This day began as many other had for young Senani Soth of the noble House of Soth. The bald 15-year-old human boy joyously ventured from the impoverished grounds of his own dilapidated manor to those of his cousins of House Olear.
His father had arranged with the patriarch of House Olear for Senani the train with his cousins. This education was far beyond what his father could possibly provide.
At House Olear, Senani was taught a great many things, not the least of which were arithmetic, reading, writing, horse husbandry, history, battle tactics, bow hunting, and combat with a mace and sword.
Senani did not know the cost of his training, but he understood he was not on the same level as his cousins. Because of this, they often ridiculed, bullied, and laughed at him during their studies.
This thought brought back many memories, and Senani found himself reveling in them as he traveled.
In the early days of training this had been far more prominent. Even in those days, Senani had been placed as Ralph's sparring partner. Ralph was 3 years older than Senani, and far more experienced in all matters of combat, not to mention far more well-muscled from his healthy diet of plentiful foods.
As such, Senani often found himself beaten down into the mud.
But that was then, and this was now. Senani proudly recalled the first time he had struck Ralph in his training. The lock of shock and horror were as clearly posted on Ralphs face as the pride that was posted on training master Maximus's.
From that day on, Senani had become Ralph's equal, at least on the field of battle. It was evident that Ralph's sister Perony would never rise to such a level with sword or mace, though with a bow, she was far superior to all but Maximus.
As Senani reminisced about those days, he happened upon a young peasant girl of 13 years lying in the mud clasping her left leg. Her basket of fronds she had gathered from the surrounding woods were scattered all around her.
As Senani approached her he was shocked to see that her leg was rather bruised and battered.
He carefully lifted her and continued to move down the road as he prodded for information.
The young lady, carefully spoke with the pain evident in her downcast eyes and reverberating in her voice. "Where are you taking me master? I can't walk yet, but the pain will go away soon so I can." She exclaimed with sheer terror in her voice.
Senani was taken aback by the fear present in this lovely lady's voice. "I am Senani Soth of the noble House of Soth. I am taking you to the nearby village on my way to House Olear. Surely someone there will know how to properly dress your wound and provide to you the care you need."
Upon hearing the name of House Olear, the girl began to squirm and try to free herself as tears began to stream down her face. "I can not bring myself to bring trouble to House Olear. Please, leave me here. I can't afford to be in your debt, I already owe so much. Besides it was Ralph…."
Realizing what she had almost said, the girl turned the palest shade of white as she intensified her squirming, finally breaking free and landing on her busted leg.
She wailed in pain as she collapsed upon the ground, the tears flowing far more freely.
Senani began to gently stroke the girl's hair to attempt to calm her as he replied. "You have nothing to fear from me. To Ralph and the others, I am little more than you are. House Soth fell out of favor long ago and are now not much wealthier than you are. Even if we were it would matter not, you owe me nothing. I am merely carrying you we journey together.
In fact, perhaps I should be paying you, as you're keeping me company on this trip that has been lonely each day since it began."
Senani carefully pulled out one of his few copper pieces and placed it in the young girl's hand as he began to lift her back into his arms. Her tears had mixed with the dirt she is covered in and created lines of mud down her arm and face.
The mud wiped off onto Senani's black leather tunic, as she responded. "I owe you, for the help, and for the copper. I won't give it back; this will be enough money for food for me and my mom for the next two weeks. I will pay you back."
The rest of the trip, the young girl shared many tales of her life as a peasant. She worked in the fields or woods from sunup till sundown, at which point she would return indoors with her mother. They would remove a portion of what she had gathered to make trade goods, and barter with the other peasants for supplies. The remainder would go to the stores of the Church of Hukratism.
This was typical for any peasant family. Only those with gifted craftsman fared any better.
Soon the duo neared the village, and many ran to get out of Senani's path. They wanted nothing to do with a noble that carried a young peasant girl for fear of repercussions for aiding her.
This suited Senani just fine as he enjoyed talking to the young girl. He followed her directions and soon arrived at her home.
