Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 23

*Before…

There’s carvings of battleknights all around it and I can see huge doors in places.

“What is this place?”

Nicole says. “Riggers field.”

Jessa says. “This is the real church of Sanctuary. After temple and all the Godsday things the Battleknighters and Squires come here to fight for the lists. Everyone comes to see them fight.”

I stare at the place. “There are lists…for the battleknights?”

Jessa nods. “Aye and tomorrow y’n me will be watchin as Nicole does her thing.”

I look at her and then at Nicole.

And then at the arena called Riggers field.

I’m not sure that I’ve ever been that excited in my life.

*And Now…

We walk back to the palace and we’re talking about these games that they have here and it’s the lists. It’s not just like jousting and the like but this is challenges of honor and challenges to votes on laws as well.

Now not all laws change but if a person in the court thinks that a vote put forward towards a law is unjust then it is allowed to be challenged and it can either be done in open court with solicitors and such but it is also met on the field.

A very much let the gods sort it out kind of thing.

It’s the same thing here as at home really though the politics is way more focused in the High King’s court and city than back in Lyonnes.

Home it was very much just fighting for training and honor and to settle sometimes disputes that were too close to have father call without offending someone under his rule. Not that we had a lot of under nobility really with our lands being not so huge like some places but we had events.

Weddings of nobility usually had something like this, a newly knighted or passed down battleknight attracted challenges to both honor the new battleknighter and to test him out in his skills and therefore rank him.

But this…Nicole and Jessa are talking about this like it’s a regular thing and that they’re games plus there’s shops that build battleknights here in the city and they regularly boast their wares from new parts or attempts at innovations to weapons and shields.

And the Squires fight here too as well and then there’s drill games that are more of a Squire’sknight thing but it sounds like there’s teams of them.

We talk all the way back and even end up taking with the gate guards at the guardhouse when the subject comes up and the only thing that I’ve seen have this much fame and fervor here is horseracing at home since that’s something that is fast and exciting and it travels well.

Which is big here as well but it led into a conversation of these matches actually going to other parts of The Freelands by Iron Rhino.

It’s late when Nicole and Jessa and I part ways and I head to the dorms and to get cleaned up well on my way to being sobered up but still sort of going between dancing and playing out sword moves imagining things tomorrow.

I really end the night well with getting clean and in clean clothes and not bleeding anymore and there’s everything to look forward to tomorrow.

Morning comes fast and I’m up with the others and it’s a bell later since we’re still on liberty for Godsday as well as Weekbreak yesterday/last night.

I’m hitting that point where my bed is starting to not feel strange to me and it feels more and more like mine and right.

I swear I still sort of remember the aches and pains from getting here and the exhaustion.

But even with today off there’s chores to do still and that’s taking our laundry into bags with our tags on them to the laundry well and then we get rags and brushes and brooms and we dust and clean our quarters better than just the usual tidying up but a wash and then we actually wax the wood and that’s not actually that hard and I had no clue how to do it but it’s pretty easy.

Beeswax made soft with heat and then citrus oils are blended in to make it smell nice and to keep the wax soft like a sort of heavy grease. The trick is the buffing but it’s not hard work and most of us here are actually used to caring for armor and weapons from home and in various other ways so it’s old hat.

Actually remembering what was done home and the number of us and the size of things home I’m going to try to remember how much work this would be for others.

And I have an idea for a device for my magic.

Then we’re off in a group for breakfast and after everything so far this morning and last night I eat well with a bowl of porridge with some nuts tossed on top and then some sausage which is everpresent since it’s easy to make and I get the red sausage. It’s still pork and bits but it has cracked wheat inside as filler as part of the grains and apple as well as onion and spices and it’s not too greasy and the cracked wheat makes it filling. I have a fresh bun with butter and a poached egg.

I’m more than full when I’m done and I bus my tray and dishes and by the time that’s done it’s time for services.

