The constant wind across the plain streamed through the loosened tendrils of Rilana's silvery hair where it had come loose from her usual herringbone braid. Even now, in the height of summer, the stiff wind was cool where it blew off the glaciers to the north and east. The moon fey leaned forward, urging the horse beneath her to greater speeds, the heels of her soft boots barely touching his flanks. His hooves kicked up semi-circular clods of dry grass and black permafrost as he thundered towards the wall of rock and ice in the distance. But Rilana wasn't done with him yet. The Fjord-horse was stout and muscular, his white and black mane cut short so that it stood up from his neck in a wild mow-hawk. Rilana knew he could work for hours, would revel in the exertion, and needed the practice.

"Yee!" She cried, twitching the reign in her hand almost imperceptibly, yet the lead earned an almost instant reaction. The Fjord jerked his stocky head to the side and leaped high, changing direction with a controlled lashing of his hooves. He landed with a snort and took off the other direction, tail flying like a dark banner. "Hol!" Rilana called, twitching the other hand, and the tempestuous equid repeated the motion but back to the left this time. If Rilana had been any less of a horsewoman she would have easily lost her seat, but she kept her slender thighs firmly clamped to the animal's bare back. Her thin, pale brows furrowed in concentration over her glacial blue eyes, Rilana could see the horse's ears twitching back in her direction, attuned to her and waiting for the next command.

"Woa." Tugging both sides equally and leaning back, she reigned her mount in to a rapid stop, the horses hooves sliding slightly and leaving dark furrows in the earth. "Kick!" If they had been surrounded by surging enemies it was likely the gelding would have already added his hooves to the fray, but this was practice. Shifting his weight forward and arching his back, both dark legs pistoned into the air, enough force behind them to easily kill a man.

"Good," the moon fey said curtly in affirmation, using brief sounds of confirmation to let her student know that he had done correctly. She pulled one rein back towards her knee, tapping the horse on that same side with her heel. Neck arched slightly, tail swishing, the creature side-passed away from the tapping, firstly at a walk, then gaining speed as he moved sideways. Wanting to work both sides of the animal equally, Rilana repeated each task on the other side. The stretches sped by, the clear sky above them lightening as the sun rose up in the east. It was an important day for this particular horse, and Rilana wanted to make sure he was ready to be sold. Ready to do well and be a representative of not just the RimeFire ranch, but of her own skill as well.

At long last, the early-morning session complete, both of them breathing heavily on the long trot back to the city, Rilana glanced up at the mountains that seemed to rise sharply and almost suddenly from the flat plains. On clear mornings like these, when there weren't roiling snow-storms raging across the ice plateau above, she could actually see the colourful, glittering light of the sun as it refracted through the ice above. And even more stunning and beautiful were the carved spires and walls and bridges of ice and white stone that comprised the city of Frigmount itself.

Out on the plains she and the horse had been alone, but as the pair strolled back to the ice city, other figures moving around on the switchback road leading up to the mountains were easier to see. A pair of frost giants, each one dragging a cart behind him that two horses couldn't have pulled, paused their ambling tread to watch her go by. Glancing over to the laden wagons, Rilana noted twine-bundled furs and wooden crates, and guessed that they were bringing goods from the taiga forest just south of the plains. Seeing the brown and ginger summer pelts of rabbit, fox, and stoat served to remind Rilana that it had been a long time since she had spent a significant amount of time in the wilds. A flicker of guilt at abandoning her frostfell friends spurred her to reach down and pat the horse on the neck, a gesture that comforted her more than the beast. She then reached up to a silver chain that hung from her graceful neck, her pale fingertips caressing the incredibly detailed figure of a leaping gryphon.

The time Rilana had made the climb towards the city and turned off to take the ice bridge across a narrow chasm towards the small valley, the sun was high in the sky, and the ice and the granite rock around her sparkled in the light. The Druid didn't always feel comfortable in the ornate city, but she had to admit that it was beautiful. The valley was a patchwork of paddocks in the bright green grass, the shapes of dozens of the prize Fjord-horses either grazing lazily or being worked by other trainers in the round arena. Here and there, the dark green shapes of stalwart spruce stood out against the white and blue, taking advantage of tiny pockets of nutrient-rich loess that hadn't been blown away by the wind or washed away by the summer's melt-water.

