Small Landen Village in Glacia, Late Summer (Thursday Fandom Time)

[glacial_queen]

A little more than a week ago, Karla had sent the vast majority of her Court away from Haven. One could hardly have a proper processional through one's home Territory without people smoothing the way. There were perspective soldiers to assemble, food to purchase, lodgings to prepare, Province Queens to quietly contact...And so Karla had sent her Court to prepare her way, possibly cackling, "Fly, my pretties, fly!" to herself because a girl has to make her own fun sometimes.

A few days later, a 'gift' from Khary and Morghann had come in the shape of a dozen beautiful Scelt-bred horses, led by four kindred Warlord horses. Those four stopped before Karla, Warren, Raven, and Dinah and bowed, giving each a respectful greeting from Lord Khardeen--though from Warren's rueful burst of laughter, it was likely that Khary had included a special message just for him.

The next morning at long-enough-after-dawn-for-coffee-because-we're-not-barbarians-Mother-Night-though-it's-still-a-ridiculous-time-to-leave o'clock, they headed out of Haven and made for Glacia. Though mountain traveling was never comfortable or easy, they made good time; they were too late for shockingly-fast summer storms and too early for the ferocious autumn ones. Though it snowed several times during their crossing, the snow itself was light and did not impede them much. With kindred horses leading the way, they didn't even need to worry about the horses finding proper footing or running the risk of broken ankles.

For a trip through mountains heading to war, it was surprisingly good natured. There was singing and story-telling, conversation and contemplation, bickering and bonding. They made good time and Karla was almost sorry to leave the mountains behind. Because the easy part of the summer was over. Now it was time to get down to work.

The first village they rode into had a surprise for them. There was Julian greeting them on the outskirts of the village wearing an insouciant grin. "My lady," he said with an exaggerated bow. "May I have the honor of giving you a present to celebrate the formation of your Court?"

Karla raised an eyebrow. "I do like presents," she agreed, confused but willing to play along. "Is it my uncle's head on a platter?"

Smirking, Julian shook his head. "No, but possibly better." He led her horse through the village to the open green at the center of it. Though very little of the green could be seen through the mass of men and women standing at strict attention, lined up in orderly, if somewhat ragged lines. "Lady," Julian said, with a bow, "may I present the beginnings of your army."

[For the Glacian contingent! NFB]

Comments

[furnaceface]

So, the trip here had been fairly uneventful. It had taken a bit of coaxing (read: arguing) to get Jono to actually mount one of the horses, and he had a bit of a love/hate relationship with the one that he'd been stuck with for the trip, but he was actually in fairly good spirits by the time they got to where they were going.

He was taking up the rear of the little procession, having another one of his little disagreements with Lord Blaze, the horse that he'd been paired with for the trip, so he didn't see the lines at first. And, by the time he'd dismounted, led the kindred horse to the front to join the others, and actually got a look at the men and women assembled...

"Bloody hell..."

Okay, so now he was okay with leaning against the horse. He kind of needed to, since his knees were a little weaker than they ought to be.

"Where are all these people from?!"

[trigons_child]

Raven tried not to wince as she dismounted, but she was stiff and sore from all the riding, unaccustomed to it as she was. At least her decision to acquire pants had proven wise.

Her exhaustion was quickly forgotten when she saw those who had gathered to help Karla win back her Territory, however.

[heromaniac]

Momoko's trip had been much more enjoyable than probably everyone else's. Except perhaps Warren.

She was flyyyying!

Ah! And it felt so good! She'd transformed as soon as they'd started out, figuring it would be better to stay ready, just in case. She'd had to explain herself to a few of the court, though, and she'd totally given up trying to explain the different name thing to the Glacians after the second day... but in the end it was totally worth it. THE VIEW WAS SPECTACULAR! And the air currents... so easy to catch and ride! Aaah!

Momoko saw the party come to a stop and dropped lower to hover and listen. "Ah! Volunteers?" Or had Julian done some drafting?

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah dismounted with an 'oomph' and a sigh. Even for being in good shape, horse-riding was an adjustment. She patted her mount's nose, and looked around at all the people, trying not to gulp. People, lotsa people, all the people--!

To her horse she muttered, "We're gonna need a bigger boat."