citizen soldier (open)

[kanoinazuma17]

He stood in the city of Feinster, silent as he hid in one of the alleyways. Kano was the kind of person who usually wouldn't be found hiding, but he enjoyed his anonymity. Since joining the Varden, he had taken his job as a weaponsmith and a citizen soldier for them. He was always ready to serve when they needed him, regardless of his duties. He had been kindly given a shop here in Feinster to do his work. Granted he had to build everything but there was enough space for everything that he needed and the Varden had supplied the tools he needed.

For all of this, he was greatful in the highest order. He stood up straight and walked out into the street. It was spring again, and certainly people were going to be out and about soon, but it was still very early morning. He had simply not slept at all because of a project he had been working on. He sat sipping at a mug of black tea he had made when he took a break from working on the special project that he had taken upon himself.

Kano had grown a bit now, being 6' tall even and having let his hair grown out a bit from when he had visited Aberon. He felt much more mature than his short stature of 5'6" a year or two ago. He was a rare breed, one who had immense passion for the welfare of the country. He was intelligent as far as literacy went, his parents had taught him the value of intelligence, at least untill they were slaughtered by Galbatorix's soldiers. He hated the tyrant with a flaming passion. If he could he would have gouged his heart out out of his hatred. He sighed as these thoughts passed through his head, none of them pleasant, but he just shook them out. He was becoming embittered and cynical, and he was only 18 years of age.

Kano sat down on the steps to his forge. Odd, he had never been able to say HIS forge. But now, he had his own workplace. He looked up at the dwindling stars and sighed once more, taking a deep breath and allowing the fresh air to fill his lungs. "Another day another dollar." He said softly to himself before closing his eyes and laying back on the steps to rest a bit. His tunic and leather pants shifted a bit before he yawned and opened his eyes, staring at the twilight sky. "Morning again..." He added softly as he waited for the sun to rise. It was these early morning hours that he loved so much. It was light enough to see, but dark enough that no one else was up yet, unless of course it was the red-eye shift of guards or the occasional cat.

There was a stirring within the forge/house, a young woman was cleaning things up after finishing up a project with Kano. She had met him shortly after he had joined the Varden as a weapons smith. She had taken to his way of thinking immediately. "the better the weapons, the more deaths prevented." as he had so graciously said when she offered her services. Indeed, their personalities didn't match up perfectly, but they had interests and one other thing in common: nonsensical attitudes.

To her, Kano was a down to buisiness person with a tongue that would get him in trouble eventually. She enjoyed that about him. She, however, was not human, but rather an elf. Her name was Andraste Renai. As she picked up her mug of black tea, she walked outside and sat next to Kano, who laid staring at the sky. "Tired?" She asked calmly. Kano shook his head silently as he sat up, rubbing his head slightly. "Nah, I was just thinking." He responded as he looked over to his mug and picked it up, sipping at his tea. He enjoyed Andraste's company greatly. It was good to have someone to talk to who was of like-mind.

[Ze Flying Wraithetti Monstress]

Another day dawned- another day of mingling with the commoners.

I strode down one of the many dirt pathways surrounding the endless rows of plain brown Varden tents, critically eyeing the workmanship. Feinster had recently been captured, and the Varden was rather adamant about keeping it under their control, considering it was their closest town to Urû’baen. However, it constantly teetered on the edge of Imperial re-assimilation. Besides that, many citizens were unsure about suddenly being ruled by a rebel faction. If their governor Lorana had been replaced, they would have revolted ages ago.

Complaints were commonplace, protests were bubbling, and riots were not unheard of. The race of man was a picky and inconsistent one, and the favour of the public was a fickle thing indeed. Nasuada had her hands tied with all of these rapidly conquered cities, and the Varden knew it. The few people in the campgrounds were busy sharpening weapons, plating armour, and tensely gnawing away at their meagre food rations. How long, they doubtlessly wondered, until the Empire mounted an assault; until the townspeople rebelled against them? Until Nasuada truly slipped up and made some terribly fatal mistake?

I was so glad to not be troubled by such insignificant issues. I was not interested in which cities were held and which were not, whether so-and-so supported Nasuada or not, or about the impending doom of the Empire. My only concern was the Varden’s survival. Whether they existed as the rulers of Alagaësia or the pack of backwater rebels that they really were, I was happy. If they were obliterated, I would have no choice but to go hunting for my siblings, alone and unprotected from my mother, back in the homeland I hardly remembered. My jaw tightened. Those thoughts were best left alone. Going back to Saxony was a last-resort sort of choice, and the Varden clearly wasn’t dying off anytime soon. And besides, a little war always made things much more interesting- for me, at least.