Following the path that lead down into the ranch, Rilana's eyes scanned the ornate polished marble arch as she passed under it. In the Moon Fey language it read "RimeFire Ranch", but to most non-fey it was simply a pretty, albeit assymetrical, design. Out of the wind, the valley was almost warm, and Rilana's nostrils filled with the scent of dry stray and hay as she slipped from the horse's bare back and slid the metal bit loose from his mouth so that he could lead him into the barn and the long row of box stalls.

Just as Rilana tugged the supple leather bridle free of his head and let the horse prance into his stall, she heard the sound of soft footsteps scuffing over the straw-littered stone floor behind her. Turning, she found herself face to face with Lady Myra, the owner of the Ranch and one of the Elders on the city council. She was also Rilana's employer, and the Druid had nothing but respect for her.

Instead of greeting her right away, Lady Myra was looking down at a folded piece of thick vellum, its surface scrawled with black writing, a broken wax seal on one edge. The older woman's brow was gently furrowed into a frown, and she seemed to be lost in thought, even as she stopped in front of Rilana. Waiting with an eyebrow raised expectantly, Rilana couldn't help but grin as the steppe horse craned his neck out and rubbed his head up and down her back, nearly knock her off-balance.

The horse-trainer reached back to scratch the horse's ears, knowing that if she didn't fill his bowl with oats soon he would do more than just head-butt her. "Lady Myra," Rilana said calmly, encouragingly.

The woman looked up, her sea-green eyes blinking, somewhat startled. "Oh. Rilana. You're always here so early. How is Bruin coming along?" Together, the two lithe women turned to look at the horse, who swiveled his ears at them and seemed to be gazing mournfully, trying to convince them that while they socialized he was surely starving to death!

"I believe he is ready. He will make a fine addition to Lord Ferar's estate. I just needed your final approval before taking him to the other side of the city. And then, if you have no objections, I think it's time I visited my friends again. It has been several weeks since I saw Khona."

The older fey pressed her lips into a thin line, unable to deny the longing that Rilana was attempting to conceal under her casual tone. Hearing it only made what she was about to say more difficult. She gave a brief sigh and gave the letter in her hand a flutter.

"Bruin isn't going to the Ferar estate, 'Lana. I've received a letter from the Outside, all the way from Ebonfort. One of these southern Lords has requested as fine a Fjord as can be bought, and wants one sent before the middle of Mauven." She tried to keep her face passive, but looked sad, steeling herself for Rilana's refusal.

True to Myra's expectations, Rilana's pink lips parted with disbelief as she reached for the letter. It was extremely rude to take without asking, but Lady Myra relinquished it so that they could look at it together. In the silence, as Rilana read and Myra re-read the letter, it occured to him that neither of them had been outside the Frostfell lands claimed by the city, nor did they know anyone who had. It was somewhat strange, and neither of them were sure why it would be so. But the disconcerting feeling that something was off about the world, though it happened to both women simultaneously, was not something that they shared with each other.

"But, Lady Myra, surely if one of these southerners wants a horse they should have the decency to come and get him. And why should it be Bruin? We have others that are just as trained as he is..." She couldn't bare the thought of seeing her beloved Bruin being sent across the world, given into the hands of the brutish humanfolk of the warmlands. Glancing up at the horse, his muscles twitching as he watched her, she felt a loss.

Myra reached out and clasped the younger woman by her upper arms, a comforting gesture. "'Lana. You know you're the most skilled trainer I have. None of the war horses are as well trained as the ones you work with. It's been a long time since anyone actually heard from one of the souther cities, though I'm not sure why, and the Council thinks it wise to maintain a good relationship with them. And if this..." she had to check the letter again, "Lord Kharik...wants his gelding by mid-Mauven then you will have to leave soon. Who else do you think could make good time better than you?"

Rilana sighed, her small shoulders sagging under her suede jerkin, knowing that the journey would keep her away for months. Excited but also dreading the prospect of venturing into lands unknown. She turned her back on the other woman and carried a wooden bucket over the the oat stores to fetch Bruin his breakfast, trying to steel herself against what she knew she was going to have to do, trying desperately to see her way out of it. She wanted to refuse, but ultimately Bruin was not hers to decide his fate, and she didn't want to trust the task to anyone else.

