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Post by Tandar on Feb 6, 2009 22:12:58 GMT -5
Tandar dropped his grin when the cook looked him over, making him appear more miserable than he actually felt. Once he had the coffee pot in his hand, the ranger broke into a smile. He left the kitchen in favor of a chair in the great hall. No one else was in there, so the trio could talk openly.
Tandar refilled his mug and looked into Brandwyn's blue eyes.8
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Post by Brandwyn on Feb 6, 2009 23:45:49 GMT -5
Brandwyn snagged two coffee mugs and followed the men out to the table, kicking a chair out with her toe as she placed the tray and mugs on the table and then sat down across from Tandar.
She pushed her mug towards Tandar, who looked like he might just hog all the coffee for himself and then snagged a hot juicy bacon roll with the other and took a big bite of it, staring at Tandar the whole time as she savored the sausage and egg bits mixed in with the sage seasoned bread bundled inside the pieces of bacon. The rolls had cooled just enough to not scorch her tongue.
She found herself studying his face, taking in every detail. She liked his cheekbones and he had a good strong jaw line, but she kept resting her gaze on his eyes. He had the most amazing green eyes she had ever seen. She couldn’t seem to tear her gaze away from them for long. She looked away long enough to notice that he had an appealing wiry build. She’d never cared much for big, bulky men, probably because a great many of the scout apprentices she had to bunk with were built like that and because the scouts were often thrown in with battle maneuvers with the battle school apprentices who all were the muscle type. There was a significant amount of friendly rivalry between the scouts and battle school apprentices.
She also liked the fact that she was just a hair shorter than Tandar. Though she was average height for a woman, she had to look up at most men. It was a nice change to be able to stare straight into a man’s eyes without putting a kink in her neck.
She sighed contentedly and licked her fingers as she popped the last bite of the roll into her mouth. “MMMMMMmmmm!” She smacked her lips. The first roll had taken the immediate edge off her hunger, but she figured she was good for at least 3 more, easy.
She tore her gaze away from Tandar and looked at Drenith, hoping that she wasn’t making him feel too uncomfortable. She figured he was only a year or two younger than she was and Tandar looked to be only a couple years older. She wondered how they happened to be master and apprentice to eachother.
She eyed her coffee mug and said, “Ian tends to be a bit formal, introducing me as ‘Lady Brandwyn’ and all that nonsense.” She waived her hand dismissively in the general direction she figured Ian to be, “but I am not that formal. All my friends call me Brandy.” She held out her right hand to them both in turn. “You are the rangers stationed here in Meric now, aren’t you? I am pleased to have finally met you.”
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Post by drenith on Feb 7, 2009 10:36:23 GMT -5
Drneith tried to look as misrable as posible for the chef but in the end he barely kept the act going and made a chuckle as they left. She had played the starving apprentice part well maybe he could pick up a few things from her. As they sat down Drenith handed each of them a cinnimon bun and grabbed a bacon roll for himself. The coffee pot had about just enogh for one more cup after Tandar refilled his so Drenith poured a cup. He noticed Brandy and Tandar staring at eachothert as if the rest of the world didn't exist. He started feeling a bit alone but the their connection broke and she looked at him as he finished his second roll.
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Post by Tandar on Feb 7, 2009 19:50:31 GMT -5
"I'm Tandar," the ranger said, shaking her hand. "But you probably already knew that." Brandwyn's hand was smooth, but he could tell she was accustomed to wielding a blade. He liked that.
"Yes, I am the ranger assigned to Meric. Drenith has been apprenticed to me for a little while. We stay at a stone cottage at the edge of town, but we're on the road a lot so you may not have seen us around much."8
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Post by Brandwyn on Feb 7, 2009 22:39:33 GMT -5
Brandwyn nodded, her heart skipped a beat as he touched her hand. She had never had this reaction to a man before and couldn't understand why she felt so comfortable around him - like she'd known him all her life- and yet so mesmerized by him at the same time.