Her mother looked first at Senani, then at her daughter as her face paled. She tried to muster calmness as she curtsied and lowered her eyes. Unlike her daughter, she recognized the once bright red skull emblazoned on the Senani's leather tunic as the crest of House Soth.
She also remembered their extravagant history. As such she reverently spoke, with only a hint of fear in her voice. "Young master, I thank you for bringing young Luna to me. What do you wish in payment for your noble deed?"
Senani smiled, the joy clearly reaching his eyes as he replied, "Luna is this lovely young lady name. You owe me nothing. In fact, I have taken the liberty of paying this delightful lady a copper in exchange for her companionship. She was quite a joy; I only apologize for the state she is currently in. She would not tell me who did this to her.
Though from a slipup she had, I fear I know the who if not the what."
The mother gasped in surprise. This was the first time since the days of House Soth's prominence in the kingdom that she recalled hearing of a noblemen aiding peasants without expecting some sort of favor in return. To have paid her was simply unheard of.
She carefully composed herself and replied. "Your generosity will never be forgotten Senani. I know that crest, and it seems you are even more fit to wear it than your forebears."
As she finished, Senani bowed to the ladies and turned to head toward House Olear. He had taken enough time now that he knew he would be punished for being late.
When Senani arrived at House Olear, he was unsurprised to hear that he would have extra work to do cleaning the horses' stables after training for being late. He was however surprised to see that Ralph had become unusually quite upon seeing the mud impression of the little girls face on Senani's tunic.
The remainder of the day continued as most others had. Senani went to the various classes with Perony and Ralph. Senani sparred with Ralph for hours, then he mucked out the stables. Senani had ended up with this punishment at least once a week since his training had begun. It was all rather typical.
The weeks continued in sheer normalcy, as they often do yet Senani found himself wondering what had become of young Luna. He wondered each day as he passed the spot she had lain in on his daily trek to House Olear. Yet he did not dare to go to her house to see her. She was a peasant, he was a noble, it would cause quite the scandal.
On the first day of the eighth week, Senani continued his trek, per usual.
To his surprise, young Luna stood in the middle of the path, in the exact spot he had carried her from months ago.
"I am sure you don't remember me Senani, but I can't forget you. Momma says you saved me that day. My leg was broken, and I couldn't walk. Momma says the next wagon or horse that came through would likely have trample me to death since I couldn't get out of the way quick enough.
I can't pay ya back with money. But you said my company was worth something. Can I pay you that way? I will walk with you on this stretch every day that you go to your cousins. I guess it's silly, but I have to do something." Insisted Luna with a delightful gleam in her eye. Her tone made it clear there would be no room for debate.
Senani smiled as he accepted her offer and placed his arm around her shoulder to support her a bit and attempt to relieve the limp she clearly formed.
Each day from then on, Luna would meet Senani along the path in the spot he had carried her from. The two discussed all manner of things and quickly grew quite close.
For the next two years, Luna had become a bright spot in Senani's otherwise dull life. She accompanied him on the days he had training, and on the days he didn't, he found himself seeking out her company away from the village and the eyes and ears of all.
Luna's mother of course knew that the two were spending a significant amount of time together, but Senani's father did not. Uncharacteristically, the peasants of the village chose not to gossip about Senani and Luna, though they clearly saw them enter the town together each day.
Whether this was out of fear of repercussions from House Olear, or out of reverence for the friendship between peasant and noble, was unknown.
I suppose the reasoning matters not in this case, for the two continued to grow closer, true camaraderie had formed between them and they considered each other equal, though Luna would never admit to feeling equal to a noble.
On the day of Luna's 16th birthday, things became… different.
As the two entered the town and Luna moved to part ways, they quickly noticed that no one was present within the town.
Considering this odd, and fearing for Luna's safety, Senani escorted her around the town to discover what was going on.
At the towns center the duo found their answer.
The Church of Hukratism's local Temple guards had rounded up the peasants and had the contained next to the great machine that lived in that courtyard.
This could mean only one thing. It was time for a culling.