Post by Annalira Delshannon on May 11, 2006 16:30:58 GMT -5
Anna carefully brushed some twigs out of Darby's mane, smoothing the thick black hair with a dense brush before deftly braiding it back and out of the way. It had been long since she'd had the time to ride - as long as her time away from home - but now she had a day of leisure to spend as she would. Her fingers had remembered the saddle bindings easily enough, as well as some basic braids, and the slightly snooty horse had reveled in the attention.
Traveling quickly, she stopped by her sister’s new home to visit for a cup of tea and drop off the kitten – Sniffles. Laira’s home was beautiful, but the barn had a rat problem and they had only one cat. The fuzzy white kitten immediately took to Laira, and Anna was satisfied that he would be happy there while she searched for an actual remedy for the terrible allergies. Then, making her way to Elwynn, she stopped by the trainer to pick up a few more horse supplies, and set out without a path - she needed to think, and the wind in her hair and the smell of the trees was just such a place to do the thinking. She’d spent enough time running around this forest back in her earliest days of training to know her way around without so much as a glance at her map.
Darby seemed to understand her mood - arrogant as he was - and kept a relatively steady pace, just quick enough to keep a good breeze going without threatening either of them with exhaustion or stumbling over something unexpected. The air was cool and pleasant with the soft mossy smell that always hung around the forests there. She heard little other than insects and the sound of the wind in the trees and saw no one.
The High Lord had passed - Fechak was now leading the Defenders. Anna could hardly grasp the stories she had been told of his death, but she felt and saw the sorrow on the faces in the hall, the tangible feeling in the air when she was in the dining room. Even the Temple, with its altars to Elune and the Light, seemed more somber recently. But they had pulled together, and crackles of laughter and jokes still passed through the communicator that Anna kept at her side.
And into this newly regrouped band of Defenders, fighters and healers, but most of all friends, who stood together under a new leader - Anna was to sit vigil and take her oaths of initiation.
Oaths.
The path she had begun so long ago as a Priestess – now she would be taking vows to uphold the Light, and to uphold the Defenders – the adventurers she could truly call her friends and family when she was not at home. Today she had free to do as she wished, for tomorrow she would join the ranks as a full member, her place in the Hall secured and her duties as a Priestess of the Light accepted.
So she rode – until the shadows of the day were long and the sunset through the trees bathed the forest in a soft pinkish golden glow. And then, relaxed by the ride, though no less nervous about the events of the next day, Anna reined Darby in, and they made their way back to the road, and back to the Halls of the Defenders. Carefully unsaddling the large horse, she felt him nibbling on the back of her collar as she bent to inspect his shoes and make sure he had a good meal and water there in his stall. She chuckled at his good mood, gave him a handful of oats, and turned him loose to enjoy the last bits of sunlight, trusting to the grooms to bring him into his stall and bed him down for the evening.
As she walked up the stairs to her room on the second floor, she wondered what – if anything – would be different after the events of the next evening.
((Yep! Anna hit 40 yesterday! so she's spending today out galavanting around with her new Black Stallion. Feel free to comment or add anything you like!))
((Edited to Add - *grumbles about misclicks* - this was supposed to go in the Vignettes section. If someone cooler than me could move it, I'd appreciate it greatly!))
Traveling quickly, she stopped by her sister’s new home to visit for a cup of tea and drop off the kitten – Sniffles. Laira’s home was beautiful, but the barn had a rat problem and they had only one cat. The fuzzy white kitten immediately took to Laira, and Anna was satisfied that he would be happy there while she searched for an actual remedy for the terrible allergies. Then, making her way to Elwynn, she stopped by the trainer to pick up a few more horse supplies, and set out without a path - she needed to think, and the wind in her hair and the smell of the trees was just such a place to do the thinking. She’d spent enough time running around this forest back in her earliest days of training to know her way around without so much as a glance at her map.
Darby seemed to understand her mood - arrogant as he was - and kept a relatively steady pace, just quick enough to keep a good breeze going without threatening either of them with exhaustion or stumbling over something unexpected. The air was cool and pleasant with the soft mossy smell that always hung around the forests there. She heard little other than insects and the sound of the wind in the trees and saw no one.
The High Lord had passed - Fechak was now leading the Defenders. Anna could hardly grasp the stories she had been told of his death, but she felt and saw the sorrow on the faces in the hall, the tangible feeling in the air when she was in the dining room. Even the Temple, with its altars to Elune and the Light, seemed more somber recently. But they had pulled together, and crackles of laughter and jokes still passed through the communicator that Anna kept at her side.
And into this newly regrouped band of Defenders, fighters and healers, but most of all friends, who stood together under a new leader - Anna was to sit vigil and take her oaths of initiation.
Oaths.
The path she had begun so long ago as a Priestess – now she would be taking vows to uphold the Light, and to uphold the Defenders – the adventurers she could truly call her friends and family when she was not at home. Today she had free to do as she wished, for tomorrow she would join the ranks as a full member, her place in the Hall secured and her duties as a Priestess of the Light accepted.
So she rode – until the shadows of the day were long and the sunset through the trees bathed the forest in a soft pinkish golden glow. And then, relaxed by the ride, though no less nervous about the events of the next day, Anna reined Darby in, and they made their way back to the road, and back to the Halls of the Defenders. Carefully unsaddling the large horse, she felt him nibbling on the back of her collar as she bent to inspect his shoes and make sure he had a good meal and water there in his stall. She chuckled at his good mood, gave him a handful of oats, and turned him loose to enjoy the last bits of sunlight, trusting to the grooms to bring him into his stall and bed him down for the evening.
As she walked up the stairs to her room on the second floor, she wondered what – if anything – would be different after the events of the next evening.
((Yep! Anna hit 40 yesterday! so she's spending today out galavanting around with her new Black Stallion. Feel free to comment or add anything you like!))
((Edited to Add - *grumbles about misclicks* - this was supposed to go in the Vignettes section. If someone cooler than me could move it, I'd appreciate it greatly!))