41 Rhoswen Solone

_Rhoswen Solone_

Rhoswen had neglected to think about what leaving here meant. The girl hadn't realized she would go missing in the eyes of her father, and after they had been having a growing number of arguments lately too. To him it would feel as though he had neglected her, and to outside audiences it would appear as though the spoiled little delusional girl ran away after not getting what she wanted too many times. But this was not so.

She had a higher calling than being a spoiled brat, she was going to save people. Rhoswen loved her father dearly, after all he was the only parent she had left- and she refused to think of her step mother as a real mother for her. The woman was a rat.

Rhoswen was going to save people; even if it wasn't the world, at least she could save these seven. She could make a difference to them and that's what mattered. If it meant hurting her father, then that was an unfortunate side to things but not enough to stop her from doing what was right.

But the girl had neglected another thought. She had not thought about how it was she was going to arrive at this academy. So when she left with as little as she could take, she found herself in a situation she had never been in before. Alone and vulnerable outside the grounds of the castle she had grown up in.Though it was true this woman was guiding her on where to go, she was not really there. If something were to happen to Rhoswen, this woman would not be able to save her. The wilds were no place for a little girl to be.

She had been walking for hours now, the bag on her back making her shoulders ache terribly. She was not accustomed to activities such as these, having grown up a wealthy lords daughter with servants at her beck and call. Her feet hurt too, already feeling the pain of approaching blisters. The girl had not been aware that there were better shoes for walking long distances in. She had put on her regular dress shoes which were now dirtied and likely ruined. Speaking of ruined, the dress she was wearing now was tearing at the bottom not to mention covered in dirt. It had grown heavy on her as she walked, so much so she wished she had worn a lighter one.

"I was a fool to agree to this," she huffed and puffed as she walked. They were walking through fields at this point, staying off the main roads as not to attract unwanted attention. The only downside of this was that there were much more obstacles to cover, not to mention it would take longer to arrive at their destination. "Where are we going anyway?" She asked the woman who easily walked along side her.

"Not far from here there is a town, I managed to move closer to you since our last conversation. Lucky me you said yes and I hadn't wasted my time," the woman said with a smile. "My body would be there waiting,"

"Why didn't you just greet me yourself in person this time?" Rhoswen found herself asking.

"Too dangerous for me, besides it's a lot easier to sneak into a castle when you're invisible."

"Oh..." Rhoswen mumbled out, thinking to herself. "How did you find me anyway?"

"People talk. Word was out that Lord Solone wanted a seasoned medicine practitioner. After that was out, rumor spread fairly fast." The woman explained to her.

"And you just blindly trust Rumors?" The blonde girl asked now.

The woman laughed lightly. "Of course not. Part of why our organization is so successful is because we have ways of finding people like you and me," she clarified.

"How?"

"It's not my place to say, perhaps you will learn when you join us."

Rhoswen frowned, her brows furrowing with suspicion. "But I am joining now,"

"You have yet to join, you are merely on your way to do so." The woman told her.

"Well that's a bit silly. Why not tell me now?"

"Rules dear, rules."

The blonde girl turned blue eyes to the ground where she was walking, making sure she didn't fall over, especially with her dress catching on everything. "Your organization is strange. It is hard not to be suspicious of you and your motives,"

"Aye, it is good to be suspicious of strange people and places. But I assure you it is not necessary now. The only thing you need to worry about is those who may seek to harm you out here. My ability is useful for finding people and relaying messages but I cannot physically intervene if something were to happen." The dark haired woman said calmly, as if this weren't one of the most dangerous things for a noble girl to do.

Many people out there wished harm upon her family name and if they came upon her now there would be no stopping them from bringing harm upon her. She was vulnerable out here. Rhoswen may have been educated but it was only to the extent of maths, history, reading and light philosophy. She did not know how to live off the land, nor did she know how to defend herself from an attacker. Out here she was merely a sitting duck.

"I was a fool for agreeing," Rhoswen repeated. "I am being led to my death," she concluded. "My shoulders and feet hurt, not to mention my dress and shoes are getting torn to bits!"

The woman chuckled at the blonde little girl's words. "When we get to the manor you will get a uniform assigned to you. Trust me it will be more comfortable than this heavy mop of a dress,"

Rhoswen narrowed her eyes. "I happened to have liked this dress before it was ruined,"

"Nobles and their fancy dresses," the woman sighed aloud.

"What is that supposed to mean? This dress was hardly fancy,"

The woman started to laugh a little now. "Perhaps in your world. However a humbled peasant girl such as myself would disagree with you, as well as the rest of the commonwealth."

Rhoswen frowned again, unsure how to respond to that. She was silent for a long time before she spoke up again. "What do the uniforms look like? Do they look like yours?"

