain made her out to be. Two beers hardly did anything at all. She only stumbled because she tripped over the skirt of her dress, not from being drunk. He left her room without even giving her a chance to defend herself. What a pompous a- There was a knock on the door cutting her thoughts short. The Captain had so much to say in such a short period of time. He talked crazy. The royal guards should really screen for people of mental imperfections better. Kaileigh straightened out on the chair in her room as the sound of a familiar female voice rang out from the other side of the door. "Princess? It's Gwen, I'm going to come in if you don't mind" She'd unlocked the door and tentatively opened it, "Hey, are you alright?"

Gwen, what a lovely woman. Why was a girl of her caliber working as a hand servant? "I am splendid, however, Sir Beta does not make me out to be that way." She stood fromm her seat and moved to the wardrobe. It was getting late and she had an early morning to attend to. Kaileigh opened up the doors to the large cherry oak wardrobe and pulled out a sleeping gown. "Will you assist me?" She waited as Gwen came to help her undo the ties and clasps on her dress. It fell to her ankles in bunched up piles and she slipped the thin silk gown over her head before moving to the bed. "I shall be fine, thank you Gwen." Kaileigh waited til the red head was out of the room before finally going to bed.

 

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The sun had risen. People everywhere would begin to decorate for the wedding all around the town as well as the castle. The royal wedding was near and all waited in anticipation; none more so then Beta. Today however, he had no plans to help out. He really did not wish to even be in that wretched place he had come to call home... or prison. Instead of assisting the knights and maidens decorate the castle or the townsfolk with the city, he would ride out to the northern shore line. That was the plan and no one was going to stop him. If the king or anyone needed him, they better had come to him themselves if it is so damn important. Today was his birthday, but more importantly, the anniversary of his parents death.

Beta walked out of his house and into the horse stable. It was still early in the morning so very few should have been awake still. This would give him the upper hand of leaving. Those who knew him dearly should have known why he would leave, so it wasn't them he had to worry about. He grabbed Moca and began to ride up north. He wore no armor. This would allow his horse to ride faster and leave the city. He wouldn't be coming back down until later that afternoon, he hoped.

He was on the outskirts of the city. The sunrise shined on it which gave it a eerie glow. Ignoring this, he continued on. The fields were layered with green grass and the animals had begun to eat their morning graze. Not many came out here. Not many even knew the location where he was going. Really only the kind and Gwen knew of his location.

Beta had arrived. A small shack sat there on the bottom of the large hill. The wood that was used to build it was from the ship his parent died on's planks. He got off his horse and tied her up. He went towards a tree which had two gravestones. In front of each, he placed flowers. He fell to his knees and began to pray, hoping they were safe wherever they were.

 

It was early morning, the sun had just risen, Alacasta leaped out of bed in the tavern he had rented for the night. Within minutes he was ready to leave town, his main goal of the day was to out run Zephiel and continue his hunt unhindered. He headed South and when outside the town he hid and changed into his armour, the legendary Black Knight might be better at getting information then his attempts last night, all those patrons at the tavern were of no use, only after one round they were too drunk to give him any information. After donning his armour he decided to walk and give his horse a break from carrying his heavy armour.

 

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Gwen had already been up for a while, working hard. The castle was a hive of activity, only one more day to the wedding and everything had to be perfect. The King of Lazinth arrived today and they had to put on a show for him. Considering how long the two countries had been at war, he wasn't going to be an easy man to please and upsetting him might have disastrous consequences. However, everyone was working so hard and maybe, just maybe this could work out. Peace would be an amazing thing. Either way, she had to leave here and attend to the Queen.

She entered the Queen's chambers quietly, though that was redundant considering what she was there to do. She got out the Queen's outfit for the new day and made sure everything was already prepared as usual. Then smiled as she went over to the large curtains covering the Queen's windows and opened them wide. Nobody could see in even with them open so she didn't have to worry about that. "Good Morning, Abigail, big day today. Wedding tomorrow and the King of Lazinth arriving soon. You need to be ready." She spoke to the queen, in company she would be much more formal but in private she could afford to be a bit lax with the formalities.

 

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She had left just before the sun rose and borrowed a horse from a friend in town.​

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Already she had stuff she needed to deliver, with all the feasts they would be having within the next two-three nights. She got home fast and was asked questions which she answered, she did feel bad, as it was their one time of year to party, but this was one of the best things that could happen for their farm.​

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They were all, actually, more excited about working for the Kingdom then they were dancing around for the next week or so. Keeva changed back into her farming clothes and they started to load up a carriage. They have plenty of horses on the farm, but when she brought the crops back into town she would have to return her friend's horse.​

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She asked one of her workers, who they all called Fast, for 3 reasons. One was because he always fasted on sundays, the 2nd was because he was always the fastest at harvesting crops, and the 3rd was a joke between the men that they always wouldn't tell her. She had a good idea...​

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Either way, Keeva asked Fast if his son could drive the horse back into town and he nodded and sent him off. She did not know his name but she knew he was twelve.​