The sweet smell of the oats filled the air as Rilana dumped them into Bruin's wooden trough, and she hung the bucket back on its hook with a wooden clatter. The horse danced forward in his stall and thrust his head into the trough, smacking happily at the meal. Rilana watched for a moment and then took a deep breath, deciding that regardless of how much she didn't like it, she would do her best to rise to the task. Perhaps some small part of her resonated with a thrill for the adventure, a self-respecting Druidess could hardly pass up the chance to see more of the wilds than ever she had before, but mostly she wanted to pay back Lady Myra for all her past kindnesses. And some stubborn part of her wanted to meet this human Lord herself.

"I will leave before first light," Rilana consented, unhappy but practical enough to be already making mental preparations for her first foray into the south. "I want to have time to see Khona before I leave." Lady Myra nodded, folding the letter and handing it to Rilana, who tucked it away into her leather clothing. "Thank you, 'Lana."

"You'll be well-paid upon your return. I'll have Ursal bring travel rations and some other things out here for you in the morning. Go with the wind, my dear. And try to get back before Winter comes. You know as well as I that the passes can be treacherous."

Rilana was watching Bruin eat, which didn't take long. Reaching out to a shelf on the front of the stall, she picked up a stiff brush and moved gracefully into the small space with the animal, closing the half-door behind her. Used to the presence of the nimble fey at his side, the creature shifted slightly and nickered, lipping at her hand in the hopes of a hand-out. With a pat on the horse's whithers, Rilana began to brush his pale golden fur with short, quick strokes, freeing the loose hair and steppe dust from his coat in small puffs that glittered in the sunlight filtering through the open windows. Distantly she was aware when Lady Myra left, her soft foot-steps growing quieter as the woman moved out into the paddocks to speak with the other fey and few chillborn who worked for her. Rilana didn't bother to say anything to her, even when she finally finished brushing Bruin until the horse nearly gleamed. There was nothing else to say.

The wind whistled through the carved ice and the jagged peaks of the mountains, and it was Rilana's only companion as she slid noiselessly out of the hammock in one of the barn's empty stalls. As she slipped out of her pale blue night-dress, standing shapely and naked and moon pale as she reached for her sturdy but clean suede pants and vest. As she dressed, a glimmer of pastel colour caught her eye and she stopped, gazing out of the window towards the northern sky. Against the backdrop of star-speckled black Rilana watched the silent glow of the aurora dancing across the sky over the lip of the glacier. It wasn't common to see the beutiful phenomenon in the summer months, and even now the splashes of green and pink faded away into nothing before starting up again a few moments later, smaller and more fleeting than their winter counterparts. But as the moon fey buckled on the tough reindeer-skin armour and swept her long silvery hair back into a quick plait, the wondered if the rare event boded good or ill for the long journey ahead.

Bruin danced and snorted in his stall, picking up on Rilana's excited unease as she cinched the fey-crafted saddle to his back and strapped the tight bundle of traveling gear over his haunches, being sure to balance it evenly. "It didn't take me long to pack, love," she muttured, talking to the horse. "I didn't have to leave everything behind because everything I own fits in a single set of saddle-packs." She smiled ruefully, but in truth she preferred life this way.

once mounted, the hoof-beats echoed eerily in the valley around them as Rilana guided the feisty Fjord onto the bare rock path that would eventually lead south and down into the taiga and then to places beyond. Leaning forward gracefully and patting the beast on the neck, "The Plains road may be quicker but there's someone I have to see first."

Setting the horse at a brisk pace, the pair quickly left the ranch and the city of Frigmount behind. The moon elf was a woman immune to home-sickness, but as she crossed one of the many bridges that moon fey had erected in centuries past, she couldn't help reign her mount in for a pause to look back at those blue and white crystalline spires and the steep wall of ice beyond them. There was something solemnly beautiful to Rilana about the glitter of ice and the harshness of life here at the top of the world.

The day dawned bright and warm, and Rilana wasn't the only traveler on the road. While Frigmount was undebateably a moon fey city, the chillborn humans were the more populous race in the surrounding mountains, their cavern homes and peat-sod cabins nestled like lichen against the craggy stone. On the rare occasion, late into the night as she had swept along the winds on the wings of a snowy owl or a tern, Rilana had even seen a few dark elves in these mountains.

