Forum Thread

"If you give Blossom and I a place to work and supplies, we can start treating the injured right away if you'd like." Leaf offered as they approached the next wall. She didn't say it, but to watch all these people suffer like this hurt her in ways she couldn't describe without feeling some form of self-guilt.

---

*Tani began to walk thorough the opening and saw the land between them and Kestrian. It was a mostly barren field full of crops. She saw villagers farming food and backing it into carts that were being moved back to Kestrian. One person came up to her and handed her a rounded and red "vegetable". Suddenly, more of the farmers came up to them and handed them some food from the crops. Tani looked at the farmer and bit into the "vegatable". She broke through its thin, almost papery skin and tasted the flsh within. The villager then began to speak in a harsh voice* Tom- ate- o *Tani put her hand on the farmers shoulder and spoke* Very good, very good *The villager smiled and ran back to the others. Tani felt herself feel warmer. The joy she saw on that farmers face made her think of better times. She heard someone walking behind her and looked back to see Luke* Oh Luke! Glad to see you're up!

Blossom looked at Luke. "Hey Luke, how are you doing?"

(Sorry for the short post, idk what else to post)

---

*Luke had barely spoken to anyone since Barry died. He would just sit in the wagon as they moved along. Tani put her arm around him and shook him alittle to encourage him* Hey Luke, we made it! We made it to our destination. *Luke said nothing. He just stepped away from Tani.*

The caravan finally approaches the large kingdom. Once again, Irida speaks in the foreign tongue to get the large gate ahead to open up. The gates slowly open up to reveal the gigantic kingdom. Even though Irida grew up here, she still can't help but be awed by the site, the Telmarian people most likely feel the same. She steps forward and the caravan follows. The gates shut tightly behind them, cutting them off from the wild forests behind them.

As esexpected, the Kestrian people all pause from their activities to stare curiously at the newcomers. Their gazes were quite docile compared to how the Telmarian people had looked at Irida and her army when they arrived to their Telmar. It was obvious that they haven't quite faced the hardships that the Telmarian people had suffered through.

Irida doesn't waste much time. She leads the caravan down what seemed to be a maze of streets. It was quite different from Telmarian's more open kingdom. They are eventually stopped by a large atretch of flat land. Bungalows scatter the area. "This will be your new temporary home" Irida explains to the caravan. "I'll leave you alone to rest and set up. I'll be close by if you have any questions." Irida adds
...
Sage steps off her horse and nods to a younger girl nearby. The girl takes the horse away from Sage and rides it over to one of the larger bungalows. Sage stares at her new home thoughtfully. It looked pretty nice, far to nice to allow visitors to use. Then again, this kingdom was far nicer than what she was use to.

She moves over to Maddy's wagon and knocks on the side of it to get Maddy's attention. "Let's get you settled in" she tells Maddy.

*Maddy looked out of the wagon and saw Sage walking around to help her out of the wagon. Once she was out, Sage wheeled her past the other people towards their shared home. But as they were moving, Maddy saw Tani look towards her but quickly turn away. Maddy's eyes lowered and she moved her head back towards the bungalow Sage was bringing Maddy to.*

*Once inside Kestrians walls, Tani continued to walk around with the group until Irida shouted her new orders. This lead her to walk towards Luke* Hey Luke, you want to bunk with me? *Luke gave Tani no response. Instead, he just walked past her, muttering under his breath as he did.*

Leaf, Blossom, and Star looked up at their new home, Star however was the one to comment. "Looks cozy."

Leaf looked at Irida. "Is there a place Blossom and I can set up and treat people?"

---

Sage opens her mouth to say something to Maddy, but closes it after remembering Maddy's last interaction. is she still mad? Sage decides to wait for Maddy to be the first one to speak. Eventually though, the silence seems to run on for too long, so she finally breaks it.
"This is nice, isn't it?" Sage asks as she wheels Maddy into the bungalow. "I was expecting to sleep in tents, the people here are very generous to lend us these homes" she continues as she steps around Maddy to inspect some empty shelves. "This almost feels like a vacation, I have to keep reminding myself that we are once again in a war" she turns around to face Maddy. "You can say something you know? The floor is all yours."
...
"Don't you want to rest up a bit before you examine my people?" Irida asks. Leaf doesn't even need to respond, Irida catches a determined look in her eyes that brings a smile to her face. "Nevermind, hold on a minute." She turns around to glance at one of right hand men. A boy who has some knowledge of the Telmarian language. "Williamson here will lead you to our barracks, that's where we are housing and protecting the majority of the sick and injured. You can both leave when you're ready."
Williamson's brow furrows slightly as he struggles to grasp Irida's words. After a minute, he nods, finally understanding what she said.

