Completed New Armor

[Samantha Black]

How utterly opposite their childhoods had been. She could not think of a single thing that they had in common aside from having fallen out from between a noble Lady's legs. No remark was made aside from a short, thoughtful hm that intimated she could see why now. It made sense, of course. All those things amounting to the fame of the young Darling Daughter.

Ralene could not even fathom it for herself.

"Don't you ever get sick of it?" she asked, more than relieved to find a respectable selection of meats for her salad. She opted for steak, shrimp, and chicken - the Surf & Turf special.

"Everyone always thinking they know your business..." her trip to the tea house earlier in the year had been eye-opening in more than a few ways. Yet aside from her unofficial "debut" into noble society, Ralene had taken one thing away from it that had left a mark on her: the nobles loved their gossip and would make tea of anything and nothing to suit their needs.

She hated it.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"I do not tire of it, no," Kristen said with some renewed cheer. "Such is well my nature, it is true, but also do I aspire to landholding Ladyship within my House, and furthermore, to perhaps even election to the newfound Parliament itself. These are things which entail a life within the public eye, constantly beheld by its gaze. A good turn of fortune, mayhap, that I since my earliest days have been so conditioned! And what better fortune than the rise of the Republic, allowing in their benevolence the option of the Reserve, such that I might well pursue this course? A better fortune for myself, for you, for all whom either of us would call friend and kin."

They lived in such blessed times, all things considered—such was Kristen's appraisal.

Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

Yeah, she supposed that all tracked for what little she knew of Kristen based on the scant few personal interactions and the rumor mill that had circulated the Academy. She wasn't sure she saw the option of Reserves as much of a blessing and, quite frankly, the Revolution had changed next to nothing for herself.

But clearly the Revolution had been the keystone to fast-tracking a noble-child's career. Kristen Pirian bound for ladyship and Parliament - almost made her question why she even bothered with the armor if she didn't intend to use it. Was it simply to be ceremonial? Her badge for becoming a Dreadlord? Could she really even be considered a Dreadlord having arrived to the Academy so extensively late in the game? So many things here the girl was entirely ignorant to, which allowed that rosy view of Vel Anir to shine through all the more.

The Lieutenant schooled her face. Nothing she said here would change anything for Pirian. Her path was already paved with golden cobbles and she'd likely ride a gilded carriage pulled by unicorns all the way there. That was the luxury of being who she was. Of being a noble. The very antithesis of what she, herself, had come to embody over the last ten years.

"Those are a lot of lofty goals," Ral remarked after some time to chew on it, thinking on her own lofty aspirations that would likely take far longer for her to achieve. Decades of her life, most certainly, and a lot more blood, sweat, pain, and tears for the road she'd been set upon.

"I wish you the best of luck. I'm sure you'll do for Vel Anir what people like myself can't. Make it nice and pretty. Fix all the things that need fixing. What's your aim in Parliament?"

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"Oh, Ralene, no, you mustn't diminish the importance of your own work!" Kristen was quick to interject. "And I am none of things to which I aspire yet, none have I earned, and so it is that your well-wishing is graciously received!"

To the question at hand, then.

"Should I become a Councilor, why, one of the first things I would do is push for more comprehensive reforms of the institution of the Dreadlords. The Republic was swift in abolishing the worst excesses of the old way, this effort of course being endlessly worthy of praise, but certain gaps have been left: the most glaring of which is that no minimum age has been established. Furthermore, from all that I can tell of the situation at present, the Republic is for recruitment relying solely on the established precedent of Anirian custom and compliance—namely, the perceived notion that parents of magically-talented children must surrender their children to the state. No effort whatsoever, so far as I am aware, has been made to dispel this notion or to implement anything resembling a humane and sustainable plan as an alternative. Why should we not make that which was once horrid and negative—the abduction of children, or their willful surrender—"

She thought briefly of Edric's own plight here, and still, despite his acts, felt sympathy for him over this. Ralene herself, being from that time as well, was like him, either kidnapped from the Banicks, which seemed highly unlikely for the fact of her noble blood, or surrendered willingly by her family.