It was early afternoon when Rilana turned Bruin off the worn path and down into a narrow canyon. The horse, experienced with this kind of terrain, could easily pick his own way without Rilana's help, so she relaxed her slender hands on the reigns and gave Bruin his head. As they reached the fairly flat and grass-covered floor of the canyon, the chuckle of perfectly-clear meltwater chuckling along a fast but shallow creek echoed on the stone all around them. Out of the corner of her eyes, Rilana noted the shifty, shadowy movements of small creatures. Snowshoe hares in their brown summer coats snuffled the air, their long ears tilted towards her as they watched her progress. But the moon fey was not interested in bunnies and ptarmigan. She was looking up as they walked along, her hand clutched around the white stone effigy hanging to her chest.

Pursing her lips, the druid let out a shrill, piercing whistle, loud enough to make Bruin shake his roguish mane in surprise. They waited, long moments passing without a response. But at long last a similar cry shivered down the canyon and a dark shadow sliced along the green ground at Bruin's hooves. Rilana grinned and slid from Bruin's back just as a huge white and black shape dropped out of the sky, which suited the horse just as well.

"Khona!"

The large gryphon landed on the rocky ground, bouncing lightly on his taloned front legs as he back-flapped his huge blue-tinged wings to control his descent. He was easily eight feet long without the tail, and the sun shone brightly off of his white and black feathers and leopard-spotted fur. His colouring reminded her of the snow leopards and snowy owls so common his these lands. His piercing yellow eyes trained on Rilana, his tufted ears flicking in her direction as she ran towards him. He made a high, hoarse screech as the moon fey wrapped her slender arms around his neck and rolled onto his side, long tail lashing with unrestrained joy at being close to his bonded companion. "I'm so glad to see you, Khona."

Rilana wove her fingers through Khona's shiny outer feathers to the fluffy down underneath and leaned on the large creature, who in turn toyed with the ends of her pearlescent hair, his huge shiny beak click-clacking as it snapped shut. Together, they sat in the sun and watched as Bruin bent his head and cropped the soft fescue. The breeze was just cool enough to off-set the high sun, and a soft mournful whistling howl nearly put Rilana to sleep as she cuddled with the large raptor-cat. But she had to keep moving. She didn't have time to linger here like she normally would. The black walls of Ebonfort were nearly a month away.

Shifting to lean away from her Familiar, Rilana looked back into his fierce face. His pupils pinned as he watched her, his third eyelid flicking over his eyes as he tilted his head curiously. He couldn't speak, of course, but she knew that he understood every word she said, and even things she didn't say.

"I have to leave for a while, Khona. I'm traveling south, with Bruin." As she had expected, the gryphon's eyes filled with the fire of adventure and he shifted to get up, shaking his feathers out. But Rilana put her hand on his shoulder.

"No, Khona. You can't go with me. It's too far, and it could be dangerous." The gryphon gave a sneezy-snort, his feathered ears twitching back against his skull.

"It wont be nearly as dangerous for me, but I don't trust these humans. And I'll be gone nearly two months. It wouldn't be fair to make you fly so far." Rilana crossed her pale arms over her leather-armoured torso, trying to stand her ground. But it was difficult. Khona was bigger than her now, when seemingly so recently he was a tiny kit no bigger than a snowshoe hare. It was hard to say no to him. He sat back on his haunches and simply stared, tilting his head and looking down at the effigy around her neck. It was the moonstone symbol that bound him to her.

Looking down at it, Rilana raised her hand to cup the lovingly-crafted object. She had several others in different shapes, her bonds to other animals, but Khona was her first and the one closest to her heart. Her fingertips wandered over the finely-detailed wings. "You think? Is it time to try?"

Khona fluffed his feathers in a comical way, like a shrug, and twitched his long tail, ready for whatever Rilana decided to do. The beautiful moon fey continued to run her fingers over the pale statue, and let the magical energy build within her. She had only heard about Marking from others who had done it, but it wasn't something that could be taught.

The thrum of power grew, until it was almost a sound, like the throaty howl of the wind through a drone flute or around the crags of the mountains. It was all around her, inside her, and her skin prickled as though she could feel the cold for the first time in her life. Everything around her seemed to fade away except the sharp golden-yellow of Khona's eyes. They seemed to grow larger, and she felt herself take a small step towards him, the bond of power connecting them like a force pulling her. It seemed to start first at the effigy hanging around her neck, but then grew so much that it could only be coming from her own chest.