She tried to behave as if her heart had not done anything special when he'd shaken her hand, “so that explains why we haven’t run into each other before now.”
She rubbed her cheek, but missed rubbing off the smudge of dirt that was still there. “Well, that and the fact that I hardly am ever off the practice fields anymore…” She tried to sound glum, but couldn’t quite pull it off.
She smiled sheepishly, “Actually I really like practicing with the swords and doing the drills on my horse. The only thing I have trouble with is my archery. I am pretty dismal in that department.” She smiled ruefully, Then she glanced down at Tandar’s waist.
“I didn’t think rangers carried swords.” She had noticed the blade hanging at Tandar’s hip and thought it unusual. She wondered how good he was with it. Probably very good, since rangers seemed to be very good at most things, she figured. “What type blade is that? “ She was out of her element if it wasn’t an epee, foil, saber or rapier.
“May I see it?” She asked as she attempted to pour the last couple drops of coffee into her empty mug and sighed wistfully at the empty pot.
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Post by Tandar on Feb 9, 2009 17:41:29 GMT -5
Tandar loosened his belt and slipped off his sword and scabbard, handing it to Brandwyn. "It's a cutlass. It was first popularized by men at sea. They preferred it because it's lightweight but strong. I chose it for the same reason. Normally, rangers don't carry blades like these, but they made an exception for me because I expressed an interest in swordsmanship when I was a ranger's apprentice. They let me attend battleschool during my free time to learn how to use a sword."
"My battlemaster bought me that cutlass when I received my Silver Oak Leaf." On the outside, the sheath appeared nondescript. It was fairly plain, but it featured the same camouflage pattern that his ranger cloak did. The cutlass itself appeared as if it had never been used because, well, it hadn't. The blade was carbon black. It reflected absolutely no light, to prevent giving away the wielder's position in the darkness. The hilt was nicely shaped, slightly decorative, and edged with silver. The blade slid in and out of the scabbard silently because soft leather had been placed inside the sheath to muffle the sound of the weapon being drawn.
Tandar picked up his mug and poured some of his coffee into Brandwyn's cup.
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Post by Brandwyn on Feb 9, 2009 19:37:45 GMT -5
Brandwyn examined the blade and scabbard, admiring the handiwork. “Nice,” she said as she turned the blade, noticing how it did not pick up any light.
She stood up and stepped into an open space between the tables and pulled the blade and swung it experimentally. It felt strange in her hand, not at all like the saber she wore at her side. The balance on the blade was perfect, but she didn’t know how to use this particular sword.
She lunged with it a couple of times, like one would with a rapier, and exposed parts of her legs as the split in the skirt parted and swung back shut again, performing as it was supposed to. She was glad she was wearing her black leggings and tall boots.
“Isn’t it funny how each sword type requires a different way of wielding it?” She put the blade back in its sheath. “It feels strange to me, but then so did the saber when I first picked that up after using the rapier for a couple of months.” She handed it back to Tandar. “It is a wonderful blade, though. I wouldn’t mind learning how to wield a cutlass. It looks like it is completely different from the lighter weapons we Scouts use.”
She turned to Drenith, “so how about you? Do you swordfight too?” She sat back down and stuffed another bacon roll into her mouth, looking at Drenith for his answer and trying hard not to turn back to Tandar to stare into his eyes. She saw Drenith’s scar and wondered how he got it.
Then she noticed her mug now had coffee in it and she glanced at Tandar to raise her mug in thanks. Big mistake. She was caught in his eyes again.
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Post by Tandar on Feb 10, 2009 20:24:55 GMT -5
As her skirt parted, Tandar averted his eyes and turned a shade closer to red. He was slightly embarrassed but glad that she was wearing leggings underneath the skirt. He buckled on his cutlass, gazed into Brandwyn's blue eyes, and became lost again. He liked what he saw there.
