.By Earth and by Arrow.

[Anonymous]

A green-clad figure mounted on a chestnut horse rode toward Serendipity Castle, halting as she reached the crowd of people gathered at the gates.
"Here we are then, Arphen," she murmured to the stallion, a touch of excitement in her voice.
The girl was tall and slender, with long brown hair, streaked in places with green. Her skin was a light chocolate brown, and her eyes a piercing, crisp green. Her clothing might have appeared strange to some of the people she rode past - a tight-fitting  light green shirt, with a long sleeve on the left side, made in two parts connected by ornate links of a silverish metal. There was none on the right, however, exposing an extensive tattoo climbing up her right arm - a delicate vine that started at the base of her index finger and continued right up to encircle her right eye. The rest of her outfit consisted of a rather short darker green skirt, and a pair of light calf-high boots. Across her perfectly straight back was slung a longbow and a quiver full of arrows, and concealed under her shirt light chain-mail, although it was invisible to passers-by.  But perhaps the strangest thing about the young woman was that the horse beneath her wore neither saddle nor bridle, and yet was perfectly obiedient to her. She was a wood elf, and such were the ways of her people.

The elf dismounted as she joined the jostling crowd, placing a guiding hand on the horse's neck for the sake of the people around her as she waited her turn to reach the gates. A strange thrill of mixed excitement and apprehension filled her as the guards first questioned her, then eventually waved her through into the castle grounds. She'd heard word of a pending attack on Serendipity as she traveled the surrounding lands, and, seeking somewhere where her formidable skills as an archer might be useful, she'd come to see for herself. Her father had accused her of war mongering when she'd set out from her clanfolk's forest home to seek adventure abroad. She'd denied it, of course, but perhaps it was slightly true - she'd acquired a taste of the thrill of battle defending those forests against humans, and she'd liked it. At least archery was something that required little magical skill.

A wide-eyed young ostler boy approached her cautiously, enquiring in a voice tinged with wonder wether she'd like him to take her horse. She ran fingers in farewell through the stallion's mane, in which was entwined all manner of tokens - feathers and beads, and what looked like a silvery leaf, and then nodded, watching momentarily as the boy looped his arm rather nervously behind Arphen's head to act like a halter and lead him away towards the stable block. She sighed softly, hoping the chestnut wouldn't cause a fuss if anyone tried to put tack on him. He'd been her companion throughout the months she'd traveled, but she had never restrained him in any way, as was the custom of her people. Arphen carried her solely because he wanted to. She'd have to find her way down to see him later.

The girl-elf turned her attention to the castle. The guards had said she might seek out the Master at Arms, Fenway, had she wanted to apply to defend the castle. Green eyes subtley determined, the elf turned her attention to finding someone who would know his whereabouts, or the whereabouts of someone else to whom she could speak about applying.  

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[Goldie]

As he was leading the young woman into the castle, Fenway was stopped by a pair of guards, one of which had become a good friend of the Master at Arms with his witty remarks to anything that was remotely serious.   As he approached a grin stretched across his chocolate skin reaching the mischievious twinkle in his eyes.

"Well, Fenway me lad!" he called, thumping the knight hard on the back, "It seems like you've gotten lotsa attention lately, eh?"  He eyed the red head following Fen and winked, "But ah guess meybe I should go and take care o' this new recruit that jus' walk in, seein' as you're a bit busy with another pretty lass."  Fenway chuckled and ducked out of the large guards hold.

"Well, I am completely heart broken, but I have to do my job and I'm sure that you've not forgotten yours?"  He thought for a moment, glancing at Chailyn before looking back at his friend, "But could I ask you a favor?  I was just about to take Chailyn to see the Queen as a possible addition to the palace mages.  Could you do that for me, Gar'et?"  The black man nodded and Fenway turned towards Chailyn, "Follow Gar'et, he'll take you to see the queen."  Chailyn stood speechless.  She was going to see the queen?  Oh god...oh god....how would she act?  What would she say?  She didn't want to go with the big man....but she gulped and nodded.  No use getting kicked out now.

Fenway turned away from the pair and walked swiftly across the palace grounds until he reached the area that new recruits waited to be tested.  It pleased him to see that her horse had already been taken care of.  The palace was running as smoothly as ever.

With a smile of satisfaction he walked up to her and tilted his head politely, "The guards have informed me that you wish to try for a position among the palace guards."  He looked into her eyes, trying to make her feel like and equal rather than inferior.  It didn't help to make someone nervous when you needed to see their full skill.  "I am Fenway, Master at Arms of Serendipity Castle.  May I inquire as to your name?"

