(SpleenxEkreture)

[h3][center]Levine, Kingdom of Cormyral[/center][/h3]

"This way mi'lady" the Cormyrean guard said as he led Princess Eosia and her band to Duchess Lynette's personal estate. The streets were busy, but not overly crowded. Peasants went about their business, trying to buy the goods they needed from overly greedy merchants. Guards kept a keen eye out for thieves; those very theives took care to stay away from the guards as they tried to swipe goods from the merchants. All turned to look at Eosia and her band as they passed, if even for just a moment. Foreigners were not exactly uncommon to the city, although it was rare for so many foreign women to pass through.

The guard blanched as he caught sight of a lamia and rather angry northerner, making sure to advert his gaze as they passed nearby. "Usually the city isn't quite so busy." He commented. "But with the prince summoning up the levies and keeping them nearby..."

In all honesty, Eosia could barely understand a word the guard was saying, so she simply nodded and grunted at him. In the palace it was different; not much was going on. But it's been years since she's seen commerce like this. Her eyes widened at the sight of the snake creature, but knowing better, said nothing. While the markets worried her, her women all giggled and laughed at the various sights. One of them spoke up.

"Eosia, could we return later?" Eosia's eyes darted between the carts and stalls, bickering and laughter.

"Eh...yes...perhaps." She looked down to find her hand at the pommel of her sword, and quickly removed it. "Where are horses? They at house?" she asked the guard.

"Yes mi'lady" The guard was quick to respond. "The Duchess was quite clear that your horses and cargo were to be treated with care."

Some of the women farther to the back were muttering to each other in Scaveni. "I wouldn't mind him handling me with care!" One shieldmaiden said to another. At this, most of the shieldmaidens started laughing, while Eosia barked back at them in Scaveni, then looked the guard, sheepishly embarassed. 

The guard let out a laugh as well and gave a quick shake of his head. "You'd best be careful" He called to the women over his shoulder. "Most people in this region would take your words seriously."

The shieldmaiden who said her comment smiled at him. "Who say they aren't?" and winked. Eosia blushed and put her palm in her hand. "I sorry. They...not meet new man in a time."

The guard simply laughed again. "Don't worry. This region of the world isn't exactly shy about sex." He gave Eosia a wide smile before giving the shieldmaiden an exaggerated wink. "The teachings of Eros and all that. Though.... we're moderate when compared to the Riawins."

At that moment a merchant, perhaps seeing a foreign woman as an easy source of wealth, pushed his way to the crowd. It was not an easy task for him, his rolls of fat making him less than agile. "A pretty necklace for a pretty woman" The merchant said as he reached the group, holding a golden necklace out towards Eosia. "For a pretty thing like you I'll reduce the price!"

"Back off" The guard said with a sigh.

"What do you say mi'lady?" The merchant said, completely ignoring the guard.

Eosia looked at him with a frank face. Up until now she'd acted somewhat nervous and reserved, eager to make a good impression on the leaders of this nation. But she knew she didn't need to impress this man. She quickly grabbed the necklace from the merchant's hand, knowing that he couldn't stop her if he wanted to, and studied it closely. "Not pretty." She then looked at it closer. "And...not gold." She looked to her women and said the Scaveni word for fool's gold, and tossed it back to the fat man, who didn't manage to catch it. "Eat less, work more. Maybe start to sell good necklace." She turned away from him and began walking towards the manor. She had no respect for anyone who would try to bilk people out of their belongings...she'd seen enough of that on the road.

"That guy is liable to run foul of a merchant one day" The guard muttered. "And then that'll be the end of that." To their right they passed a pair of street performers. One was balancing on one hand, with an apple resting atop each foot, as the other skillfully threw knives into those apples. The guard paused for a moment to drop a bronze coin into a bucket near the performers.

Eosia searched her person for a coin, but couldn't find any. She found herself surprised when one of her shieldmaidens dropped a whole purse of coins into the bucket. "Nidd, where'd you get that?" She asked.

