Chapter Text
Meridian, the largest city of the west, the home of the former murderous Sun King Jiran, was the last place Erend would have called home. Now, not only was it his home, but he had changed his last name from Ealdorson to Vanguardsman. However, the murderous 13th Sun King was dead, two years now, and the 14th Sun King, Avad, was determined to make peace to the clans his father raided. Erend, along with his sister Ersa and fellow freebooters, had helped Avad murder his late father. Ersa actually murdered the king, but to improve diplomatic relations, Ersa insisted that everyone believe Avad did. Avad had been hesitant to agree, but Ersa was a hard woman to say no to. Healing relationships were vital, and Ersa wasn't so proud as to ruin the chances.
Erend sat up on his firm bed. His back felt happy for his last night's sleep, but his head protested from last night's drinks. Erend groaned at the familiar but always irritating hangover. It had been a good night. His fellow Vanguards had joined him for one last night of heavy drinking and loud chatter before he had to leave for his assignment from Avad. Erend eased himself out of bed and slowly cracked his neck and knuckles.
Erend was a strong man of wide shoulders and firm build. He had a slight gut from his over indulged drinking habits, but one could tell his core was strong. His right side contained one small looped earing, and one circled geometric shaped tattoo on his shoulder. Erend, had long sideburns that almost created a beard along with a well trimmed mustache that it connected to. Oseram, Erend's tribe, male hair was usually short or completely shaven. As for the style of short hair, the variations were endless. Erend's hair was shaven on both sides and with long, well styled hair on the top front to back. At this moment, the hair was disheveled, pointing in a million directions.
Erend stood up off the bed and headed to his closet to pick out the same style of clothing he always wore. It was his Vanguard uniform, so his closet held the same orange and white vertical stripped shirt, the same brown slacks, and the same orange brown scarf. He picked out all three items and put the shirt and pants on but put down the scarf. First, he needed to put on his Vanguard steel armor.
First, he put on the light brown leather torso jacket, easy enough. Second, he placed on the darker brown leather breast plate, which had rings hanging on their sides, simple. Then, the adventure began. He took out his steel breast plate and unwound the tight multilayered rings and put the neck leather part of the plate over his neck. He took each intertwining loop on the steel breast plate and tightly hooked it on the rings on the dark leather breast creating one seemless front. Then he attached the steel plated leg skirting to ringed hooks on the breast plate. His shoulder belt strap came next. He used to hold his trusty hammer. The large steel belt finished the upper half of his armor. It was intricately woven, creating a seemless backing. His boots came next, which he tucked his pants into. He pulled tight on the side straps and buckled them in place. The scarf finally came on.
Erend went to the mirror and gave himself a small toothy grin at the workmanship of the armor. He always felt a bit better about himself when he was in his Vanguard armor. His steel gray eyes, hinted with tints of blue, looked at his dark brown messy hair. He picked up his comb and some cream to style it as he liked. Every hair moved backward and was tightly pulled together. He looked at it after he was done and nodded in approval. Then came his least favorite part, his gloves. Putting them on wasn't difficult. It was the red scars from past multiple burns layered on the top of his hands that were hard to see. Whenever he saw these burns, all he heard were voices plaguing him.
"Piece of scrap!"
"Worthless boy!"
"Incompetent fool!"
The voices always reminded him that he really wasn't worth anything, even with fancy armor or a fancy title. His face clouded with self-loathing, and he tucked his sleeves into his armed length gloves. He patted himself down to ensure everything was in place and walked out of his room.
"Erend!" Ersa exclaimed as she swiftly walked up to him.
"You take too long on your looks. Come, let's get your things in the cart." She pulled on Erend's arm with suprising force.
"What about breakfast?" Erend asked.
"What about it? You're already late. You can have a scone while you walk." Erend let out an annoyed sigh and let Ersa drag him to the main Vanguard gathering area. When he got there, he picked up his bags after he put his hammer through his back strap. He hurriedly followed Ersa to the front gate of the grand city, Meridian. When he arrived, he saw the Sun Priest, Irid, Olin, who'd be the scout, and even Sun King Avad. Erend felt ashamed at his being late when he noticed Avad waiting for him.
"My King, Reverent, Olin. I apologize for my tardiness." King Avad smiled slightly.
"It was predicted. Come, let's get your things into the cart." Avad replied with a kind tenor voice. Erend nodded his head and put his bags in the cart. Ersa, as Erend's older sister, had to insure he was rightly prepared.
"You have enough clothing for two weeks? You made sure you packed extra under clothing? It's going to be cold. Oh, and you didn't forget the extra pillow, right?" Erend rolled his eyes.
"I'm fine, Ersa. I remembered everything. I'm not a kid." Ersa chuckled.
"When you stop acting like one, I'll treat you as a grown ass man." She gave him a slight punch on the arm, followed by a back breaking hug.
"Be safe, little brother. They might throw fruit." She winked one of deep brown eyes and went to stand by Avad. She may have been much shorter than Avad, but with her short brown hair, determined brown eyes, and the family firm build, she didn't seem small. There was a reason she was the captain of the Vanguards. She wasn't someone you'd want on your bad side. Erend smiled at her.
"Well, off to the fridged air of the Nora." Erend said as he picked up the front of the cart and began to pull it. The cart stubbornly resisted his pull at first, and then its wheels found their momentum and off it went.
"Bye." Ersa and Avad said and waved goodbye.
The even pavement of the Caja's capital bridge was a nice start to the journey. Sure, Erend knew not all terrain would be so kind, but he might as well appreciate the ease now.
