Knights and Childhood Friends (DragonSong)

[Saber-Five]

It was late afternoon for a rugged fort and village attached to the lower side of one of the mountains. This was a outpost for the Adelan Royal Army and its garrison had been increased recently with reinforcements from the capital. Four weeks ago, a noble lord named Tywin Faridal had been discovered plotting against the Crown in Ketra.

His attempt failed, but Lord Faridal had escaped and took shelter in his fortress home in the Thunderback mountains, mustering his local forces for war with the Army that is coming for his head. For now though many of the peasants, soldiers, and knights were enjoying themselves an off duty break in the fort's popular tavern.

  The lively crowd that occuiped most of the tables and chairs in the wooden hall with a huge fireplace in the back. Yet there was a young man, wearing brown doublet jacket and dark pants with simliar colored shoes who sat by himself by choice at small table for two.

A bard's song played in the background, as Rubin Morrell snip his ale in a wooden cup and thought.

This is actually good ale. A lot better than that goat piss I was forced to drink during that one time in the plains.

He chuckle at his private joke, before noticing some of the knights at the bar stand were staring at him with barely veiled contempt. They whispering to each other, no doubt talking about him, he didn't let them get the satisfaction of seeing him offended though he was a bit inwardly.

How many times must I risk my life for people to realize thaf I'm noting like my father!

Before he could ponder on that sour thought Rubin noticed a newcomer entering the bar at the front entrance.

[DragonSong]

Elora took one look around the crowded tavern, smiled, and made a beeline for the bar. She boosted herself up onto a stool and held up a finger to the man serving drinks. He nodded, setting about getting her a mug, and she used the opportunity to take another, closer look around the room.

There was nothing quite like soldiers off duty. Personally, she thought it was because they were forced to be so regimented in the rest of their lives that when they got the chance to just be loose they were loose. She grinned to herself, ducking a little further into the hooded cloak that shadowed her face.

Her drink was slid in front of her and she took it, flipping a coin to the bartender before turning on her seat to observe the room again. I will be good, she reminded herself of the personal oath she'd taken when she'd gotten off duty earlier that day. I will have one drink, maybe chat a bit, and then I will return to my lodgings.

She was in the middle of repeating this mantra to herself when someone- a soldier who'd somehow already had more than he could handle- stumbled into her, spilling both of their drinks all over the two of them. She gave a rather undignified yelp and leaped to her feet. In an effort to spare the rest of her clothes, she quickly shucked her cloak, which had taken the brunt of the attack.

The soldier was slurring drunken apologies, but she waved him off with a smile. "No harm done," she assured him, brushing a the few locks of pale blond hair that had struggled free of her braid out of her face. No harm, yes, but they had caused a bit of a spectacle- his rather inebriated pleas for forgiveness weren't exactly quiet, and she knew her hair was eye catching in an Adelan crowd.

She sighed internally as eyes started to drift their way. So much for a quiet evening.

[Saber-Five]

Rubin had noticed that the newcomer was a woman but her cloak, kept him from getting a good look of who she is. He decided to focus back on his drink and did so until hearing that yelp at the bar. When glancing back in that direction, he widen his eyes in realization, upon seeing the lady without the cloak in the way.

It can't be...and yet. He thought while looking at her hair, he only knew one person who had pale blond hair. Elora Braun, that is her name. Many years ago, her family of dragon riders were close associates to his parents and use to visit the Morrell estate often. During those visits, Rubin had gotten to play with their daughter, Elora all over the the house and gotten themselves in trouble quite a number of times.

The last time he saw her, they were both twelve years old and it was before his father's attempted coup. The Brauns remained loyal to the Crown and helped bring down Cristo Morrell and his rebels. He never saw Elora again following those events. Though he did heard about her, becoming a knight like her parents wanted. Taking his cup in hand, he strolled over to Elora once the attention died down minutes later.

Sitting next to the lady knight's left side and commented with a friendly smirk.

"I knew I recognize that hair. It only belongs to a certain little girl who use climb castle walls with me or put a flower crown on my head when I was taking a nap. Isn't that right Elora?"

[DragonSong]

"Wha-" Elora started, a bit surprised by the newcomer. Then she turned to him and her eyes widened in recognition, a broad smile lighting up her face. "Oh my gods, Rubin!"