"—into something different? Encourage, rather than coerce? Away with abduction, and away with surrender! Incentives to enroll into the Academy could be offered, and career-long incentives for those who go on to serve with distinction in the military, such that it is an appealing and competitive option compared to being in the Reserve. These are but nascent ideas of mine, burgeoning and vaguely-formed at present, yet they represent the heart of what could be done. And I believe my own position as a Dreadlord, should I earn the title and go on to secure election, would allow me to speak with some level of authority and personal validity on the subject. I myself would be the exemplar of what could be, a proof that these methods I propose are no mere conjecture, that they are in fact efficacious and suitable for the needs of Vel Anir. And to that end, it is imperative that I do well in the Academy and beyond, that I let not failure assail me and make a mockery of this validity of which I speak, but instead that I serve with admirable conduct and distinguished capability. I wish not to be dramatic or to overstate my own importance, but mayhap it will be that the futures of countless Initiates to come will turn on the smallest of details from our age."

Kristen had talked long enough to fill the time it took for their food to be delivered to the table.

Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

She never much minded listening to others speak on their passions. In fact, Ralene found it all rather endearing in a strange way. Kristen was verbose and extroverted, raised to believe her words could move mountains. Maybe they could. Maybe they would. She'd certainly be interested to find out.

The arrival of food was more than welcome and Ral dug in without ceremony. Chewed on both ruminations of what Kristen had spoken on while she chewed her meal. This salad stuff wasn't half bad when it had the right ratio of meat-to-greens in a bite.

"You'll find a friend in Lady Sirl on all that," she remarked at length, "I had a chance to speak with her after bringing her home from Wissburg. She's got a lot of the same notions and intentions. She also means to run for Parliament and seek reform on Dreadlords and the Academy, among other things."

Ral raised a fork and pointed it at Kristen, "Can introduce you if you like. I already told her I'd help her collect evidence and first-hand accounts from other Initiates of my year."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Lady Sirl? The current happenings within House Sirl, Kristen would be forced to admit if asked, were all shrouded in the mists of obscurity to her, owing to the timing between the Revolution and her enrollment into the Academy. Within the Academy she'd but two brief encounters that had anything at all to do with House Sirl, one of which was a single duel with Elias Sirl which saw her flattened handily, and the second was a run-in with Dreadlord Ventress during the Forsaken attack on Vel Numera. Surely the "Lady Sirl" had to be Elspeth, but certainly Kristen could be mistaken. She knew scant little of the siege at Wissburg, for she had not been assigned to that mission nor the one which preceded it, yet...goodness, she was going to have to catch up on much of the latest happenings once she graduated!

Still, being unapprised wasn't what concerned Kristen the most about Ralene's offer.

"Are you..." Kristen shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "...would I even offer anything insightful to Lady Sirl in that regard? My account of the Academy is in no way comparable to...well, to yours, say."

Or to Alistair's, or to Kalix's, or to Henk's, or to any of her erstwhile classmates. Kristen knew only what came after the Revolution. Not before. A fact Edric was all too ready to remind her of when last she saw him, locked away in his prison cell.

Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

She had that right. Their experiences were both years and worlds apart. Even still.

Ral twirled her fork in the air, "True, but you are the first to join the Academy well outside of standard protocol and age. I'm sure she'd be interested to hear your story as well. Besides," stamp stamp stamp went the fork on her plate, meat-greens-meat, "the more people on Parliament moving for the same reform, the likelier it will happen. She'll run before you, she's a bit older I think - support her bid so she can do the same in return for you."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen snuck in a few bites during Ralene's response, keeping eyes on her while her hand and her fork worked mostly of their own accord. She supposed that was true, the contrast her account would be able to offer when placed against the accounts of every other Initiate from her class. Even so, it served as that stark reminder, didn't it? All that she herself had said of being an exemplar of what could be was true, and that placed her as irrevocably different to her peers, not just in her first class but now in her second class as well. What Kristen felt as a lack of fairness, that she had not gone through the same thing as them and yet still could hope to claim the title of Dreadlord, was something she would in time need to reconcile.

A good point followed.

