A few short days passed and Lord Warreck stood before an army of five thousand men. It was a small drop in the pond of The Reach’s hundred thousand or more, but given his families developing status it was an admirable count. The roar of chatter from the men below him was nothing in comparison to the screaming children at his back. As per tradition his family stood to see him off to war. Though their form left a little to be desired. Instead of the proper straight line they were supposed to be stood in it became a tug of war between the women children. Thankfully the distance from the ground to the top of the castle walls disallowed the men to see the struggle. His wife, Lady Olira’s was doing all she could to hide the workout it was to old back the young girl in her hands. Her hand engulfed the child’s wrist with a tight grip, requiring more might than it should to stop her from barreling at her father. Lady Olira smiled thinly, trying to keep her regal appearance while simultaneously deflecting the small fists and kicks,

“Esme behave,” The Lady spoke warningly though the behaviour continued. Next to her Naeva faired only a slight better with the young Perienne. Copying her twin the small girl fought the older girl, though not fraction as violent. The weak pulling and whines were clearly a show, whomever it was to impress though was a wonder. Unlike her mother Naeva gave little care for delicacy when dealing with the child. Hoisting the child into her arms and using her hand as a muffle had proved effective before and so Naeva forwent her ladylike appearance to use it again. Grimacing as she felt the slime of her sisters spit on the palm of her hand. 

“No! Stop! That’s not food! Ow ow ow,” The lords second daughter could be heard shouting as she fought for control of her hair. Her pleas did little to stop the babe from pushing more into his mouth. A happy gurgle came from the youngest child and only son of Lord Warreck as he seemingly took joy in his sister’s pain. “Take him!” Teora begged pushing him towards her elder sister who followed suit, handing over Perienne.

“Gladly,” Naeva sighed believing if she was to be a meal to her siblings, she’d greatly prefer Channer nibbling her clothes to Perienne biting her hand. The three women gave each other exasperated looks as they waited for the lord’s typically long speech to finish. It had become standard for Lord Warreck to give longwinded speeches whenever he reasonably could, so common in fact that the men had long since grown comfortable to speak over him. His speeches were rarely more than incredible rant anyways. The sky began to redden and the sun started its descent before Lord Warreck gave an indication of being done.

“And so it is unto us to preserve the dignity of not only The Reach, but the entire Seven Kingdoms! We will not rest—“He entered a guard tower to descend to the ground, continuing his speech as if the men could still hear. Reaching the bottom he mounted a horse that had been set out for him, raising his sword in a show of grandeur, “—Onwards men!” No one would ever know if the subsequent shout of the army was one of solidarity and support or a celebration of the speeches end. Naeva rolled her eyes as she swapped Channer for Esme, relieving her mother of the girl, before leading her along with Teora and Perienne down the gardens.

“My feet ache,” Teora nodded in agreement with the statement as she plucked apart her baby-spit tangled hair. “Come Teora, I’ll fix that for you,” They let the twins go and took place on a bench.  Naeva pulled a comb out from the inner layer of her dress and began working through the red tresses. The Tilden children all look more or less the same, matching the lineage of their father. Fair skinned, they all sported light brown eyes and an almost unnatural hue of bright auburn hair. In the exception of Esme, who was bizarrely dark. Slightly tanned with black hair and chocolate eyes, she didn’t resemble either parent.