Smile changing to a smirk, she said with mock severity, "That little girl is all grown up, you know. Don't be expecting more flower crowns."

But she couldn't keep up the facade for long. Beaming again, she threw her arms around him exuberantly. "What are you doing here? I'd heard you'd become a knight but- gods it is good to see you!"

She pulled away to look at him again, still grinning. She wasn't the only one who had grown up; it was a little disconcerting to see her old friend- who she still remembered as a young, lanky boy- as a grown man.

[Saber-Five]

"To be fair, those flower crowns did made me sneeze a lot." He replied with a chuckle, returning the hug gladly.

"The feeling is mutual Elora. As for me being here, well I imagine it's the same reasons as you are. An uppity lord thought he should sit on the throne and the high command decided to throw some knights like us and an army to punish that scumbag and his followers."

He paused before asking.

"So how it feel, being a defender of the realm?"

[DragonSong]

She shrugged, plopping her elbows on the bar and resting her chin on her hands. "You know, fighting battles, daring quests, rescuing damsels in distress." She wrinkled her nose teasingly. "Everything little kids dream about, yeah?"

Her tone sobered a bit and she leaned toward him. "What about you then? Word is you're starting to make a name for yourself, Sir Rubin."

[Saber-Five]

Rubin scratched his head in slight embarrassment before answering.

"Well Lady Elora it's been an experience to say the least, bit of both good and bad. I was just gald me and the others survived that ambush and my family have something to be proud of again."

He drank some more, following that statement.

[DragonSong]

She hesitated a moment, then clapped him on the shoulder. For a moment she'd forgotten the other gossip surrounding her childhood friend.

"Well, I'll drink to that," she said jovially, trying to lighten the mood. She batted her eyes at him with a sugary smile and added, "If you'd be so kind as to buy an old friend a drink, that is. Mine seems to have been...misplaced."

[Saber-Five]

"With pleasure."

Rubin called over the bartender and bought Elora's next round. Once that was done, Rubin raised his cup to his friend in a proposed toss.

"To flower crowns." He said in amusment before drinking up the last of his ale. Though he spotted some of those other Knights from earlier still glaring at him and Elora would notice it too. He sighed in resignation before saying.

"I imagine you heard the some less than flattering things they say about me too."

[DragonSong]

She laughed at his toast, joining in with sparkling eyes. But she bit her lip when his tone changed, glancing away.

"I have," she admitted evenly. Turning back to him, she hesitantly placed her hand over his and said sincerely, "I'm sorry about what happened. Your family didn't deserve that."

[Saber-Five]

Rubin nodded in silent gratitude to Elora. He continued.

"What Cristo Morrell done was inexcusable. Lives were lost and people, commonor and noble alike suffered for that treason. Yet seems like some people seem to forget or ignore that he betrayed our family too. Soni, my mother you remember how she used to smile real big and laugh a lot? Well that so-called man broke her heart and she couldn't manage even a small grin most of the time after all that."

Elora would quickly note how her friend refused to call Cristo, father in that statement. Before the disgrace Rubin had looked up to his father in near-worship and Elora would remember that quite well.

"Enougn about that, lets focus on having a good time. One question, you still nervous around dragons?"

Rubin teased with that latter question.

[DragonSong]

She sort of wanted to hug him again, but she wasn't quite sure how the gesture would be received. It had been ten years since she'd seen the happy boy with sparkling green eyes, after all, a lot had changed.

So she let him change the subject, not wanting to force him to relive painful memories. "Keep your voice down," she said, shushing him dramatically. "I've got a badass reputation to maintain." She gave a theatrical groan and dropped her head into folded arms. "They're huge and they have a lot of teeth and they breathe fire- how are you not nervous?"

[Saber-Five]

"Because I remember that most of them are allies of our kingdom." Rubin countered with amusement. He tried to control himself but he did slighty snicker at a funny memory that surface in his mind.

"I remember one time when we hiding in your parents' stable from Erin and her brother when you spotted your mother's dragon staring at you with his teeth a few feet away from us. Gods, you screamed so loud that I thought half of Adela heard it."

Rubin said with a more lower voice so the conversation can only be heard between themselves.