*Maddy stared at the floor. It was wooden but it looked as though it had been run over by an army of cattle. She heard as Sage spoke but didn't care. She heard waves crashing outside of the house and looked up. Each wave crash caused her skin to brighten up. She then looked at Sage with a twinkle in her eye* Sage, can you take me to see the water? Please?

They had done it. They had made it to Kestrian. The memory of the attack was still fresh in Eric's mind, and he had to blink a few times to clearly see what was ahead of him. This kingdom was peaceful, much more so than his own. It was strange, almost alien to see it, but it was also a welcome sight. Eric stayed uncharacteristically silent as he walked, and eventually, he stopped in front of one of the huts. He hesitated a minute, unsure of what to do next. Perhaps Kestrian was making him doubt things even more then he thought.

---

"We can rest later." Leaf insisted, nodding at Blossom, the two girls grabbed their medical bags and followed Williamson to the sick and injured. When they arrived, there were a lot more than they had both anticipated, but never the less they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. On occasion, they asked Williamson for something they needed. As Leaf worked on the worse injuries, Blossom tended to some of the easier stuff, though sometimes the girls had to work together.

---

The sudden twinkle in Maddy's gaze didn't go unnoticed to Sage. She couldn't remember the last time she saw Maddy look like that. It brought a smile to her face, because, for just a moment, Sage was reminded of the old times, back when everything was still okay, when things were normal. "Of course" Sage responds with a smile.
She steps back around Maddy and wheels her back outside. She also takes Maddy's hint. It was obvious that she didn't wish to hold a conversation with her. Now left alone with only her thoughts, Sage allows her mind to wander as she stops by the shoreline and gazes into the waters ahead. All her fears slowly seemed to resurface. She should feel some sort of reassurance that she wasn't going through this alone. She had Tani, Maddy, Gwen, and now Irida to help her take charge, yet she still couldn't help but feel like it couldn't be enough. It was like she was going up against an unstoppable force.
She had faced one too many underhanded battles against the Cloaks. It seemed impossible that it could end one day. Breathe, one step at a time she reminds herself. She loosens her grip on Maddy's wheelchair and steps back to give Maddy space.
...
Footsteps can be heard from behind Eric as Gwen approaches him. "How are you holding up?" She asks him. She doesn't clarify what she is talking about. Whenever it's the travel, the battle, or even Eric's near death experience, it doesn't matter, because all three could easily wear a person down.
"You did a good job fighting out there" she continues once she gets an answer from him. "I am going to need you to assist in training the Telmarian army. Your skills are too good to keep private. You have the potential to become a great general one day" she praises. She clears her throat and adds: "you are a good fighter, but not good enough to have the honor of using my bow, I'll need it back" she says, but not unkindly.

"My apologies, General," Eric said quickly, handing the bow back, "I should have returned it sooner." He was pleased by the compliment, though he honestly believed that any skill he might have was simply muscle memory of some kind. "I'm a loner by nature, General. When no one's around, it's easy for things to become stored away. As to answer your question," he paused, trying to find the words, "As well as I can. This place is so peaceful, it's almost...shocking."

---

A loner by nature huh? Eric was quite intriguing to her. Now she understood why, he reminded her of herself. At one point, she use to be like him. A simple right hand woman under Francis. She had mostly kept to herself. She didn't trust anyone enough to accept help from others. During the times in the Rich Kingdom, she viewed all her neighbors as enemies. If it weren't for Talla attacking both of the old kingdoms, she would still be that way. No, if the Rich Kingdom were still standing, she would be dead. She had to remind herself that Francis was starting to suspect that she was wanting to turn on him.

The reminder of Francis makes her clench her fists. Francis was a bad man, an evil one. Still, she'd rather face a hundred Francis' instead of one Talla. Francis was human, he still lounged to have someone to trust. Even if he began to doubt her at the end, he sill kept her by his side. A fatal mistake. She still has nightmares about nearly being half dead, yet having the energy to finally stop his reign of terror. It seemed so long ago. Did Eric have the same spark that she had? A strong sense of morality that was almost uncrushable? She wouldn't doubt it.

"Yes, yes, shocking is a great way to describe it." She had felt it too, the sudden sense of peace. The change was odd, almost worrisome to her. "Keep your guard up. Our kingdom knows better than any that there is always a calm before the storm."

