Mesmerised by the horse-riding duo, Esme had stared at them for so long that she had fallen a fair bit behind her father’s army. She couldn’t take her eyes off the pair though. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen foreigners, not by a long shot, but it was definitely the first time she’d seen foreigners from wherever they were from. It was also the first time she had seen people who looked so much like her. Esme had long since noticed the differences between her and the rest of the Tilden children. She was surrounded by people who sported fair coloured skin, eyes and even hair. These two however, much like Esme herself, wore darker olive-coloured skin with black hair. Though Esme was perhaps even a bit darker in her skintone, and unlike them her eyes were nearly black in colour. Still, she watched them in wonder until the disappeared over the horizon. And when she turned around she realised that her father had disappeared in the opposite direction. Panicking she began to run in the last direction she saw them going.

[hr]
Back at Carsley Keep the entire castle had been thrown into a riot. It hadn’t taken long for Lady Olira to notice that the young girl was missing. It took even less time to get Perienne to reveal the truth. Immediately guards had been sent out in a ten mile radius while everyone inside scoured the grounds. Shouts of “Have you found her?” were being tossed left and right as the panic grew steadily higher. It had been no mystery within the castle that Lord Warreck favoured Esme over his other children, including his only son. So the prospect of her going missing, or worse, was not something anyone inside looked forward to. Least of all his wife and children.
“We should send a message to father,” Teora said, shyly approaching her now frantic mother. Her only response being a look that seemed to question her sanity. “Well,” Her voice wavered, now unsure of herself, “She probably followed him… and he has more people who can look…” She trailed as the look her mother gave her only became increasingly horrified. Realizing that her advice wasn’t entirely welcomed she decided to check in on the guards at the gate, hopefully some news had come in.

As she approached the gate on of the guards held up a hand, stopping her.

“M’lady, there are people requesting an audience,” He spoke quietly so that only she could hear him.

“At a time like this?” She sighed heavily, “I’ll greet them.” By technicality she had no authority to do so, but they didn’t need to know that right now. Turning around the corner she was greeted by a dornish man and woman on horseback. Suddenly she felt very out of place. At only thirteen she wasn’t even an adult, while these two clearly were. Being greeted by a child, she only could wonder how offended they must have been. In an attempt to look older Teora stood straighter and tried to carry herself in a more ‘lady-like’ fashion. “I am Lady Teora, second daughter to Lord Tilden. To what do we owe this visit?” She tried to sound haughty and important, but got the impression that she sounded much more like child playing make believe.