Forum Thread

*Tani looked at him and slightly smiled before stepping to the side so he could walk in. Once he was inside, Tani closed the door and walked behind him.* Sorry, I thought you were someone else. *Tani walked to Luke's room and opened the door to see him looking towards the wall with a deadpan face.* Luke, we have company *Luke said nothing. He didnt even look back. Tani opened her mouth but then closed it, slowly closing the door as she began to walk away. She then looked back at Eric and motioned for him to follow her.* Do you want anything? Like, food or water?

Eric shook his head as he followed her in. "No, I'm alright," he politely declined. He moved his hands away from each other, clasping his fingers again, mostly to have something to do with his hands.

(Sorry this is short, but I'm out of ideas)

---

*Tani turned around and led Eric to another room. She pulled out a chair for him pointed to it, causing him to sit down across from her. Tani coughed into her hand and began to speak* So, who told you?

He sighed, and looked her straight in the eye. "Sage gave me specific orders to be here as soon as possible and to never leave your side when I did." He added, "And whatever grievances you have against it, you can take up with her." His eyes then shifted back to the floor, and he leaned back ever so slightly.

---

While she tried to be of assistance to Kesterian, Sage quickly found out that there wasn't much work for her to do. The kingdom ran fine on it's own and both Gwen and Irida had no trouble dealing with the army and planning counter attacks against the Cloaks. Even the people of Telmar didn't need her support all that much. They had been able to warm up to the kingdom surprisingly fast.

The only thing left to do was to check on Tani. She had been absent for most of the day. Something that Sage found to be quite unusual but she didn't pay much mind to up until now. She confidently strolls up to Tani's door and knocks on it, then takes a step back to patiently wait for her to open it.
...
It didn't take long for Irida, Gwen, and Winters to arrive at the capital. Irida is the first one to enter one of the large rooms where her one of her captains and two of her scouts were waiting. All three immediately rise to their feet out of respect for their general and silently wait for her to speak.

"How bad is the situation? Any news from our reinforcements?" Irida asks as she takes a seat. Both Gwen and Winters stand on either side of her. Both were too anxious to sit. If there was trouble, the last thing they wanted to do was sit and wait for the trouble to arrive.

*Tani watched Eric as he spoke to her. His demeanor seemed more on guard and serious then when they last spoke. She noted the seriousness in his voice and nodded her head* No no, I understand. You have your orders. But you really don't have to be by my side at all times. *Eric was silent. Tani fell silent as well. As they sat in the room, nothing made a sound. Not even the ants running along the floor. Finally, Tani heard a knock on her door and jolted up* I'll get it! *She ran to the door and opened it with high hopes. But when she saw Sage she smiled and spoke, while also deeply disappointed.* Oh, hello Sage..

Like Eric, Sage is quick to catch the disappointed look on Tani's face. It was obvious why Tani would react like that. She was tempted to say something about it, perhaps speak on behalf of Maddy and let Tani know that Maddy still cared about her and missed her as much as Tani did. But she doesn't, realizing that this would be best coming from Maddy instead of her.

"You've been absent all day" she says instead. "What's going on Tani? Telmar needs a leader, now more than ever. I know things are tough, but it's important that we stay strong."
...
The captain hesitates, looking obviously uncomfortable by the news he is about to share. But he knows better than to refuse answering a question from Irida. "We have yet to receive any word from the fleet. It's been three days" he informs. "But there is some good news" he adds while gesturing to the scouts. Two tough looking twin girls. "They come from the Eastern Bend" he explains.

"Fill me in on what's happening over there" Irida tells the scouts. Her face was once again unreadable, her telltale sign that she was desperately trying to keep everything together.

"We had lost contact with our allies and were ordered to check it out" the smaller of the two explains. "Unfortunately when we arrived we weren't welcomed by anyone.. all of our men and the commander have been slaughtered." The girl immediately drops her eyes to the ground. Her fists clenching as she remembers the horrifying sight.

Irida ever so slowly stands up and walks to the window. With her back to them she asks "So we are alone out here?" To which she gets no response. The silence was enough to confirm what she feared.

"It's best that we retreat back to the homelands. It's no longer safe for us out here" her captain replies with instead. His words cause a shouting match to occur from both parties.