And it was for that very reason that I was currently doing absolutely nothing at all. With its vain and oversensitive leaders, the Varden had consigned me to the lowest position possible for a magically gifted sympathizer- the position of witch. Granted, I had only been a member for a few weeks, but I was older than most of them. I was powerful, and they knew it, and they feared it. It was why all they had me do was petty research and killing off invaders rather than actually participating in groups like Du Vrangr Gata. They didn’t want me near their vulnerable hides. However, it also meant that I was rather bored. The Imperials were licking their wounds, so there hadn’t been an attack on the Varden for three weeks, and I had completed my research on magical methods of destroying Malandra Ramakrishna’s painless soldiers. I could have stayed at home in Silverwood Forest, but I’d felt the need to get out a little. I also wanted to watch the petty little humans at work and play again. The answer to the mystery of why they fascinated me so much continued to elude me. Perhaps their worthlessness amused me, or I just enjoyed tormenting them. Maybe there was even something I liked in their psyche, impossible as that seemed. They were more tolerable than my own kind, at any rate. Elves. Bah. What a despicable race.

I was dressed in my usual manner- blood red vertical straps covered my breasts, while a fur-lined vest dyed pitch black hung over my shoulders. An elegant downy glove stretched past my elbow on my left arm, while form-fitting leather leggings and onyx snakeskin boots adorned my lower half. My wolf bone necklace hung regally around my neck, and my full black hair had been left loose around my shoulders in all of its dark glory. My makeup was also dark and frighteningly alluring, and all in black, from the kohl outlining my eyes to the pigments I’d painted onto my lips. Though it was considered an odd fashion in this civilization, I stuck to my uniqueness. I wasn’t dyed blonde and I didn’t dance around in hoop skirts. And I rather enjoyed the sideways glances I got from the lot of them. It was just another hugely amusing way of asserting my superiority over them all.

However, no one had bothered me today. The camp was oddly deserted, and those who occupied it were too busy gruelling at their workloads to pay me any notice. Granted, the sun had just risen and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so they were all doubtlessly pursuing less mundane tasks elsewhere. Feeling rather put out for about thirty seconds, I turned a corner and stopped, immediately raising my dark eyebrows. Further off, in the actual town of Feinster itself, a pile of townspeople and Vardeners- I recognized them by the brown and tan colours of their tunics- had formed a large crowd. I could hear the shouting and baying even from all the way over here. My curiosity piqued, I headed towards the gathering. It seemed something interesting was happening after all.

Words;; 860
Muse;; Ehh. Not great.
Words;; I was in a very nasty mood when I wrote this, so please excuse the snarkiness. XD

[kanoinazuma17]

Kano sat up, seeing an oddly dressed woman in the street. He hadn't met her yet. But did he really want to? He didn't know, his thoughts rushing through his heads at a speed he couldn't comprehend. He stood up and took the tea from Andraste, watching the odd woman from the corner of his eye. "Andraste, do you know who she is. I don't think I've ever met her before." he said under his breath into his mug of tea. She nodded and stood behind him, looking over the street, and in the same low tone so she wouldn't overhear their conversation "She's the witch that got signed onto the Varden, you know, the one working on a magical solution to the problem of the painless soldiers the Empire is using?" Kano nodded and his eyes trailed back over the street.

He watched the street vendors take their places and get ready to start their selling. It was always comical to watch people vend things and watching the marketplace. So many transactions could take place in one minute that one would think that the streets would be flowing with gold. However, most of the excitement in the daily marketplace was just the shouting and arguing in the haggling and dealing. Although this arguing often escalated into a brief fight, though they never lasted long, and they were almost never physical. Those arguments that did get physical were rare, and when they did happen, Kano and Andraste would sit back and start making bets between each other on who would win. Humans could be so pea-brained.

Amazingly, as he thought about this, Andraste pointed. “Kano, look. We’re lucky today. We’ve got the fruit vendor on the right hand side this time. Ten crowns on the vendor.” She said, grinning. Kano shrugged and returned a smile “It’s on.” They then sat there watching and laughing between the two brawlers. It seemed that the rest of the street had also taken interest in it. The merchant lost the small skirmish and Kano laughed. “I win. You owe me, Andraste.” He said calmly before standing up. It was time to man the shop.