Nidd motioned to the fat merchant, who was now patting over his body with a worried look on his face. "Snagged it while he was bent over." Eosia sighed as Nidd laughed histerically, and went over to the guard.

"We should move," she said, looking behind her as the merchant figured out what happened.

"I'm going to remain oblivious to what just happened" The guard muttered. It took the group another ten minutes to reach the Duchess's estate. In terms of estates it was fairly small, a decent sized mansion surrounded by a wall, with surprisingly little yard space around it. A pair of soldiers stood guard at the gate, with a few more visible on the inside. Even so the estate seemed sparcely guarded.

"Here we are." The guard said as they approached the estate's gate. The two soldiers standing guard opened the gate and gestured for the group to move on through. "This will be where we part ways. Oh, and should any of you care for my presence I can be found at a tavern called the Drunken Lamia." He rendered a low bow intended for the group as a whole.

The sheildmaiden who winked at him earlier cocked her head. "Drun-kin Lamb-e uh...you buy me drink?" She stepped closer to him as her fellow warriers snickered behind her.

"Of course." He answered.

She put her fist to her chest and giggled, then returned to her group, as they went into the manor, looking around them in wonder at the building they'd be sleeping in. The entrance of the mansion opened up into a fairly large hall. Paintings of, what could only be assumed to be, the Duchess's family lined the walls. A rug that wasn't quite ornate covered the floor. A few servants could be seen towards the back of the entry hall, cleaning a pair of vaces and putting new flowers into them.

"The Duchess sent word to expect you." An older man, probably in his sixties, limped over to the group. A nasty looking scar, which ran from his hairline over his left eye to the corner of his mouth, gave him the appearance of scowling despite his attempts at a smile. "Shall I have the cook prepare dinner or would you ladies prefer to wait for the Duchess's return?"

One of the warrior woman's eyes lit up at dinner. "Dinner?" Eosia gave her a stern look, then looked back to the old man.

"We wait for host...eh...what is you name?" She looked to his scar with sympathy in her eyes, knowing better than to ask about it.

"Ah how rude of me" The man either missed or ignored the look she gave him. "I'm Kerman. I serve the Duchess as her Seneschal. Before that I served at her side in battle till..." He smacked one of his thighs with his fist. "Pike got me." He finished with a shrug. "Well since you will be waiting for dinner shall I show you to our guest wing?"

"Eh...yes...armor is heavy," Eosia said with an awkward laugh. She fidgeted around, with sweat beads glazing her forehead, her scale armor clanking as she moved.

"Of course." Kerman said, leading the way towards the end of the entry hall. "I hate to admit it," He continued, "but the estate isn't designed for so many guests. We've had to clear some space in what is normally the servants quarters. I hope you don't mind. All but yourself and nine of your companions will have to stay here" He gestured towards a hallway that led to the right "in the servant wing. They will show your companions to their rooms." A pair of servants rendered low bows as the group approached.

"Straight forward" Kerman gestured towards another hall, "is the main part of the estate where the dinning hall and most other facilities can be found. And here," He led them to a hall to the left, "Leads the way to the Duchess's and guest rooms where the rest of you will be staying. We've arranged it so your nine remaining companions will have three rooms between them, with you having your own personal room. Is there anything else I can do to be of service?"

Eosia looked down the hall longingly for a real bed, but then turned back to Kerman. "Eh...where are horses? And our things?" Many of the shieldmaidens had already went into the servant wing and flopped down on the floor.

"The stables are right past the servant wing. There's a door at the end of the hall that opens within line of sight of it. Your cargo has been moved to a storage room. We'll be happy to move any and all of into your rooms if you wish."

"Eh...no, it okay..." She gazed down the hall. "Show me my room?"

"Ah yes. It's right here." He limped over to a door and opened it up. "Please make yourself at home."