"Message for Ranger Tandar!" a voice called from the doorway. A courier appeared holding a roll of parchment. Tandar thanked the messenger and peeled the letter open, breaking the wax seal. After reading silently for a moment, he handed it to Drenith.
"It's our traveling plans. Drenith and I are to board the Sea Pony this evening. Crowley has booked passage for us on that ship. Ian ought to have your plans by now. Maybe we'll be on the same boat."8
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Post by Brandwyn on Feb 11, 2009 6:38:48 GMT -5
Brandwyn jumped a bit when the messenger startled her as he called from the doorway. She watched Tandar’s face as he read the missive to see if it was good or bad news. When he announced they were leaving already she was sad. She had been hoping they would have a bit longer together; they hadn’t even had a full hour for lunch yet.
The smile slid off her face and she looked thoughtful for a moment, until the next voice boomed from the doorway, “BRANDY!”
“And that would be Duck, Ian’s senior apprentice,” Brandy said to the rangers, “and the bane of my existence,” she added quietly, scowling now.
Duck sauntered over to them and said, “There you are, stuffing your face again I see.” He smiled teasingly at her. Brandy stuck her tongue out at him in a very un-lady-like fashion. “Ian wants to see you. Apparently you two are to sail tonight.” Duck didn’t seem to notice the look of excitement that Brandy shot towards Tandar. “He is out front of the barracks and he said to forget about the archery range for now.”
Then Brandy noticed he’d said ‘you two’ instead of ‘us’. “Wait a minute! Aren’t you going with us?” Duck was like a big brother to her, taking her under his wing during her first six months in the scouts and keeping some of the other more persistent trainees from bothering her. She,d spent more time with him than anyone since she had become a Scout apprentice.
Duck shook his head, “Nope. They are graduating my class two months early. We are going with the main army. “ He ruffled her hair like she was a child, “You’re on your own now, Kiddo!” He smiled at her.
“Congratulations!” Brandwyn jumped up and gave him a hug. “Just in case we don’t get to say goodbye later today.” She said as he hugged her back. “You take care of yourself out there in the battle, you hear?” She stepped back and looked at him sternly.
Duck promised he would and then he was sauntering out of the hall again, two bacon rolls in his hand.
Brandy turned back to the rangers and then noticed they had only eaten about half of the bacon rolls. “Wait here a minute!” She said to them and raced into the kitchen. She was back in moments with some cheesecloth and divvied up the bacon rolls and wrapped them in cheesecloth so they could travel with them. “No sense in letting them go to waste,” she said as she handed a packet to each of the rangers. She had set one roll aside to give to Ian, knowing he needed something to eat.
“Well, looks like Ian did get his orders too.” Brandwyn stood in front of Tandar and offered him a hand up. “Sounds like the odds are pretty good we will be on the same boat, doesn’t it?” She smiled at him.
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Post by drenith on Feb 11, 2009 17:28:30 GMT -5
"I've always wanted to but Tandar says I should just learn being a ranger right now and work on swordplay when I'm older." He noticed that they had both fazed off again staring at eachother and he thought is it posible to say a word to these two with out them acting like zombies?
Then the messanger came in, and that seemed to wake them up, Drenith rolled his eyes, when Tandar gave him the paper he read over it quickly and said "Wonder what boats are like?" Then a guy a bit older than Tandar came in saying Brandy's name, the guy whom she called Duck had orders from Ian for her. As she wrapped the bacon rolls Drenith muttered a thanks to her and stood up and looked at the clock it was about 1 PM so they had a little bit before they had to leave so he would have some time to work on his archery and practice his throwing knives.
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Post by Tandar on Jul 23, 2012 22:05:18 GMT -5
Tandar studied Duck as he entered the Great Hall. What kind of name is Duck? The Ranger caught the thrilled look the girl shot him, and he was a little surprised to feel a flutter of excitement in his own stomach at the news that she would likely be journeying with him on the Sea Pony. He noted the parting embrace between the two Royal Scout apprentices and assumed that they were close despite Duck’s witty mockery and Brandwyn introducing him as the "bane" of her existence.
