Since most of my life tends to revolve around the SCA, what else would I write about?

It's been a while since the last time I wrote, Investiture being the last event I wrote about. I haven't been to too many since then, as the summer came to an end, and the number of local events dwindled down. Besides, after Her Excellency Eirika was no longer Princess, and I no longer her Guard, not much interesting stuff happened to me at events. I go, I hang out, I play with swords, I eat feast, I sit through Court, things are so much more interesting when one has a job. Which is basically why I volunteered to be Her Excellency Inga's Guard, when I was at Harvest Feast a few weeks ago. I don't know if Baronesses need Guards, but I asked and she accepted, so the next time we're at an event together, I will have something to do. I may also have to volunteer to help in the kitchen more often. Vinfest was this last weekend, and I was the only volunteer to help serve the feast, and one of the few to help clean up the kitchen afterwards. It is much more satisfying to actually have something to do.

As I said, Harvest Feast a few weeks ago, and then Vinfest a few days ago. Both good events.

Harvest was a day trip, Tora and I left really early saturday morning to drive to Red Deer, got there ages before everything started, with tons of time to write letters of intent and get ready for the Bitter End Rapier Championship tournament. I did fairly pathetically in that tourney, and in the end, Ansgar Stormbreaker is the new Rapier Champion of Bitter End.

Other than that, not much to say of Harvest Feast, other than the offer to Inga as a Guard.

On to Vinfest. Long, long trip to Grande Prairie, Tora and I left friday afternoon and hung out there playing cards and listening to people talk, perusing the merchants, and snacking on the lovely fruits and crackers that the Feast Stewards provided.

I felt like death warmed over the next day. I had been coming down with a cold, and it hit with a vengeance saturday morning. I didn't fight rapier, I barely felt like I could stand. So, I slept through it, and got up in time for lunch.

Like always, Vinfest has a Combat Archery tournament, and unbeknownst to most people, I was planning on competing. I had been working for some time to get my armor up and going, and brought it out for the first time for the Combat Archery tournament. I put it on a bit early, and walked around in it for about an hour before the Tourney actually started, but it was so comfortable I barely cared. It's absolutely gorgeous. Black shortsleeve gambeson with gold trim on the hem, blue baggy fighter pants covering my armored legs, and a chestpiece that is a work of art. It's woven out of two inch strips of thick leather, and dyed to a kind of dark gold color. I recieved so many compliments on it... it's amazing. Will post pictures on Facebook when I get them. I had to borrow an elbow, because I just didn't have time to make it, but it worked.

I had three fights in the Combat Archery tourney... I didn't win any of them, and didn't even hit anyone, but it was still fun. I did a fairly good job of dodging, but even so, I still took four hits, one of which didn't count. Still, lots of fun.

It started raining during my last turn up, so Deicyn called off the tourney. I have fought and shot in the rain before, but apparently Deicyn didn't want us too. *sigh*

Oh well. I still haven't actually done the grape stomp at Vinfest, which they do every year, because the idea of putting my feet in a barrel full of cold grapes doesn't sound like fun to me.

Like stated before, I was the only person to volunteer beforehand to serve feast, so I got to serve the head table. It was nothing like serving was when I worked with Elizabethan Catering... I just put plates on table and took away empties... nothing more. Although, Her Highness Gemma did give me a coin from the Reign as thanks for it. Like most of my other bling... I sewed it to my hat.

And that was it. Court was small, as the only Royals that were there were Their Hignesses Stein and Gemma. I did get to watch a Herald become invested as a Principality Herald... I never realized that they actually poured water over their heads. Nifty. Jean de Chauliac got to be 'stand in Herald' for that, that was his only part of that court. I bet it was fun, I had a front row seat, and everyone except the poor woman getting douced with water looked like they were having fun. She cringed as it ran down her back, kind of amusing.

After Court I went to help in the Kitchen, helping to clean up. Bjar came too, and the Head Feast Steward seemed very grateful for our help. We were done by midnight, and I went to bed basically right after.

So. August Investiture. A long, bloody way away. Yep.
It rained most of the way there, except when we were actually at the event, which was good. And very handy. I went with Tora, Tristram and a friend of his from work, a newbie. We arrived on site about half an hour before opening Court, the last time I'd get to stand Guard on Her Highness Eirika.

We processed in, I took my place, which ended up actually being behind Their Excellencies, the Baron and Baroness of Borealis, Vik and Inga. And I got to hold Her Excellency's banner, which was cool.

