Furry-Within

Banners? He'd never heard of this before-- but then again he figured that it was probably intentional. The part about travelling around worried him, though he didn't show it on his face. If he were to ever go back...

"Lord Captain." He piped in, simply nodding his acceptance. "Are we the only Banners? What happened to the last ones?" He figured it was a good as question as any, and his stomach growled again. He looked down at the foot, and figured that was that. If that was the food they were going to eat, he wasn't going to put it to waste-- with cutlery in hand began to eat as polite as he knew how, though it was obvious he was making a great effort to do so.

She didn't waste much time once he'd told her that she'd been able to eat so she did.  Her ears flicked around to catch any sounds but otherwise it would appear that her whole attention was focused on the food.  Her small frame didn't allow her to eat much but of what she did eat was almost entirely protein with just a bit of carbs in order to allow her muscles to recuperate while giving her body the endurance it would need until she was able to eat again.

The food tasted delicious, she'd start out with her paws until her eyes trailed over to Ormr and then the cutlery.  She could fight...but she had no idea how to use the objects in relation to her food.  Graceless as she was ever going to look she did her best to mimic how the others were using the tools.  Her cheeks flamed red under her fur as embarrassment and shame flooded through her.  It looked so simple, but she kept fumbling and dropping them until she was finally full.  Her ears pinned back as she looked down at her plate once she was done.

He let them do the talking, Ormr talk. He wasn't really the talkative one either. Mostly sat there in uncomfortable silence.  what glory did soldiers who stayed in castles get? It puzzled him, and saddened him to know he would not be setting foot in the battlefield.
  He took another bit of bread, stuffing it with cheese and a little meat. It was all he ate, Finding that eating to much made you tired and lazy, but a little hunger kept you sharp and awake.
  He had 2 more just like that, drinking his water. Like Ormr he was puzzled but not really sure what this team looked like? Could the 4 of them really be as well of as a whole troop of soldiers?
  He looked at the little female, Wondering a moment. They gone this far and he still didn't know her name. But now didn't seem like the place to ask, Instead he just bides his time.

The Lord Captain put down his glass of wine on the table and the torches lighting the dining hall suddenly lowered visibly. He looked across the table at them. "They died . . . I nearly died myself . . . it's why I intended to take brand new recruits to replace them . . . if I took from the soldiers we have in the Order, they'd be found out in an instant. But brand new Banners can blend in . . . be unknown, and the three of you all show extreme promise. You are the only Banners, but that is of no matter. I will show you all how to use something akin to what I did to him during the entrance exams." He pointed to the king's Bastard. "It nearly killed us both . . . but he was still walking after it, and trust me, if worse comes to worst, you'll need such a thing."

He took down some wine again, the torches slowly getting brighter once more. "You will not however be rotting in the walls of this castle . . . the Banners, myself included are sent to other kingdoms, we mingle, we watch . . . and when nessecary, which is unfortunately quite often. We fight . . . you will all be in harms way, you will be the ones that face off the men and women of legend." He pointed to the murals across the walls, giant painted carpets showing the battles of history. "Orion the Great Calamity, Orzan the Undying, General Callius of the blood stained Axe. These are the kinds of people you will face off against. You will fight them . . . and you will walk away from it." He knew the names he gave were a bit of exaggeration today, but then none of them save for Orion were nearly so terrifying in life as they are in legend. Orzan himself was only known as the Undying for his death defying determination, similar to the Bastard, no matter what a pesron did he would stand up again. "This world is in constant danger . . . and we are the ones that will destroy that danger. If the wars begin . . . it's because we failed."

She was impressed with his speech but she didn't believe in herself to do what he'd ask.  Regardless of that, she wanted to try really badly and become great.  She waited for the other members to ask more questions if they wanted to but then she headed to where she was told her room was.

She was in a solitary room since she was the only woman recruit and the room was shockingly empty.  There was a bed, a desk and a large chest that she had nothing to put inside of.  The ex slave was uncomfortable with the idea of the bed so she left it made and curled up on the cold stone under the desk for the night only to be woken by a rap on the door.

He noticed one of the new Banners leaving to her room, the only one of them that was a woman, such a curious turn of events that. A woman, in the Myrzar . . . something the Lord Captain had not seen in his own lifetime. But after she left, there was still the matter of the feast. He finished his own food, for the evening, taking their general silence toward him as a lack of need for questions answered. Soon he stood, bowing to them all "I shall be retiring for the evening, I reccomend you all do the same . . . then again, there is training yet ahead of you all so if you like please stay up, the library I know is of interest, spouting the names of legends means nothing without context and context you will find, if you were to go there." He chuckled softly, speaking in riddles . . . just like his mentor.

That thought robbed his laughter, but he kept his smile until he was in the halls, stalking silently, counting the torches in the back of his mind, watching the outlines of boots in the thin layer of dust that collected on the floor of the halls. So many passed through them, Banners and Myrzar Knights alike. He looked down at the training yards, nostalgia of the older days and phantom pain of old wounds.

He found his way, almost without realizing to some of the less well used quarters, a good few empty rooms on all sides. He could feel her there, behind the door, very curious . . . choosing a place so close to his own. But perhaps, like himself, she prized solitude and silence. He knocked on the door, he could see the light from her room inside. And once the door opened he stepped inside silently, still in his armor, and his long leather coat.

"You left at the dinner Feast . . . I was rather surprised by that." But, before letting her reply he continued, "I must admit . . . you remind me a great deal of myself from a long time ago, longer in all honesty than I care to say. You see . . . when I was gathered for the Myrzar, I nearly killed myself with fear . . . some ghostly white figure standing at the foot of my bed, staring at me in the middle of the night, demanding I rise and make way to the castle. It was almost too much on it's own. Then, once I got there, still terrified for my life, they expected me to fight someone I'd never even met who was more than my own size . . . I felt I was destined to fail. But, they told me I was in . . . I was successful, and they put me into back breaking training . . . that ghostly white apparition was the Lord Captain of the Myrzar at the time, a wolf by the name of Arden Moriardus. I'm here, to be an appirition in your memory . . . to tell you, if you've come this far. You will not fail . . . especially if your master's words were even half true when he spoke of you to me."