The morning sun shown far too bright for winter, magnified and intensified by the thin clouds that had gathered just before dawn. Danica covered her head with her pillow and tried to go back to sleep, there was nothing happening, no reason to get up so early. The space between the Winter Solstice and New Years Day is always one of tired laziness and sloth, the world seems to shut down, or otherwise is in bad temper and ill humor. Not worth waking up for.
Outside a familiar voice crowed, "Defenders of Vesper triumph against the invading forces of Virtue Bane!"
Danica sat straight up in bed, the recent invasions she had heard about in conversation, how they seemed to be slowly growing in strength but so far it was nothing that the realm could not easily send into retreat. But there was something else...
The dreamy haze clouded her mind, "Vesper... Vesper... Nothing but fishing, shipping and orphans Vesper." Danica thought as she struggled to return to sleep.
"Orphans!" Danica shouted as she sat straight up in her bed. "Addie!" She again yelled aloud.
Danica raced on horseback to the moongate, wearing only a dress but with her sword and shield in hand.
Her knights had taken an interest in the boy during her slumber, surely someone had checked on him? An innkeeper and bar-mistress were no match to defend against the Bane...
When she arrived, Vesper seemed very much intact. She found a few people with their dragons, and tried to inquire but was ignored.
Her horse raced her south toward the youth hostel, and she kicked the door open only to find Hunter the Innkeeper reading Addie a book.
They both looked up at her with a start.
What a fright Danica looked, her hair undone, her dress undone in the back so it hung and seemed loose in the wrong places, half asleep and wind torn from the fast gallop from Jhelom.
Danica smiled and swung her shield onto her back.
"Glad to see you are ok Addie..." She said as she sat down to help Addie with his numbers.
The boy had grown in this quiet season, one Britannian year had passed since he had been found wandering the isle of Pride.
"Twenty Seven, Twenty Eight, Twenty Nine, Thirty!" Finished the five year old with a proud smile as he wrote the numbers in his book.
Outside a familiar voice crowed, "Defenders of Vesper triumph against the invading forces of Virtue Bane!"
Danica sat straight up in bed, the recent invasions she had heard about in conversation, how they seemed to be slowly growing in strength but so far it was nothing that the realm could not easily send into retreat. But there was something else...
The dreamy haze clouded her mind, "Vesper... Vesper... Nothing but fishing, shipping and orphans Vesper." Danica thought as she struggled to return to sleep.
"Orphans!" Danica shouted as she sat straight up in her bed. "Addie!" She again yelled aloud.
Danica raced on horseback to the moongate, wearing only a dress but with her sword and shield in hand.
Her knights had taken an interest in the boy during her slumber, surely someone had checked on him? An innkeeper and bar-mistress were no match to defend against the Bane...
When she arrived, Vesper seemed very much intact. She found a few people with their dragons, and tried to inquire but was ignored.
Her horse raced her south toward the youth hostel, and she kicked the door open only to find Hunter the Innkeeper reading Addie a book.
They both looked up at her with a start.
What a fright Danica looked, her hair undone, her dress undone in the back so it hung and seemed loose in the wrong places, half asleep and wind torn from the fast gallop from Jhelom.
Danica smiled and swung her shield onto her back.
"Glad to see you are ok Addie..." She said as she sat down to help Addie with his numbers.
The boy had grown in this quiet season, one Britannian year had passed since he had been found wandering the isle of Pride.
"Twenty Seven, Twenty Eight, Twenty Nine, Thirty!" Finished the five year old with a proud smile as he wrote the numbers in his book.