Court was court... up until I was awarded the Princess's Knot. It's the favor she gives out to those who make her job as Princess easier. Jean de Chauliac called me up... and himself, cus there was a list. We were the only two actually there from the list. But yeah, we went up, knelt before Her Highness in one of the last things she got to do as Princess. Jean recieved the Knot on the traditional necklace with the suggestion to add it to something more fitting for his time period. I recieved the Knot as attached to a bundle of feathers, to be used as a decoration on my Cavalier hat. Her Highness apparently wasn't aware that my period is actually 10th Century Irish, not 15th Century Italian, but then she rarely saw me in my proper garb. Oh well, it's still very thoughtful, and looks awesome on my hat. She made it herself.

As part of her speech, she basically denounced Malcolm as one of her Guard, saying that I *was* her guard. Makes me sad for Malcolm, but he made the choice not to be on her guard, by not showing up.

I got to stand in court for the rest, until Stein and Gemma were Invested as the new Prince and Princess, and Her Highness Eirika became Her Excellency Eirika. And my job was over. I left with her. And sewed my feather onto my hat.

The Championship Tournies to determine the new Principality Champions of Heavy and Archery were just after court, and I kind of sort of watched them. More the heavy than the archery, although the Combat Archery component was pretty neat. I hadn't realized that all Principality Champions had to be Combat archers now... although it makes sense.

In any event, His Excellency Vicount Vik Vikingsson, Baron of Borealis is now the Principality Heavy Champion... apparently there were no Knights in the Tourney, so he got special compensation to compete... probably knowing full well that he'd win.

And Coriander of Vinjar, the best Combat Archer in Avacal, is now the new Principality Archery Champion. I think I'm gonna dig out that little gryphon with the arrow belt favor I was making for Genic when he was champion, and present it to her to add to the regalia.

There was a Cadet's tourney after all the fighting. Nine fighters, including Robert, Tristram and me... obviously. I was the only un-scarfed fighter... again. I'm going to have to do something about that. Although I think I'm going to have to stop wearing my red sash, I think I'm confusing the Dons. I didn't win anything, but according to the list of Most Fights, I came in third. So that is the placement I shall use. I came in Third out of 9 fighters and I was the only un-scarfed one. Not too shabby.

Dead tired and needing food, which was scarse on-side, we left to find food, and head back. It was a short event, but a good event.

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!

So, this last weekend was May Crown. It was a fantastic event, held south of Calgary... a long way away.

I was the first of House Amaranth to arrive, at least that I know of. I had a bit of trouble finding a way to get there, as Reme had to back out of giving me a ride when his Aztec died, leaving him with a small car to get there with. So, I eventually found a ride with Tanwen. So, that was fun, I got there about 2 o'clock friday afternoon. Set up camp, all that good stuff. I was camping with the other 6 members of House Amaranth, being the newlyweds Genic and Quinn, Tristram, and three others I hadn't met yet. We had a nice plot of real estate set aside for us, with a few trees in our area. The campground was in a forest-like area, with semi-cleared areas for the campsites. I put my tiny little tent up in the back corner of our plot, so that people would know the boundaries when they arrived, if I wasn't there at the time.

May Crown site was an amazing place, a campground by Fort Macleod. It was fully capable of holding the 1100 people that were there, and was very nice, with lots of trees and hills, and a real meditation labyrinth. I wandered aimlessly, bugged the few of my friends that were there, and waited impatiently for the others to show up. During that time I found out that Her Highness the Princess wasn't going to be there, so my presence as Princess' Guard wasn't needed. *Sigh* I was looking forward to that.

Finally Genic and Quinn showed up, coming from their Honeymoon in Jasper, they arrived about 8ish. I helped them set up camp, and we waited impatiently for the others to arrive. Tristram and the others were supposed to get there about 10ish, at least that's what he had told me... apparently they operate by SCA time, and the time they state is about 2 hours earlier than the time they will eventually arrive. They actually did a little better than that, arriving at 11:30. It was fully dark, and Genic and I had built a nice fire to light their way by the time they got there. Genic laughed about their inept tent-building skills, and I sat and made sure the fire didn't explode.

And I slept in my own tent for the first time in the year I've had it.

There was a Cadet's Tourney the next morning, stupidly enough at the same time as the Archery tournament. Both Genic and I went into the Cadet Tourney instead of doing Archery. It was way too windy for Archery. Of course, Tristram and Quinn also went into the Cadet Tourney... being the other two Rapier fighters of House Amaranth.