I hear the temple bells going and I notice that there’s many going to the chapel and that there’s many that aren’t and I’m sort of feeling very odd about the whole thing since I’ve always gone to services with the family but we were never really all that pious a family.

And Aunt Aurora never went to services when she was staying with us.

And here…well there’s so many different kinds of folks here that it seems like they worship differently if at all and to me that’s just strange.

And honestly it’s a little scary and I’m watching and thinking it all over when Jessa and Nicole arrive and they’re done in comfortable looking clothes far too normal to go to temple in.

“You’re not going to temple?”

Nicole shakes her head. “The gods know my intent; I don’t need to prove it to my mortal neighbors.”

Jessa actually makes a face. “No thank you religions excused way too much bullshit in ma life for me to be going t’praise them all when they’ve said it t’was alright for my former husband to treat me worse than a dog and marry me off as soon as I could bleed.”

I nod. “I was thinking about it.”

Jessa looks at me. “Sorceress that you are it’s not like you’re gonna be welcome.”

“Oh…really?”

She nods. “Even here as things are with human folk at least magic is the hands of folks other than the faiths gets those in the robes and miters all riled up.”

Nicole. “And Lady Tatiana doesn’t go and I’m one of her squires. She does it in solidarity with those that wield power and to make a show of secularity.”

I look at her. “Really, secularity is definitely not going to be popular.”

She nods. “The dwarves follow gods but they keep faith from law seeing as we will be judged in the afterlife and that’s a separate court.”

I still look to the temple doors. “Would you mind though?”

Nicole shakes her head. “Not at all we’ll wait.”

Jessa still makes a face and then looks at me. “As long as y’don’t preach to me that’s fine.”

I nod and smile. “I wouldn’t think of it even if I knew how.”

I square my shoulders and smooth out my clothes and I head to the fortress chapel and I’m getting looks from some of the others there and once inside I do as the others do and take a knee before the statues of the Lord and Lady of Light and I have my head sprinkled with holy water from one of the acolytes that are there to bless folks before coming inside and I find myself a seat.

I have ample room as well as I’m still getting looks from some and I fold my hands in my lap and I wait for the services to start.

There’s more folks here than I’m used to so they have a choir there singing some holy aria’s and there’s candles lit in the sides for folks or for homage to the god and goddess and They have incense going as well but not heavily and once the singing has stopped the fortress chaplain begins his sermons.

The Church of Light is one of the major faiths here on Titan and it’s based on the gods the Lord and Lady of Light who brought light to the world from darkness and with it life as well. It has a strong following in the kingdoms especially with the farm folk who have this whole sunlight and summer thing in their faith…or that’s what they had at home.

There are of course other interpretations and there’s a lot of worship with The Lord being ascendant over The Lady which has from other interpretations that came from things like the druids and things. My grandfather on my father’s side said once to my father that in his generation that The Sun-Lord toiled all day and then returned to The Moon-Lady with her moonlight being the light of her hearth where she attended to him and such on.

Of course what variations depend of geography and culture to I guess.

And there’s other faiths too like The Following of The Elohim which are holy spirits of light that look out over us all watching and occasionally teaching their wisdom to those holy or enlightened enough to hear them.

They’re like the second most popular faith and one with monks and scholars and libraries and produce teachers and the like.

And then there’s The Sea gods who have followings and are considered some of the children of The Lord and Lady of Light and pretty much the same with other faiths and gods or sub-gods and then there’s the Druids that have a belief of nature and magic from nature and spirits and totems.

I’ve no idea about the gods of the south or the gods of the silk islanders or those of the dwarves or elves.

The service is fine, though not as long and rambling as it was at home and there’s a definite flavor here towards the merits of duty and honor for the sort of crowd that’s here but the cleric knows his audience and he keeps things short with a hymn on the way in by the choir and his sermon and his blessing to which we all repeat the hallowed words.

