The Crown Jewel

A Crown Jewel: Arrival

Chapter 1: Arrival

Weiss sighed as the ship rocked to the right. She had been traveling south for a couple of days now, on some stupid mission from her father, the Duke of Mantle.

"Good morning, Your Grace." Her attendant, Klien began with a slight bow, "I have just been informed that we will be arriving in Vale by midday."

The Schnee glanced up at the sky and saw the sun was only a quarter of the way to midday. She sighed.

"Well, we expect there to at least be some form of negativity to your arrival, the war has just ended after all." Klien informed the princess, "But overall we expect a warm welcome from those who you'll be staying with."

The Arc Family, one of the royal families of Vale, and the most powerful family in Vale (besides the King's of course). Her father had faced Nicholas Arc in the war and defeated him at the siege of Arcon, the ancestral home of the Arc family.

From what she had been told, Nicholas Arc managed to buy enough time and kill enough men to force her father to retreat when Lord Winchester arrived a day later. However, Nicholas Arc was killed in the battle, taking down countless soldiers.

"Do we have anything that can help ease the Arcs, if I'm correct Nicholas has just been buried." Weiss glanced over her shoulder and toward Klien, "I want to make a good impression."

"I believe that simply apologizing and laying flowers at his grave would be a good way to start," Klien answered after a moment of silence, "These sort of scars don't heal easily, I'm sure you understand."

The princess's grip grew on the wooden railing in front of her, "Scars don't heal, they mend."

As midday came around they made their way into the port of Vale. It was enclosed by a small seawall with the entrance flanked by two large Lighthouses on either side. Weiss could see soldiers walking in the balconies on patrol, she turned her eyes toward the city itself.

Near the port there were several large buildings with the royal banner marking their importance, she assumed it was inspecting the imports and exports before they were sent out to where they needed to go.

Her eyes moved toward the city itself, which was blocked by a wall twenty feet in height. However what was visible from behind the wall was a variety of clocktowers, churches, and the King's palace.

The King's palace was a tower in the center of Beacon Castle, a fort and training ground for fresh troops and home of the royal guards.

With a slow lurch forward, the ship slowed to a stop and lowered the ramp down to the dock. When Weiss turned her gaze to those waiting for her she saw two different banners and a variety of soldiers.

One of the banners was the Royal Valen banner, two axes in a crossguard over a green shield. The other banner was that of the Arc family, two golden crescent moons over a white background.

The Valen guards wore a variety of plate armor with large Shields and Spears while the Arc soldiers wore a white cloak with their emblem embroidered onto it, with chainmail underneath and armed with a shield and sword.

In front of the formation was a tall blonde man, she guessed he was around her age. He wore a large white cloak that was draped behind him (she assumed the Arc emblem was on it as well) an iron chest plate, boots, and gauntlets. In his right hand, his hand rested on his blade, in his left he held a white kite shield with the Arc emblem. To his right was a large man, about a head taller than the blonde. He wore a full suit of armor with the Arc symbol on his chest, sheathed on the left side of his hip was a longsword.