#earthrunes

Yes, not banal, but still rather passionless

"Squire Honiria?" Gently.

She turns and says in a monotone "Yes, sir august?"

"Are you well?" With sincere concern.

She says "i'm oh. pardon." She turns slightly so her back is to him, and he hears a winding sound, and a ticking of a clock but also a beating of a heart. another shuffle and she turns around "I'm fine, sir" A smile and liveliness restored

He blinks. "Fascinating."

"My heart is artificial, sir" She says "I thought you knew that"

"I think I did." He agrees. "I just didn't realize how it, ah, how it seems to work."

"Oh, it's...difficult sometimes but we all have our challenges. where there is a dougal there is a way"

"There is indeed. You know I was fostered at Alabaster Hollow?"

"Yes, Sir. It's quite respected among my House. A lot of brilliant minds there"

"There are." Hometown pride.

A smile, then, "Do you miss it?"

"Sometimes." Honestly. "Sometimes not. Our Houses don't always see eye to eye."

"no sir, they don't. " She admits "But I try not to be mean about it. "

"Very kind, I'm 1sure\

.

OOC *Sigh*

"...I'm sure."

"When my heart is started I am" She nods "Can I help you , sir? It seemed like you were seeking me out, but I'm not sure what for?"

"Squire." Gently. "Do you think you could be happy serving a Liam knight? And, ah, well... not -much- of a knight at that?"

OOC <ENTER>

She pauses, Then "I do want to serve a knight, sir, and you do seem a good man. Very honorable."

"Thank you."

SHe takes a deep breath, "But I confess it would be odd giving you an oath of service, because, well, you are oathbroken. "

The knight nods gravely. "An Oath -is- somewhat at the center of the relationship." Agreeing.

"so..." awkard

A faint smile. "If you could have your pick of any noble, knight or not, here at EarthRunes, who would it be?"

She pauses, "Truly?"

He nods. "I want to know."

She pauses, "I would be honored to serve the Baroness Coradel herself, of course. But that might be too much to hope for. Dame Agincourt is of my house but is mentoring to many and would not have time. Sir Magnus sometimes seems so ..frivilous, but that just means he might need some good Dougal sense. ANd, I have respect for Dame Claire. Any of them would be worthy knights to follow but out of them all? I'd like to be useful. Who do you think could use me more?"

A gentle smile. "I think I"d like to speak with the Baroness Coradel on your behalf. Will you be patient a while longer?"

SHe beams at that, a sure sign her heart is very much beating "I Shall. Thank you. I... sometimes I wondered if something was wrong with me because no one ever..."A blush and a bow "Thank you, Sir August. "

August shakes his head. "That is my fault and failure, Squire, and I cry your pardon."

Ot

"It's okay, sir. As we like to say in House Dougal, 'even nockers can make mistakes' " Then with a softer voice "And we wink when the nockers aren't looking."

August grins, like the sun breaking through clouds. "I know." He winks at her.

Her grin returns that light

He offers her his hand.

She takes it and holds it for a bit

He shakes with her, very serious, and nods. "If you'll excuse me?"

"Of course, Sir August. "She says

With final shake, he takes his leave in search of the other two.

"No no, you're doing it wrong" Catir tells the boys

They spar at the models, and ignore her mostly, which is a mistake as the young foster knows more about weapon play than they do

August stops to watch, again.

Bazyl is such a satyr, fighting on passion and thinking loud yells make him hit harder. Tylar gets spooked by these and thrown off. HE needs to focus on his foe's body and not this noise.

August, a student of an eclectic style of combat himself, notices all this, then steps forward to wait as they spar.

Catir sighs "Okay, Bazyl, you need to block, and you're wasting SO much energy"

"And Tylar, you can't let every scream distract you. " A sigh