"We can't do that!" Winters shouts. "These Cloaks are nothing more than a parasite. If we leave now, it'll continue to spread. We will never be safe from them until we attack them at it's root!" Winters argues.

"For once, I agree with him! I didn't drag my whole kingdom here only to be abandoned. We can't keep running away from them. We have to at least try to fight them or nobody will ever be safe!" Gwen shouts.

Irida silently listens to the shouts. Her hands were clenched together behind her back and her head was lowered slightly. One would almost think that she were defeated if not for the tension in her shoulders and jaw.
(Credit goes to RoyalGecko for helping me write this)

*Tani led Sage into the house and began to speak.* I'm just tired, Sage. Thats all. *Tani then began to speak with a slightly defensive tone* Besides, you've led Telmar for the last 7 years. And the Poor kingdom for longer before that, so the people have a leader

"You act as if I'm immortal" Sage responds calmly. "As if the past few years you've been leading with me didn't mean anything. Don't you understand what I've been doing? I've been preparing for you to become the next leader of Telmar!" She grabs a chair and sits down. She takes a deep breath before continuing. "I'm getting old. I don't know how much longer I'll be fit to be leader for." She pauses to let this sink in. "Telmar needs a leader" she repeats. "Now is the best time to step up. If you don't do it now, then I fear you'll never get their respect once I step down."

*Tani watched Sage as she spoke. Everything made sense. All of these years, Sage never spoke on death or a successor to her, but in an instant, Tani understood. Suddenly, Tani was overwhelmed with emotion. Her eyes began to tear up and she spoke with a broken voice* Sage, I am so sorry! I-I didn't know *Tani's legs suddenly felt like jelly. Sage ran to her, gripping her and embracing her. Tani embraced Sage back and continued to speak* You've always b-b- *Tani began to stutter as she cried.* b-been like a mother to me and I just never understood!

"It's alright Tani" Sage tells her soothingly. She opens her mouth to say something else, but finds that she cannot get the words out. Both Tani and Maddy were like daughters to her. She remembers the days when they were simple servant girls. She had gotten the opportunity to watch them grow into the fearless warriors they were now. She knew that, that Maddy still remained, she just had to find her voice again.

Most important she was- "I'm proud of you, both you and Maddy." These words come out easily. "You two have never let me down. I know this kingdom will be left in good hands when I pass."
...
It doesn't take long for the arguing to become too much for Irida to bear. "Enough!" She roars while bringing a hand down on the wall. The whole room goes silent, both parties were eager to hear what she had to say. Irida knows this and allows the silence to drag on for a bit. She stares out into the Ocean for what seems to be an eternity. "I've always hated this continent. Even when my father and I first arrived here. We were planning on changing this place for the better." She bows her head slightly before continuing. "It wasn't long after that when the Mountain Men attacked us. Ever since then, we've been stuck in a never ending war against them. We've been fighting for so long, I've forgotten what it was we are fighting for."

Turning around to face the group, Irida begins to pace around the room as she speaks. "We've invaded their homeland three times, each time was more costly then the last." She stops pacing and clenches her fists as she remembers the horrifying memories that she had tried so hard to bury deep. "The first time, there were almost no survivors. The second time, half my men, including my father were slaughtered by that d*mn blacked eyed girl. The final time, we couldn't even scale the mountains without running into an ambush. Now, seventeen years later, we are still here, still fighting in this never ending war."

Irida stops trying to hide her emotions. She no longer had the strength to hold back. Tears stream down her face as she continues. "If we leave now, countless people would die in vain. My father, my best friend, their sacrifices would be for nothing."

She manages to compose herself now. She wipes away the tears and hardens her face. She turns her head to look towards her captain and storms towards him with a furious look. "If you wish to flee like a coward then I would advise you to step down from your position. You were never deserving of it in the first place! Kestrian does not flee, Kestrian does not surrender, we fight fearlessly until the end and we will not stop fighting until we are victorious!"
(Credit goes to RoyalGecko for helping me write this)

*Tani tearfully let go of Sage and wiped her eyes. She nodded her head and tried to smile* Thank you Sage... for everything.