While Eric's memory did not serve him well enough to remember...anything from beyond a few years back, he knew enough stories, had enough memory of his own, to understand what General Gwen was talking about. Keeping his guard up would be imperative, and that was something that he intended to do. He nodded, saying, "Understood, General." He noticed that she clenched her fists, saw the small sign of anger in her eyes, but he did not acknowledge it. Whatever it was that made her angry, it was not his place to ask.

---

*Maddy's eyes glistened as she looked out into the horizon. She smelled the ocean air and closed her eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she had just been able to sit and look out at the ocean and it's own little dance. She heard as the waves crashed and went back and forth with the tide. She lifted her arms and felt the cool air blow by her and she felt almost as if she was flying over it. And as she sat their with her arms out, all of her troubles seemed to vanish from her mind. Everything was peaceful.*

(Make a short post before I hop off quick-)

Star after unpacking had decided to look around the town. There were quite a bit of market places, but then she saw it, the town's working forge. Star slowly approached. It was as large as a warehouse, there were no walls, rather just pillars holding the roof of stone up above the workers. The "inside" was full of furnaces, blacksmiths were hard at work making weapons, the finished product was piled up on wagons to be transported, some to be given around the town and others to traded. At least that's what Star assumed.

---

*Maddy slowly lowered her arms and let out a long, peaceful breath. She watched as the sun began to set. It's light glistened off of the water. But then she began to feel the ocean's cold air and suddenly she was back in reality. The reality where she wasn't flying. The reality where they were at war. The one where her friends were dying and she could do nothing about it.*

*Tani sighed as she watched Luke aimlessly walking around. She looked towards where she thought Leaf was but saw she wasn't there. And while looking around, she saw no one she knew. None of her friends. She looked around at the city around her and felt out of place. She had never been in a city quite like this. Even when she was forced to work as a servant for Francis, she never stood in a city who's trees were their buildings. This was new, and it scared her.*

"You should talk to Tani." The words spill out quickly, almost as if they came out without thought. Sage's eyes widen when she suddenly realizes that she had actually said that outloud. But nothing could be done about that, it's impossible to take back one's words.

"You two were always so close" Sage adds as she sits down next to Maddy. "Together, you and Tani are an unstoppable force. It breaks my heart to see you two apart, to see you hurting. I know that you want nothing more than to reconnect with her." She sighs and places a hand on her forehead. "Like it or not, we have found ourselves to be in the middle of a war again. We are already facing enough enemies. We can't afford to create anymore with the ones closest to us."
...
The silence was unbearably awkward for Gwen. She knew she was Eric's general, but she couldn't help but feel like a stranger to him. She use to be close to each solider in her army. But now, her relationship with her army has fallen. She was still surprised that they still considered her to be their leader. She looks up at the sky, her gaze softening as she thinks of Dylan. I think it's time that I stop allowing myself to feel guilty. It's time that I finally let you go, finally let you rest in peace. My people need me. I'm sure you'd understand.

"Take everything I said into consideration." She tells Eric. "I'll see you at training." She walks away and moves towards a soldier; who leads her to Irida. The change is small, but for once, Gwen manages to carry herself with her old strength.
...
The frustration was clear on Irida's face. She had begun to curse silently to herself as she paces around the loading dock. She had just received some terrible news. Their reinforcements were late, they were scheduled to arrive two days ago. Yet nobody has heard a word from them. She looks up upon hearing footsteps. She turns around to look at Gwen. Unsurprisingly, Gwen's eyes immediately fall on Winters, who was sitting besides Irida. Gwen's jaw tightens, but she doesn't acknowledge his presence.

*Maddy lowered her eyes as she listened to Sage. She was right. She couldn't let a war begin amongst themselves. But she also couldn't let anyone in on her pain. On her guilt. Maddy began to speak towards Sage* Your wrong, Sage. *Maddy heard as Sage slightly gasped* There's only one thing I want more then to reconnect with Tani.

*Tani slowly began to walk around the city. She was constantly dodging and weaving people in the crowd until finally she was out of the busy street and looking at the sunset. It was more beautiful then any she had ever seen. But then she saw Maddy with her arms slowly lowering. She heard as Sage began to talk towards her but couldn't make out what it was about. But then she heard her name and began to listen. She watched as Maddy slightly slumped down in her chair and listen as Sage spoke. But then she heard Sage gasp and began to listen in*