Khona tilted his head expectantly, his feathers and fur bristling like a pinecone under the surge of magic between them. He seemed to be saying "Do it!" Rilana opened her mouth with a soft cry and released the swelling force, felt it stream across the space between them and surround her beloved Gryphon. Khona jumped and glanced around, his skin rippling like a horse trying to dislodge a fly, and Rilana suddenly realized that she could see right through him. He was fading, the whitish rainbow glow around him growing brighter even as he seemed to grow more incorporeal. For a moment, Rilana grew frightened, terrified that she was harming Khona somehow, but he didn't seem distressed. Before she could do anything else, the shape of the gryphon shrank and flowed back towards her on that invisible but undeniable bond.

Rilana sank to her knees in the grass, unseeing blue eyes starting down as she gasped. Her chest felt tight and the skin all over her back was on fire, like a thousand red-hot needles were pricking her flesh. It was too much...

But after a few minutes the disorientation lessened. The moon fey struggled to her boots and looked around. Khona was nowhere to be seen. Reaching over her shoulder she tried to touch the top of her back where he skin had burned but paused, hearing a whisper behind her. Turning quickly, she found...no one.

I'm here. It was a voice. But the words were not really spoken out loud. They were inside her head.

Khona?

Yes.

The next few weeks for Rilana passed in a haze. The journey itself was fairly straight-forward for someone who had been roaming in the wilds her whole life. It was the height of summer and even in the wintery north, the forestland was bountiful. Keeping her dried trail rations in reserve, the moon fey fed herself with green plants growing freely along the trail or on the banks of the closest creeks. Dandelion, chickweed, and berries she ate raw as soon as she picked them, and others like chicory and hawthorne she saved until the evening when she found a spot to rest the night and cook something for dinner over a small smokeless fire. Most nights she could add in mushrooms, nuts, and the occasional fish. She kept her longbow close at hand, but didn't need it to feed herself as she crossed the huge pine forests towards Stone Crest.

And it was well that she didn't meet many travelers or endure much hardship on her way. It was true that the roads were far from reliable, but that wasn't much of a burnen to bear. Her thoughts had turned inwards, focused on the creature now occupying part of her soul.

It was as though someone was standing right behind her shoulder but disappeared when she turned to look. Khona responded to her thoughts just as readily as if she had spoken them out loud, and she could imagine the subtle twitch and gesture of his body language that she had become so familiar with over the years. She could feel his thoughts and it was good that her only ther companion was Bruin, who didn't feel at all left out during her silent conversations.

The delicate effigy no longer hung from her neck, finding instead a safe place in the Druid's pack.

Crimsien faded into Mauven before Rilana made it to Stone Crest. She could smell the rocky scent of dust and feel the deep shivering in the earth long before she came upon the mountains where the mines and quarries were being worked. She had never seen gargoyles or hill giants up close, and she gazed at them watchfully as she passed them by, just as they stared at the iridescent-haired moon fairy on the back of the steppe horse. She spent less than a day under the eaves of a Stone Crest stable, pressing a small amount of coin into the innkeeper's hand in exchange for some good oats and bread. When she told the man where she was from he laughed and shook his head, as though she had told a joke, his expression only growing confused as her own pale brows furrowed together.

"But, no one's been out of Frigmount in hundreds of years..."

--

Traveling became even quicker after Stone Crest, the road larged and more well-traveled. The farther south she went, the balmier the weather, until it was simply too hot for the wolverine-fur cloak and the caribou leather armour she normally wore. For the first time in her life, her night-time sleep outdoors was disrupted by the buzzing of insects seeking her soft, pale skin, forcing her to use her tent to find peace.

She hunted more in these warm forests and meadowlands, though it was more out of curiosity about the animals she wasn't used to than any actual need for meat. She spent an entire evening in a tree with a nest full of raccoon kits. White-tail deer and striped skunks slipped by on their trundling, creeping paths, never knowing that Rilana was sighting them down the narrow shaft of an arrow.

And always, Khona was right there, looking out of her eyes. She valued his insight, and the long trip was sped by his dry banter.

