She looked down the dirt road... The long dirt road. According to her map, Ryder was close to another town just like her village. At least, if she was on the right course she was. Dang, the capital of Ylisse was far, but she should be there soon unless of course she was incredibly lost. Neither of these options were very far-fetched. It had been a few days now, since she took her leave and man was this not anticipated. If only she had a glorious pegasus! And what she wouldn't do for a delicious piece of her idol's candies right now. Ryder sighed continuing on the dirt path.

A few days earlier-----

"The Fell Dragon... Gone. All thanks to Gaius and Lissa, with their companions. The Shepards were amazing!" Ryder had fallen in love with them ever since her village was saved. "Now we must only repair, and I am going to help!" For a second she became lost in dreams of being a glorious pegasus knight. How she could soar through the skies with such freedom, a friend at her side as they took to doing tricks and just relaxing. Animals had really been Ryder's only companions in the village. Most of the children near her age were boys, and they didn't particularly associate well with her, but she didn't care. One day she would be a glorious fighter and impress them all! That is what she had been practicing for!

A few last WHACK WHACK's on the dummy in her backyard. Straw stuffed sacks with some padding made of leather on top. Ryder would whack at it every day with a tree branch, pretending it was a dragon like Grima. She danced about it, practicing precision, speed and strength of her attacks. Of course, she still was a little girl and had very little skills when it came to fighting, but she had seemed more into fighting than even the young boys in her village. They ridiculed this 'Shepard in Training' act she had put on. Ryder may have been quite the laughing stock but she hadn't cared. it was all about becoming someone in Ylisstol, not this stupid old village who needs such great warriors to waste their time saving. Sometimes she even tried to practice acrobatics, which usually ended up with her in the mud and more of the boys laughing at her.

She started the day with her favorite horses, she didn't ride them often, mostly just care for them as friends. They were the best friends she had around the village, the only friends she had around the village. It was soon after she started hanging out with her 'friends' that she felt the glares and sneers as well as the giggles of the few troublemakers. "Why hello there Ryder!" It was the voice of one of her two nemeses. Ryder had a very childish imagination, turning everything into her 'game' as the people of her village called it. Robert and Arthur soon stepped forward, touching and poking one of the horses. Ryder gasped a little, she knew they didn't actually care for the horse. Her nemeses were plotting against her! They had a small posse with them as usual to pick on her.

The two Grimleal members (In her mind) slowly stepped towards her, and she jumped back into her stance, she was weaponless at the moment! "What are you gonna do? Hurt us little girl?" Ryder slowly backed up, nearing her weapon in the horse barn. Her glorious blade! As she reached for it she felt a sting in her side. No! She had been hit by one of them, a slingshot from the hayloft. The 'arrow' as she thought of it, buried itself into her side. She gasped and hopped a bit in pain. Ryder had her glorious blade though, now she was unstoppable! Her nemeses started laughing as they annoyed one of the horses. "You gonna hurt us with that tree branch?" They made fun of her great blade as she pointed it at them, not speaking yet.

Ryder growled slightly, this time she saw the slingshot boy lining up and dodged it, taking a step forward towards her nemeses. "I will defeat you, you last Grimleal scum!" Her growl was followed with a glare. [i]Right foot forward, just a little. Left foot back at an angle. Sword up at ready to block.[/i] She was going through her steps in her head. Readying herself for an epic battle. The adult reinforcements wouldn't be able to come for a while, so this fight was inevitable. Both Robert and Arthur advanced on her, but they weren't armed with greatswords like her. "Leave my friends alone, scum!" She pouted a bit as a few of the boys were still messing with the horse.

Arthur threw a punch at her, she was not very tolerant to pain so Ryder relied on being lucky enough to dodge. She hadn't really practiced blocking at all but what she did do was slam her branch into his arm. Arthur then fell onto his butt, Robert growling as he saw his friend. He also came at Ryder, swinging his fists rapidly. She quickly ducked under one of his arms, appearing behind him. She smashed the branch elegantly like a blade into his back. By this time Ryder knew, that Arthur would probably be standing back up but it seemed like Robert was down for the count. She started swinging her branch as she turned but Arthur had grabbed it in midair. The next thing Ryder knew, he had sent a punch to her gut. She couldn't breath and started to panic. Sending a kick to his shin, Arthur backed up, holding his shin. Ryder caught her breath for a moment as he grimaced in pain. Ryder then moves her right foot to the left side of her body as she stepped closer to him. Spinning around, she smashed the branch into Arthur's face. It looks like her training for the past three years had slightly paid off as her nemeses and their posse fled the barn. At least, it worked on two unarmed boys. At least she was getting better!

Later The Same Day--------------

Ryder finished up petting and feeding her friends and she started towards the outside of the barn, pushing open the two big doors. She had the branch still in hand and felt like a hero. She unfortunately only saved herself. Also unfortunately there were a few people waiting for her outside the barn. No, not more kids that wanted to beat her up, but her parents and the parents of Arthur, who was holding his red and split cheek, and Robert who was limping a bit. "Ryder! You are not a fighter! Put the sticks down and do your jobs!" Her mother said with disappointment in her voice.

An argument ensued as Ryder tried to protest that they were trying to hurt her. She had no evidence so she lost the short argument and was chewed out by the adults. She had began to become fed up of the little village. Ryder spent the rest of her day inside her home, avoiding the other villagers. Later in the afternoon, there was news of a man coming to her village from Ylisstol, so her first instinct was to go find him. Outside, a tall figure was surrounded by a small group of people. He talked of Ylisstol needing help of any able men and women for reconstruction efforts. Ryder ran towards him extending her hand. "I wanna help!" She said. She was very excited until a few glares shot her down. Ryder knew her parents would never let her. That wasn't going to stop her this time. She was done with this tiny village and wanted to go off and do better things. Later that day, Ryder packed her things, a stolen vulnerary, a map, and her 'sword' before heading off.

Back in the Present----------------------

Thank the gods. Ryder could see ahead a few buildings of what seemed to be a farming village. She pulled down the hood on her cloak and started walking faster towards the town. She was a step closer to Ylisstol. Ryder could stock up here and finally have a meal. She hadn't been eating much in the past few days, travelling light. As she walked into the village she was given a few stares by some of the villagers. She figured these people didn't get outsiders often. She spent a few minutes looking around for some type of trading post or a place where she could eat. It seemed like quite a few of the villagers had their attention on a barn. 

Ryder wandered over towards the barn and tried to peer inside. It seemed as though a boy was causing a commotion and some of the villagers were scolding him for it. She watched the situation play out for a moment, trying to remain out of sight of most of the villagers. She had no need to interact with the people here. Ryder just needed to stock up on supplies, have a meal, and search the town for a pegasus. She never stopped thinking about owning one. It was her wildest dream.