So, I have two events to relate to you fine readers, as I was too busy to do so before. Yay for Sundays off! Anyway...

Last weekend was June Coronet. I managed to get a ride at the last moment with a lovely gentle by the name of Finna, who basically talked the whole way down. It shouldn't have been last moment, but I hadn't been planning to go to Coronet. Robert twisted my rubber arm into going. But that's okay, it was a good event.

There was a Cadet's tourney in the morning before the Coronet Tourney. Out of a good dozen rapier fighters, I was one of the few that wasn't scarved, but that's okay. I put in a good showing for myself anyway. Out of 30 fights, I managed to win 11 of them, including against Don William Bennet and Don Robert of Clan Gunn... twice in Bobby's case. I probably won't have it so easy against Don William again, I suspect he wasn't expecting me to be as good as I am. Anyhoo, so I was pleased with myself. I had named Her Highness Eirika as my inspiration for that tournament, and she watched me fight a few times. She seemed quite impressed. So... Yay!

I still didn't win nothing though... oh well.

In my position as Princess' Guard I was busy most of the day, helping to stake down tents and carry stuff and... I was asked by Her Magesty to get the Crowns from Vik and Inga's tent... I didn't touch the actual Crowns, I kept them in the boxes, but hey, I was impressed that I was allowed to do that!

I had to stand behind the thrones basically through the entire Coronet Tourney, to determine the Heirs to the Thrones of Avacal. That was cool... I was out of the rain, which was nice. I had three cloaks on, so I wasn't frozen, but if I did get cold, I could go to warm up at the braisier in front of the thrones.

After the Coronet Tourney was done, and Their Excellencies Stein and Gemma were chosen as the new Heirs, there was archery and the Squires Tourney, for all those Heavies who didn't get enough fighting in during the Coronet Tourney. I didn't watch the Archery at all, and didn't participate. I checked Bobby's crossbow bolts, and went to have a nap while pretending to watch the Squire's tourney. Didn't really work, and so I went on a quest for food before Court. That almost didn't work out the way I wanted it too, if I had eaten slower I wouldn't have made it to Court in time, because I had to stand behind the thrones again... as always.

Court was Court... basically AoAs and stuff. No one I knew.

After Court while Her Highness was looking through the largess they had acquired, she gave me my first offical piece of bling, a very pretty necklace with purple and white beads on it. She said it was a token of her appreciation for being on her Guard. I have since put on it the coin that Inga gave me last year for helping with the Estrella Gift Bags.

I conned a couple other Rapier fighters into having a little impromptu fight practice after Court, after I had been relieved by Her Highness. That was great fun. There was Bjarr, Francis and Caophis, all Cadets from Montengarde... and me... no one from Borealis. We had to go out past troll in order to do our practice, because it was technically illegal, so we had to be off SCA land... but it was still fun. It was raining while it was going on, and I discovered that you can have rain come in through a fencing mask. Odd kind of distraction. We had fun stabbing each other, making the ground really muddy and slippery. Caophis kept stealing my sword, because apparently he likes it more than his own... sneaky bastard.

When the sun went down, we had to stop, and so we went back to the campfires and stuff... eventually I went to bed... frozen stiff.

And we left early the next morning.

And now on to the second SCA Event! Silverwolf!

It was held yesterday. I was competing in the Rapier Championship, to determine the new Borealis Rapier Champion. It was bloody hot. Way too hot to be out fighting in the sun, in black clothes. And a lot of us had black clothes.

There were ten of us vying for the Championship, out of 15 fighters. I started out on a roll, but I think I tired myself out too fast, and ended up losing quite pathetically. Although I did manage to get a few good kills in later on.

To make a long story less long... Genic won. Genic is now the Borealis Rapier Champion.

The Archery, Heavy and A&S Championships also went on later in the day, one after the other. Baeldrick of Newt is our new Archery Champion, Fenrick Vikingsson is our new Heavy Champion, and I don't know the name of the man who won A&S.

Her Highness showed up later in the day, which was good cus it gave me something to do for the rest of the day, even though most of House Amaranth was there, and I got to hang out with them, it was good to have her around to Guard. (wow... run on sentence much...) Although I sometimes feel like I really shouldn't be hanging about, but she seems to like me around, so hey, it's all good.

The Feast was the Best of Borealis. The Cooking Guild was in charge of the feast, and they were told to make what they thought was the best dishes from previous feasts. I didn't get to eat much because Her Highness kept needing me, but I still liked what I got. Especially the asparagus... I'd never had it before, and it was awesome!

Court was halfway through the feast, cus the feast was taking too long to get through. We processed up, and I took my place behind the thrones. T'was all good. His Highness Hjalti made a speech about TnA War (which I won't be going to), and about how we have to go to War to get Tir Righ Stuff! It was kind of the theme for that Court... STUFF! You had to be there, it was awesome. I don't think I've laughed so much in court before.

And then Jean de Chauliac read out that Grioffa Stoneheart should present herself before Court. I swore softly, I think the guy next to me heard me, and stepped around the thrones. I was quite surprized. Bjar escorted me to the front, and I went the rest of the way alone... to kneel in front of Their Highnesses. Jean read from a scroll... and they awarded me my Award of Arms. Then Her Highness made a speech about how I'm on her guard, and a lot of people wrote in to reccomend me for the Award, and how Her Highness and Her Magesty actually fought over who would get to award it to me. I couldn't look at them, I basically stared at their feet as I knelt there with my hands in theirs. And then they presented me with an absolutely beautiful scroll, with Hjalti, Eirika, Vik and Inga's names on it! [link] Here's a horrible scan of it. I'm gonna get it framed, and then take a much better picture of it. Yes, that's a real wax seal at the bottom there.

The Norse Runes are supposed to translate as (but I don't think they actually do, I'll translate to find out...) "Through the long days of Summer and the short days of Winter, Grioffa Stoneheart has lightened the loads of many. Having witnessed their toil, we Hjalti, Undoubted Prince of Avacal and Eirika, Gracious Princess of Avacal would recognize their contribution with an Award of Arms. Done by accordance of their Magesties of An Tir, Vik and Inga, and set by our Hand and Seal this 13 day of June, AS 44."

Once I get it framed and stay somewhere long enough to hang it on the wall, I will fulfill one of the items on the big 'You know you're in the SCA when...' list. It is... 'You know you're in the SCA when your high school diploma is tucked away in a box somewhere and your AoA is framed and hung proudly on the wall.' YAY!

Litton got another scroll too. This will make four. She was inducted into the Order of the Gout de Sang, which is a Kingdom level service award. And boy has she earned it. She also got a spiffy necklace to go with it, with the Gout de Sang pendant on it. Is purdy. (Gout de Sang is 'Drop of Blood' Oh and with the Gout de Sang she gets a title and, she officially has Alphabet Soup, because her full name is now, Her Ladyship Elizabeth Litton AoA DL GG GdS. Award of Arms, Decorated Letter, Member of the Order of the Guilded Gryphon and Member of the Order of the Gout de Sang. Yay!

After Court the rest of the feast happened, and I talked with both Her Highness and Her Magesty basically about the circumstances of the AoA, and how many people wrote in, and stuff... holy crap. Lots of people did, and Robert and Reme both corroborated their story. I guess now I have to live up to the title of Lady. Uff da.

There was a little mini bardic circle... with the smallest bardic fire ever! It was a tea light on the floor in the hall. Most of House Amaranth, Bjar and a few other folks (including me), sat around, told stories and sang songs. It was good fun. Genic and Naomi, Tristram and I convoyed it home at an ungodly early hour, and... I slept until I woke up... which wasn't long enough.

Yay!