<div style="text-align: right;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 8pt;"><em>The Emerald Citadel <br/>The Kingdom of Fereshard<br/>3992 Age of War</em></span></div><br/>Back, forward, side, back, side, forward, a dance of movement across the stones of the courtyard she knew all too well and she watched it, a silent observer stories up in the citadel. She remembered learning those basic blocks and engagements by rote with her father. Remembered the sweat and the relentless sun beating down upon her back, remembered the ache of her muscles and the bright joy in her heart as she tackled her lessons. Remember the way his hand had felt, clasping her shoulder in approval after a good bout, ruffling her hair with a teasing pride in his eyes, the talks that would follow.<br/><br/>He had taught her a lot in that courtyard, how to use her sword, how to throw a dagger, how to string her first bow, how to tend her gear, mend tack, make a fire. How to be a warrior worthy of their kingdom. And how to follow in his footsteps.<br/><br/>She couldn’t help but think that it had come a lot faster then anyone had expected, her filling his rather large shoes. He had left too soon. She felt it more then usual, that sense that her father was the one who should be here and not her.<br/><br/>To be the Champion they all needed.<br/><br/>But she was the divinely anointed Champion of Fereshard now, and he, bless his immortal soul, was passed on to the Gatekeeper’s heaven’s. Youngster’s trained in the courtyard now, some no older then fourteen but still, knowing the basic sword blocks and how to string and use a bow like a warrior and follow commands could be useful in the coming days.  Alexio and Davina were the ones handling the training of this age group and the two seemed to work well, while being young enough that the trainee’s didn’t seem bored or disinterested.<br/><br/>It would be impossible to be bored with Davina she guessed, for the young men at least, who made up the majority, not with those glowing golden eyes that sparked with a fierce pride and the agile body that was currently trouncing three of them.  Alexio had his own followers to an extent, young and handsome, in a brooding way, very withdrawn, the perfect romantic figure to make the young ladies in the class sigh. And perhaps a few of the lads as well.<br/><br/>What would her father think of her Rider’s? What would her father think of the Empire’s ultimatum? Would he have advised the King any different?<br/><br/>A hand descended onto her shoulder then, startling her out of her thoughts and causing her head to turn and tilt to gaze up at Seumas, her Second. He smiled down at her, shaking his head and she knew he had known where her thoughts had gone.<br/><br/>“Ten years gone by now you have been the Champion, you cannae think too much on what your Pa would have done.” The words were blessedly softly spoken, giving some sort of privacy to it. He knew her too well, but then they had grown up together to an extent, as warriors not friends, that had come later when he wooed and wed Khalida’s best friend Leaya.<br/>Instead of scolding him for speaking thus to her she just shrugged, a smile quirking on the twenty four year old’s lips. “True enough, yet I think anyone would wonder what a previous commander would do in this situation.”<br/><br/>“Good point lass, good point.” He rumbled back at her, a smile on his lips, for he knew that she had restrained herself in that remark and the gleam of friendship in his eyes warmed something inside her she hadn’t known had gone cold. Friendship, love, loyalty, those were the things that Fereshard had. Freedom, it was a kingdom that prided itself on welcoming all, on standing firm and giving thanks to the gods that had crafted the world, that valued truth and justice.<br/><br/>Those were all things the Empire would see ended.<br/><br/>Auley Mcfadywn moved toward the window and the two of them as well then, a soft courtly smile on his lips, though she could read the warmth in his eyes.  At first he didn’t speak, merely broke up any lingering tension by leaning against the window and gazing out the window, down into the courtyard where his twin was now laughing at something a young lad had said to her. His smile turned real then, not just courtly, and he turned his head to look at his Captain and Second.<br/><br/>“My sister handles them well no? Come Khalida, Seumas, we have much yet to go over, and at least we get the gift of good company in which to do it.”<br/><br/>Khalida found a smile twitching her own lips as she ducked her head, her long braid shifting over her shoulders with the action. “Very well.”<br/><br/>And with that she turned her back to the courtyard, to the memories that had no place in her current reality and stepped back into what and who she was. Khalida Ma’Ledon, Champion of Fereshard and the person responsible for saving it from a looming attack by the Lerin Empire; heaven save her.