PM to join Extra Hands at the Mithryn Outpost P. 1 (Open to Squires)

[Letixia Raigner]

Spring 1st-3rd, 514 Leti, like many squires, had been woken up early by their patrons, just before the sixth bell. They were instructed to be ready, eat, and meet at the front gate of the city by the seventh bell. Leti was quick to relieve herself, clean up, eat, and gear up, and was making her way to the gates, following several other squires. She wasn't as tired as many of the squires, for she normally woke up around the sixth bell anyways. Arriving at the gates, she saw her patron, Ser Ranqor, along with many other Knights. She walked up to hers, "Ser." "Good morning Letixia. Do you know why you're here?" "Because you told me to be here Ser." He chuckled, "You know what I meant squire." "Of course Ser. No, I do not know why I am here Ser." "You, and all the other squires, are here to aid the city, specifically the Mithryn Outpost. As you know, today marks spring, and as such, they are in need of a lot more workers. More workers mean, more people at the outpost, which means we need more patrols and the like there. So in addition to standing guard and patrolling there, you are also to help the outpost in any way possible. Understood?" "Yes Ser." "You will march out of here immediately at the seventh bell. You will be in company formation, in order of a first come, first serve basis. I'll be marching with a few other knights at the head of the column. So lets get it set up. Make me proud." "Yes Ser." He led her to just outside the gates where there was more space. He, and a few other patrons quickly conversed, then instructed their squires to line up at each other's shoulders, five squires across. They were to hold their shields in their left arm, so that the shield was halfway covering themselves, and the person to their left. They would keep their weapons in their sheathes. Leti was in the front line, recognizing faces of some of the squires, but not knowing them all by name. For the next several chimes, more and more squires showed up filling in the company. When the seventh bell chimed, the company was about fifty squires strong, marched down the Kabrin Road. They were maintaining a steady rhythm, and were allowed to talk, albeit quietly amongst themselves. The march would take about two bells at this pace. Leti turned to the male squire on her right, "Hello, I don't believe we've met. I'm Letixia Raigner, squire to Ser Ranqor Grayne."

[Kreig Messer]

Surprisingly, Kreig didn't offer any objections to this....he always harbored an interest to see the Syliran farms. Whem Sera Natasha woke him up, he was expecting more training drills but instead was delighted to hear they'd be aiding at the outpost. He always had an admiration for Farmers for growing tasty food, food was a source of life after all, giving energy to louts like him and other people. As such he promptly wore his clothing, wore his own armor over it and took his weapons, had a quick a breakfast and made his way to the armory to borrow an old round shield with the Order's insignia upon it and then met up with his Patron.

"Ah, I see you're being prompt Kreig, I imagine this trip has piqued your interest?" Asked Sira Natasha Druva, Kreig's patron and a person he confided in from time to time. He only responded with a nod as he let a goofy grin makes it way to his face. He looked around to see that were many more knights and squires about. He could recognize a few of the knights and squires, of the squires he knew there was Oriana Earthtracker, a Drykas girl whom he befriended, and Narrick Lorgain, a brat who was also a skillful archer and tracker..... Kreig had to admit that the lad knew his craft, but he wished his Patron would smack some manners into the lad.

Soon, they were all set into formation, unfortunately for Kreig, he couldn't quite get a place next to Narrick or Oriana. Instead he was with another young lass who was perhaps about Oriana's age and some other squires. The only reason he made note of the lass was because she happened to make conversation with him.

"It's a pleasure you miss" He spoke politely as he nodded his head to her " I am Kreig Messer, squire to Sera Natasha Druva" There was nervousness in his voice, Kreig was never quite comfortable speaking for some reason though he usually had no trouble doing. Unfortunately he was finding it difficult now and he supposed it could be because, by far, he was the oldest squire in the entire company"Are you excited about going to the outpost?" He said to her, trying to ease his nerves by bringing up the outpost "I've heard the farmlands were quite expansive"

x

[Letixia Raigner]