Drenith and Tandar each accepted a wrapped package of Cook’s famous bacon rolls, to their delight. “Thank you very much.”
“No sense in letting them go to waste,” Brandwyn said.
“Oh, we have no intention of letting that happen,” Tandar replied as he shared a grin with Drenith. He lifted the flap on his satchel and placed the rolls inside. “Hold that handshake.” Tandar returned her smile. “We'll walk you out to the barracks and say hello to Master MacGreggor. I think we will get to know each other a lot better over the next few weeks.”
Drenith rolled his eyes and pushed their seats under the table.
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Post by Brandwyn on Jul 24, 2012 22:30:27 GMT -5
“Oh, we have no intention of letting that happen,” Tandar replied as he shared a grin with Drenith. He lifted the flap on his satchel and placed the rolls inside. “Hold that handshake.” Tandar returned her smile. “We'll walk you out to the barracks and say hello to Master MacGreggor. I think we will get to know each other a lot better over the next few weeks.”
Brandwyn grinned back at him, "I would like that!"
They made their way out to the barracks where Master Ian was waiting to give Brandwyn her orders. He looked nodded hello to Tandar and Drenith and turned his attention to his apprentice.
"Get your gear together immediately. We are to sail to Gallica on the Sea Pony and scout out the situation there before the army arrives a few days behind us." Ian ordered her. "You need to travel lightly but be prepared to stay several weeks over there."
Brandwyn cocked her head at him and gave him a confused look, "exactly how am I supposed to do that?"
"What do you mean?" Ian asked.
"How on earth do I pack lightly for several weeks?" Brandwyn asked and at Ian's confused look, she just rolled her eyes. "Obviously you know little about women. Nevermind, I'll figure it out."
"Well just don't take too long," Ian waved her off, "the ship sails tonight and it sounds like you had better start packing right away."
Brandwyn nodded and turned to enter the barracks, then she turned back, "Did you say it was the Sea Pony?" she asked, looking from Ian to Tandar.
Ian nodded and asked, "that's right, why do you ask?"
Brandwyn grinned, "Oh, no reason." She smiled at Tandar, "see you at the docks later?"
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Post by Tandar on Jul 26, 2012 16:25:18 GMT -5
The Rangers walked with Brandwyn to her quarters. As they approached the building, Polaris waved to Master MacGreggor who was waiting outside with his apprentice's orders. Tandar and Ian knew each other well since they had worked together during an extended counter-terrorism operation in Celtica.
[OOC: Hyperlink placeholder for future thread]
"You're looking good," Tandar said warmly as he shook Ian's hand. "How has life been treating you? I'm sure you've met my new protégé, Drenith, inside." He laughed at his usage of the uncommon term.
Drenith stepped forward and extended his hand now that he was formally introduced to the Royal Scout master. "Pleasure, sir."
"Well, we have to get back to the cabin. I've kept a bag packed for traveling ever since Celtica, but Dren doesn't have one yet, so he'll have to throw some stuff together." The Ranger put his left foot in Ruldor's stirrup and swung into the saddle. "Come on, Dren. We have a lot to do before the ship leaves port this evening."
"See you at the docks later?" Brandwyn asked.
"We'll be there," Tandar replied with a wink. As his apprentice obediently mounted up and followed, Tandar rode in silence, feeling awkward after adding the wink and wondering why he felt so self-conscious around the girl.
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Post by Brandwyn on Aug 3, 2012 22:35:35 GMT -5
Master Ian waved back to Tandar as the trio approached. He accepted the wrapped bacon roll with a nod of thanks to his apprentice.
"You're looking good," Tandar said warmly as he shook Ian's hand. "How has life been treating you? I'm sure you've met my new protégé, Drenith, inside." He laughed at his usage of the uncommon term.
“Great to see you again, Tandar,” Ian returned the handshake. “Oh I can’t complain, except perhaps about a certain young apprentice that has been turning my hair prematurely gray,” he looked sidelong at Brandwyn.