"I'll get going." Olin said, and Irid gave him a nod. Olin ran off to start his part of the groups journey, scouting for machines and coming back to let the other two know what areas to avoid. Honestly, Olin didn't have to scout right now as Erend was already aware of the machine sites in the area, but he didn't blame him. Sun Priests could be a bit... much.
"The glory of the Sun is most welcoming. A good omen for our journey." Irid said, and Erend internally rolled his eyes.
"It already starts." Erend thought to himself.
"Yeah, nice morning." Erend said in response. Irid gave him a wide smile.
"It's a great honor to serve his highness on such a noble assignment."
"Just hope the Nora don't kick us out." Erend muttered to himself.
"What was that?" The Sun Priest inquired.
"Oh, nothing. Just happy to be of service too." Erend wasn't lying, he did feel honored to help Avad, he just wasn't enthralled with this particular assignment. He wasn't being asked to fight anything, in fact they brought Olin specifically for the purpose to not fight. Avad had told Erend he wanted him for the diplomatic assignment because he wasn't Carja and he was a good speaker. Erend had understood Avad not wanting a Carja to lead the party, since the Nora still hated them, but a good speaker seemed just a nice thing to say. Erend didn't think himself as a diplomatic kind of guy. He was more of the hammer, knock down machine sort. But Avad had asked, and so he said yes.
The journey wasn't too bad and Olin even told Erend he had to smash a few machines if they were going to get pass certain areas safely. Erend gladly brought down the machines and inwardly chuckled when he saw Irid's terrified look with even the mention of machines. Soon their clothing required extra layers as they got closer to the Norah territory. All except Olin. Erend never understood why the man always wore sleeveless shirts even when he saw him in The Claim, the Oseram main capital. The Claim was just as cold as Nora territory in winter, colder in fact, but Olin still wore his sleeveless shirts that showed off his many Oseram geometric tattoos. To top it off, Olin never even seemed cold. Even Erend with his naturally warm body, found winter in The Claim too cold.
The Nora chill was the hardest on Irid who was born and raised in the desert climate of Meridian. As a Carja Priest he wore thick red robes and was accustomed to the heat. Now Irid was in the cold and extra layers weren't proving as helpful as they were to Erend. At last the three of them arrived at the Nora capital, Mother's Heart. Erend had never seen the Nora homeland, in general the Nora had little love for outsiders. Erend always viewed them as stuck up, thinking themselves better than everyone for they lived on 'sacred' land. In truth, he found the Carja a bit like that, but not as much since Avad became King. The Nora even exciled their own people if they left their lands. So, when one of their high Matriarchs, Teersa, came to greet them he was shocked at how welcoming she was.
"Ah, the Carja envoy! Welcome, welcome you're just in time! All the Matriarchs are sitting down for dinner. Come join us. Follow." Teersa quickly walked forward. Erend was shocked again.
"This woman's got to be 80 or older. How does she have so much energy?" Erend picked up the cart when Teersa turned around.
"No, no, let one of our braves take that to your sleeping quarters." Irid quickly picked up his scroll before one of the braves took a hold of the cart. Teersa gave a slighly sad smile.
"Don't worry Reverent, our braves are honorable and won't steal anything." Irid blushed.
" 'ts not my intent to offend your umm..." Irid paused not knowing how to address her.
"Call me Teersa."
"Umm...madam Teersa. These scrolls are precious to us Sun Priests and it is my duty to not keep them out of my sight. I trust your people, truly." Teersa retained her smile but it turned to happiness.
"I understand now. Thank you." She began her quick pace once more and all three followed her.
The building they entered wasn't as grand as Meridian's buildings, but the craftsmanship was beautiful in its simplicity. The Matriarch's dwelling was larger than the other homes. It was still made of wood with colored ropes tying them together, which Erend hoped weren't the only thing keeping the logs in place. The inside had sturdy stone flooring and a large stone fireplace. Hanging from the ceiling were many different decorations, primarily made of the colored ropes and machine parts. Erend liked simplicity in architectural structures and found the inside of the Nora hut quite comfortable. Teersa motioned towards some chairs that were placed around a large square table. About ten other Matriarchs were present. The two other high Matriarchs and some lower Matriarchs. Erend, Olin, and Irid sat by the three high Matriarchs and found that most of the others were kind like Teersa. A few did sit there in silence, glaring at the three of them, especially Irid.
Erend hadn't enjoyed a meal like that in a week, and was grateful for the well cooked meat and fresh berries. Their ale was, ok, a bit yeasty, but a whole week without ale Erend wasn't going to complain. Soon Erend relaxed with the warmth of the fire and ale, loosening his aching muscles. He found himself drifting off to sleep and forced himself to stay awake by pinching his leg. Teersa started to notice her three guests getting tired and said.
"We are indeed happy to have all three of you. After this meal I'm sure you must be exhausted from your journey. Come, let me show you to your rooms." All three of them bowed to the Matriarchs and followed Teersa back out to the cold. Thankfully their sleeping quarters weren't far and they were greeted again by a warm stone fireplace.
"Here you are gentlemen. The blessing will be at 6pm tomorrow. Would 5pm be a good time to give your address?" The Sun Priest nodded and thanked her. When Teersa left all three of them took off their extra clothing. In short Erend took off all his armor and leather but kept on his shirt and pants. The Sun priest took off his robes and kept on everything else and Olin, he took off his armored belt and skirt plate. All fell asleep instantly except Erend. He waited to make sure they were both asleep, just like he had on their travel there, and took out his extra pillow. He pulled it close to his chest and curled up in a tight fetal position. If he didn't have that pillow his nightmares would come. He felt like a fool and a child every night because of it. This night, however, he was too tired to chide himself.