<br/><br/>Her footsteps carried her back to the large solid wood table that lay in the center of the room that had been her father’s war chamber and was now her own, the table was one of her own additions, full of maps on the outer portions, the center filled with sand to draw if need be. A fire crackled merrily in the hearth a few feet away, chasing away the lingering chill of early spring, for winter had not yet fully left their rugged land. As she stepped up to the table Finlay moved to her side and offered her another map to consider, this one well worn with age, likely drawn by him in his youth when he had first served her father.<br/><br/>“Here ye go lass, take a look on this one, it details the sea coast along the south west, wicked landings there if they chose to take them.” She spared a smile for him, a man that had been like an uncle to her for most of her life and had stood by her even when others had disagreed with what she felt needed to be done.<br/><br/>She was an unusual Champion.<br/><br/>The girl laid the map out on the gleaming wood and glanced down at the neat lines that indicated the crags and rock formations of the southern coast, often called the Bitter Crags. She studied the map for a moment, shaking her head with a smile even as she glanced at Fin. “You really are very talented at this, though how in the world did you get such details of such a dangerous location?”<br/><br/>“Aeria helped me Captain.” Khalida blinked in surprise at the thought of Air Nymphs helping the old man, though he had been one once and his smile held that dash of old youth.<br/><br/>“You rake you.” She teased at him, her violet eyes glinting with mirth even as the older Rider chuckled and she moved to sink into her chair, the map still before her.<br/><br/>“I don’t think they’ll choose to come from the south, not if they are at all aware of the differences in areas of our coastline. Its too easy to defend.”<br/><br/>“True enough.” that came from Seumas as he settled down in his chair across from her, a slight furrow to his brow as the large man tried to get comfortable in his seat.<br/><br/>The female by the fire finally moved, coming toward the table with the rest of them with a glint in her deep blue eyes that wasn’t completely friendly. “And they wouldn’t like what they would find either, that is an area I could all too easily make hell for them.” Merith was the fully trained ‘mage’ of the Rider’s, though she was truly a Witch, trained in the Covens. Another choice that had made others uneasy but Kal couldn’t help but feel that the woman had a right to the position.<br/><br/>She sighed then, shaking her hair with loose strands of her hair teasing against her cheek. “It is too bad we could not trick them to attempt to land there, rather then to the north.”<br/><br/>Vael, sitting near Seumas tilted his head, looking at a map that, from memory, the Champion believed held Fereshard as a whole, including her three coast lines. “Well, perhaps we could, if we make the north hell for them, and they wouldn’t dare sail to the full south just yet, that would set off Dalias and likely Aal and Caelit as well. And with Dalias’s strong navy and Aal’s penchant for pirate lords I donnea think they would take that route lightly.”<br/><br/>A smile touched the woman’s lips then as she gazed at her Rider’s, thankful with each second for their presence. “You were right Vael.”<br/><br/>The man glanced at her, curious and the color of his sea green eyes caught her again. “Oh my Lady?”<br/><br/>She laughed, smiling. “The Rider’s do need to know how the waves work.” That had been his reason for joining them, for staying on land when he had given up sailing, his ship, everything, or at least the only reason he had given.<br/><br/>Her comment earned a smile and a laugh from him and the others as well, a sound she savored and knew the other five did as well; laughter was not as easy as it once had been. There was a knock on the door but without waiting it opened, admitting Mical, the once huntsmen, and Qudira, the girl from the mystics, back from a scouting trip through the land for the general feel of the people.<br/><br/>The others quieted, eyes on the returning Rider’s as Mical shut the door softly behind them and they both bowed with a hand over their heart to Kal and she inclined her head in response to them. “Lady Khalida.”<br/><br/>“Welcome back Mical, Qudira, what do you have to share with us?”<br/><br/>“Jerian and Adair are not back yet?” Qudira asked and Merith shook her head no in answer even as Kal did.<br/><br/>“No, though Jerian sent her falcon back with a message, they went farther out then they expected, why?”<br/><br/>“I think all the Rider’s should be called back, save for the two spiders.” Mical spoke now, the spider’s alluding to two of their more controversial Rider’s, a courtesan and a rake. Khalida blinked, a start to a frown marking her brow before Qudira lifted her hands to still her.<br/><br/>“Nay, nay Kal it is not what you think, it is good news, the people, they come, in great numbers to be trained.”<br/><br/>“Oh….”