[Anonymous]

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The wood elf looked up from scanning the lavishly appointed castle grounds at the sound of approaching footsteps. Ah, perhaps this was the Master at Arms.  Her fair features mirrored his smiling expression of greeting, her piercing green eyes level and intelligent as they met his gaze. She made a slight bow, in polite deference to his rank, a few locks of green-streaked brown hair falling forward as she did so.

"My name is Taurien, Sir. I'm an archer of the Woodland Elves, and yes, I would like to apply to join the Castle guard."

There was nothing in the young woman's tone to suggest nerves, predominantely because she felt none. She was quite confident in her skills as an archer. With her upbringing, under the vast leafy canopy of the forest, it was almost second nature to her. Fortunately that didn't translate into arrogance, just a quiet air of competence. Her face, which had often worn a laughing expression, added the impression of a sense of humour lurking in her smiling eyes.

With a slender-fingured left hand, she gestured toward the longbow slung across her back. Taurien loved that bow. It had been made to her specifications, by the craftmasters of her clanfolk. The wood of a certain tree that grew in her home forests was supple and flexible, and was perfect for making bows. The weapon also had attributes that weren't visible to the eye, however. It was enchanted. This meant that its range was longer than a normal logbow, and it wouldn't function in the hands of any other archer.  The wood elves were skilled in many types of magic.. something that had eluded Taurien all her life. This was part of her reason for wandering, although it would take quite a bit to coax that admission out of her.

" I've my own bow, and of course I can demonstrate, as I'm sure you'll want to see."



OOC) Eek! Siege starts soon.. *berates self for not posting earlier*
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[Goldie]

Fenway listened politely to Taurien as the elf explained why she was here and offered her strong point, as he saw it at least, with her bow.  That was good.  The palace was short on archers that were exceptional, and that would definately help in any attacks that might spring up in the future.  Many of them had been killed when the wall fell on the last attack; and event that hopefully (with the new magical reinforcements) would not happen again.

"Well, Taurien." he replied once she had finished, "I would certainly like to see your handle on that bow.  Archers are in short supple these days.  It seems that most people are more interested at being in the middle of the masacre rather than above it these days." his eyes twinkled as he motioned to one of the palace pages and asked the boy to set up a target area that they could use.

Motioning Taurien to follow him, the Master at Arms led her in the direction of the training yard.  "How long have you been studing the bow?" he asked pleasently.  It was important that anyone working in the castle started on good terms, a dipplomatic advantage he had been taught at a young age and tried to fulfill every moment he had the chance.  Not to mention he just liked people and had no problem socializing with other people, no matter there station.

[Anonymous]

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With a genuinely pleased smile, the wood elf nodded, turning to follow Fenway as the page scuttled away to fulfill his superior's requests. She gave a slight chuckle at his comment about people's love of massacre. During the fighting experience she'd had defending her kinfolk's forests, she'd discovered a liking for the adrenaline-fuelled thrill of battle. Coupled with that, she possessed an adventurous spirit and wandering feet, and, of course, youth. Some of her family had thought it foolhardy to go off searching for battle like she had, but what better use for her skills than to fight for the preservation of something worthwhile? And besides all that, Taurien had a great love for archery.

Fenway's question brought the elf out of her brief interlude of reflection. Eyes glowing, she looked up.
"Since I was old enough to weild one. Even in my childhood, I usually had some kind of curde bow about me. A couple of years back, my clanfolk were forced to engage in a series of battles with neighbouring humans, which is where I gained most of my fighting experience."

She flicked a hand towards the bow she carried.

"This one I had made for me before I left, which would be nigh half a year ago now."

The elf now turned her attention to the archery field, unslinging the bow from her back as the page and a few others finished assembling the targets. Her lithe fingers ran over the smooth wood, decorated with intricately carved designs, and here with a small inlaid silvery leaf, the mark of the craftmaster and of her kinfolk.

"Now, if I may begin, Sir?"

She gave a respectful nod in Fenway's direction, and drew a couple of arrows from her quiver, holding them for the moment. Marking the grass at intervals in front of the targets were lines of paint, on which the archers stood as they trained. As a warm-up, Taurien chose the one second to farthest away from the stuffed straw target, on which was painted a brightly-coloured bullseye. She nocked one arrow, holding the others in her left hand, and, calm confidence ruling her mind, took careful aim. The arrow she loosed whistled through the air, piercing the small black dot in the centre of the target. With the speed of much practice, the wood elf reloaded the weapon, the second arrow following the first. Then she stepped back to the furthest marked line, and with the twang of the elf's bowstring, a further two arrows glided in graceful arcs to pierce the target.