*Back in her home, Maddy sat in her chair looking out the window towards the ocean. While she couldn't see it from her home, but she still heard it moving back and forth, back and forth. She felt safe when she heard the ocean. She was allowed to be safe and not have to worry.*

Sage returns the smile and bows her head. She excuses herself out of Tani's house and walks out onto the porch to compose herself. She stares up at the sky for a few seconds with a heavy heart. She missed the days when Thunder Birds would freely roam the sky. She shuts her eyes, not wanting to stare at the empty sky and relaxes slightly when she feels the cold wind hitting her face. A feather flows within the wind, gently bumping into Sages cheek before being lifted up by the wind again and disappearing amongst the clouds.

"I think-" she takes a deep breath before speaking again "I know what I must do."

Sage steps into her shared home, walking quietly, as if not to disturb Maddy. In Maddy's room, amongst her belongings, was a large box. Sage's heart jumps when she picks it up. It's time... she thinks to herself. She leaves the house quickly, before Maddy can even register that somebody was there and runs over to the nearest blacksmith.

"I need you to reforge this for me!" Sage demands upon arrival. The blacksmith glances up from her work, eyeing Sage and the opened box closely before refusing.

"We are trying to prepare weapons for the next battle. We don't have time to take new orders. Come back in a few weeks" she responds.

Eric stayed frozen, staring at the wall. But his ears were still sharp. He could hear every word of Sage and Tani's conversation. Something about it made him stand up, but he didn't know what. Maybe it was the tender moment that made him feel as if he shouldn't be there. But he didn't leave. He barely even made it to the edge of the room. He heard Sage's footsteps fade away as she left, and he watched the hall silently for what felt like a long moment before his head turned and he noticed Luke standing in the hall. Without a word, Luke simply walked back to his room, but Eric didn't move.

---

Hearing Sage's demand she looks up from what she had been working on to Sage herself. The project was already done and she was looking for something else to do, so why not? "I can help Sage, what is it that you need to be done?"

---

"I need this to be reforged" Sage repeats while sliding the box over to Star so that she can get a better look at the contents inside. She was relieved that there was actually a blacksmith willing to do this for her on such short notice, especially from Star, who was known to be a talented blacksmith. That was not going to be an easy task.

Star frowned and took the box seeing the contents inside. Another challenge with short notice, She wasn't unfamiliar with these kinds of things, in fact, people did this to her all the time and she had grown used to it. But yet she still had a question. She looked up at Sage and asked, "If I may ask, why did you wait to fix this until now?"

---

"It's time for her to rise up once again!" Sage replies fiercely. "If we wish to win this war, we need all of our best warriors to be battle ready, emphasis on all" she adds. "Apologies that this was given to you on such short notice, but this needs to be done."

Star nodded, she understood. "I'll make this my top priority Sage." Star took the box to her work area and got started.

---

There was a brief moment of tense silence. It seemed like nobody knew what to do. Thankfully, Irida is the first to break the silence.

"You three" Irida says, while turning to the scouts and captain. "Report to the colonel and tell her everything you told me." She turns to Gwen and Winters now, "you two, report back to the armies and continue your training." She steps away from the group to stand by the window. "I'll be joining you momentarily." She lowers her head and listens to the sounds of chairs scraping on floors and shuffling behind her. She is met with silence once the door shuts. But the silence is quickly broken when she hears footsteps behind her. "Didn't you hear me? I told you to report to the-" Irida turns to glare at Gwen, but the look on her face silences her.

"You lost someone important to you, didn't you?" Gwen asks lightly.

"So you were listening" Irida asks while rolling her eyes.

"I know what's that like. I lost someone too. Someone who was very important to me. More than important. He was everything to me. His death broke me and for years I believed that I couldn't possibly live without him. So I can sympathize with you if you want to talk about it" Gwen offers.

"You lost someone important? Haven't we all? We are in a war, there is not one person here who hasn't lost anyone. If you're looking for pity then you are barking up the wrong tree. We are generals, which means we live up to a certain standard that the average person wouldn't. We can't afford to break easily. Not with the lives of every kingdom resting on our shoulders!" Irida steps forward to place a hand on Gwen's shoulders. "it's important for us to never forget the one's we lost, but we must move forward, afterall, that's what they would want." Irida lowers her hand and walks towards the door, only to be stopped when Gwen speaks.

"You don't have to be strong all the time." Gwen fires back.

-"You don't have to be strong all the time."

"Kolby" the name slips out without conscious thought. Irida winces at the mention of his name. "Kolby always use to tell me that." She turns back around to face Gwen. "Fine, I'll talk."