[h3]Rionach[/h3]
[hr]

Though Rionach couldn't boast of a thorough knowledge of the man introduced to her as Jerod Staudinger, she got the distinct impression that he would not react well to the titles 'problem child' and 'delinquent noble'.  She shifted nervously.  Status might protect Keerin and the rest of her group, but even with her self-proclamation of heroism, the Valentian doubted any of them would forgive a verbal misstep from someone like her as easily.  Distancing herself from the bad blood brewing between Jerod and Keerin, she focused on Jarde, and after a few moments noticed that he was studying her.  Her eyebrows rising just a touch, Rionach adopted a cautiously optimistic expression.  Perhaps he remembered?

His next words told her as much.  Of all the reactions to have, however, she had not at all expected him to be abashed.  Still, his apology shocked her more.  How was a blue blood in any way beholden to her?  Either this prince endeavored to hold tight the principles of formality, despite his appearance, or...could he think highly of her?  Rionach rushed to quash the notion.  [i]He must be buying into the heroine deal, that's all.  I need to be sure to act the part.  Well, I am something of a heroine, but maybe not as much as I've said I am.[/i]  She swallowed, a stinging sensation running through her mind, when Jarde told her to think nothing of his rescue.  “Ah!  Yes, of course.  Comrades looking out for one another.”  She did her best not to look put out at all.  “S-still...ahem.  Still, it would not be right for one such as I to walk away without paying you back.  No good deed should go unrewarded—that's the hero's way.  It'd be a cruel world, otherwise.”  Her spare hand formed a fist that came to rest on her hip, cutting a suitably heroic figure despite the baleful, withering look of Merilia.

Rionach, hearing her name, attended Keerin.  The Sage imparted a troubling truth, one that had darkened the doorstep of the spearwoman's consciousness already, but one she'd been too distracted from to give proper attention.  Valentia could be in grave danger.  Before she could stop herself, Rionach envisioned Gadanka in flame, the handiwork of the craftsmen crushed underfoot and the herdsman fleeing to avoid being slaughtered like the animals they kept.  Despite herself Rionach shivered, calming her imagination by reminding herself about Valentia's great army, and by focusing on Merilia's voice.  A sudden shift seemed to have taken hold of the acerbic blonde, who considered cooperation with Rionach in preventing war from ever reaching a Valentian front.  Though wary of some sort of trap, the spearwoman allowed her head to nod.  “...Yes, that would be ideal.  I thought as much myself, of course.  We might not have gotten the whole story when chaos broke out last night, but we were at 'ground zero' so to speak.  If we can put a stopper in this...calamitous brew, I need never worry for my homeland.  And of course, the world would know our names!”  A resolute grin had taken hold of Rionach, though inwardly she could barely keep herself from shaking.  There was only one option here, one she knew well but had never before used with stakes this high: refuge in audacity.  From now on, there could be no Rionach: Peasant Footsoldier.  These people would come to know her as nothing less than Rionach: Hotshot Heroine.