The princess nodded, and walked into the room, finding herself unlatching her armor, revealing the tunic she was wearing underneath. He stared at the bed, slowly moving towards it, and moved her hand up and down the bedpost, feeling the texture of the wood. She was surprised to find herself salivating, and then, almost at random, collapsed on the bed, immediately falling asleep.

The next morning she was awoken by a loud whinnie and some yelling. Rushing outside, she saw the horse she brought as a gift for the duchess bucking at some guards and servants. She rushed forward, with a hand raised, and yelled, "Hod! Hod!"  The horse raised its front legs at her, letting out a large winnie, while she simply responded with some shushes. Recognizing her, it began to calm down, and she slowly moved forward, and placed her hand on his nose, calmly saying, "Ren, ren," repeatedly, and petting him. She looked to the guards. "What happened?"

"Not sure mi'lday." One of the guards answered, his sentiment mirrored by several nodding servants. "One of the servants found him wandering around just a few minutes ago. He must have broken out of the stable somehow."

She looked around, and noticed a servant who had been working on the roof, his hands covered in black tar. "You...you approach him?"

"Uh... yes." She nodded.

"Your hands...scare him." She led the horse back to the stable. "He okay now, just...clean hands if you touch him."

"Of course mi'lday" The various servants and guards excused themselves and went about their business, the last one leaving just as a pair of familiar figures stepped into view.

"We just don't have those kinds of numbers" Kerman was saying, eliciting a sharp shake of the head from the Duchess. "Lynette we-"

"We need to find them." The duchess cut him off. "With the threat of an invasion of Riawin and now this new army in the East..." She trailed off as she caught sight of Eosia. "We'll continue this talk later Kerman."

"Of course." Kerman rendered a bow to both the duchess and Eosia before turning and leaving.

"How was your night?" The Duchess asked as she approached Eosia.

Eosia embarradly looked down at her clothes, the same clothes she had worn the day before. "Eh...good. It was good." She felt strange openly wearing civilian clothes like this. "I sorry about the horse...he...seen much battle. Sometimes he forgets when a battle ends." As she said this, the horse was contentedly eating some hay that was strewn about on the floor.

"Haven't we all?" Suddenly the duchess sounded much older than she actually was. After a moment she simply shrugged. "You must have been exhausted. You slept straight through dinner and breakfast."

At the duchess's mention of it, Eosia suddenly found her stomach grumbling. "Oh, eh, yes...could I possibly..." one of the shieldmaidens, the one who had been talking up the guard the day before, walked out, with a loaf of bread in her hand. In Scaveni, she said to Eosia, "Took this from breakfast. Here." She tossed it to Eosia.

"Thank you, Ysa. What was dinner?" Ysa blushed.

"I wasn't here for dinner," the young girl said, biting her lip with her hands clasped behind her back. Eosia rolled her eyes.

"Of course you weren't. Go on." Ysa nodded, putting her fist to her chest and turned to leave, nodding at the Lynette. Eosia groaned.

"How my soldier so...man crazed?!" she exclaimed, taking a bite of the bread.

For a moment Lynette's only response was a cocked eyebrow. Afte a moment she asked "And you find that to be unusual?"

Eosia too raised an eyebrow. "Yes...wait...what you mean?" Eosia thought back to what the guard said yesterday about the area being liberal with sex, and leaned against the stable. Was the duchess unmarried and...not a virgin?

Lynette simply laughed and patted Eosia on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it." She looked Eosia up and down before adding "If you find us odd you'll think the Riawins are downright insane."

Eosia nodded, feigning understanding...from what she's heard, she wouldn't be a fan of these 'Riawins'. She waited for a few moments, eating the bread, then asked. "You have a husband?"

"What?" Lynette gave her a startled look. "Um... No. Why do you ask?"

Eosia's eyebrows raised at Lynette's response. "I am sorry!" She sighed, and added, "My people...most have husband by your age. Mine too. But I have no husband." She looked down, somewhat ashamed of the fact.

"Ah. Well that is the norm here as well." Lynette said with a slight nod. "Its not unusal to be betrothed before turning sixteen. But... well that wasn't the path laid out for me." She shrugged. "And there's more to life than being married anyways."

