Crescent Glaive

Seperating with a kiss, taking your time, knowing there'd be fewer opportunities to show your affection for each other in the days ahead. Memories of your first time together swam to the surface, the trepidation but also joy bubbling underneath as she stole your breath away. Her palm caressed your cheek, every movement filled with delicate gentleness and care, the warmth comforting. So little had changed and yet... so much had too.

You had already said your goodbyes, leaving with only the birdsong filling the sky and your hearts toward your respective dorms. As you walked, you brought a pair of fingers up to your mouth, a phantom of her velvety lips still lingering. It reminded you of the stories about European knights kissed by fair princesses on the eve of battle or before taking on a monumental task.

Crescent Glaive was a lonely structure. Its high walls created an artifcial border between the open field of grass stretching out outside and the main fortress enclosed within. A line blurred by the flowering ivy climbing the white mortared walls. Feelings of nostalgia making your heart ache with homesickness - you would write your mothers a letter tomorrow before service.

Turning your head upwards, seeing the ****-holes as you passed beneath the open gate, a legacy of the orignal purpose this place had served centuries ago. Curious purple eyes were peeking through one of them, paying them no mind as you passed underneath, but had startled Wyne and your pace was briefly out-of-sync as she hurried to catch up. Her heels clacking discordantly against the paved stone path.

The pair of you entered a well-kept courtyard. Another servant had just finished working the well in the center and was carefully balancing two heavy buckets of water on her way to the stable to fill the troughs. The scent of hay and more equine fragrances, partially disguised by the flower garden and a small vegetable patch close to the servants abode and kitchen, wafted through the air.

A tall young woman, a few years your senior, stood before the reinforced doors in the fortress' arched entrance way. Her solid leather riding boots were caked in a layer of drying mud and dirt and she had discarded the rest of the school uniform for a set of a jerkin of hardened and studded leather and thick pants. Beside the signet ring, the only adornment she wore was the ornate blade hanging at her side. One of her hands resting against the aquamarine encrusted pommel, the jewel matching her eyes and hair.

"Long time no see. Missed you these past few years. Welcome to Crescent Glaive, though I guess you don't need the introduction or the tour. Aunt Leo filled you in on everyting, right?" She bowed, roughing up her already short unkempt hair by scratching her head. While the act seemed stiff and unfamiliar, it was a false affection to portray herself as an ignorant bumbkin, playing on the sterotypes the inner nobility held for their border counterparts.

Mother did much the same to disguise her keen mind, although much to your and Orianna's shame it had far more to do with lack of practice than deliberate deception. It was no reason for you ease up on convention as you lightly grabbed the hem of your skirt and bent your knees in a single fluid and graceful motion. Earning you an apprecative whistle. "No. The pleasure is all mine, Lady Mira."

"Ahh, so cold!" Shivering for emphasis while crying fake tears. If there had been men around, you would have described her wide smile as boyish, perhaps even charmingly so. "Used to the northern winds chilling your bones, but you only became a real ice queen in the southern tropics." She shook her head, dismissing her comment. "I know my favorite cousin is still there underneath, just have to thaw her out. Haaah... Everyone's luggage is already here, we're really only waiting for a few stragglers. Fancy keeping me company while I wait for them or eager to run along and unpack? Heard some noises coming from the drawing room if you'd rather get to know some new faces."