“We welcome the light to banish back the darkness.”
“We welcome the light to warm us all.”
“We follow the light to lead us from evil.”
“We kindle the light as one candle to another.”

It’s pretty much the base go to prayer for all followers of the light and I’m not different when I stand and cross my arms palms open and pressed to my chest and speak with everyone else even though I can feel folks giving me lots of looks.

There’s some frowns as well too.

I was expecting those too as even with all of the things that Aunt Aurora has done here and the different culture and even the lady herself…I’m a witch, a sorceress, a mage and that’s still rare.

And feared.

I don’t do really anything but get in line like the rest even though I have lots of room given how some folks aren’t getting too close and just like everyone else I do a dip and let the cleric anoint my forehead in holy oil and then take a candle from the stack and light it off of his and move along on my way out and use my candle to light a prayer candle for someone else.

I don’t burn or twitch or smoke or anything evil I just do what everyone else is doing and then head outside and meet up with Nicole and Jessa.

They’re waiting but there’s a wagon with them and Taylor’s driving it and there’s a couple of other pages there that I sort of know and on the wagon there’s the throne for the rig and Nicole’s rig is on there with boxes of tools and all these weapons that we never had in the field.

“I didn’t hold you up or anything?”

Nicole shakes her head. “No I’m on today so we won’t be having to fight the crowds for seating.”

I look at her. “There will be that many folks there?”

Jessa chuckles. “It’s the real temple here in these parts.”

I look back at the temple/castle chapel and they’re closing up or starting to. “Don’t tell me…”

Nicole nods. “They all go too.”

I’m nodding; the clerics and priests back home except for a few of the more scholarly types not interested in sport would be at something like this, if we had something like this. The best we’ve had really was the few horse races and some jousts and tourneys but they were mounted things and skills with arms.

Not battleknights and I’ve really never heard of Squire’sknights until coming here.

Taylor winks at me smiling and I let Taylor take my hand and pull me up into the seat with him and we hug. I’ve seen him around and he looks good today. Actually all my friends are looking good, not just better dressed but it’s that look when you’re healed from a trip and well fed and rested.

It’s nice out today and we’re headed off to another adventure.

Well for me this is an adventure.

We rise through town and people pass for us as Taylor yells “Make way!” or “McKinnon!” and when they turn they move to let us pass and there’s some shouts of encouragement from folks and there’s young children that run after us for a while laughing and staring at Nicole’s Squire’sknight.

And it’s as festive here today as any fair I’ve been to with folks out hawking wares and I’ll admit there’s some genius to this too with a great deal of homemade copies of tabards made and toy swords and shields made and there’s even what looks like wooden dolls of battleknights or even some clay ones painted to look metal like.

And pennants and flags and leather jacks and even leather voice horns are all being sold.

There’s folks selling food and other things from large platters being rested on top of heads or from carts and I can see this being one of the driving forces for the city.

Off in the distance there’s the groan and squeal of metal and the horn from The Iron Rhino pulling in.

And then we’re getting up to the area and there’s music being played….it’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before with huge drums being beaten and then there’s these huge deep sounding horns and then there’s this sound like rhythmic hammers on steel or anvils and then there’s this sound throughout it all and over it all the main sound of here and that of Dwarven pipes raising their haunting wails.

Jessa’s making a face at hearing it but I like the sound.

Soldiers guide us along an alley way that leads to a courtyard that’s outside of the arena walls but there’s a long corridor that leads to the arena floor and has large double doors.

We stop and we set things up with Nicole’s rig and she runs it through a few moves and drills and then we all stop give the strings and keys one last tuning before heading down the long corridor and up a set of steps built into the side of it and out to the arena’s stands right down close to the action.

There’s a full house that’s quite packed and there’s arena vendors here too and then there’s…

Battleknights.

Fourteen of them as well as some Squire’sknights but it’s the battleknights that are stunning me. Twenty to twenty-two feet high sometimes more if you count crests or flags or horns on them but these are huge machines with age to them, honor to them, passed down for the sheer amount of work and time and metal that went into the making or each one is a vast treasure.