The woman gave her another smile. "There are different uniforms. You'd be receiving the girls student uniform which is different from what I am wearing. You get a cloak instead of an entire sleeved robe like I have and your dress is different from what I have under this robe. It is difficult to explain so it is better to see it in person."

"What uniform do you have?" She found herself asking next.

"That would require explaining the hierarchy within the academy which would break our rules regarding telling outsiders information," she said simply now.

Rhoswen's hand came to her face and she ran it down in light irritation. Again with the small things she was not to be told. It was starting to rub her the wrong way.

"Have patience. Your questions are soon to be answered."

"Perhaps I'd have more patience if your plan hadn't put me in extreme danger," she said irritably and gestured to the open field around them. Hills were in the distance, soon to be mountains. How much longer did she have to walk? She was certain her shoes could not survive the mountains let alone her body as a whole.

"Look around yourself dear, there is no one around. I'm leading you safely to my location," the woman replied calmly.

"For all I know you could be leading me to my demise and I was daft enough to let you," she muttered to herself.

The woman chuckled at this. "If that was true I could have had you dead by now. I do not work alone, you know."

"Ahh yes, you and your secret organization," Rhoswen said now, gripping the straps of her bag tightly. "Tch, so secret you can't even tell me your name that you claimed not to have,"

"I was stripped of my name long ago," the woman told her cooly. "This is likely not something I am permitted to tell you but if a little information will ease you, I will share some. When you get to the level I am, you are under strict scrutiny. Our organization is very forgiving, but only after a time. If you misstep at the rank I am at, your name and identity are stripped from you. Now, I cannot tell you what it is that I had done, but let me tell you now that it is very easy to misstep. Mistakes are expected, and as such you are punished like this." She explained to Rhoswen now. "But as I said they are very forgiving, it only takes time. I must prove myself as an individual so that I may gain a new name, and thus become a new person. It is quite like rebirth."

"A new name? That just sounds cruel," Rhoswen said, feeling as though she could not understand this subject as best as this woman could.

"Perhaps to some, but to people currently stripped of their person it is quite eye opening. In this way we get to choose who we want to be, rather than what people allow us to be." She said confidently.

"But they spark this, do they not? They are forcing you in this way to become someone else because you have made a mistake. It does not sound very forgiving to me..."

The woman's eyes narrowed as she shot a quick withering glance to Rhoswen. "You simply do not understand. I will not talk of this anymore. I shared too much." She huffed out before turning her eyes back to the way they were walking.

Rhoswen was conflicted now, feeling bad she had scrutinized this woman's beliefs, but at the same time her words still stood. This did not seem as forgiving and rebirthing as the woman had said it was. If Rhoswen were to make it through this organization's ranks, would this happen to her? She did not want to become a new person- she quite liked her name and who she was.

No, she thought. This wouldn't happen to her. She would never make it to that rank. She had to remind herself what she was going there for. It was not to belong anywhere or to make any friends. She cared not for this organization but rather to meet one of the seven. She had to remember to meet Ryus, Kehan and Savarine in the woods that were in between the capital Denheim and faun gaia.

She would need a vision for this though, and perhaps going to this academy would help her achieve that vision. If she could learn this power then she could use it when she needed it. It could mean the difference between life and death for many. Even as young as she was, she was indeed aware of its importance.

Suddenly Rhoswen was lurched from her thoughts as she fell forward into the ground. They had walked into some trees, and unbeknownst to her there was roots sticking up out of the ground. As the blonde girl fell she let out a sound of surprise before her hands slapped into the ground and she crashed to her knees.

The dark haired woman gave her a curious glance, her own feet phasing through the roots that littered the ground. Amusement lit up her eyes as she gazed at the girl who was now making a face having fallen so hard.

"I scuffed up my hands," she pouted to herself.

"You will only scuff up more from this point on, dear. Gone are your fancy castle ways, from now on you will feel all sorts of unpleasant things,"

Rhoswen frowned, pushing herself up from the ground. Things would get more painful then? She wasn't a fan of pain, though she had her fair share of soreness from her visions. Still she strode on with the nameless woman by her side. "What do I call you anyway then? If you no longer have a name," she asked out of the blue, having moved on from her scuffed hands.

The woman shrugged. "I am typically referred to as acolyte."

Rhoswen nodded to this and that was the last of their talking for a long while. They kept on walking through trees that slowly grew thicker, her dress having ripped to shreds at the bottom and her feet wearing through her shoes some. Her shoulders felt as though they were going to fall off, and her feet felt the same. She kept this discomfort silent however, not wanting to complain anymore than she already had this trip. It was likely she would have blisters on her feet seeming as how they burned, stung, and ached but the girl did her best to ignore it.

It seemed hours longer before they finally made it to a village. The blonde girl had sighed in relief upon arrival. It wasn't long before they reached an inn and the woman dispersed suddenly. Rhoswen had then looked around frantically to see if anyone had seen but no one had taken notice. She felt awkward standing in the doorway of the inn, unsure what to do.

