<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/>Thyra may have seemed disinterested in Melina's words, but she was listening carefully to the girl. She had adopted a bored, disconnected expression when listening when she was still in her Master's care, as she had gathered valuable information over time to use against him. Intelligent minds never reveal themselves to the world--least of all to those who think they are in power.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FFBF40"><span style="font-style: italic">"...How did you end up in the north?..." </span></span>Thyra's only acknowledgement to the question was the straightening of her posture as they rode along. For a few moments it seemed as if she wasn't going to answer, but she finally took a deep breath and let it go through her nose.<span style="color: #8040FF"> "I escaped a fate I was not satisfied with,"</span>she replied vaguely. The subject of her slavery was not one she shared--even Freya only knew the bare bones of it all. Thyra was rather protective of her past, or more so just did not believe her past should be brought up in the present. It was a life long ago and yet not long ago enough.<br/><br/><span style="color: #8040FF">"It's best to not open up doors with dust on them, my lady. Lock up all demons from the past and look at them no longer. Only fools will open those doors--and damn near all fools die," </span>Thyra elaborated. She wished more folks knew that--knew that when you chase after demons, when you try to right old wrongs, you only end up with a bitter taste in your mouth and ultimately no relief.<br/><br/>People were always killing each other in Erathia for feuds, lost love, and insults. It was never anything worth fighting for--at least not to Thyra. But she had always been alone, so perhaps her opinion was skewed. She had never lost a loved one, after all. Freya and her war band were the first to ever step foot within Thyra's defenses, and even then she kept them at arm's length.<br/><br/>Thyra, for a brief moment, thought about how funny it was that she was considered wild.