Not counting the shields or the weapons that they bear…or the amazing filigree and engraving or the enamel works done for them…some even are sporting cloaks for the occasion, they’ll be taken off of course for the fighting but still…it’s awe inspiring and I’m breathless because I can feel each step they take as they’re warming up their strings before the bouts and showing the people themselves.

Nicole and Taylor are saying names and titles and I can’t really follow them except for a few names I think I heard in Sir Mallory’s class and Jessa’s getting snacks and program which is a booklet with a few sketches somehow printed of the rigs and then there’s a list of the knights and squires and there’s a paragraph if needed to tell why they’re fighting for if it’s over honor or a vote or a dispute or even as in Nicole’s match today she’s fighting over a taxing dispute for her family and a supplier?

I point it out to her. “What’s this about?”

She doesn’t even look instead she’s still watching the field. “House Telfar holds a life contract with us for enameling materials, these were set at a price for the terms of the contract only the new laird of the House decided he was going to raise taxes on his lands to meet his needs and my family is disputing that.”

“You can do that?”

She nods. “I’m a squire, that comes with enough rank that I can represent my house and if I win our price stays.”

I look at her. “And if you lose?”

She frowns. “I get a mark of loss in tourney on my record and we get charged two more percent on our trade.”

I look at her. “Is that bad?”

Nicole nods. “We make rigs and all sorts of things to do with that and there’s a lot we use that product for so in the run of a year that’s….”

Taylor chimes in. “Several hundred golds.”

My jaw hangs open.

I’m used to money and I’m used to it being spent and such in large ways but home…at home one hundred gold coins is a herd of cattle, not a massive herd but well past a village…like forty animals and they’re talking two or three times that.

That’s like half the pay of the whole garrison home for a year officers included as well as feeding them.

I look at her. “How rich is your house?”

Nicole shrugs. “It’s not really rich, we take all of that money and it’s spread out with the work and the space and the trades. We live well, we live really well but a loss like that would mean less work, maybe even a lay-off of folks or raising prices.”

I nod. “How many people work for you all?”

Nicole thinks a moment. “Directly about three hundred craftsmen and apprentices, indirectly through buyers and sub-contractors I have no idea.”

I look out at some of the Battleknights.

Some of them have every plate of armor enameled to protect it from blows but also from weather too and that’s thick, four layers at least likely and that’s a lot of surface area and that’s a lot of work.

“Who are you battling?”

“Squire Gavin D’Kar.”

I look and Taylor’s pointing him out in his Squire’sknight out on the field with the other Squire’sknights and he’s marching and waving to the crowds with a pennanted spear over his shoulder.

I’m looking at his shoulders he’s a third year squire so there’s markings and that also means he’ll be good. That’s three years in his rig and four more as a page and that’s not counting if he’s seen real combat.

I ask since I’m not sure of things altogether here. “Is there any way to know how experienced he is?”

Taylor says. “He’s booked to five wins and two losses.”

“Oh.”

Nicole says. “He’s seen some action from what I’ve heard, ran some brigand raids and was in on a stronghold siege raid.”

Jessa says. “So he’s blooded.”

Nicole nods. “He is.”

I look at her. “Be careful.”

Now these matches aren’t to the death but regardless of that weapons can get lucky or unlucky hits and then there’s the fact that you have arms and legs and fingers in thins cradled harness with metal frames you strap into all connected to wires that pull and spin pulley discs with ball bearings and more wires and sliding bone rod pistons and that’s all subject to combat stress and so are you as you’re attached to all of that and fighting and trying to move it all.

Nicole looks at me and she nods and smiles rubbing my shoulder and we settle into the snacks and Nicole’s just having drinks and those she’s sipping slowly.