“Very funny,” Brandwyn crossed her arms and tossed her long reddish-blond hair over her shoulder and scowled at her master. She resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him. She was really getting too old to pull that look off without it making her look silly, and the last thing she wanted was to look silly in front of Tandar.
Drenith stepped forward and extended his hand, now that he was formally introduced to the Royal Scout master, "Pleasure, Sir," he said.
“Likewise Drenith,” Ian shook his hand. “I had heard Tandar had an apprentice and I am glad to have finally met you. How you liking the ranger life so far?” They chatted for a few minutes and then he gave Brandwyn her orders and sent her off to pack.
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Later Ian walked into the barracks and watched his newest apprentice for a few minutes while leaning his shoulder against the doorframe. She had everything out of her two trunks and spread on her bunk and the surrounding two bunks and was packing stuff into her pack and then pulling it back out again. She tossed the last garment angrily onto her bed and sat down on it, crossing her arms, “Oh this is impossible!” she wailed. Then she looked up and saw Ian standing there with a bemused look on his face.
Ian chuckled and walked over to her. “Pick two outfits – one for warm weather and one for cold. You aren’t going to a fashion show so you won’t need any of this finery.” He picked up the skirt of a dark blue riding habbit and looked at it thoughtfully. “Actually, bring this outfit too. You might have to blend in if I decide we need to go undercover for some reason.” He looked at her garments, most of which were designed for court life and not for gallivanting all over the countryside. “Here, this should do for the warm weather outfit.” He picked out two white long-sleeved loose fitting 'peasant' blouses and black leggings with one of her split skirts and matching blue bodice and set them on top of the blue dress. “You sure have a lot of blue here. I think lavendar would go well with your complexion," Ian suggested as he looked over the rest of her clothing.
"Really?" Brandwyn asked, picking up a silver hand mirror and studying her face. She'd never thought about lavendar before since she avoided red garments which brought out the slight freckles on her cheeks and made her look flushed.
Ian shuffled some more clothes as Brandwyn folded and packed the ones he had picked out. There certainly wasn't enough room for everything in one pack, not as far as she was concerned. "...And these gray wool leggings and wool tunic for the cold weather, along with your heaviest cloak” Ian pulled out the suggested garments and set them on the pile. “Now put the rest of this stuff back in their trunks and fold those all up so they will fit in that pack and hop to it. We leave in twenty minutes.”
“Twenty minutes?” Brandwyn screeched. She jumped up and began stuffing items back into her trunk. She left out several books, intending to stuff them in the pack as well, but Ian shook his head. She sighed, wondering how she was going to endure the voyage without anything to read. “How long does it take to get to Gallica?” she asked as she packed, sneaking a couple more white long sleeved shirts and another vest into her bag as well. Ian glanced out the barracks window to check the angle of the sun and Brandwyn took the opportunity to shove two books into the pack. She hoped she wasn’t going to have to hike on foot with it for it was going to be horribly heavy. “Are we taking our horses?”
“Yes we are and it takes about 7 days normally, if the weather is with us.” Ian suppressed a smile and let her believe he hadn’t noticed that she’d stuck the books in anyway. He wondered what law books she was pouring over now. She was always down in the depths of the castle poking around in the section containing the oldest fief records, often looking for proof to support some point she was arguing with Duck over. “You better lock those trunks up because it could be a while before we get back, and make sure to bring some coin with you.”
Brandwyn had already packed her money, scattering it around in different locations on her person and in her pack. She even had a few coins she was going to hide in her saddlebags. She closed the pack and locked her trunks and then smoothed the blankets on her bed, shoving the trunks back under it. She stowed her weapons on her and scooped up her pack, grunting a little from the weight as she slung it over her shoulder.
They went to the stables where Ian had already stowed his gear and got their horses along with the tack and accouterments the horses required such as the collapsible buckets and brushes and combs and hoof picks. Then they rode down to the docks to board the Sea Pony.
