Wood creaks, steads whinny, and feet clomp as the Order of Heroes continue their march along the Askrian borders - a standard patrol to guard against the whims of any foreign powers. Most namely Embla of course, who themselves had patrols of their own that occasionally skirmished with the Order, but they were hardly the only enemies that threatened the peace. There were also Surtr’s loyalist, acting on the will of their absent king, Hel’s remnants which wandered around attacking anyone that they came across, and the bandits that concealed themselves within the borders themselves, using the natural landscape (and the political one) to discourage either side from directly routing them.
Very rarely were lives ever lost and the number of forces needed for the expedition was minimal, so some people even akined the task to babysitting: Something serious enough to be done in the first place, but not serious enough to concern themselves with. Especially since any of the Heroes that perished would simply be saved by Breidablik.
But this kind of mentality didn’t fit well with Kiran. To him, every threat was serious and every injury was unacceptable because all it would take is for one failure, one unexpected element, to cost them something irreplaceable. For example, what if Veronica found a way to enchant her forces weapons with a spell that circumvented Breidablik’s protection? What if another faction were to declare war upon Askr while the Order was divided? As a leader, these were the things he had to keep in mind and with neither Anna or the Askrian royals around to support him the responsibility of these things rest solely upon him. So naturally, with such a critical perspective, he couldn’t help but take notice of a particular knight that was acting out of odds.
He was referring to Rosamaria, of course, one of the fresher faces to the Order of Heroes. Kiran had summoner her less than a month ago now, and her appearance was met with much confusion on his behalf. With just a glance he could tell that she was an individual of equal standing to the lords and warriors that filled their ranks, but that same glance did nothing to clue him into her identity. Such a thing happened from time to time, of course. With an infinite number of realms and an infinite number of variations to them, the ones that answered his call were not always familiar. But in most cases, he was at least familiar with their reputations or feats - Rosamaria however, stood as the first exception to even that, which meant that he was essentially in command of a person he didn’t know what to do with, which was why he had asked her to participate in this patrol.
However, Rosamaria was proving to be a very unruly subordinate. Perhaps she sensed his uncertainty towards, but for some reason, she was displaying a penchant for going against orders - though perhaps deviating from them would be a bit more accurate. Too often would she break formation or engage a target that she wasn’t meant to, throwing unnecessary variables into Kiran’s carefully calculated plans. So far she hadn’t done anything detrimental or irreparable, but clearly the two of them weren’t quite on the same page. Something Kiran sought to rectify sooner than later.
So after ensuring that everything was together and that nobody was out of place, Kiran makes his way towards the back of their long convoy to find the wagon that Rosamaria was meant to be in. He had started towards the front, so the whole walk took a few minutes coupled with the brief stops he took along the way to address some of the troops that greeted him or asked how much longer they would be going for. But finally, he does indeed reach it and thankfully, Rosamaria hadn’t decided to change carts as he had half expected her to.
He doesn’t immediately climb aboard however, not certain of what state she may have been in behind the cover provided by the bonnet. It would certainly be his luck to have accidentally found her undressed or something of that nature. And if she was, she probably wouldn’t let him live it down.
“Excuse me, Rosamaria? Its me Kiran. If you aren’t preoccupied, I was hoping to speak to you for a moment.”