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One of the issues they were having today were the birds. Clumsy, another worker, was running around like crazy scaring them off. She sighed and joined in with him, but it was a fruitless effort.​

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"And sir, whatever happened to our straw men?"​

"We fed them to the horses, straw is low."​

"And thoust never told me?"​

"Thou were gone."​

"For hours after night."​

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She grew angry and assembled men of sticks and put them in the field. They didn't work as well until she put a farmer hat on them.​

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"Makeshift found a way!"​

"Twas needed."​

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Every farmer had a nickname, her's was Makeshift. Why? When she was little she would make little things that helped out the farm at last minute. Her original nickname was Old-soul due to how "wise" she was for her age. It changed to Makeshift when she was Thirteen and built the left wall of stone when many took the bricks away due to a storm.​

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Keeva kept loading the carts that they had with the crops, she wasn't tired, this was daily work. She heard a fiddle off in the distance, she assumed it was either Fast's wife or her father in his room playing the fiddle. Either way it made for good background noise.​

 

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Kaileigh woke at the sight of the sun rising through her window. The curtains had been left drawn the night before and she begrudgingly climbed out of bed. Tomorrow she would be wed. Her father would be arriving at some point in time late tonight. There were many a things to be taken care of today. Last minute fittings were to be done soon. She needed to get washed up before the seamstress arrived. Kaileigh walked to the door only to find it still locked. This was absurd. Being held prisoner would not bode well once her father arrived. He would certainly hear about this. She grunted in frustration and moved to the window. Her gaze lowered to the ground below and she watched as servants everywhere prepped the castle for the arrival of the King of Lazinth. Kaileigh smirked at them. They looked like ants from her room up above.

The sound of a lock being removed from the door caught her attention. She spun on her heel as the door swung open and a servant girl walked in with a plate full of food from the kitchen. She eyed it cautiously. Having become prisoner in this kingdom made her wary of anything she ate. The servant set the plate down on her bedside table and began to back out of the room. "Halt." The petite blond froze in her tracks and turned back to face the princess. "When shall I be expecting the arrival of the seamstress?" The servant looked at her nervously.

"S-soon milady. Her Highness shall be arriving at the same time."

"Queen Abigail shall be paying me a visit?" This was news. What did the queen want with her? She had barely batted an eye at her since her arrival. Was it the goal of her future family to make her feel as much like an outcast as possible? The servant nodded once before quickly scurrying out of the room. Kaileigh took a seat and hesitantly ate away at the food on her plate.

 

As the morning sun rays shown through the room that Dante was staying, he slowly awoken. Due to spending most of his time at the castle, he'd almost forgotten about some of his old habits. One of which being that he tended to sleep in. Getting up, he dressed himself in his usual garb before leaving. As he made his way outside, the first thing he did was to take a look at his surroundings. He'd never been to Korr before and since the wedding wasn't until tomorrow, he had time to take in the sights. Now the only problem was, were was a good place to start looking.

 

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She was impressed at how quickly the 1st load was pulled together.​

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She looked around and tried to fit more onto the cart, but knew if she overstuffed things were bound to fall out. She couldn't just drop crops heading straight to royalty. It's like sinning in a church.​

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The men were arguing over who gets to bring in the 1st batch, almost in a feud. Clumsy was so close to punching Red-eye in the head it was freaking her out.​

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"Stop!"​

Everyone silenced immediately as she shouted, "Whilst thou are on my land, thoust are in my kingdom under my rule, unless otherwise like thy King and Queen in a visit." she slowly tamed the two horses strapped to the cart. "Subsequent to this discussion, I shall bring in first crop with one other."​

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The men were quiet as she walked towards them, "How worthy are ye each?"​

She passed each of them as though she were Captain or something, she stopped and pointed at 3rd man in line, "Hairless... thou are 2nd in command, I trust thee the most with protection of thy land. Grasshair." she turned to him and bowed slightly, "Thou shall bring 1st load with thyself."​

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The men got made and stirred between each other before she yelled back, "Less thou want to be jobless, thy suggest ye shut yer traps."​

They all were silent immediately before she spoke again smiling, "All have thy trust... dost thou test thy trust."​

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She shook her head as she yelled again on top of the horse, "I hate having to speak so formally at you all. Please, I owe you all each for everything, but fighting over something like this is the easiest way to find yourselves in town with a sign selling your skills for meager change. Toothless if you so much as chuckle at that I will tell your wife." ​

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She shook her head as she watched him cover his mouth, "I am not kidding you."​

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She waited for Grasshair to be ready as she spoke, "Very well. Start preparing the next cart as we are gone."​

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They all waved as they headed off towards town. She was not changing before she left but she did wash her hands and face at least to not look dirty. She made Grasshair do the same before he had gotten on the 2nd horse.​

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When they made it into the village she stopped to check and see if the crops were all still there. They were and she heard Grasshair shout, "Are these being used for the King of Lazinth's arrival today?"​

"All I know is that these crops go straight to the castle and the sooner, the more reliable we are, the better off we are."​