Smiling faintly, Taurien eyes toward another type of target, this one a straw-filled figure of a man. One arrow flew at the elf's direction to pierce the the tiny painted eye, another to bury itself in the scarecrow's neck, and a third in the figure's unarmoured chest. Her hand empty of arrows, the green-eyed elf turned back toward Fenway.  

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[Goldie]

When Taurien asked it she could begin, he nodded and stepped back, noting that she started at the second to last line farthest from the targets.  He hoped that this meant she was confident with her bowmanship and not just trying to show off and look impressive before him.  Immediately after she loosed the first arrow he knew that she was definately confident, and her aim was expert.  It impressed even him who had trained with one of the greatest archers in his kingdom.  Not that it made him an expert by any means!  Archery was still one of his weaker points in combat eventhough he was definately above average.

When she had finished, Fen motioned to the same page to go collect the arrows and return them to the wood elf and now stood watching him for a remark.

He appauded, a large grin on his face, as he walked towards her, "That was exceptional." he told her, "Not even my training master could have matched you with a bow, and that certainly is saying something considering he was one of the best in my homeland!  Let me be the first to say, welcome to the guard!"

At the point the page returned with the arrows and laid them before the elf before running off to finish his daily duties, which included getting ready to help serve the castle for supper.

"All of the guards wear a uniform or an armband." he informed her, "You may choose which you would rather, but you must wear one of them.  We don't want somene attacking you because they don't recognize you and mistake you for the enemy."

[Anonymous]

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In the time it took for Fenway to motion to the page and walk over to her, a trickle of nervousness did manage to pierce Taurien's armour of calmness. Although she couldn't help her heartbeat quickening a little, she did manage to keep an outwardly composed expression, which broke into a warm smile as he began to applaud. Her green eyes, always vivid with emotion, shone with a flutter of excitement as she heard his verdict. She was part of the castle guard!

The wood elf dipped her chestnut-haired head in thanks and respect, before she gave Fenway an answering grin and thanked him.

"Thankyou Sir, it will be an honour to fight alongside the people of Serendipity. But you direct too much praise toward me - the credit for what I know now should be given to the excellent archers and craftmasters of my people."

Listening to his next remark, she nodded, giving a smile to the page boy as he handed her the retrived arrows.

"Of course. I'd prefer an armband, thankyou."

After all, the clothes and armour she wore now, or carried with her, had been tailored and made especially for her. Although she didn't doubt the palace had perfectly fine tailors, she would rather keep the familiarity of her native garb around her. Taurien was quite proud of her heritage.

Pleased at the prospect of spending her future, or at least her immediate future,  in the fighting force of Serendipity, Taurien returned the arrows to her quiver, and the beautiful longbow to its place on her back. She then turned back to Fenway, knowing that he most likely had further instrutions and information for her.

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[Goldie]

When she chose the armband, he nodded and quickly led her to the armoury and through a door in the back where spare tunics hung on the wall along with a box of neatly folded armbands.  The deep blue armband was lined in silver that in the midst of battle was spelled to shine so no one could possible mistake you for the enemy.  In the dark sometimes it became terrible difficult to decipher who you were fighting with from who you were actually SUPPOSE to be fighting!

"Here is your armband." he informed her, picking up one of the bands.  Touching his finger to one of them he mumbled a few words which activated the spell (something that even non-mages could use, like himself) and handed it over to Taurien, "In the battle the silver that lines the sun will glow so everyone will know that you are on our side.  If you're ever in a situation where you don't want to be found, by simply touching the band with your first and second finger in the middle of the sun the light will shut off."

With a nod of his head he continued through another door which took them out to the inside castle walls.  Stopping just below the stairs that led up to the battlements he waited to make sure she was keeping up.

[Anonymous]

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The wood elf followed Fenway with quick, light steps, keeping track of where they turned and trying to familiarize herself with the layout of the castle. She stepped into the armoury, green eyes scanning the rows of assorted pieces of weapons and armour, and crossed to the back wall where Fenway was taking down a box. Nodding, she accepted the armband he handed her, taking a moment to marvel over the shimmering silvery outline that surrounded the sun symbol. This would be valuable and easily identifiable in battle, and it would allow her to keep her elven garments.  

"Thankyou, this will be perfect."

