Blake watched the young Lord make his way through the woods, passing less than ten feet under her, and hummed. The little hand-bow in her hand was light, made of simple wood with iron bracings, and she leveled it on the top of his back. Right where it could, quite possibly for her aim, slip over the lip of his gambeson and punch into his neck. It wasn't likely to punch through the coif he was wearing, but the impact could bruise him, maybe even break his spine if it hit head-on. And with her Semblance, she would be among them in the confusion, and have a knife in him before he could recover or they could react. And just like that, the last martially inclined heir to the Arcs would be dead…
"Damn it all…" She sighed, looping her hand-bow on the back of her waist and sanding, perched on the tree-limb and looking ahead at the split in the road. As they turned, she frowned and murmured, "Vale it is, then. As I suspected…."
Why he was going there, she could guess fairly easily, and smiled for it.
"So." She sighed, "What song is the Bard singing now, then?"
The trees didn't answer, of course. And, once the horses had gone far enough ahead, she leapt to a lower branch and dropped to the ground. Sticking in the trees, she trailed along behind them, already planning how to get into the city.
And keep an eye on the young Knight…
XxX----XxX----XxX
Vale was a massive city, as he'd been able to tell the first couple of times he'd seen it. From far away, it was a wash of pale stone, worn white by the sun and rain over the generations, pockmarked by huge gateways. And speckled by little buildings scattered along the walls outside it, where they'd cropped up over the years. Most of them were around the gates, where he supposed getting in and out would be easier, but a few were scattered further out, with fences that ran from the walls on out, penning in huge, flat, brownish fields for pastures and vast tracts of brownish soil where fields had gone fallow.
But, as they got closer, colors started to stand out.
The uneven top of the walls, where soldiers could take cover from rain, snow, or even just the sun on patrol, had all been painted a dark green color at some point years ago, which had faded in places to a lighter color. And long stretches of the wall had wooden poles stretching up with what looked like canvas in a bright litany of colors, each one bright and marked with the crossed silver axes and shield of the Kingdom of Vale. Banners hung over the edges as well, and long, thin ones fluttered from poles at the tops of the towers to either side of the gates they were steadily approaching and, from what he could see, the other gates in the far distance, too.
The buildings outside the gate were just as bright looking, with flowering potted plants outside windows above the streets, glass windows, and fine, dark clay tiles he'd only seen on the Temple in Ansel. Apparently, even being outside the city brought wealth to the people - who manned little stalls to either side of the road, packed in with thick cloth coverings to protect everything from food and drinks to tools and even weapons. The road was well-paved, too, with sturdy looking, well-beaten stones leading up to the massive gate flanked by the same sorts of ditches he'd seen in Patch, with little bridges over them in front of the buildings. And over it all, the gatehouse cast its imposing shadow, its wooden doors opened outwards and the metal draw-gate pulled up behind it, a handful of guards standing in its shade checking comers and goers as they went into the city and left it, riding carts, horses, or just walking.
"It's amazing…" He said, even as claustrophobic as the packed lines to get into the city made him.
"You've never been to Vale?"
"No." He shook his head, looking up at the massive, stone gate as they got close to it. Just the gatehouse was big enough to fit the old smithy in and then some, and the walls were only a slight bit smaller than it. "I got close, just after… When my, uh, Father, sent me away with what I could save of his cohort."
"His supplies, you mean…"
"Yeah." He grimaced, "What I could save of them."
"Well…" Cardin sighed as they reached the gate and the guards waiting there. They were lightly equipped, with short swords, armored, pleated skirts and padded shirts but little else. Leaning forward, Cardin spoke up, "Auxiliary, we are here on business with the Lady of House Arc. This is Lord Jaune of House Arc, and I am his Second, Cardin of House Winchester."
"Understood." The woman nodded, her long hair hanging loose around her head as she stepped back and waved them in.
"That was easy…"
"The Axuilia are fairly relaxed, at least for us Knights." Cardin grunted, raising his voice as they entered the city properly, its wide road flanked by three story tall buildings with stone bottoms and wood tops, some of their bottom floors open to the air for eateries and other shops and all with signs inviting customers in. Eyeing them as they rode through, Cardin raised his voice over the louder crowd, "It'll be just a few more minutes to get up, into the upper district, where the Manors are."
"Got it…"
The 'upper district' was called that for obvious reasons, built within another of the massive walls at the crest of a steady hill. Long always ran out from it intermittently, thinner but wide enough for a few men to walk it apiece, and reached all the way to the walls in places. In others it curved away sharply and then back in, heading on to the walls. And all of them were pock-marked by more gatehouses, the one they'd just passed. At some of the points of joining, though, there were larger buildings. Like the keep he'd trained at, almost.
What little Ember had taught him told him they were 'hard points', to defend Vale in case of attack, where the city's Auxilia would join with its Knights, and whoever else came, to defend sections of the city.