Sometimes it’s best to not have a full stomach while doing things like this and yet it’s still a good idea to be hydrated and have something like juice with the water in you because when you’re in a battleknight or a Squire’s knight you’ll sweat it out enough and burn through your sugars fast enough.

We watch as the full sized battleknights return to their prep-courtyards to get retuned now that everything is warmed up and the first matches are starting between the Squire’sknights.

Even that’s interesting and it’s exciting watching as the machines move out from their corridors and into the arena under the beat of the music and the thrumming of the pipes.

And they’re still large machines really ten feet tall and fairly broad and all that metal and shine and it’s all in motion as they salute the judges and then the crowds and then it’s them facing off and walking around each other readying their weapons and going in at one and other with a clash of steel on steel.

It’s exciting as these matches are as much finesse as they are just straight out steel clashing with steel and are showing not just great footwork in a machine and blade skills but it’s still very much a matter of both the strength of the Squire inside and their endurance.
The first four fights only last minutes though it’s that rough enough on the fighters with it being a lot of movement then this bursts of sudden action. The pace is hard on the squires with fatigue becoming a factor because as soon as one fades or flags in their Squire’sknight you are at a serious disadvantage. Then it’s either getting tipped over and knocked on your back or one’s disarmed with such a blow as to not be able to recover their weapon.

But it’s still really big steel machines clashing under the control of lads and lasses that have been trained in fighting since they were pages and in reality that’s a lot of years.

And with Rigger’s running a knight that’s a lot of endurance.

Here on Titan when it comes to knights this is it, the best and the brightest, the regime, the road to get to piloting a full twenty foot battleknight and wielding sixteen feet of steel forged into a sword.

Then as fast as the first four fights went it’s Nicole’s turn and she leaves Jessa and I and she gives us warrior arm clasps before she goes out back to get into her Squire’sknight.

It’s not that long that we’re waiting and Squire D’Kar is out first with his Squire’sknight and he still has the spear he had been marching with and its pennant and he had a sword on the back of his rig and he’s not doing anything at all just standing there and waiting until Nicole comes out.

And that’s a whole other thing because instead of walking out she brings her rig out at a jog with sword in hand and her shield out and on her arm and there’s pipers actually playing for her coming out and there’s a cheer from the crowd.

I lean over to Jessa. “Nicole’s popular.”

She nods. “She the Squire to Tatiana and Tatiana is the best battleknighter on Titan.”

At one point I would have argued that but given how much I’ve learned about The Lady’s powers and her boosted strength as well as her sheer conditioning I can well imagine she is…plus she is old, like not human old given the points on her ears and the respect that she has of both my king and the dwarven one.

Then there’s Nicole who I’ve actually been in action with.

If others know what I have seen then she’s definitely a favorite.

Plus there’s folks in the city here with a vested interest for Nicole to win for her family.

She brings her Squire’sknight to a sliding skid that kicks up some dust and that in itself is impressive to get that much speed and then to stop without tipping.

I’m impressed as is the crowd who cheers her again.
And Nicole and Gavin they want to really fight because they saluted the crowds really quickly and the starting bugle sounds and quick as anything Squire Gavin is shooting his spear at Nicole who catches the blow on her shield.

Now shooting a spear isn’t throwing, it’s actually a thrusting technique where you have a loop on the butt end of the spear and you’re using that to push and thrust your spear back and forth with the shaft cradled by your hand or arm or even shield.

It’s fast and it’s why Squire Gavin is not using a shield.

And combine the speed of the attack with enough skill to move it and angle it in different ways it’s a dangerous skill to have and with his spear lunging at her again and again Nicole’s being held at length and Gavin’s energy use is considerably less than Nicole’s.

I wouldn’t use this in a fight like the last one that we were in myself but I’ll admit a fully metal longspear used that way would go through a Warg like spearing kitchen warm butter with a knife.

Against another Squire’sknight it’s armor piercing.

