Highwater and Glass

The Red Falcon, Chapter 2 - Eloise

In the dead of winter, the northern clans of Wyvern Rock began to assault the small farms and villages around Old Eagle's Nest in Ravenshade. Crops were burnt and innocents were slaughtered, their bodies found in charred piles, incinerated by fire magic.

News reached the court of Port Shorishal quickly. Though the Queen of Wyvern Rock issued no declaration of war and denied direct involvement in the attack, it was the final straw for the King of Iron Fen and the High Priest of Ravenshade. The High Priest declared war the following day and Iron Fen vowed to lend aid to its ally's efforts with gold and manpower.

Knights of Iron Fen were sent to the front lines to do battle against the fire mages of The Skeletal Forest. They would fight alongside the paladins and winged rangers of Ravenshade; uneasy brothers-in-arms that had been enemies only decades prior. Elite Knight Revelyn Laurie was one such warrior relocated for the war effort. It was the assumption of Eloise Glass that she would join him as his squire. But that was not to be.

She wasn't certain how it happened, but word had reached Princess Annette regarding her and Revelyn's intimate relationship. Eloise thought she and Rev were fairly careful, disguising their frequent trysts by scheduling them around training sessions only. But the princess had eyes everywhere. Someone must have seen a hand lingering too long, or a stolen kiss by the cliffs. It was all Annette needed to submit an order to remove Eloise from her position as Revelyn's squire. He was assigned a bumbling young boy to serve him instead. 

Eloise, meanwile, was given a new position altogether; an insulting demotion disguised as a compliment. Eloise became the Blue Keep's first-ever guardswoman. Her appointed routes and stations were the women's bathhouse, the handmaid's privy, and the Princess's Tower hall. When she was told by Magister Toris that it was "an unprecedented honor and testament to her heroism," Eloise had to resist the urge to punch him in the throat.

The newly reinstated Archmage Cirrus Alindal was summoned to the front lines as well. He took with him his new young charge, Bryn Golsane. Oran was left behind in Port Shorishal to field medical research and liaise on the Archmage's behalf. Eloise knew his new role frustrated him, but she was grateful to at least have her best friend's company in her lover's absence.

Oran and Eloise found solace at night, sitting together on the eastern wall of the Blue Keep sharing ale and mead. Their conversations were winding and endless. Their silences were thoughtful and comfortable. They hoped for the war to end, for their luck to improve, and for the thrill of exploration and adventure to return to their lives. And yet, much stayed the same for nearly five years.

War was long and tedious, with battles on land and sea less frequent than holding ground and shows of force. In letters from Revelyn, he would recount tales of boredom in between training and company moves. Eloise was relieved by his boredom, however. Young men are returning to their home towns in canvas shrouds wearing the burns of a mage or the mortal wounds of a Wyvern Rock pike. She prayed for Revelyn's inaction and for his return to Port Shorishal to come quickly.

Occasionally, depression would wash over Eloise like an awful wave. She would catch her reflection as she passed a window and find herself confronted suddenly with a sense of pointlessness. She felt in these moments like a shell, devoid of any worth. Then, she would remember the love of Revelyn and Oran and the sensation would subside. But only for a time.

She was twenty-three, a woman with duties and routines, generally used to the confines of castle life. It was unusual for her to not be married at her age, a detail that served as gossip among the noble ladies. Gossip that the ladies made no effort to share in secrecy, punctuated with echoing laughter outside the door of the very bathhouse which Eloise served as guardswoman. Still, she did her job to deter any roving perverts from entering the women's domain.