Children of the North(Richter)

[Clair Feldsky]

(Who knows when this happens. Richter you got any ideas?)

Clair was carrying her lance through the camp on the way to the practice targets. Recently, she had been thinking of home, the snowy mountains and plains of the Illian north. She had decided to go and beat on the some of the targets in the hopes that it would help clear her head. After all, she didn't think that she should be thinking about that now. She had responsibilities in the army and had to keep up performance there.

She didn't know how the Commander managed to keep up with all of his stuff, without stray thoughts distracting him. It was kind of overwhelming to her, but she was coping.

[Richter Abend]

(Let's just make it a random camp stop on the way to Ostia)

Richter spotted Clair moving through camp. The soldiers were all settled for the evening, and not having anything to do at the moment, Richter thought he'd strike up a conversation with his second in command. Now that he thought about it, he didn't really know her all that well save for the fact that she arrived as an Ilian mercenary like him. It was always good to know your troops.
"Assistant Officer Feldsky," he said to get her attention. "You look distracted. Life as an enlisted soldier not quite what you expected?"

[Clair Feldsky]

Clair heard the commander call to an assistant officer. It took her a few more steps before the name registered and she remembered she was the Assistant Officer. She turned and and looked to the High Officer of the Army. She didn't want to worry him that these new duties were too much, but it was a big change from what she was used to.

She let herself sigh as she spoke to Richter. "I suppose not, Sir. Nothing except experience could have prepared me for these duties, but that's not what I'm thinking about. I was thinking of Illia and the people still there." There was a short pause before Clair continued. "All the winds here on the plains remind me of the ones I used to ride on in Illia."

She'd met some good people here. The Commander had looked out for her right from the start, and Kynlis was trying to help the army despite her own hard background. The experience itself was more valuable than any monetary rewards. She thought her family back home would be glad that she had managed to snare such a good job, though they might not appreciate her joining as a part of the army instead of as a merc. She wondered if Richter thought of his own home in Illia.

[Richter Abend]

Richter paused.
"Ilia..." he said slowly, his face growing dark. "I try not to think about home. Though I find that's impossible." Richter grabbed a nearby barrel and sat down. "Ilia's cold and lifeless. There's a reason everyone becomes mercenaries: they want to get out of there."

Richter's mind flashed back to his old village, the burnt down home he left. The bodies of his mother, brothers, and the merchant; his dying father coughing up blood upon his deathbed. The cold, harsh blizzard he trekked through to leave. A land so barren that villages ruled themselves because they couldn't be bothered to communicate with one another. A land ruled by the sword. A land ruled by survival.
It was everything that had made Richter who he was today, and he despised it.

"Yes, thinking of Ilia would make me forlorn as well."

[Clair Feldsky]

She snatched another barrel and joined him. He really didn't like Illia it seemed. She wasn't particularly dismayed. All the things he said were true, but there was so much more than the negatives.

Clair remembered the other trainees. All struggling to improve their meager skills until they could be a help to their families. Much of it was an empty wilderness, scoured of any waste by the scavengers that made their home in the frigid north. A place where the strong depended on the weak, and an entire village would pull together for survival. A land which tested it's occupants to their limits. A land which hardened the resolve to live.
It was everything that had made Clair who she was today, and she respected it.

"Actually, I was thinking more of my training in Arphen. The trainees in my group... they had such hope for the future. Some of them spoke of wishing to shape the world with their actions. A few were more realistic, and only spoke of trying to get a good reputation. I guess I was just reminicing about some old memories. Where have they gone with their life?"

She, of course had had a good break being chosen as the aide to the, now High Officer.

[Richter Abend]

Richter crossed his arms and looked down.
"I was never part of a trainee sqaud. All my mercenary training was done through my family," he said matter-of-factly. "My father and my brothers, they were quite famous for Ilian mercenaries. Strong too. My mother was a mercenary too, but she quit in order to raise me and my siblings. I imagine you've probably heard of the Abends before you met me." Richter sighed. "I never really had any dreams of my own. It just seemed natural that I would follow the rest of my family, and I never gave it a second thought. I lived mercenary work. It was my food. It was my air. It was how I found meaning in life. For an Ilian, it was the best thing I could get." Richter's face grew dark. "Then it was all taken away..." Richter stopped talking. An awkward silence fell upon the conversation.