A Cadet Tourney is different than a regular rapier tournament in that it's technically only open to Dons and Cadets, and anyone else who wants to get in has to get a Don to sponsor them. Genic, Quinn and I asked Don Rodrigo, a proper older Spanish gentleman to sponsor us. As a difference from other Dons, he required that we go to him after the tournament and recieve lessoning from him. If we failed in our end of the bargain, he would never sponsor us again. Fortunately we all did go to him. I was the last, unfortunately having no time to do so until noon Sunday. But I still had lessons with him, and learned a great deal.

Anyway... there were 42 Rapier fighters in that tournament, from all over the Kingdom of An Tir, including most of the Champions of An Tir. Reme as the Borealis Rapier Champion (with the brand new sash that I made for him), Tristram the Principality Champion... even the Queen's Rapier Champion, an amazing fighter from the States was there. We stood in a circle before the tourney started, and introduced ourselves. There were a lot of Foreigners, and a lot of Dons... there were at least a dozen. Tons of Cadets as well. I felt rather humbled... there were people there whom had been wielding a sword as long as I have been alive (as in the case of Don Rodrigo). The four of us from House Amaranth stood there together and when it came time to introduce ourselves we stated our names, which included our House affiliation, our inspiration, and the Don which sponsored us. T'was fun. I realised later that I was the only fighter who still had my mask on while the introductions were going on, but hey, whatever. So what if no one knows my face. I'll be the mysterious faceless rapier fighter.

I think that tourney was cursed. Two fighters got hurt, one badly enough for an ambulance to have to come, and as for me, I got pezzed in the throat about 4 times, really hard, and then once very stiffly in the ribs, so that I could barely breathe. I opted out about three quarters of the way through the tourney. Also, there were too many fighters in too small an area, so it just wasn't fun.

I wandered, got out of my rapier gear, got food, communed with the other members of House Amaranth, bugged Robert, Reme and my other friends... randomly mentioned the thought of going into Fort Macleod for ice cream to Quinn and Tristram, which turned into a mass defection of the whole of House Amaranth into town to descend upon the unsuspecting mundanes of the ice cream shop. There turned out to be 10 of us, all in garb, to freak out the poor mundanes. Genic pretended that smarties were crockenoe pieces, and whipped them around the sitting area of the shop/laundromat. We told bad jokes and punned with each other. Guys hit on girls, girls giggled at the guys, people took pictures of the ice cream on each others faces... it was lots of fun.

We got back to the site just in time for the guarter finals in the Crown Tournament, to determine the next King and Queen of An Tir. Unfortunately Vik and Inga can't be the King and Queen forever. The finals were amazing, and if I can find a link to video, I shall. We have a Crown Prince whom has been our King I belive four times before. Cedric and Elizabeth are the new Crown Prince and Crown Princess, whom I believe will be Crowned in about four months, if I remember correctly.

And of course, they're from the States, and will likely never be seen in Avacal again, because most of the Royal Couples we get from other Principalities seem to never come back here again.

Anyway... more wandering insued, eating of supper... watching of Cut and Thrust demos by Reme and Robert and some other people... it's kind of like Rapier, but different. I had a nap, or tried. It was too damn hot in my tent. Went to Court... got a shock. Robert, who had been Cadeted only two months before... got made into a Don. We now officially have a Don in Borealis. Don Robert. It's hard to imagine, but I suppose. I just hope it doesn't go to his head. Too much anyway.

That night was absolutely awesome. The whole Household gathered around the firepit and proceeded to come up with the most horrible puns, jokes and innuendo that could ever be possible... mostly having to do with wieners, since they were roasting hot dogs and it only got worse after Talyn brought out some sausages from his cooler. Gods... the jokes, the puns... it was awesome! It lasted for an hour and a half, at least!

Finally after everyone was fed and watered, Tristram managed to calm us down, and we had our first official meeting of House Amaranth... which had doubled in size from when I had first gotten the members list. There were now 11 of us, and one friend of the House. Most of us are from Borealis, and some from Myrgan Wood (Saskatoon). We have determined that Amaranth is a Household of misfits, people who can't find a place somewhere else, and are looking for a family. It is part of the point of the House that everyone should set a Goal for themselves, and as a House, we should work together to see that everyone should attain those goals. We'll see if it works. Also, part of the House 'rules'... Thou Shalt Not Waste Marshmallows... and No Quoting Jar Jar Binks! Which were both brought up during the hour and a half of punning.