She slipped the blue band over her slender right wrist, so that it wouldn't be covered by her long sleeve, then followed Fenway through the door and out of the armoury.
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[Goldie]

When he saw that she was beside him he started up the stairs to give her a view of the battlements and a general idea of where she would be standing in the event of an attack.  It was vital that she was comfortable with her new surroundings so she wouldn't be caught off guard in the middle of the battle.  A few archers stood on the wall looking bored out of their minds but eyes sharp for anything that might pose a threat.  When Fen reached the top they all straightened causing the Master at Arms to hide a grin behind his hand.  He knew too well how borring it was to stand there for hours upon hours with nothing exciting happening.  That was one of the reasons he had never perfected his bowmanship, so he wouldn't have to stand there and be bored like those poor fellows.  Of course, he had long since gotten better at the bow from necessity, but being a knight excused him from certain...ah...priveleges.

"This is where the archers stand during an attack, and as you can see, during every day using a rotation of three hours."  He pointed to the wall where every twenty feet a small green disc sat mounted into the wall which was slowly turning blue to mark the change in time and allow each person to know when their shift was up, "Those are the times, they're run by magic and set for the rotation hours.  When the disc is entirely blue the watch shifts, and vise-versa."  He then led her to the edge of the wall to look over the side, "Here's so you can have a good look at things before you begin your shifts."

Turning around he pointed up to the many towers that rose from the castle to show some more watchmen, barely visable from their position but with spelled bows to travel the distance it took to shoot enemies outside the walls, "Archers also stand up there.  They generally are the ones who are the first to see if there is an attack coming and warn the rest of the guard."

[Anonymous]

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The wood elf emerged from the stairwell just behind Fenway, looking around with interest that turned to amusement as she saw the expressions of the archers currently on duty.

She nodded as the Master at Arms began to talk of shifts, for of course she had expected the castle to have a defence system like this, and she had seen archers posted along the wall when she entered. She was quite surprised at the magical time-keeping disks - she'd never seen anything like them before. Although she marvelled at them, they prompted thoughts of her own deficiency in the field of magic, as did most spelled things these days, even occasionally her longbow. She'd been the black sheep of her clanfolk because of her inability to direct magic, and dwelling on it caused old wounds to open up. Taurien turned her thoughts swiftly away from magic, listening to what Fenway was saying.

She followed him to the edge of the wall, letting her eyes wander the land below the wall, smiling at the beauty of the scenery and trying to commit the position of certain buildings and the posts of the archers to memory. She was quite impressed with the efficient and well organised appearance of the guard, although this was the first time she had really examined the defence system of a castle. Her eyes travelled to the towers where she could just make out the figures of the archers posted there. As Fenway finished speaking, she gave a nod to show she understood, then posed a question.

"How many shifts are there per day?"
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[Goldie]

As he watched her take into account everything around them, he was certainly glad that Taurien had joined the guard.  She had a sharp eye and seemed more than willing to take on any duty that was thrown at her....or hopefully she would....not that he was doubting her of course!  Joining the guard was a large step for some people and he just hoped that it wasn't so with her.

"There are eight shifts." he informed her (haha!  Math really does come in handy!  3 times 8!  ^^;; ) "And each person is required to take one shift during the day and another at night.  The times of the shifts rotate each week, and the shifts are never overlapped so you'll be standing on guard for more than three hours at a time.  For example, if you have the dawn shift (shift one) you will have your second shift starts twelve hours later at the dusk shift (shift five).  And that rotates through the week, where the second week you will have the second shift and the sixth, or the third and the seventh, or fourth and eighth."

He paused, realizing that he was definately telling her a lot and then continued, "Of course in the event of a battle every guard is needed at one point or another and the shifts no longer matter"  He smiled and waited to make sure she had understood everything.

[Anonymous]

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Taurien's piercing green eyes continued to survey the palace grounds below the wall as Fenway instructed her on the shift system. That sounded good, she thought. There would be plenty of time in between shifts for her to do what she liked, and train with her bow and ride with Arphen. Early morning or late-night shifts were no problem for her - she'd watched the sun rise many times, and was accustomed to being up by dawn, and sometimes before it. And although standing atop a wall wasn't her favourite activity, she would take the duty on board without complaint. After all, it was rather necessary for the castle's defence, and she had carried out similar duties like it before i her native forests.

 A faint smile tugged at her lips as he spoke of battle, and nodded.

"Of course."

Having taken a good look around, the wood elf turned back to the Master at Arms, green eyes expectant. Where to next?
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OOC) Ack, siege! *whisks Taurien off to fight*