[Clair Feldsky]

"Oh. So he's part of that Abend clan." The name, though not exactly well known to the pegasus squire, had been mentioned some. Enough that she had heard of them, and knew that they were skilled warriors.

"Then it was all taken away..." She heard her Commander say this. Such a painful story, and far too common in Illia. It was a dangerous land.

After a moment Clair asked. "High Officer, why did you fight? When you were a mercenary, before you became High Officer." It was a rather wide subject she supposed, but he seemed like the type to have thought of that. He'd said fighting was his life, that he lived it, but there had to be more to it than that.

[Richter Abend]

Richter shrugged, but the darkness did not leave his face.
"Survival mostly," he said. "I didn't know much more than being a mercenary. The pay was better than becoming some sort of errand boy at least." Richter kicked a nearby rock into a tent pole. The tent shuddered and its canvas fluttered with the motion. "But there was always the death of my family hanging over my head. I had left my sister alone in Ilia, my last surviving kin, and I always wanted to go back to her, to take care of her, but I couldn't. I couldn't let go. I was too weak." Richter looked at the ground. Why was he telling her all of this? He didn't know. "I swore that I wouldn't go home until I had done my part in ending the same oppression that had taken the lives of my family," he said, looking back up at Clair. "Don't think I'm a fool, though. I know I cannot end evil. It will always be there, I just..." Richter stopped. He didn't know what to say.

"Why do you fight? Why have you come so far from home?"

[Clair Feldsky]

She couldn't see Richter as an errand boy, so she knew why he'd become a merc instead. He seemed to project an air of calm and purpose most of the time, even when he'd been speaking to his superiors.

He'd gone from home for a variety of reasons, but the purpose he'd settled on was to try and better the world.

He asked why she had traveled out to be a mercenary. After putting a bit of thought into it, she had an answer, though it wasn't the one she'd been expecting. She'd thought that people needed an important, defining reason to go out and search for war, but it could really come down to things like...

"I guess, it was just what I was taught. What I knew how to do." It really sounded similar to Richter's story when put like that. "Both my parents are accomplished Illian mercenaries, so I just kind of fell into the same job. My mother, Hera, got me into the pegasus training, and I took to it myself. I left so I could get some experience on my own while I got some jobs."

She bumped her heels against the barrel she was sitting on as she considered her reasons for fighting. It felt right to her. She wanted to be the one soaring in the sky, assisting the soldiers on the ground. Of course, if she served efficiently it also reflected well on Illia. That would help the people at home eventually.

"I thought people had to have some all-encompassing ideal to fight in an army, but I'm not so sure now. I'd like to think I've got a good purpose in mind, but mostly I'm just fighting because I was trained to. I think I'm going to take a closer view of my reasons, and maybe adopt some of yours. Commander, I'll gladly add my lance to destroying oppression." She gave him a small smile after giving her piece.

[Richter Abend]

Richter looked up at Clair. He nodded but his face remained solemn and taciturn. Fighting because she was trained to. It made sense. Not everyone in life had missions or vendettas. Some people were just...normal.
Inside, Richter smiled.
Up until now it had always felt like him against the world. Having one more person fighting on his side, well, that was a start.

Standing up, Richter straightened out his uniform.
"Fighting isn't something you have to think about, Clair, it's just something you do. Us Ilians know that the best," said Richter, adjusting his glasses. "I'm going to go back to my tent." Richter turned took a few steps, then stopped. He turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder. "I'm glad to have you fighting with me. We'll fight until there's no more fighting to be done. That's what we trained for, right?" Looking ahead, Richter continued back to his tent. They had a long march ahead of them. He just hoped they would make it in time.