She smiled at him, easily keeping her marching in rhythm with the company. "It's been years since I've been to the outpost. My dad brought me a few times when I was little. It seemed unbelievably huge back then." She looked out at the expanse of the Syliran domain as they passed through the intersection of the North and South Kabrin Roads. To the northeast, was the Bronze Woods, trees expansive and forest vast. West was the coast, and the South was all empty farmland, waiting for crops to be planted. The first breeze of Spring was warming compared to Morwen's grasp from the previous season. They marched for about a bell, they began passing over the bridges that crossed the smaller branches of the Avitar River. She could see how dark and fertile the empty land was, even after the winter they'd had. There weren't many workers in the fields quite yet, but she knew there would be. After all, these fields fed every mouth Syliras had to offer and a lot of it was exported to other cities as well. They eventually made their way to the fork and began along the final stretch toward the outpost proper. Her legs were a bit tired from marching, especially in her full armor. But she endured, continuing to pound her boots into the ground. The Outpost grew quite large as they came closer, and Leti was reminded of her childhood. As they came upon the gates, more workers were visible, and they could see many members of the Grey Company of the Fourth Regiment, Gold Quadrant. Every squire who'd received basic studies, knew these men were led by Stewart Knight Tristan Whitevine. They were led inside the village, and were ordered to stop as their patrons conversed with a few other Knights. Their patrons began sending squires off with knights of the local company. Ser Ranqor pointed at her and Kreig and a few others, "Come with me squires." Leti, and others responded, "Yes Ser." He, and another Knight, led them to what appeared to be a large warehouse of some sort. They stepped through the double doors, only to see a couple of workers within. The unknown knight turned to them, "Okay squires, you will be assisting the workers in here. This is where much of our seed is stored for this season. It is stored in these miniature silos. We will need you to fill one of the standard size burlap sacks with the seed, tie it off, place them in the areas as assigned by the workers, and document it. You may remove your armor for this task. You have ten chimes to prepare yourselves. Make us proud squires. Dismissed." Once again, a chorus of "Yes Ser." Leti began pulling off her armor as the Knights left them, "I never realized how much seed it took to feed the city." She looked over at Kreig, "How do you think we should do this? Two of us per seed type, one to bag and seal, another to carry to the proper area and document?"

[Kreig Messer]

He had to admit, he liked what he saw of the place, even though the seeds have yet to be sowed into the land, they had an oppertunity to help the farmers do just that. He, along with Leti and the other squires, were required to aid in filling the burlap bags with seed and taking them there, it seemed like a simple enough task and he nodded to Leti "It...seems the best way to go, I'll carry the bag after you seal them" He nodded to himself, it seemed reasonable enough, although he didn't doubt the lass' strenght it just felt like the gentlemanly thing to do.

"It seems it will take us some time, still, it is for the city...." And he was quite eager to see the farmer's plant the seeds, something about it just made him so giddy with excitement " It feels nice to be able to contribute to something without having to resort to martial prowess, if I must admit" Not that he wouldn't love to have a fight, it was just a lovely change of pace not to fight.

"So, whats the first seed on the agenda?"

x

[Letixia Raigner]

Leti went over to one of the workers and asked for the documentation. Looking at the inventory, she then glanced over at the largest of storage units. "Let's start with the biggest one. Wheat." She nodded in the direction of it. She then looked at the other two squires that were with them, "How about you two start on corn? It looks like they need three-hundred bags for those fields. They want them stored to left of the door." With that she pointed at the second largest storage unit. The two nodded halfheartedly, and set about to work. Leti walked over to Kreig, "We have six-hundred bags to do, and are storing them to the right of the door." She didn't want him to do all of the carrying of the sacks, so she broke it into equal sections. After a brief moment of thought for the math, "We will switch every one-hundred-fifty bags. Okay?" She made her way over to the storage unit, and saw that it had a chute with a hinged flap on it and a hook beneath it and above it. She walked over to the far wall and grabbed a large stack of the empty sacks and deposited them near her post. She grabbed the topmost sack, hooked one bit of the mouth beneath the chute, and the other above it. She then pulled the latch on the chute, and seed began to flow into the sack like water over falls. She crouched down, keeping her back straight, holding her weight with her thighs, her balance on the balls of her feet. She supported the sack with her hands, for she wasn't sure if the sacks could support the weight without tearing from the hooks. When the sack seemed full enough, she hoisted it off the hooks, finding it slightly heavier than expected. She went back to the wall with the sacks and grabbed a large coil of rope. She pulled a length of it out, and using a serrated blade that came from the tools nearby, she cut an arm's length. She squeezed the opening of the sack together, and wrapped the two ends around it, and crossed them over. She wrapped them back around again, crossing one end under the other, then tucked it beneath the intersection on the front side. She pulled the two ends tight and the sack cinched shut. She smiled at her work, a simple miller's knot. She then bent at the knees, mindful to keep her back straight. She scooped up the sack and held it, ready to pass it off to Kreig.