However she was not waiting long before that same woman came swiftly down the stairs and greeted her at the door. "Rhoswen dear," she said with a smile. The woman came up and took Rhoswen's hand into her own. "It's nice to finally be physically in your presence," she said with a smile. The blonde girl opened her mouth but was cut off by the dark haired woman. "Come, we will talk in my room," she said with a smile and Rhoswen followed after her.

Once they entered the inn room the girl was delighted to finally sit down, exhausted from her travels this day. She had not been prepared for such a taxing journey and the thought that this was still not over yet had her chewing on her bottom lip.

"We will rest here for the night and by morning I will let you ride with me on horseback the rest of the way to the manner." The woman explained.

Rhoswen was less than thrilled to be moving again so soon but she accepted it with a nod nonetheless. "Have you been here this whole time?"

"Aye, laying on the bed in a sort of slumber,"

"Slumber?"

"When I astral project as I have when I met and led you here, it looks as though I am sleeping," she explained.

"You did that all alone?" Rhoswen asked with concern.

A new voice joined the room that slightly startled the little girl. "I was watching over her," a man said. Rhoswen looked up to see a robed man in the same robes as the nameless acolyte woman. "Do you must be the lordling girl? Rhoswen was it? You're a tiny little thing,"

Rhoswen inspected this man, instantly cautious of his appearance. He didn't seem too kind of a man, hardened by experiences she could never dream of. "Aye, I am. And you would be?"

He gave her a smile of sorts. "No name, I'm just another Acolyte,"

"Like her then?" Rhoswen motioned to the nameless woman.

"Aye," he said with a nod.

"You all certainly keep a lot of secrets. It is rather hard to trust you this way,"

"Yet you are here," the man said. "In the presence of two strangers who give promise of magic and a place to belong,"

"You make it sound as though those were false promises," Rhoswen said with narrowing eyes.

The man chuckled and shook his head. "No, those were true." He assured her now. "Tell me, have your little visions shown you anything of us?"

"No not really," she answered.

"Not really?"

"I have seen robes of yours in my visions."

"Seen anyone in particular?"

Rhoswen was quiet for a long time, unsure if she should answer. Was sharing this information with him safe? These people... she was still unsure if it was alright to trust them. Finally, she caved. "There was a boy... he's pale and has bright red hair... ahh there's a scar around his neck,"

The man raised a brow. "Sounds like that new kid, what was the lad's name?"

The woman hummed before she answered. "Vienice something I believe it was, he's a strange boy. Not too good with people, that one."

"That's putting it lightly," the man said with a snort. "That kids a freak. You should stay away from him,"

"Actually," Rhoswen started hesitantly. "I'd like to meet him if I could,"

The nameless man and woman shared glances with each other, silent for a moment. "We will have to see about that," the man answered her. "For now it is best to get settled in before going around and introducing yourself to strange boys you saw in a vision," the man told her.

The woman looked at Rhoswen curiously now, "what had you seen of this Vienice, anyhow?"

The blonde girl swallowed, unsure what there was that she should say. "I merely saw him in a vision without much explanation," she said simply. It was a half truth but it would have to do. "They rarely show me anything I can fully comprehend," another half truth.

"Well I suppose it's good that you are coming with us then. Soon you'll be able to make sense of these visions." The woman said with a smile, the man nodding along.

"Well, it is getting rather late, is it not? Best to get some rest as we have long travels in the morrow." The man said now, giving a partial wave to the two girls. "My room is just one down from here on the left. Knock if you need me,"

"Goodnight to you," the woman said with a nod as the man left. She then moved to sit on one of the two beds that was in this room. "We wake early to eat and then we head off, so get some rest," she instructed the girl.

Rhoswen nodded silently and laid down on her own bed, but sleep was not so quick to come to her. She was in an unfamiliar bed in an even more unfamiliar place and leaving herself open like this was dangerous. This entire thing was dangerous- a mistake.

It had been childish of her to so easily allow herself to make this decision. She grimaced realizing that her short 12 years on this earth left her naive enough to come all this way. Perhaps she could sneak back? But that would have been a waste of time. She needed to find the red hair boy... Vienice she recalled his name. It was too late to turn back when she was already this close.

Hopefully her visions came through and would show her when Ryus and Kehan would escape with Savarine. It didn't seem like an easy task to do- she wasn't so sure now that they could do it. Every plan she made with them seemed to fall through and fail. But before she could only put in the effort, now it was up to them. Perhaps this Savarine girl knew things they didn't. Perhaps she was the key to escaping. Rhoswen could only hope.

The days travel had her exhausted, and finally she found herself drifting off to sleep. She had never walked so far in her life.