"Oh yes, certainly, Lady Sirl will have a much more solid foundation for candidacy than I will upon my graduation; much have I to do, and only with time is experience fostered! In the interim, you are most assuredly correct, Ralene. I can leverage what influence I have, both within my House and among the populace, for the benefit of Lady Sirl. After all, helping her is a means by which those who share in her ideals, our ideals, may prosper."

Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

Ral could only imagine how Elspeth's face would light up at this news and she smiled, amused to herself at the thought. How these two red-heads could change the fates of future children blessed with magic - well, it could mean the difference between a stronger Vel Anir, or a Vel Anir that eventually tore itself apart again. Gilram wasn't helping with the state of things.

"I'll send a letter before I leave for Vel Castere tomorrow, then," she might've been able to drop in on the Lady if she had time, but Ralene didn't know of her address or if Elspeth would even be home. A letter seemed best.

"Has there been any news on what the Academy intends to do for the next graduation?" A topic of great speculation among not just the current final-year Initiates, but those who had survived the year prior. Ralene had a personal investment in seeing the upcoming graduation go off without a hitch or life lost. She'd intended to be present for it to ensure things went smoothly, though she'd yet to get permission for leave granted by the General.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen smiled thinly.

"None deemed fit to share with Initiates." She took a quick bite of her salad, and spoke after she finished. "Though I suppose that is to be expected. Outside of some general brief about the nature of what, vaguely, shall constitute the ultimate test of our training, told to us all at the eleventh hour of our class, I suspect we will not know much."

What a challenge, designing the new test which would come to define every Dreadlord moving forward, all while the looming shadow of the Bloody Graduation persisted, while sympathizers for the old way might be waiting in ambush both inside the Academy and out for their chance at sabotage, and while the monstrous figure of Gilram lurked in the shadows.

"Whatever may come, Proctor Magomo has trained me well. He is a hard man, firm but fair, and exactly what I needed when first I walked through those gates. I will not disappoint him."

Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

"Figures," Ral remarked as she ate.

It was the same cock-and-bull story served to her own class. A new challenge for them all, not to be announced until the day of so no one would have an unfair advantage. What a load of horseshit. She regretted the events of that day deeply, but perhaps not much on the end of Charon. Her firm opinion of his beastly nature would not be swayed, she had done Vel Anir and the world a favor in getting rid of him.

"Magomo was one of the better Proctors," she agreed. Even before the revolution he had been hard on them. Harder than he was now, for certain, but she'd never suffered the abuses and torture at his hands that she had at numerous others. "I'm sure you'll do well. You seem to have come into your own."

That judging alone by what scant stories she'd heard and the simple way in which Kristen carried herself now. It was a stark contrast to the Kristen she remembered from nearly two years ago.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"Why, thank you," Kristen said, appreciative. Ralene hadn't been present to witness Vel Acan (or other mishaps which plagued her first and second year at the Academy), but likely those stories, perhaps told with either wheezing laughter or scornful contempt, made their rounds about the Initiates. To be regarded now as "having come into her own", from a peer no less, was close to the very summit of compliments. A shame, then, that Kristen herself lacked the proper standing to return a similar compliment!

But her standing was something which could be rectified with continued effort and grit. And to that end:

"After Graduation, though I have my own aspirations which I do very much intend to pursue, I should endeavor not to follow into the trap of leisure and personal time on offer from Reserve status. I ought to make like Alistair, and volunteer for a number of missions and military campaigns. Earning the title of Dreadlord is merely the first step, and such a title would mean nothing if I allow it to languish underneath my personal, political, and House affairs. Service to the Republic is how I ultimately prove myself worthy of that title, and how I might thereby bring honor and prestige to House Pirian."

Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

"Oh yeah?" Ral lofted a brow at the girl, "Then maybe we will cross paths again. If you get sent west let me know. The Knights have some leeway in the missions they take and as a Lieutenant I can assign my team to certain jobs if the fit is right."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen neared finishing her salad. One of her last forkfuls paused in mid-lift.

"Ahhhh, yes, the Knights. I remember your mention of them on the day prior to your Graduation, and now at last you are officially part of their number. What was it that you said back in Hosten's? That you'd a Squadron all your own to command? A most formidable cohort of fighters with whom to stand shoulder-to-shoulder! I know that the Army of the East is very much engaged these days, what with reclamation of lost territories as the Republic's chief military concern; how fares the Army of the West?"



Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

"That's right," she nodded with a wane smile, thinking on her crew and finding she rather disliked not being there to see Davi's training under Sparrow. She had no doubts he'd pass the Captain's test with top marks, but she'd rather have been there to support him during it all. Davi had his demons to deal with and it wasn't fair he had to do so with strangers. Ral settled on putting faith in Sparrow.

"Mm, well, doing what they can to ensure the front to the far west is fortified. The General recently recalled all extant companies back to Castere - can't say why for though. I don't have those kind of clearances ... yet. But it seems as though he's preparing for something."

"Could be something, like war brewing among the fringe groups of the Empire. Could be nothing, just a switch of units to get new soldiers out into live posts. I'm sure I'll learn more when I get back. The Knights, as a general rule, are called in as specialized strike teams for specific needs that the Guard can't handle. We operate more loosely than the main Guard, and we don't often get sent to war fronts for general warfare."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Salad bowl now empty, Kristen said as Ralene finished, "I should hope that the General's movement of forces is merely the rotation of troops you mentioned. Gods forbid some unruly and opportunistic faction in the west sees in the Republic's ongoing conflicts elsewhere a chance for lofty ambitions to be seized."

A somewhat long face came over her, and she mused aloud, "When will the Republic finally be granted a respite? A chance to breathe?"

From its very birth all up to the present day, constant warfare defined the Republic. Perhaps this was well in keeping with Anirian tradition, its history and its ancestral purpose being what they were, but Kristen felt the Republic needed a period of peace to truly flourish.

Samantha Black

 

[Samantha Black]

Ral wasn't long behind Kristen on cleaning her plate and found herself surprisingly satisfied with the meal. The Lieutenant heaved a deep sigh, silently sharing the sentiments presently voiced by Pirian of all people. The threat of war wasn't one that gave her much bother, but to wish for war was a level of crazy Ralene didn't subscribe do. Pining for death and destruction was saved for the older generation of Dreadlords who were little more than tethered beasts.

"When it figures out what it stands for, maybe," she answered. Nothing had yet happened that would convince her the Republic had any idea what it really wanted, though it seemed to want something better than what Vel Anir had before.

"Hard to move forward when you don't know which way you're going yet." A story many of her fellow former-Initiates could understand.

"Where should I have Lady Sirl post to you in response? The Academy?"

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Things were wrapping up: their meals done, their own respective duties and responsibilities calling.

Kristen stood from her seat. Said, "Yes, that would be fitting—the post, I imagine, shall be swifter than the intervening months between now and the forthcoming Graduation."

Yet for Kristen, those few months would indeed glide by with an astonishing speed. The unknown road ahead had in store for her these: the shock of Caeso Diemut's murder, an Incursion of lizardmen and the effort to rescue a captured comrade, a deepening of her friendship with Zinnia St. Kolbe and consoling the same after an encounter with Zael Castomir (in Elbion, of all places), and last a delightful picnic with Alistair after a lackluster final mission in the Academy. Then would come Graduation, and the things spoken there at that table at Benti's Bites would have their chance at being given life. And why not? The gods did prepare for greatness those they favored through rigorous testing and hardship, to see if truly they were fit for it.

New armor of the material kind protected the body; but new armor of the spiritual kind, freshly gained and augmented through trial and trial, protected something far more valuable.

 

[Samantha Black]

"Very well," Ralene stood from her seat as well, noting the deep slant to the shadows cast through windows and doorways and thinking it was about time to be off to her next stop anyway.

"Best of luck to you Kristen, wherever it is you end up," she offered in earnest, "I look forward to hearing about your and Lady Sirl's successes in Parliament." All the way out in Vel Castere, of all places.

"Oh and, lunch is on me," because like hell was she about to let a noble pay for anything of hers. Not even a meal. Smirking, she tipped her head up at the girl in a silent farewell and moved to the front to pay their bill, then be on her way to the next destination. She'd have plenty to mull over tonight when she finally got that mug of Citrus Ale in her hand at Burwood Lane.