Through the inner wall, the city opened up suddenly, with larger, more wide and open tracts of land encased by low stone walls. At the heads of long, dirt paths were little buildings made of stone - guardhouses, but smaller. And at the ends of them were all kinds of manors, all built of stone or rich, dark wood and surrounded by far more than one acreage of gardens. Flowers, fruit and trees stretched on around them in an almost idyllic looking display of wealth. And, a part of him that remembered families packed into farmhouses and lean harvest years whispered, plenty of waste.
He bit his tongue, though, and followed Winchester through along the winding, stone-paved road, looking at the distant palace, peeking over a thick wood-line between the manorial land and the palace at the heart of the city. A palace that rose, roughly rectangular, at least from what he could tell, and impressive, over the wide woodland between the manors and it.
"Winchester, have you ever-"
"Been to the palace?" He scoffed, shaking his head and accepting the waterskin from Hare to sip from before he sighed and went on almost boredly, "No, not me. Too low ranking, too unimportant, and honestly? I spend too much time outside the walls to ever get in. ANd besides, the King wouldn't want to see me."
"No?"
"No reason to." Cardin shrugged, "My House has nothing to offer, and is loyal to the Kingdom. So we have no reason for him to summon us to audience."
"I see…" Jaune murmured, trying to get a grasp for the King, too, now that Cardin had started talking about him. Quietly, he finally said, "I… Just realized I don't actually know very much about the King."
"I mean, why would you?" Cardin snorted, the sound echoing across the surprisingly empty manorial grounds around them. "You were a village man, before all this. Besides knowing he exists, what would you really need to focus on regarding the King? And without your tutor…"
"Yeah." Jaune murmured, grimacing and staring ahead of them.
"Brothers' Blood, Arc, I didn't mean- Fuck my flapping gums." He sighed, pulling his horse closer and finishing, "I didn't mean to upset you, Brother. I just meant… It's understandable, that you wouldn't have concerned yourself over-much with all of this. So don't feel bad about it."
"I get that." He sighed, trying his best to push aside the sudden surge of darker emotions - and the conflict regarding everything - to focus on the present. "Just… It's beautiful here. More beautiful than most places I've seen."
"Flowers, trees, and fancy buildings." Winchester sighed, sounding amused and agitated by it all in equal measure, somehow. "Nobility has privileges, you know."
"Yeah…" He sighed, "So people keep telling me."
"What, you don't like it?"
"No, it's beautiful, as I said." He shrugged, waving a hand at the manorial lands as they passed and looking out on a wide, rolling field of white, blue and pink flowers a bit more specifically. "Just… Thinking about the space, and what it could be used for, is a headache."
"And what would you do with it, then?"
"Fields." He shrugged, "Maybe apples and the like."
"Orchards?"
"Yeah. Why not?" He shrugged, "I could help a lot of people that way."
"Ever the giver, eh?"
"Is that bad…?"
"Not on it's own, no." Cardin sighed, thinking for a moment before he explained, "But… Well, if you're too giving, you invite trouble. Everyone knows, or expects, they can get Lien, or even just things, out of you, so they come looking. And some come looking without cause, just to get more. Or even to hurt the Arc House."
"Oh…"
"If you're interested in philanthropy-"
"That's… Charity?"
"Yeah, it's the business of doing it, just said more… Well, said more funny." Cardin chuckled, sighing contentedly as they rode. "Regardless, you can always just bring your ideas to the Church. They would be happy to work through them with you. By the Shadows, they may even help fund it, or at least send laborers, if they think it's a good enough idea."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." Cardin nodded, reigning his horse in and sighing as they reached the entry to a manor and he grunted, "And here we are… The Valean Manor of the noble House Arc."
Arc Manor was, like the others they had ridden past, built on the slightest of hills and surrounded by rolling fields. Most of it was a complicated mess of thick green hedges, topped by flowers and with trees sprouting up seemingly randomly throughout, but the stretches of land just to the side of the path were open, dotted by tall trees that cast shade all across the grounds around them and the path itself. A stone wall just about Jaune's height on his horse ran along its edge, with a large stone guardhouse just inside the opening that seemed built to imitate the wall's gatehouses, with two thinner towers to either side and a walkway that stretched over the path, sheltered by a tile-roof.
"Hold!" One of the three guards that came out to meet them called out, each dressed in the same light armor as Saphron's guards had worn, called as they came to a stop in the overarching walkway's shadow. Turning to flash the bronze-hilted sword he wore, he went on, "Who goes, and for what purpose?"
"Lord Jaune, of the House." Cardin answered for him, surprising Jaune as he pressed his horse forward and gestured at him. "Jaune, show the ring."
"The- Oh!" Jaune blinked, raising the ring up so they could see it and adding, unsurely, "I… Have Corcea Mors, too."