"So how did you earn your title as knight?"

[DragonSong]

Elora had a very hard time resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at him as she might have when they were children.

"Nothing like as impressive as your story," she said, shrugging. "I went through training same as all the other squires and they sent us out for a week in the mountains for survival practice. A rockslide hit- no one was expecting it- and me and this other squire, Lorren, were the only one not too badly hurt to go get help. Managed to lug the others down the mountain side and warned the village things weren't exactly stable, got everyone evacuated."

She shrugged again. "When we got back to Ketra they knighted us. Something about loyalty to our comrades and ingenuity in the face of adversity. You know, lots of big words, bla bla bla." She sipped her drink, feeling the familiar, warm buzz start in her fingertips.

[Saber-Five]

Understanding what Elora exactly meant, he nodded.

"Most impressive Elora, saving lives like that. Also you're right, they use a lot of big words in those ceremonies."

Before he can say something else, a drunken Elf in leather armor, a forgien mercenary attached to the army came over and spoke with alcohol clearly in his breath.

"Hey get lost, those are my seats now."

Turning toward Elora, the merc with a lopsided grin added.

"Well the wench can stay and can have some fun with me."

Rubin was tempted to slug this fool for his arrogance when he stopped himself. Elora was the one who the Elf insulted the worst. As a knight she likely wanted to handle this herself, though Rubin will back her up if their drunken offender had some friends nearby.

[DragonSong]

She arched an eyebrow, entirely unimpressed. "The wench will do no such thing," she retorted. Then, with a smile sweet as sugar, "And unless you'd like several bones broken in the next five minutes, I suggest you back the hell off. Now."

She turned away from him, taking another swig of her drink and looking to Rubin as though the elf didn't exist. "Where were we?" She knew that wouldn't be enough to deter the merc, but she had really been trying to be good tonight, so she gave it a shot.

[Saber-Five]

The tall elf with white hair snarl at the rebuff. It seem either he was too intoxicated to notice he was mess with a knight or he simply didn't care.

"Nobody talks to me like that, you whore!"

Suddenly the elven merc grabbed for Elora's left shoulder with one arm. Rubin had a feeling in this very instant, the drunken sword-for-hire had just made his biggest mistake of today.

[DragonSong]

Rage, fueled a bit by the small amount of alcohol she'd consumed, lit her up from the inside and she bit down on a growl. She twisted easily out of the drunk's hold, surging to her feet.

Her hand went to her hip- she may not carry her sword all the time when she was off duty, but she always had a long dagger. She jerked the blade from its sheath and twisted so she was pressing the elf back against the bar, hiding what went on between them from most of the tavern.

She held her dagger to the fork of his legs, putting a fair amount of pressure on it. "Unless you want be to take your favorite toy, back. Off," she hissed through gritted teeth, the gold flecks in her eyes flaring with anger.

[Saber-Five]

Faced with this very real threat, the elven thug turned sober out of sheer fear. The offender looked like he was about to soil himself, Rubin thought while pretending everything was fine. He doubted most of the Adelans here would stick up for a foreign sellsword. Of course, he understood that Elora didn't want to gain attention for getting violent during an off duty hour.

Even so the other knight was a still bit surprised by how vicious she can get. It seems they both have grown up in many ways. As for the elf, he shook his head yes to Elora's command and when let go he quickly made full haste away from them.

"I say that fool learned at least not to mess with you Elora. Personally, I would broken his jaw and one of the arms too if he laid a hand on me. Oh well different solutions, same results. So how your family been?"

[DragonSong]

She shrugged, sheathing her dagger. "I'm not a fan of mercenaries, but he must have been hired for a reason. Figured I shouldn't break anything too important just before a fight."

She plopped back onto the stool, sipping demurely at her drink as though nothing had happened. "They're...you know. Good. Mom's mom and Dad is dad, the great Generals Braun." She twirled her finger by her head. Her parents had always been fierce members of the Adelan military, but it wasn't until she was thirteen and sixteen that they'd been promoted to such high offices of command in the dragonrider corps.

"How are the girls?" she asked cautiously, referring to his sisters. She'd heard about his mother's death and was a little worried about bringing up his family, but she was curious about his siblings.