Avalon

Chapter 3

AEGISIA

Three days had passed since the Knight's arrival in Carlisle. She had managed to begin the preliminary work necessary for the construction of a Knighthood in Carlisle, careful to inform the Mother of all of her intentions – where she would harvest the cobbles, where she would find the wood to make the building, as well as allow her to venture into the work area at her own leisure. Though the Mother's insistence upon being involved meant that her Knights had to work slower, Aegisia was not at all impatient with the disturbances.

After the second night of their stay, Ser Kaia and her dispatch of Knights had returned with news that they chased the Blighted yokai to the east as far as the border. Aegisia hadn't doubted Kaia for an instant, putting her faith in the woman's determined need to fulfill her duties to the best of their abilities.

Ser Kaia was among the Knight-Lieutenants that made up Aegisia's own honor guard. She was a ferocious fighter, preferring to use an axe and a shield – as her father before her once did. She was the only daughter of Artaius, and Aegisia's cousin. Kaia was older than Aegisia herself, and they had graduated in around the same time from the Knighthood. When she rode confidently back astride her deep-blue ave, Aegisia had been among the first to greet her – though Kaia made a show of barely noticing her presence, much to the Knight-Commander's amusement.

'This is how it's done, Knights!' the blond-haired lady of the ax had bellowed to the Knights drinking around campfires, her statement amplified by the triumphant woops and shouts of the Knights riding behind her. When she brought her aves to their makeshift paddock filled with hundreds of the birds, she'd marched out and thrown a shameless wink towards Aegisia, taunting, 'Didn't miss me, did you?'

Aegisia had given her the pleasure of seeing her roll her eyes.

There had been much to do in the days since they arrived. Hunting, fishing, chopping wood, organizing patrols, organizing the building of the Knighthood, and helping the people set up permanent watchmen posts to the east of the village.

Opting to be among the Knights to help with the physical labor of the work, Aegisia had seldom donned her armor in the past couple of days. She'd made a mess of her blouses, earning the ire of one of the Sisters when she'd attempted to clean her clothes in the river. The woman had rushed to her side, slapped her hands away from her own clothes, and had frantically insisted that her clothes be washed properly by her. Aegisia had allowed the woman to take her clothes with some resistance, which went largely ignored, and she had been teased by a few of the Knights nearby who had seen the ordeal happen. She'd hung her head in shame when her clothes were returned to her, feeling childish for having had her clothes taken and washed for her. Upon receiving them, she realized they'd been perfumed for her as well.

For all the shame she was made to endure in regards to her clothes, she had at least made up for it in hard work. She, along with a small team of fellow Knights, and a few woodworkers, had managed to build the frame for what would be a watchtower at the east of the village. The building would stand twenty meters tall – short, as watchtowers go. However, it was all the that was needed – as there were no forests to the east and the land was relatively flat.

Now, Aegisia looms over her desk, reading over the letter that had made its way to her from King's Seat.

King Uthyr's messenger falcons were swift, able to fly the many miles between Carlisle and King's Seat in a day or two easily. In his letter, he'd written to her of her half-brother's plans to join her in the coming days. Morien was planning on sailing down the Saint Aegisia, a trip that would normally take as long as a week – give or take a couple of days.