We still haven't come up with a House Device... we never got around to it, but a few ideas were brought up.

We had a Bardic Circle after the meeting, and we were able to find out just how many people in the Household can sing. I can't. I was gonna do a recitation of 'Ozymandias', being the only poem I can remember... but I never got around to it.

I went on a journey to find the coolers I had left in Reme's tent, and on the way out I tripped over a guywire in the dark, and landed on my knee hard on gravel... the same one that has been buggered for years, so I'm having real bad issues with my knee now. It made the rapier tourney the next morning quite interesting. I couldn't kneel when I lost my legs, I had to post. Oh yeah, there was a 'Mystery Tourney' the next morning, after the Dons and Champions Tourney. I'll talk about that first.

The Dons and Champions Tourney. Bright and early Sunday morning. Tristram had to run off to that, and the rest of us followed at a slower pace. The Dons and Champions Tourney is what it sounds like, only Dons and Champions get to play. Reme and Tristram, being Champions, got to enter, and Robert, being a 'Baby Don', got to play as well! I didn't... although it occured to me that my status as Hitman of Da Union might allow me to play, seeing as how the Bardic Champion of Montengarde got to play... it only specified 'Champion', not 'Champion of Rapier'. But it wouldn't have mattered... I wouldn't have survived my first round, and it was single elimination, best-two-outta-three. Tristram made it farther than anyone else of my friends, making it into the quarter finals... beating Robert to make it that far. Apparently the finals were a repeat of the finals in the Kingdom Rapier Tourney, because the last two fighers were the same ones from that... the Queen's Rapier Champion, and Guillemin, the Principality of Tir Righ's Rapier Champion (whom I assuming didn't have that position back when that original tournament was held). The Queen's Rapier Champion won the Dons and Champions Tourney... go figure.

Right after was the 'Mystery Tourney' run by Robert. It was a double bear pit, which involved two fights going on at the same time. The rest of the fighters stood in a line, waiting their turn. Usually in a bear pit, it's the winner who stays in the eric, and the next in line goes to fight while the loser goes to the back of the line... but in this, the loser stayed in, the winner left, and the next in line went in to fight.

Robert told us this only after we had signed in... yay for Mystery Tourneys! It was tons of fun. It was made more fun by the 'loser stays in' rule (Which got switched about halfway through to 'winner stays in', and by the Panel of Beautiful Ladies, which involved Nasheeta and half the women from House Amaranth, who actually 'ran' the tourney, by arranging fights, changing the rules, making things more fun, and just being silly. Eventually they arranged it so that there were four fights going instead of two, at one point they set it up so that all the fighters on the field were female, at another time they arranged it so that I would stay on the field even though I had just lost and had to leave... it was awesome!

During the first half, when the loser stayed on... I got to hold the field for a good long while, twice! I kept losing all my fights, but I got to stay in and have more fights! It was a lot of fun. I fought Genic three times, fought Tristram I think four times... Reme was fighting with Double Daggers, and I fought him once. I managed to fight the Queen's Rapier Champion... he was having fun with me, making me think he was going to let me win, allowing me to show off a little bit... and then killed me. But he was fun to fight. I got a good whack on the collarbone from one fighter, which made me loose control of my right arm for a while, but I was tenatious and kept going. I has a bruise there now.

It was fun.

After I got challenged by a fighter I didn't know, who had made it his promise to himself that he would fight everyone there, and hadn't gotten to me yet. We went off to the side, outside the Eric, and with Tristram acting as Marshal, we had about half a dozen bouts, of which I won one... but it was tons of fun. He was an amazing fighter, and was the kind of spirited opponent that I like, because they make the fight active and fast, leaving no time for thought. It becomes all instinct, and I fight better that way. If I have to think, I've lost the fight already.

Tristram showed me a few pointers, and then I had to go talk to Don Rodrigo for my lesson... and after about half an hour of that, with several interruptions from random House Amaranth members, I was dismissed, dead tired, to go pack up my stuff and head out with Talyn and Maddelaina.

And then we came home... I fell into the bathtub, fell into bed, and fell asleep...

It was an awesome weekend!