I don’t think that he’d try to kill her this doesn’t seem to be that kind of a place but that spear could go through joints and could shear through pulley’s or wires and disable a rig in short order.

The first clash is really fast and Squire Gavin’s spear is swirling and dancing like the blade of a fencer and shooting forward in thrust after thrust and that damned pennant is still on his spear and he’s using it to both distract Nicole and making it swirl and flutter as he fights to block her sight.

And that’s actually negating her chance to counter effectively with her sword having her rely on her shield work and he’s pressing the advantage hard.

Up, down, up, down, circling strikes and spear meeting her shield and there’s this hard loud crash of combat metal on combat metal ringing out over the arena made all the louder from the sheer power of the Squire’sknights and the size of the weapons.

Nicole moves to counter it using footwork to get out of range or try to and that’s making her get forced to move backwards which is even more at risk for tipping over. She’s actually pretty damned good at doing that too.

This last for close to three full minutes which is actually a long time in a fight and then it changes in the blink of an eye as Nicole does a step backwards and instead of just a step back it’s a pivot.

Pivots are really hard considering the weight you’re balancing and then the fact that you have to life one foot off the ground and moving it and your Squire’sknight’s whole body with enough force to actually pivot on one foot.

And his spear slips past her skidding lengthwise across her shield and Nicole does it again and again actually slipping all the way around his thrust and getting mostly behind him.

There’s no attach from the rear instead she clangs her sword on her shield a few times and Squire Gavin starts his own pivot turn and as he comes around to face Nicole she’s already taken two steps inside of his spear’s reach and he can’t pull it back far enough on the lines of his Squire’s knight to do a shoot move and she drives her shield forward blocking any chance he has of a strike and she brings her sword in with a hammering slicing blow to his shoulder and she does something I never seen but just can guess at and that’s letting her blade hit and then it bounces off of all that mass and she lets the force do part of the work in her backstroke of her arm and she hits him again in this recoil strike to another part of his Squire’sknight into his upper arm and again and a down then up strike to the same arm in the elbow.

Squire Gavin’s rig loses its aiming grip now for the shoot style he was using and the arm’s broken somewhere inside as it hangs limp and with the other hand just holding onto the thong at the end his spear drops until it’s tip is in the dirt and Nicole stomps her Squire’sknight’s foot down on it bending the metal and making it useless and then her sword is up and tapping on his entry cage doors in the chest of his Squire’sknight.

He raises his good working arm rather unceremoniously dangling the thong end of the spear with it caught up in his rig’s hand.

It was good form really on Nicole’s part because she literally could have beaten his Squire’sknight to pieces at that point with him at a one arm disadvantage.

And he was wise to yield as well since the damage that she did do was still really bad and it would cost major coin to fix with just the damage that was done. There could be damage all the way to the ball bearing pulley wheels to the wires and the frame in the arm and shoulder and well the elbow is likely shot as well.

It was a stunning match and far faster than most people thing and I’m a little bit in awe really because I’ve never seen the recoil hit and never seen footwork that good before and even Squire Gavin’s spear work was very good too.

And the chivalry and sportsmanship here at the end has me cheering as much as the rest of the folks here in the crowd.

This was something I had idolized with my brother and father all my life.

And here it’s more than them, more than the little bit’s I’ve seen of others back home and here I can see Nicole’s folk her people defended for the sake of their livelihoods and honor in public by her and with great skill.

More than see it I can feel it.

And it’s more than feeling that natural read of the crowd it’s more like I can feel the swell as a thing. I close my eyes and it’s still there this definite feeling and connection between the energy of the crowd and Nicole?

I will have to ask Lady Tatiana about this.

I open my eyes and I cheer along with the crowds as Nicole heads back off the field and through the gates with her shield risen high like a salute to her folk and then she’s gone.

I look at Jessa. “Should we go back and help her?”

“Nay Coley will be up ina few fallings there’ll be others there to see to her things until it’s all over and then we’ll be headin out t’ her place.”

