Knife in the Dark

Epilouge

Years came and went. I grew into the shoes that no one had ever believed that I could possibly fill. My friends never left me. I eventually made amends with Voulge. I made my way forward in the world. There was nothing on the earth that was able to stop all of us from reaching our final destination. It was hilarious how my friends just partnered up and became the couples that eventually grew up and had children of their own.

Rapier and Voulge married shortly after both gained control of their respective lands. They had two children, by the names of Aaron and Adelina, both of whom grew to be just like their parents, strong minded and natural leaders. The children were often sent off to come and visit their godparents, who were Glaive and Raven, but would sometimes come across the border to Sandros to visit Victoria and I, where we would always find the best thing for them to do, whether it was riding or feeding or any other manner of things, they loved it. They would often sit and chat as well, telling me what was happening up north, which was great to hear about from their point of view.

Glaive and Raven had a daughter by the name of Tia, who spent a lot of the time riding with the native tribes in Sloce, but still was under the watchful eye of both parents. She enjoyed the riding so much that the tribes always met her at the city gates whenever she came to visit them. She grew into the boisterous and playful character that her parents had been like all their lives. Whenever I looked at her, I could just picture Raven as she was all those years ago back when all we did was attack dummies with blades. Tia was a character that was funny one minute and cruel the next, and this attitude meant that she learnt how to master the art of the silver tongue, which reminded me again of Diana in so many ways.

Katana and Sling had a wonderful life in the alpine region to the west of Sloce. They held many meetings in the mountains, each with a long and treacherous hike up the mountains. But their three children, Ezra, Ida and Kaleb, all sprang up the mountain like mountain goats, with no care for their safety, just looking for a laugh and a good time, which mimicked their parents so well that I often confused them for their parents, to which they would playfully make fun of me with a joke about how I was too old to remember things properly, to which I would laugh as well. They would always have a way of setting off a practical joke that would end up with everyone laughing around the fireplace with blankets to keep themselves warm and their recently wet clothes drying in the corner, which was always a delight and everyone looked forward to it.

Guisarme and Lochaber were always distant, as their land was in the most northern region of the continent, but they would still take the time to come down with their feisty fistball of youth, Rory, who was so feisty that he had been given a weapon to use three years older than what we had been given, which was terrible, but if it somehow calmed the kid I had no quarrel with the idea, just as long as he didn't hurt anyone. He was the complete opposite of his parents, and so I learnt to help mediate whenever I was around, as neither of the parents had dealt with such a problem before. Rory was not very well liked by the other kids, who would always play hide and seek and make him have to go find them, which became unfair in some parts, as they would run too far and then circle back, so I became friends with him, and he would often come and talk to me if ever he wanted to talk to someone or he felt lonely.

Victoria and I ruled on in the southern end of the continent, which became known for its horses and many flocked to buy a purebred stallion or mare. Maison, our only son, grew up surrounded by the stallions of Sandros and rode Anton a lot. He bonded with Tia, as they both shared similar stories and hobbies, so they were almost a match made in heaven, though I never really thought about it. Maison was to some respects like myself and Victoria. He loved music and art and formed a strong relationship with everyone, which made him someone that many people loved to have around.

Maison, along with the others, were each given a weapon to use in turn, and while most of them did not get them until they were much older, Maison got his at the age of nine, which was a strange idea that popped into my head. He refused to use knives, however, as he said that those were for myself and that I would always overshadow him in such circumstances. He instead chose to train using a kusarigama, which meant that he spent a lot of his teenage years with Katana, who had learnt a lot about Japanese style weapons during his time, which meant that Maison was often sent off up there, where Sling would have a laugh with him about how Sloce and Dres was going, and help him with his . That meant that he spent a lot of his time there, joking around with Sling about what was happening in Sloce and Dres, as well as smuggling his school work, which he had been subjected to, up into their palace for help.

Maison also travelled a lot, and even found an island, which he became lord of, but that is most definitely for him to tell, and not me.