Brandwyn’s horse, Asfala, was a flighty, high strung mare who was very intelligent and therefore jumped at nearly everything that was new and unfamiliar. The noise and bustle around the ship was no different. She snorted and tried to jump sideways but Brandwyn pressed her heel into Asfala’s side and pushed her back over. A boson’s whistle sounded in front of them, signaling the final boarding stages and Asfala reared up, striking the air with her forefeet. Brandwyn soothed her horse and leaned forward, whispering in her ear and Asfala settled down, though she still trembled and the whites of her eyes were showing. “I am going to have to blindfold her to get her onto the ship I think.” Brandwyn said calmly to Ian as she stroked the blood bay mare’s neck to sooth her. She looked around wondering if Tandar and Drenith were already here, figuring it was likely since she had taken so long to make up her mind on what she wanted to bring with her.
They dismounted and Ian spoke with the harbor master for a moment while Brandwyn pulled out a cloth from her saddlebag that was mostly empty and studied the wharf. Meric was not a coastal fief, but it had several rivers flowing through it. None of the rivers were deep enough on their own for the ships that were large enough to traverse the high seas, but since they needed the ships to get harvested foods around the Kingdom quickly, one of the Baron’s of Meric nearly a century ago had the river widened and dug much deeper. They shored up the sides of the river with sandbags and planks and the result was that it looked like a man-made canal rather than a river. Not only that, there were a series of locks built periodically along the river that the ships had to traverse to get from the higher elevation of the fief down to the east coast of Araluen near Seacliff.
Brandwyn had never really paid a lot of attention to the ships coming up and down the river delivering goods and taking away food items because she’d never had a reason to before. But this day she was taking in every detail and looking around in awe at the seeming madness that had a chaotic order to it. The noise was near deafening at times and the smell of fish and sweaty bodies with a bit of pig and horse mixed in was overwhelming.
Ian took the reins of his gray stallion, Bandelaro, and nodded to Brandwyn, “better do it now and lead her right up behind Bandit.” When Brandwyn had the cloth tied over Asfala’s eyes so the horse couldn’t jump at the sight of the water below the plank, Ian urged Bandit forward. Brandwyn led Asfala right after him, keeping her black nose down near Bandelaro’s tail to try and mask the smell of the water.
When Asfala’s feet hit the plank she balked and Brandwyn flicked the riding crop onto Asfala’s belly just in front of her back leg. It wasn't a hard snap, but it was just enough to startle the horse. The mare jumped forward and snorted but she kept moving since she had no idea what had slapped her in the belly. In moments the horses were on board the ship and sliding down the ramp into the hold below. They picked two spots and tied the horses up and gave them a flake of hay, removing their saddles and putting on their halters so the horses would be as comfortable as possible. Asfala was nervous, but since Bandit dug into the hay and acted like nothing was wrong, she finally started to nibble at her hay.
Seeing that her horse was settled, Brandwyn slipped back up on the deck to watch them pull away from the shore. She had no idea where to stand to be out of the way and kept dodging sailors as they scurried around the ship casting off and getting under way.
Brandwyn found a spot near the rail that seemed to be safe and studied the shore as they started moving down stream. The banks looked very different from this angle than they did from the road that ran along the river. She looked around the deck hoping to see Tandar and hoping even more that the handsome ranger had not been left behind.
She looked up into the rigging that was hanging above with all the ropes exposed since they were using oars right now rather than sails. She wondered if she could get anyone on the ship to teach her about sailing – or at least some things about sailing. At least that would help pass the time for she didn’t know how she was going to keep from going crazy for 7 days on the ship, unless she and Tandar were going to get some time to get to know eachother. Still, she didn't like to be confined and even though the ship was large, she knew she was now stuck on it until it reached shore again. The old feeling of claustrophobia was sneaking up on her again and she fought to keep it under control.
{ooc: The story picks up in "Scouting Ahead"|
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