“Nicole’s place?”

“Well her family’s steading here in the city sooch as it is, they’ll be wanting to celebrate and such with the win and things while it’s still a freeday.”

“You think I’ll be welcome?”

“Oh aye, I don’t see her folk havin a problem with ye.”

The larger doors are opening and the first two battleknights come out to start to do battle together and there’s this cheering rush that I can feel all over again and I’m mesmerized as the two fast approach the center and salute the crowd and then the slam the backs of their forearms against each other on their sword arms with a loud sound and then suddenly they step back and it’s started even as the horn is blowing.

The swords are pulled off on the backs just literally held there by light chain ties and hooks that are snapped as the swords are more levered over the shoulders of the rigs than pulled from any sheath but the sound still has this ring to it much like a drawn sword and then it’s a matter of skill and speed and strength as well as endurance.

Getting the sword pulled first is pretty critical and so is good shield work and you need good reflexes to do all of that but it’s also very important that you have the strength to move your rig and most of all endurance.

Oh there’s a lot of other things like actual swordsmanship which you actually see more of with the battleknights because they’re older and more experienced fighters as well as they’re being more experienced here with these tournaments.

And the clashes…breathtaking when you have twenty to twenty two or so mechanical moving knights swinging sixteen foot battleswords they pick up huge amounts of speed and force and then they’re clashing with shields and the din is huge and awesome and there’s sparks and the smells of the sparks and metal being tested on metal and even the grease and oils that’s used seems to hang in the air.

There are sword techniques too of course.

Blade once on blade being used to push and pivot against each other seeking a thrusting point strike or sweeping slices from below or from the side and below or from the side and up.

Fencing or dueling blade off blade straight on styles of sword play too but they’re rare and really hand as the battleknight blades are so heavy it’s hard to use the wrist as much as it would be done in person to person matches.

The first bout ends with the victor outlasting his opponent until he had enough strength to knock the sword from the hand of his rival and it sounds like it wasn’t that glamorous but it happened so very fast it was a thing of beauty to see.

Nicole joins us again in a change of clothes and still dripping from a quick wash somehow and she sits looking and literally feeling like she’s riding the high of winning and she ends up slapping hands and shaking those of the folks around us in congratulations.

I look at her. “That was amazing, I never seen someone fight like that Nicole.”

She grins. “Well that’s lots and lots of hard practice under a grueling knight mistress.”

“She’s not that bad.” I say.

She’s still smiling but says. “You wait you. Lady Tatiana gets harder on you the better you get. She doesn’t really belief in people having a finite level of potential and she really enforces that sometimes.”

Jessa says. “Though t’be fair she does thet for different folks in different ways. Not everything is about fightin an battle wit her she’s damned good at seeing what folks be good at doin and makin sure that talent donna go t’waste.”

I nod. “That’s how it should be really we all have different strengths, it’d be foolish of a leader to not use them or encourage talent.”

Nicole does a head tilt towards Jessa. “Like this one here. She knew she was literally kept prisoner for a good part of her life and that she wasn’t doing well with people a lot of the time so she tried her out for Rangering.”

Jessa nods. “I like being free. I mean I know that I owe for a lot and I have work and such paying back for my good fortune to keep things all in balance and all but I have my freedom, I get to leave and go places and be my own commander a whole lot of the time. Everything else comes from that for me, it’s my strength.”

Nicole gestures at Taylor. “He’s good with folks, Taylor’s common and a child of the keep so folks know that but the know he’s from the keep as well so he’s educated and that they can, or see themselves doing things that he does.”

Taylor says around a leather jack of wine. “I’m good at the things I do because Lady T actually makes the assumptions more than not that a person can do stuff and cares little for station being a factor of the possible.”

And there’s the folk around us nodding and agreeing and saying things like this too. She’s so respected and cared for it reminds me of home and my family.

