Vitae Memorandum

02-Legends Unleashed

Sunlight split the dawn of a brand new day. The Guardhall of the Shieldbearers came alive well before dawn.

Qheria had been awake already for hours, hard at work, as usual. She was a devoted Shieldbearer, a knight of the people. The Guardhall had been her home even as a young child, and even now, still so young, remained her home to this day. Each day she spent in earnest, in the shadows of her mother, a legendary hero of the ages. Xyithy may be her mother, but she was also her aspiration. Each day was another day of improvement, to reach higher and higher, to reach a level everyone expected of her, she included. The daughter of a great hero, it was inevitable, of course.

She wasn't alone. Everyone in the Guardhall looked up to her mother, reaching forward to their own measure of fame. Voices clattered behind her and she worked.

"Was there any news from last night's incident?" "Yeah, the target was found safely and returned home." It wasn't like the Shieldbearers were military. The Guardhall might look like some kind of foreboding cathedral, but the politics within were neither religious nor military. Their role was to look after their people. "I heard the little girl was rather adorable too!" The people.. including their kids. When it came to fighting, her opponents were naught more than bandits, thieves, and other criminals. Sometimes, wildlife from the woods would show up, cause problems, and she might be called to deal with that too. Some Shieldbearers, like the woman who just spoke, weren't even interested in the fighting aspects. Which worked out well then, because usually their jobs just involved things like searching for lost children, maybe a missing purse.

She flipped through the morning's paperwork, some minor cases still not resolved. The next page on the stack, a dispute between two farmers, as a horse was caught grazing upon the other's cornfield across it's fence. Both argued that the other was supposed to leave such goods farther from such a barrier, it was almost hopeless. It was much like the others in the selfsame stack.

"Qheria, you're on duty for patrol of the market square in almost an hour. You should be getting ready, shouldn't you?" Technically, she should be doing paperwork until that one hour mark begins, so it's not like she was behind or anything. Still, it was pretty clear she was being told that she was getting in the way, and things here would be taken care of. Like clockwork, she got her stuff together and included her shield as the finishing touch, the icon of her occupation. It was a small kiteshield, adorned with the blue and gold crest of the same occupation, and unassuming fortress wreathed in light. It was her mother that had came up with the selfsame crest, though she never did figure out the source of its inspiration. It looked cheesy, nonetheless. The fortress was probably supposed to show strength of fortitude, but considering the heroic event her mother had gotten her great reputation from originated from the structural failure of the castle of the crown and her heroic rescue of the royal family amidst the collapse, it seemed ill-fitting. Still, at least it was a thing, there could certainly have been worse.

Having started early, she was similarly prepared early. Her partner, not so much. She glanced up at the sky and its passage of time, getting worried about falling behind. Several minutes later, her partner finally arrived, passing her with hardly a care. She hurried to join step.

"Qheria, you're late. The Shieldbearers does not tolerate delinquency, and leaving your partner here waiting for you isn't doing them any justice either." The previous patrol had intercepted her partner and caught her stepping behind. Having been left on patrol late, they placed the blame on the most obvious culprit. "I- I was just.. just over.." "I don't want to hear it. I'll be certain to report my complaints. Just don't screw up any worse, like you usually do."

Like usual, because this has happened all the time. She's always worked probably harder than anyone, and no one has ever noticed. Then, because she is so easy to walk all over, she would gets blamed for everything. Worst, she wasn't exactly capable of standing up for herself either, fighting back, or defending herself. She looked after others way more than she looked after herself.