“A gift for you my lady”

The man in front of Ryla was a curious figure. He was around middle aged. With his dark brown hair peppered with flecks of white. Ryla, who was being held a birthday service was told this man was an important guest from the kingdom they traded with across the sea. Apparently, he was a well-known adventurer. He was attending the party to pay his respects an to offer a gift to royalty.

Ryla looked at the small package in the mans outstretched hand. It was an oblong ornate wooden box which was around as long as her forearm. She took the box from the man’s hand and pried the latch open.

What she saw shocked her.

Inside the box was a plain dagger. Ryla blinked and looked further, but all she could see laying upon a velvet that lined the box was a plain and simple dagger, and unlike the jeweled ornamental daggers that she had seen a few nobles carried this was a dagger with no decorations, a dagger that was meant to be used for its intended purpose as a weapon of war rather than as a work of art.

She looked at the bowing man. The man looked up at her smiled. It was the sort of smile that was unlike the other. People would genuflect and work their way into her interests especially as the second eldest child of the queen, but the man in front of her almost seemed amused. His smile carried none of the brownnosing intent that other smiles carried.

“I felt that you would enjoy a gift that had some… practical use.” He said.

For a moment, Ryla was curious about the man in front of her. And once he left she was left stunned holding the box containing the dagger.

A maid quickly moved near her,

“What a brutish gift, you don’t need such things my lady let me take this away from you” She said as she reached towards the box in Ryla’s hand.

Ryla instantly pulled the box away. Despite the fact that the man had given her such a simple gift, she didn’t feel offended rather she felt as if the man had seen through her, the lies and façade that made up her outward appearance.

It was a frustrating feeling.

Still, she quickly removed him from her mind and focused on the task at hand. The man was an oddity for sure, but she chalked his behavior to a quirk of the kingdom he came from.

The maid seemed slightly surprised at Ryla’s response.

“My lady, you really don’t need such trifling things” The maid took a look in the direction of the adventurers who had walked off.

“Really, giving such a gift to royalty, and a child no less. The people of Faramouth are truly uncouth. I will send a notice to ask for an official apology” The maid said with a slightly disgruntled expression.

“I don’t mind the gift,” Ryla said staring off into the distance

“Who was that man?” She asked looking towards the maid.

“Why that’s Gildron Legue, he’s was apparently top adventurers over in Faramouth, though I heard his spot has since been taken by a new upstart.” The maid explained.

[Gildron…] Ryla thought.

The fact he was an adventurers made sense. She could tell from his stance and the way he walked that he had the trappings of a warrior. There was a certain grace in the way he carried himself. Ryla could not understand why the maid would call him “uncouth”.

She opened the box again and took out the dagger, holding it in her hand. The leather handle was warmed and fit her hand well. She felt the edge of her hand brush up against the small cross guard and felt the slight sting of the smooth cool metal.

The dagger was heavy, heavier than Ryla expected.

[So this is what a weapon feels like] She thought giving the dagger a few small lifts, testing it’s weight.

Holding the dagger gave Ryla an indescribable feeling. It didn’t feel good, rather it felt… cold.

[To kill my siblings I need to hold something like this one day.] Ryla thought.

She thought back the small tottering toddler she had seen that morning. The small child named Fawks who excited jumped into her arms.

Ryla could feel her hand clenching the dagger in front of her, trembling slightly.

“My lady are you alright” The maid asked giving a concerned expression.

Ryla relaxed her tense body. Despite that, she felt something within her harden.

“Yes, I am alright” She said.

She would meet that man again.

Kitsura

Do we remember Gildron? Very old reference that I've been planning for literalllllyyyy months.