And again it’s so hard to describe but I can actually feel it from them, feel things from Nicole and Jessa. Taylor…not so much he seems less there?

The second and third matches were amazing and thrilling and still parroting the results of the first one and it’s actually a lot more interesting with Nicole here because she’s commenting on what and how they’re doing what they’re doing in the rigs which I mostly understand but she and Taylor’s giving commentary on the program notes and what these matches will and do mean with settling grievances or just for the honor.

It makes it all more exciting and interesting even if it sort of seems a lot like betting when it comes to thing like trade and points of taxes/levies on goods between lands.

Mind you all those things can be solved and do get solved in the actual courts too it’s just it’s another way of settling things.

The last match was just a betting match with two wagons of casks of good ale being the prize and a thousand pieces of silver and of course bragging rights.

But it was amazing.

One of the Battleknighters one Walter of Whitecove had a white enameled battleknight with raised and bared metal relief designs of knight on mer-horses and sea birds on his battleknight and he fought with two nine foot falchion like blades.

And he was so fast and able to do much more swords work with the smaller blades that the whole match was pure action and his opponent Sir Darius Blake had a vanguard shield which is the large triangular shield type and he had it held modified with the handle of the shield could somehow let the shield change its position on the handle.

I watched him use it to go from straight up and down to sweeping up and sideways so he could use the pointed bottom of the shield as a weapon for slash like tip blows or for punching.

And both could pivot so well it was like both battleknights had wheels on their feet.

And exciting, there were so many sparks and smoke off the metal on metal contacts and force and all the noise...just.

I forgot how I had changed from being me even with the bouncing.

I even seen Sir Walter step in and raise the leg of his battleknight high enough to kick with his shin to Sir Darius’s Battleknights knee.

Which dropped his rig to one knee as it buckled…we could hear the wires inside go off with a snapping ping and yet he still fought with sword and shield for three minutes before he was too tired from keeping to battle and defending in an upward fight.

Both those things to all of my experience were basically impossible from what I had ever seen of battleknighting.

And it was new to most folks here too we all exploded off of our seats when it Sir Darius yielded and the match was over.

We were all still excited as we went back to Nicole’s area talking about the match and I’ll admit that it was mostly Nicole and I talking about how they did the things they were doing far more than Jessa and Taylor.

Which feels good too.

It’s like Nicole and I have something that is her’s and mine we shared that sort of slides me in a little more equally with all of their history.

Plus I get to help her tend to her Squire’sknight or well mostly talking still and passing tools to her and to some of her family and folk that I’m getting introduced to as they have all sort of come from the stands to wait for her and to congratulate her on her win.

There’s a lot of that.

And it’s so heartfelt that part of me actually longs for it myself.

My people loved my father and mother and they loved my eldest brother Justin as well. I grew up thinking that we were good folks and had few real enemies and we did well for our folk in our lands.

And that was one of those things that I was going to inherit third son or not. I was going to do things, do whatever I could to help the people in Lyonnes.

And that’s gone; well it’s gone for as long as it’ll take me to find things out and to get strong enough to maybe do something.

But here’s Nicole who has actually done it here today and I know that she’s done more and that she’s already held in high esteem with Lady Tatiana and very much by her folk here.

I’m in that mixture of both awed and wistful and jealous of it all.

But I’m still very, very proud of her too.

With everyone helping it took less than an hour to clean it and to retune and check things over and the rest of the hour to get it on the wagon throne and headed outside of the arena and headed through the streets as a group until we arrive at Nicole’s home of House McKinnon and there’s this large set of walls in the city that surrounds the place made of cut pinkish granite mixed with accents of grey bricks at the corners and edges and there’d two huge sets of doors thrown wide and there’s a small watchtower there that has some youngster ringing a set of bells like those some temples have.

I can’t help but to have a happy smile come to my face as she’s getting such a welcome and that’s made all so much better as Taylor has a fiddle out while someone else is driving the wagon and he starts to play as we’re driving in.