So something pretty cool happened to me last weekend. I was as at an SCA event, Silver Arrow, and I was just happily puttering along in both the Archery and Rapier competitions. I did fairly well in both, shot pretty good despite the cold and wind, and rapier was a heck of a lot of fun. There were only four of us, so we did a London Master's tournament, in which we had to fight each other person twice, with each of the 5 fighting styles - Single sword, sword and dagger, sword and shield, sword and baton and sword and cloak. I think I got third in that tournament... out of 4... but hey, not bad considering one was my Instructor, one was the Montengarde Rapier Champion, and the other was a guy who has only been carded in Rapier combat for two weeks. And I was the only woman... But anyway.

(Incidentally, the picture of me with the sword in my new Deviant ID is from this tournament. I am fighting Reme, my Instructor, in this shot.)

After the feast, before Court, my friend Malcolm (whom I made devices for him and his Lady) came to me and asked me if I wanted to stand behind the thrones, protect the Princess and represent Rapier. I looked at him, thought 'Huh?', and basically said 'but I've only been in rapier less than a year...'. He said that didn't matter, and added that if I felt inclined, join the Processional before Court started. I thought a second, said 'heck yes', stole Reme's hat, and went to join the processional.

So, I stood behind the thrones, and tried to look like I belonged there... not exactly easy when you're not sure what you're supposed to be doing.

I didn't get a chance to talk to Her Highness until after Court was over, but when I did I said thank you for the opportunity, and she said 'wanna do it at May Crown as well?' I thought 'May Crown? With Their Majesties, possibly the Royal Couple of Artemisia and Coronets of Tir Righ there? They want me to stand in Court?' I said yes, of course. And essentially floated on air for the rest of the night...

Then yesterday I was at Beltain in Montengarde, and I was telling Robert about the events at Silver Arrow, and he said 'Oh, so you're on the Princess' Guard.', and I thought, 'Huh? How'd that happen?' So, I went and talked to Her Highness, and she confirmed it, and apologized for the informal way it had happened. So, as it turns out I'm officially one of Her Highness' Bodyguards.

My duties include standing behind the thrones, ostensibly to protect Her and His Highness during Court, to fetch and carry, to put up and take down thrones, encampments, and whatever else needs done. I also have the 'official' bodyguard duties... at Camping events (like May Crown), I should be with her when she goes shopping in Merchant's Row, or when she talks to anyone on a one-on-one basis, to help keep misinformation and rumors down. And keep people who are really annoyingly persistant away. And occasionally act as Hitman... which I am of Da Union, so there could be two people telling me to shoot or stab people... hopefully there won't be issues between them.

I am on Her Guard until She is no longer Princess, so the middle of August. Which means I will be on her Guard through May Crown, Silverwolf, TnA War, Quad War, Hidden Treasures... all the good events. Yay!

I think I'm the only Rapier fighter on Her Guard... all the others are Heavies... and the only other one I know of for sure is Malcolm. I don't know how many of us there are. It is odd though, that the Princess should have a Guard that is mostly Heavies, because Rapier is traditionally the Guard of Her Highness... but whatever.

I told Her Highness about the fact that I shot His Highness Hjalti in the throat last year at TnA War, before he had become Prince. She was quite amused by that.

Oh yes, and I finally won a prize in a Rapier Tournament! At Beltaine there was a tourney, with a tough bit of competition. There were three Dons and 4 Cadets, and 3 of us without scarves. I am, needless to say, without a scarf. However, apparently I put up a fairly good fight, because I managed to kill one of the Dons. I got him in the neck. He went on to teach me a little afterwards.

During Court, where I was of course standing behind the thrones, protecting Her Highness, I got called up to accept a prize for being tenatious in the face of such adversity and taking my many, many deaths graciously. (Although there was one point where I was sick of getting pezzed in the face 5 seconds into each fight I was in, and was thinking of leaving, until I talked to Robert and he explained to me that I was an unknown to the Dons, and they were pezzing me to prevent me killing them. I make a good enough showing for myself that I guess I come across as more dangerous than maybe I really am... or something like that.)

Anyway, I got a slingshot with one rubber ball as shot, with a pirate skull and crossbones on it. I commented to Bjar (The Montengarde Rapier Champion, who ran the tourney) that I am an archer, I don't need to use a slingshot, but that's okay. He commented that he saw the pirate device and thought of me. Which I think is just awesome! I suggested to Her Highness later that I could use it from behind the thrones, and she thought that was an excellent idea.

So, that's what's new with me.
Yours in Service,
Grioffa Stoneheart
Hitman of Da Union
Princess' Guard