Eosia nodded, then asked, "Bet-roat...what is this?"

"To be betrothed is to be promised to marry." Lynette answered.

"Oh..." Suddently, Eosia seemed saddened. "I was...bet-roat. At birth."

"Guess Fate had a different plan for both of us then." Lynette gave her shoulder a soft squeeze. She lingered for a moment before saying "I'm afraid I must leave to attend some business at the palace. Perhaps we will speak again over dinner."

Eosia nodded, not looking up from the floor.

Later, after Eosia had gotten bathed and redressed, she walked into the room that all her shieldmaidens were in. They were singing and playing various native Scaveni instruments, with a few guards and servants hanging around them. When Eosia walked in, all of the shieldmaidens burst out laughing. Eosia grew red in the face. "It was all they had!" she yelled in Scaveni. One of the guards looked around in confusion.

"I don't get it, what is so humurous?" one of the guards asked. Nidd snorted, and pointed to her commander. 

"She is in a dress!" Eosia groaned, and sat down on the floor. After about five minutes of laughter and jokes, the rest of the shieldmaidens heard a familiar tune one of their comrades was playing. They began growing silent, as the girl began singing in Scaveni.

[i] Down where the wind blows the leaves off the  trees,
And dwarves stood tall, their heads at your knees,
There lies the home of the men of the Knots,
A land that is lost, but a land not forgot. [/i]

The shieldmaiden singing this began tearing up, and moved to set aside her instrument. "Keep playing,"
Eosia requested, and the shieldmaiden looked at her hesitantly, then started playing the tune again. Eosia looked around her, and to the surprise of her subordinates, she began to sing.

[i] Oh carry me, oh winds of Aea,
Bury me in flowers and mead,
And though times may be dark, through our will and our labor,
We'll be back in Scavenia, at least in our dreams. [/i]

More of the shieldmaidens began playing their instruments, and some of them started to harmonize with each other, a haunting and old ballad tossing itself into whichever ears would accept them. All knowing the song, the women began singing as a whole.

[i] Down where the river babbles like a madman,
But the water tastes fresh, smooth like fine satin,
And our heroes, our comrades, their bodies there lie,
But though the land may be lost, the people won't die, [/i]

The women went back into the chorus, and began going through it a few more times, tears visibly streaming down many of their faces.

"A beautiful song from a group of beautiful ladies" A man said from where he was leaning against the side of the doorway. He his blonde hair and short beard gave his handsome face a rugged look. "Its a pity I couldn't understand the words." If there was any dishonesty in his words, they didn't show in his eyes. "I had heard that Lynette had some interesting guests, but the rumors don't do you justice."

Eosia stared at the man blankly while some of the women wiped the tears from their eyes.' Who are you?" she said, almost angrily, without bothering to move from her place on the floor.

"Ah for once my reputation doesn't precede me." The man gave her a warm smile. "Aldrick Cuvier at your service." He rendered a low bow, enhanced by a sweeping motion of his right arm. "I am a... good friend of the duchess. And you mi'lady?"

At his bow, the shieldmaidens burst out laughing. Ysa looked to Eosia, and in Scaveni asked "Do you think he fucks men?" Eosia chuckled for once, and crossed her arms, looking him up and down. "I am not sure," she replied in her native tongue, "I will ask him." She looked him square in the eyes, and with a stern face asked. "Do you...fuck men?"

"Nope. Do you?" He answered without missing a beat. He cocked an eyebrow as he waited for her response.

Eosia shook her head, an empty expression on her face. "No." Nidd tossed her an apple. "Women," she lied, as she took a bite from the fruit. A few of the shieldmaidens who understood the exchange started snickering quietly.

"What a coincidence!" Aldrick gave her a wide smile. "So do I! What kind of woman do you find attractive?"