[Kreig Messer]

"Ah, Kreig nodded" He helped her gather the seeds into the bag and watched her as she tied the bag up in a lengthy process and handed it off to Kreig "hooboy, who knew seed bags could be heavy..." Kreig thought as he grunted and nodded. He had bent his knees as he carried the sack between his arms and up to his chest, keeping his back straight as moved out of the silo. He could see other squires doing the same and outside there was a worker, likely one of the farmers, directing them to the assigned drop of zones.

It was a long walk too, not quite a simple one as they had all hoped. Evntually he reached the drop off zone they were assigned, but not without time being wasted however as the heaviness of the seed bag surprised him. He thought his former experiance, other than the knowledge, of being a dockhand back in Sunberth would aid him but clearly the passage time said 'No, you haven't lifted anything heavy in years, so no' He stopped for a but a few chimes as he took a few breaths and continued. The drop off point was actually a row of wagons, each carrying a different type of seed, each small group of carriages carried a single type of seed, and he had to drop theirs at drop point number 9.

Once there, he dropped the bag in front of the carriages and saw that there was a small table that had a parchment, quill and ink bottle. He approached, grabbed the quill and dipped into the ink and documented that he dropped off one bag. Then he made haste back to the silo, once there he told Let "I'm afraid one bag at a time will take too much, best try two or even three if necessary...else we won't be done till well after supper" Kreig told her, and knelt down to pick up two more sacks, as he heaved he carried them up to his chest and straightened his back "See ya in a bit, ya?" And would continue on like this for a bit, after the few first visits he fell into a routine and whilst he still felt the need to rest everyonce in a while, it became much easier for him as time rolled on. Though that perhaps would only be true for the first batch of bags.

x

[Letixia Raigner]

Leti continued to fill bags, tie them off, and set them near her post. But after a few back-and-forths of this, she realized that if she maintained this method, she'd end up getting far to far ahead of Kreig, with him doing the brunt of the work. So while he was off hauling some seed bags, she began restacking the bags she had already filled. She bent at the knees, remembering to keep her balance centered, and not to bend with her back. She was able to lift two at a time, stand up straight, and delivered them about halfway to the door, where she stocked them once more. She'd kept careful count, switching with Kreig when it was his turn. Her arms, back, butt, and thighs were all sore from the constant lifting and carrying. The group of squires all maintained this duty for several bells, dropping the last of them by the wagons by around the fourteenth bell. It was around this time that the Knight that had assigned them this duty. He quickly examined their stacks, checking a few sacks to ensure they were full enough, then checked their paperwork. Seemingly satisfied, "You may break for a bell, get some food in you. Follow the line of squires to the company mess hall. Shouldn't be too difficult. When you're done, return here and begin loading the wagons. You're dismissed." "Yes Ser." After he left, Leti tiredly looked over at Kreig, "Hopefully they have something good to eat." If he was in a similar state to her, he'd be a little disappointed that they were only half done with their duty. She motioned her head for him to join her, slowly following the smattering of squires heading in. After several chimes, they would find themselves in a loud mess hall filled with their squire brethren. Much to her surprise, the food was quite savory. Steak, potatoes, bread, butter, apple tarts, and milk. She wondered if they always ate this well, or if perhaps this was simply a special occasion. Either way, she wasn't about to start complaining. "So what's your story Kreig? Obviously you're older than most of us, so what brought you to our city? To the order?"

[Kreig Messer]

With each switch Kreig would find himself in turn of preparing the seed bags, in truth it was a bit slow for him as he didn't quite know how to tie knots but after watching Leti he thought he had a good idea of what to do.... of course whilst she was gone the first few bags ended having their seeds scattered and Kreig franticly tried to refill them due to the shoddy work of his knot. Still, he was able to at least give tie them up in the end even if it wasn't professional looking and gathered them all in a single stack for Letixia to gather. It was its own chore lifting the bags carefully once they were full as well, with some seeds dropping from the top.

