While posted at Stark Keep, Elyriel learned a great deal about Winterfell, its citizens, and the allies and foes the Kingdom had accumulated over the years. She spent most of her time defending the Keep, which at first just meant fighting off the occasional wandering monster. Of course, the Shadowclan, Undead, Drow, and Crimsons made appearances too. But Elyriel was also sparring with Wraith and Sterling, so at least her combat skills were advancing enough to keep up.
Unfortunately, the King and Queen didn’t learn about Elyriel becoming a squire until a while after she had started training. The topic came up one evening when Daca wheedled Elyriel into tagging along to a dinner the royals were having with some folks, including Lyta, Vethnos Vth’naar, and Myca Vodyanoy. Elyriel had just finished up a patrol near Stark when Daca popped in for a visit. He mentioned the gathering, and of course, had a perfectly good excuse for her to go too.
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Elyriel Winters: I don’t know if the King wants me listening in
Daca Ratavykos: *shrug*
Daca Ratavykos: Then just say something like…
Daca Ratavykos: “Sir Vraith told me to keep an eye on the vampire”.
Daca Ratavykos: *chuckles*
Elyriel Winters: *grins*
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For those of you who knew Daca the character, I don’t need to explain much more. For those of you who didn’t…. well, he was a unique soul to say the least. He could be a smooth-talking, joke-making playboy when he wanted, and alternately, he could be a sinister son-of-a-bitch when he wanted too. It just depended on where you stood with him and what the circumstances were. Early on, Elyriel was in his good graces, so she mostly saw the lighthearted side. But you couldn’t forget that he was indeed a vampire. Not to mention second-in-command of the Covenant. *shakes head* With Myca and Daca leading them, that was a fascinating group of characters.
Anyway, I digress…
With Daca’s encouragement, they went ahead and crashed the party. Elyriel was horribly uncomfortable throughout, although Daca did his best to put her at ease. Toward the middle of the evening, the King mentioned that he wanted to speak to Elyriel afterward, and things went downhill from there. The rest of the party dispersed, leaving Elyriel, King William, and Queen Jocelyn. Elyriel didn’t know what to expect, although she figured some sort of rebuke was coming. She wasn’t quite prepared for this though.
Log – The King and Queen’s First Objections
Talk about one hell of a wrinkle to put in her new life. While Wraith and Sterling had no qualms about training her for Knighthood, having the King and Queen uncertain about it left Elyriel’s ultimate fate up in the air. No one knew how far they would let things progress before they made up their minds on the matter. Wraith chose to proceed as if nothing had happened, and Elyriel went along since she had no better ideas. She was scared to death, but she figured that if she worked hard enough, she could win them over.
Wraith and Elyriel
I should clarify the relationship between Elyriel and Wraith at this point. While Elyriel was a new squire, there were NO romantic interests between the pair. Things progressed in that direction much later in her career, but neither Wraith’s player nor I even hinted at things like that in the earliest interactions. Unfortunately, I don’t have most of the stories I wrote about Elyriel during her stay at Stark. It wasn’t more than a handful, but I can only surmise that I posted them directly to a message board at the time. The stories I DO have were written or re-written much later after Wraith and Elyriel were an item. I want to post pieces of those stories since they address this part of Elyriel’s life, but keep in mind that they’re slanted toward the development of their eventual relationship.
In the real timeline of things, I first made the tiniest hint that Elyriel might have been soft on Wraith in a short piece posted after his player left the game for a while. But that was my own invention, and I only wanted to use it as a character developer for Elyriel with no real impact on in-game events. It wasn’t until Wraith’s player brought his character back that the “more-than-friendly” notion became common ground. I can explain that a bit more once we get there!
Back to a Squire’s Life
Anyway, with the King and Queen none too happy about her becoming a squire, Elyriel devoted herself to her studies. She wanted nothing more than to win everyone’s approval (Wraith, Sterling, the King and Queen, and the rest of the Knighthood). As part of her training, she traveled with Wraith on several missions and assignments. He took her with him on a scouting trip to Northwood (Felucca) when there were rumblings about the Shadune and the Roses teaming up against the Covenant (note: I have no more information on this series of in-game events. Elyriel got one of her history lessons about the Shadune and Covenant on this outing, but she and I knew very little about the Roses at that time. I also wasn’t involved with whatever may have come of this later.) Elyriel also rode with Wraith when a few of Winterfell’s soldiers and knights were assigned to provide security for a caravan traveling to Vesper.
Caravan to Vesper (story segment)
As I said above, the significance of the event was embellished. But the actual encounter in the tailor shop DID happen. Elyriel wanted something more appropriate to wear for the rest of the day, and Wraith happened to walk into the shop. It was a slightly awkward moment, and I later used that as partial justification for why she might have gotten too attached to him. But again, it was my invention at the time.
So life went on. Elyriel kept training with Wraith and Xavier. She got to know Daca better. She even had Sabrina jump her to be a bridesmaid in her wedding when she and Xavier Sterling finally married. (That’s Elyriel in the lovely mint-green dress.) Artemis Entreri was the best man, and Johanns Feather performed the ceremony.
My sorry skills with Photoshop to make this for X and Sabrina
Elyriel was pretty happy overall, and everything seemed fine while the Kingdom waited to move from Stark to the new holdings in Trammel. What Elyriel and I didn’t know was that Wraith’s player was getting burned out. He eventually decided to stop playing (permanently or not, he didn’t know at the time). We found out rather abruptly – one day Wraith was there, the next he was gone. It was a hard blow for Elyriel, and it left me wondering what would happen to her.
Both parts of the following segment are completely fictional. Nothing was based on in-game interactions. The second part is a slight reworking of the original post I made once I found out Wraith’s player had quit. I wanted to post something about Elyriel’s reaction to the news, even though it was never delivered in-game. I added the first part much later.
Having Wraith leave left a really big hole in Elyriel’s life. Thankfully, Xavier stepped up and took her on as his own squire, so her training didn’t falter. Daca also was a constant, and his friendship pulled her through a lot of guilt and indecision. Elyriel was a little bruised, but she ended up more determined than ever to become a Knight. She just had a few more obstacles to handle along the way.