The princess, still eating the apple, didn't saying anything in response, only nodding over to Nidd, who in turn turned around to Aldrick and waved at him with a grin. Nidd, though attractive, was far more muscular than Eosia, though not as skilled a warrior.

"If I had to guess..." Aldrick waved back at Nidd. "I'd peg you as the type to like strong women. And by strong I mean strength in character. Hmmm...." He started to walk over to Nidd even as he continued to speak to Eosia. "Fair hair and skin? Or are you more into tanned ladies?"

Eosia shrugged. Nidd reached suddly for a knife in her belt. Not at all fluent in the language Aldrick was speaking, she began speaking to Eosia in Scaveni. "What's he doing, is he coming onto me?" Eosia sighed. "No, he's just being a fool." Switching back to his language, she said to Aldrick, "Eh...fair. Skin and hair."

"Ah yes. Fair, yet strong, maidens are the best are they not?" Aldrick shot Eosia another friendly smile. "And of course one who speaks her mind and stands up for what she thinks is right is the best of all, wouldn't you say?"

The Scaveni Princess rolled her eyes and sighed.  How long would he keep yammering? "Yes. The best." Nidd still stared at him with unblinking eyes, though her hand had been taken off of her blade.

"I thought as much" His smile widened further, though whether that was because he was correct or due to the servant girl that had sauntered up to him and taken his arm in her own was unclear. Either way there was now a hard to miss mischievious glint in his eyes. "Why it sounds to me -and please correct me if I'm wrong- but it sounds to me like our fair duchess is [i]exactly[/i] the type of woman you find attractive."

Not realizing what he said at first, Eosia rolled her eyes and started saying, "Y-" when she understood what he said. "NO!" She shouted, red in the face. Still not understanding the language, though understanding the shouting, Nidd quickly stood up, knife in hand, and went behind him, arm around his neck and knife pointed at his groin. "What happened, did he threaten you?" she asked in Scaveni.

Aldrick did his absolute best not to laugh and failed, letting out a long chuckle dispite the knife pointed at his groin. His laugh only intensified when one of the servant girls let out a squeel of delight, practically bounced over to Eosia, and grabbed hold of her hands as she yelled "We'll root for you!"

The mood in the room shifted when the servant girl fell to the floor, nose bloodied and broken. Eosia looked down on her, then to her first, still clenched tightly, glazed in red blood. Then she realized what happened. Last thing she remembered, Aldrick was laughing. Then an Einherjar Legionnaire rushed at her-no, that's not right. It was just the girl, making some stupid joke. Suddenly, her face filled with worry, and she collapsed to the girl's side.

"I am sorry! I...I didn't mean to..." Nidd sighed, and relaxed, letting Aldrick go, muttering, "Good fucking job," in Scaveni. If some of the shieldmaidens didn't know better, they would've sworn there were tears in Eosia's eyes.

The guards present had jumped to their feet, hands on the hilts of their swords. They hadn't drawn them yet, hadn't reacted beyond that as they seemed unsure as to what to do. Aldrick cleared his throat and made a lowering motion with his hand and, as a group, the guards seemed to settle back down. After a moment he commented "Well that joke went bad quick."

He walked over to Eosia and the fallen servant and fell down to a knee next to the girl. "Ah" He said as he rolled her over gently. "Looks like you got her pretty good." The girls nose was bent at an awkward angle, blood flowing freely from it. "But nothing we can't take care of at the temple."

He looked Eosia in the eyes, a look of understanding in his, as he quietly said "This isn't a battleground."

Eosia sniffed in, and took a deep breath. "The whole world is battleground." She stood up. "Just not all of it has been fought on." One of the shieldmaidens grabbed a bucket of water, and Eosia dipped her hand in it, the red of the girl's blood mixing in with the clear liquid, until the whole of the bucket was a murky brown. Eosia sat there for a moment, a tear dropping from her eye, giving one spot in the bucket a moment of clarity, before she turned to look at Aldrick again.

"I am Eosia, daughter of Vorin the King, child of House Jorgenson."