Eventually though, they were done though Kreig couldn't help but give a painful sigh at the fact there was stilll more to be done later. He turned to Letixia and smiled "There better be, we're on a farm after all! Good eating should be on the benefit list of guarding one!" He chuckled, and soon off was glad to see he wasn't mistaken in his assumption that there would be good eating for them. All the food looked so delectable that the usual stuff they ate back in the City would have clearly been no contestant to the culinary delights unless it was prepared by some rich man's personal chef.

Quickly they took there seats and drooled at the food, Kreig was most interested in the steak, grabbing a fork and knife and began going at it like a rabid dog. When Leti asked him his question, he had already a large chunk of meat stuffed into his mouth. Not being one to eat with his mouth full, Kreig chewed his food as efficiently and thoroughly he could before swallowing it all down in one big gulp. After that he took a nice swig of milk to wash it all down and with a satisfied sigh gently placed the mug back on the table.

"Ah....that is some good eating" He said with a huge smile, a line of milk covering his upper lip before he licked it off. He looked at Letixia, somewhat unsurprised that she would ask him such a question.

"hmmmmm....that has a bit of a long tale to it lass, one I don't believe I'll have the pleasure of divulging fully. The short of it is, I was invited to join after a ....'friendly'... tussle with one the knighthood when they had visited Sunberth. You know of Sunberth, right? A chaotic little city where its pretty much dog eats dog yet it somehow manages to stay afloat for so long? Older than Syliras I'd wager....in any case, not long after that I ended up in some bit of trouble with two of Sunberth's major gangs. So after a messy affair later I was stuck with the knights and ended up taking there offer because I didn't know where else to go...." He then began resuming to eat his steak, taking a small chunk of it this time and chewing it as thoroughly he did the previous larger chunk".... Those were my initial reasons, basically trying to find my place and other, more noble, reasons to become part of the order.....which was simply wishing to protect people using the two hands given to me by me mum. Actually, now that I think of it I've given you the long of it as well in a way" He then let out a chuckle and took a sip of his milk.

"Theres everything you need to know about me Lass, what of you? Are you order born or something similar? Or do you have your own reasons for joining the order?"

x

[Letixia Raigner]

Leti listened to his story, finishing up her food as he spoke. She didn't know much about Sunberth aside from being without leadership and order. A town of criminals and vagabonds. At least Kreig escaped, the Knights taking him in. The thought of living in a city where you could die any moment just sounded awful, would make any person cold and hard to survive. Then came her turn. "Ah, no, I'm certainly not Order born. My dad came from Yahebah, but I was born and raised here. I didn't become a squire until a couple of years ago. When I was younger, there was a... confusion with this Myrian I'd met. She was the first I'd ever met, and the circumstances it was under, I thought I was going to be eaten alive. I was terribly mistaken, but I was young and dumb. But that was the first time I ever thought I was going to die, and found myself terribly under the control of fear. And ever since then, I wanted to find a way to continually battle my own fear, but help others in the struggle. So I turned to the Order, since they'd always helped me feel safe. And that brings me to now." It was near time to get back to work, so Leti finished her drink, and turned in her plate and flatware. She filled a waterskin, and brought it with her, gesturing to Kreig to come with her. Winding through the Hold and the village, she made her way back to the cart and the mountain of grain sacks stacked near it. Waiting on Kreig, "How about you move from stack to cart, and then I'll move them to be properly stacked inside of the cart? We can switch again after so many." Leti assumed her role quickly, placing her palms on the edge of the cart. She then jumped up, pushing with her arms and legs alike, and swung a leg over the edge. Pulling herself the rest of the way up, she then stood up, now waiting for the sacks of grain to begin coming in her direction, so she could start stacking them in the back of the cart.

[Estrellir Konrath]

Letixia Raigner

Skills
Withheld due to retirement

Lores
Withheld due to retirement

Other
Withheld due to retirement

Kreig Messer

Skills
Body Building +1
Socialization +2

Lores
Syliras: Mithryn Outpost
Squire: peaceful work
How to tie a knot
Letixia: battles fear

Other
Shield Points +2

Comments

A short, but good thread. I liked how you showed the peaceful work that is also the duty of squires. If you’ve any questions or concerns, feel free to PM!

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