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She jumped back onto the horse after re-securing the batch. When they got to the castle they stopped at the entrance to the storage and kitchen. Although she did not know if they were ordered to or not, many of the workers helped them to carry some to storage and some to kitchen. When almost done Keeva had to sit down for a moment.​

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"Are you well miss?" asked one of the workers.​

She really was not, she had not drunk water at all today. One of her first mistakes. However she nodded to the worker and spoke, "Yes." She said although her voice did hold a bit of doubt, the worker didn't catch it and they continued.​

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The King was frustrated. ...He felt trapped and claustrophobic being surrounded by so much security from his elite Knights. That was the curse of being Royalty. People always looked up to you and such and thought you had it all, but the truth was... you never had freedom. Archibold had always been a free spirit. He didn't like being surrounded by guards wherever he went, especially since he was capable of looking after himself just as well. In fact, he often ditched his guards much to their chagrin. Over the years he'd actually gotten even better at doing so in more creative ways. One of his favorite methods had been when he had improvised with the use of flour he had got from his visit to the Kitchens that day. Regardless, he wouldn't be doing so this time. He might feel awkward being surrounded by his elite so willingly like this, but this was necessary. He was travelling to Korr after all, and frankly... he'd need his best for what he hoped to do. Of course, none of them knew. He'd kept quiet for now.
Kaileigh herself was a free spirit like him. He knew just how she would feel being cooped up in that castle like a bird in a cage. If she had to bear it, he could bear this too. He sighed a little. Kaileigh was so like him and yet so like her Mother. It's like she had taken the best aspects of both himself and Yvaine and amplified them further. He had wondered if she'd tried to escape already. He knew she was loyal though and would stick through with her duty for her country; her fate of being married. If he knew her though, and he did... she'd at least have left the castle by now even if it meant returning later.
They'd been travelling all day. Having stopped a few times along the way to allow their horses to rest and the riders too. Even so, they'd covered a lot of ground. They were in Korr territory now, and would soon be approaching the capital and the castle itself. The moment they had crossed the border, their guard seemed to tighten up even more. Archibald couldn't blame them of course. Even though due to this agreement, they were 'meant' to be at peace. The wedding hadn't happened yet, so nothing was definite. Albeit... it's not like the wedding would actually happen. Not if King Archibald Rintz had anything to say about it.

 

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Gwen was prompt, per usual, and with the curtains open the sun fell on to Abigail's eyes, causing the woman to stir and eventually wake.

"Big day indeed," her voice was a bit groggy, but as she was in the presence of only her servant it did not bother her. For like Gwen feeling able to be informal to the queen, the queen was able to be informal to her. Nonetheless, she made sure the next time she spoke her voice would be level. Though she still used this informal time for a yawn and a stretch.

Once done with that she got out of bed, moving her feet over the soft, lavish rug and looked at the dress Gwen had set out. "Lovely choice, as always." It would be a fine thing to wear for her visit to the princess.

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If a lowly base knight could travel with the king and somehow prove their worth then surely it would mean instant promotion. This was Aloys' theory, anyhow. The there was that whole being nothing more than a man in training, so how would he end up traveling to Korr? This was quite the problem.

His first attempt would be to sneak along, then reveal himself once it was too late to send him back, as he would make the point that it would be dangerous to go alone. And no one could escort him without wasting half a day's worth of travel.

To him, it seemed flawless. So he packed his gear and things that would be needed for the journey before seeking out the caravan the king would be traveling with. He found them just before they departed and so he was able to follow them out.

As an archer it was easy for him to keep his distance, hiding in whatever shrubbery, trees, and grass tall enough to hide him and keep sight of the traveling king and knights.

Now that they were in Korr territory he felt that if he was seen now it wouldn't matter, and yet he still stayed away. Punishment for this could be bad and prevent him from eating, which he hadn't done much of yet. For even when they rested he was alert and paranoid about making too much noise. Only a few bites of bread was had. At least he kept it at the top of his bag, so he could simply reach in and grab it. Which he did now, slowing down to take a few bites while staring towards the direction of the knights. He couldn't actually see them now, but least they shouldn't be able to see him either as he let his guard down.

 

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The castle was eerily quiet with so many of its occupants now gone. Yvette had one major job to do today--laundry. With no one here to bother her, it would take less time then normal, or so she thought. The rest of the castle staff were still present and they managed to rope her into a card game in the kitchen. ❝For Heaven's sake, doust thou wish to be here all night?❞ She stared down at the cards intently. Sure, she talked big, but this was far more fun. There was no one to reprimand them, and all of the work would be done before anyone returned regardless. They left this morning, tomorrow was the wedding, they would have a full day's travel again once it was over, but she assume the king might wish to remain for another day or two. No one enjoyed spending that much time on the road. She threw down her cards and the men in the kitchen let out a unified groan. ❝That shall teach thee for playing with a woman!❞ Yvette smirked and scrapped the money across the table and into her lap. It wasn't much, but it helped none the less.

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❝Now, back to work or it's the barracks for all of you.❞ They glared at her as they stood from their spots around the table and cleaned up. There was still food to make, things to clean, and work to be done. No one got a day off just because the king was gone.

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