"Then it's true." The man said, leaning on the low wall that ran across the outside of the walkway and hanging his head. "Lord Nicholas is dead…"
When Jaune didn't answer, Cardin spoke for him, "He is. He died bravely, and sent his son to the Order of the Preying Eagle with what he could save, and Lady Juniper of House Arc has summoned him for an audience."
"About?"
"Inheritance."
"Then… Lady Saphron…?"
"Killed by the Grimm, alongside her guard, in defense of the village Patch." Jaune cut in, grinding his teeth as he pulled his horse up alongside Cardin's. "Without her, Patch would have fallen. And my cohort, and the village people, would have all died as well. We should all be honored to have known her, however distantly and for however long."
"Indeed we should." The man sighed, shaking his head and finally nodding. "Very well. Pass. You will find the good Lady Juniper in the gardens before the manor."
"Thank you." He nodded, "And good day."
"As to you, Lord Arc." He called as Jaune's entourage passed under him, "As to you!"
With the matter settled, they rode in, up the winding path towards the manor itself.
Arc Manor was a surprisingly simple building. The main structure was three stories tall and rectangular, with a fine brick fronting on the walls and four smaller, square adjoinings that stuck out from each of its corners. None of these were more than a story tall, but each was topped by low wooden fences and dotted by little shelters and, from the ground, he could even see a few small trees standing up in the centers. In front of the manor was a steep stairway leading up to a series of several double doors, stacked next to each other and curved inward a bit to make space for the stairs themselves, and face the doors at a large pond that the path ended right at, surrounded by seats and beds of flowers.
And, seated in front of the pond at a simple iron table, dressed in a fine sundress with a wide-brimmed hat, sat a woman who turned to him and frowned.
"So." Juniper Arc, because she was the only one here and dressed every bit like a Lady ought to be, "You are here. And alone…"
"I… Am, yes." He nodded, bringing his horse to a stop and sliding off it. He hit the ground and stumbled a bit, his back stiff and he himself still not quite used to it. But, leaning on his horse, he managed to catch himself and stood as Cardin slid off his own. Quietly, he gestured at him and said, "This is my Brother of the Order, Cardin of-"
"House Winchester." The matronly woman cut him off, folding her hands around her tea-cup and nodding knowing. She paid him a curt nod as they came to her, and eyed his Chastened as they tended to the horses. But she only spoke to Cardin, "I know you. You and I met, if only in passing, ten years ago. At a ball hosted by your family."
"I… Don't recall." Cardin answered, bowing his head, "I apologize."
"Don't." She chuckled quietly, wearily, as she waved him off and gestured for them to sit at the seats spread evenly around her table. As they took the seats, setting their weapons to the side, she went on, "We met only in passing, as I said, and you were quite focused on… Oh, what was her name? Some little wisp from Atlas."
"Weiss." Cardin sighed, looking… Flustered, somehow, "I remember that, yes."
"Don't be ashamed." Lady Juniper chuckled, "Quite a few young men were taken with her. Foreign, and a singer as well? Of course she would enrapture you and those like you. But as I said, I know you."
"And," she turned to Jaune, frowning, "I know of you as well. Jaune, yes?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Ah, at least you're polite." She tutted, shaking her head and turning to watch odd little long-bodied bugs flit across the pond's surface, darting as if trying to catch - or dodge - something Jaune couldn't see. After a moment, she said, "I take it my daughter is dead, then."
"She is…"
"By your hand?"
"No!" He barked, grimacing when she turned to him, one brow raised. Quietly, and aware of Cardin's eyes on him, he kept up the half-truth he'd told the guards, "She died fighting with me and my Brothers and Sisters, defending a small hamlet known as Patch. Without her, without her guards… I think we would have lost."
"What manner of Grimm?" She asked, gesturing his Chastened over and sighing, "Nothing simple, I am certain, to cost so much to turn away."
"Ghouls and… No. They were monstrous, and far too clever." He answered quietly, turning as Hare sat a cup in front of him and poured from the bottle of wine left on the table, before handing it to Kat to do the same for Cardin. When his brows furrowed, Juniper said, "I had some wine waiting for you."
"I see…" He hummed, nodding and sipping at it. It was fruity and light, almost gentle, and sweet. "It's good."
"It was Saphron's favorite." Juniper smiled, souring the flavor for Jaune as she added, "And one of your father's favored ones as well. My daughter, your father, so many of your company…" She hummed and leaned back, "My, dear boy, but people seem to have a habit of dying around you."
"That is-"
"Fair." Jaune cut Cardin off, turning to shake his head at the man and earning an agitated grunt from him as he turned back to her. "It is… Not something I enjoy, I assure you. But it's not something I've been able to help."
"Indeed." She nodded, rising and saying, over a shoulder, "Come, then. You've papers to sign, as do I."
"For…?"
"You are here now." She answered without turning, heading up the steps with he and Cardin in tow, their wine left behind, wasted by the woman's sudden haste. "It's time for your inheritance. Better to get it over with now than later…"
Swallowing his anxiety, he followed her inside.