<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="color: #8040FF">House of Ostergaard</span></span><br/><span style="font-size: 130%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="color: #8040FF">Castle Ofertha</span></span><br/><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://aidanmoher.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/the-huntress-by-s-ross-browne.jpg">[ img ]</a><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="color: #8040FF">Valkyr Thyra Ekundayo</span></span></div><br/><br/><span style="color: #8040BF">"Ah. A child of Riace---I did indeed have quite the fun cutting down your people. Silly bunch, they were," </span>Thyra said as she crossed her arms, feet firmly placed on the ground a little bit apart.<span style="color: #8040BF"> "As for your life expectancy, you are very much making assumptions my lady. We 'wild folks' as you call us are not as wild as you may believe. We kill when we have to, we pillage if need be--but there is nothing we do unprovoked. For many years people in the Firth drove us deeper and deeper into the bitter cold, while they erected new castles and sat by their warm hearths. It was your own house's fault when they decided to rebel. What more did they expect? The earl of the firth to lay on his belly like some trained dog? Ha!"</span>Thyra gave a laugh, though it was humorless. She was still friendly.<br/><br/><span style="color: #8040BF">"Do I allow a personal question? Well, it seems to me you'll ask it anyway..."</span>and indeed Melina did. Thyra sighed, her arms dropping to her sides as she regarded the girl with cautious eyes,<span style="color: #8040BF">"See here, girl--everyone is the same. We all do what we think is best to achieve our goals. Some of us find ourselves on soggy, sticky floors with the whole world at our fingertips and some of us just find ourselves on plain old soggy floors with nothing left to greet us except the blasted aches of drinking too much. I am not more civilized, I just have long ago stopped being angry at those who have hurt me. There is nothing in it except for misery and despair. I was brought up a slave and now I am a free woman. That's all there is to that." </span><br/><br/>Thyra wondered how many of Riace's men she had killed. The girl in front of her had eyes that said thousands, but Thyra had a feeling she mourned for only one.