Finally, at long last, Rilana crested a hill and reigned Bruin to a stop. The black walls of Ebonfort were so close, crouched dark and forbidding on the horizon. The journey had seemed so long, but now that her destination was so near the end had come too soon.

She lead Bruin off the road and took the time to brush him out until his pale coat virtually gleamed. She brushed and trimmed his mane and tail, and then cleaned herself up, changing into a rather plain but gauzy blue dress with white leggings and white chamois boots.

Ebonfort.

It was loud, even before she got to the guarded gate. Everything seem hot and noisy and dusty.

"My name is Rilana Auororime'. I'm here from Frigmount to deliver this horse to Lord Kharik," she announced, producing the letter with the Lord's seal to the Ebon Knights at the gate. They scrutinized it for one agonizing moment and then waved her through, watching her curiously from under their helms until the next person needed their attention.

Humans. There were so many! There were other kinds of people as well, but the sea of human faces Rilana passed on her way to the stables in the Corsillus Quarter was almost overwhelming. Frigmount was far less populous.

People watched her as she passed, and Rilana felt more than a little self-conscious, especially without her armour on. Finally, she reached the stables and sent one of the stable boys to fetch Lord Kharik.

Bruin stood stoically, smart tail swishing as the pair waited in the shade. Rilana patted his neck, steeling herself to say goodbye, recalling their time together in the cold and windswept north. It would have been so easy to form the Bond, but she had to remain professional. didn't she?

A squire turned up shortly, led by the stable boy. He was a gangly young man with a mop of curly black hair and green eyes that stared up at her with wonder and surprise. Rilana eyed his livery as he eyed her dress and pale hair and pointed ears.

"What business do you have with Lord Kharik?" he finally asked, a hand resting haughtily on his hip where he would eventually wear a sword instead of a long knife. He was attempting to impart some aura of importance, but Rilana simply blinked slowly, one of her eyebrows lifting a touch towards her hair.

"I have been traveling since early Crimsia to bring Lord Kharik one of our best Fjord horses, and he sends a squire to meet me?" She let the question hang, and the Squire's cheeks flamed.

"Lord Kharik is a busy man," he squeaked, half apologetic, half affronted, seeming to deflate slightly under the strain. He seemed to have difficulty deciding whether to look at her hair or her chest.

"I'm sure he is," Rilana replied, her tone softening to win the boy over. She even smiled gently, her pale lips curving upwards as she laid a pale hand on his arm. She wasn't any less disappointed that she wouldn't get to meet this Lord herself, but knew a lost cause when she saw one. "Just let him know that his horse has arrived. I'll be here for a few days before I return to Frigmount."

The squire's brow creased and he looked between Rilana's face and her hand on his arm. "Frigmount?" His tone was dubious. She may as well have said she was from the moon itself. But he eventually nodded and scurried away, leaving Rilana free to explore Ebonfort as she liked.

A few days later, the squire returned with her money and documents to bring the Lady Myra back in Frigmount. She left tears in Bruin's mane, but the way the Lord's men arrived and treated the beast like a precious commodity put her mind at ease. Yet when Rilana left the dark-walled capital she headed west towards Green Falls. She had heard about the Tournament and the grand fair, and didn't want to miss it. Only this time, she flew on the wind in the white and black shape of a gyrfalcon, listening to Khona sing joyously in her head.

Skills
Riding (Horse): 5
Horsemanship: 5
Observation: 3
Familiary: 3
Negotiation: 2
Leadership: 2
Planning: 1
Wilderness Survival: 1
Scavenging: 1
Land Navigation: 1
Hunting: 1
Intimidation: 1

Knowledge
Suspicion: Something Amiss Outside of Frostfell
Familiary: Becoming One with Khona
Familiary: Marking with your Familiar
Suspicion: Frigmount has been Gone for Hundreds of Years
Location: Stone Crest
Location: Ebonfort
Location: Knight's Tournament

Other
Receipt for the Sale of Fjord (Bruin) to Lord Kharik
Medium Coin Chest (1000 Gold Pieces)

CS Notes
Add the skills to your existing skills.
Create a separate section for Knowledge, and add those in.
Add the things in the Other Category to the appropriate CS sections.
If you have any questions on the Review system, or anything at all, please don't hesitate to let me know :D