Welcome to Gaia! ::

The Armoured Queen was infamous in the kingdom in which she helped rule, her skills were legendary and the fact that she had gone after the present King to save him from the terror that shadowed the kingdom at one point only added to her reputation. When everything was settled and the former Knight became a Queen, she organized a small but highly elite group of women to be her personal Praetorian bodyguards and elite members of the army in the Kingdom. Later on, her first born son Ryuu mimicked the idea and made his own hand-picked Praetorian soldiers. Those these soldiers had never officially be given a name, they had quickly been dubbed ‘The Dread Knights’ because of their almost demonically shaped heavy armour and the way they were stoically silent in battle, they only spoke to the Prince and perhaps the Queen herself. The Dread Knights and Valkyries have a heavy rivalry going on out of respect for one another, the Dread Knights were notoriously hard to get into, and the Valkyries had a hellishly high standard as well. The Queen and Future King had no room for laxity, and their ranks and the discipline within those ranks showed the dedication and utter loyalty that they had for their chosen leaders.

With this in mind, a small group of Valkyries were walking up and down the rows and rows of those up and coming hopefuls. These young women we’re eager to make something of themselves, and they all likely held the Queen herself in a high regard as well. Slowly they walked to each of the candidates and looked them up and down, making scribbles and quick notes on those present before moving to the next one. What started off at the early hours of the morning quickly became the afternoon before they were almost done. Lumia, Sorcha and Annette were finishing up the last run of hopefuls, more than eager to get this show on the road. Lumia a tall and very toned young woman, her hair was golden yellow and her green eyes had a sharp piercing quality to them. Sorcha was a dark haired woman who said little when she could get away with it, her eyes were a deep violet and despite being on the more petite side, she was a fierce warrior in her own right. Annette was something of a charmingly airheaded young lady. Her soft blue hair curled around her frame, she was much more elementally inclined than the rest of her sisters and it showed in her leaner and less muscular body. The girls were coming down to the last of their hopefuls. Lumia gave a quick look and made a few quick scribbles before taking a step forwards and then suddenly stopping. She looked over her shoulder and then sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. Sorcha didn’t say a word but kept an eye on him, her face not leaving its stoic position as she watched him. It was Annette who broke the silence and raised her hand in greeting with a bring smile.

”Good to see you again, Orpheus.” She smiled at him, her eyes closed and her head tilted to the side.

”Oh for the love of…. You do know that the Valkyries are for women don’t you? It’s what, your third or fourth time trying to get in here??”

A suppressed smile blossomed on Orpheus’ face, his white hair somewhat coming into his field of vision. ”Fifth, actually.”

Lumia growled in frustration as she turned forwards again. ”Girls only pal. Beat it.”

The three Valkyries moved on towards the testing area, Lumia was starting to blow smoke out her ears with the frustration that she was feeling. She didn’t understand why that boy wanted to get into the Valkyries so badly, he was probably just a little perv who wanted to see the rest of the girls naked and get close to the Queen. Yet every time she had chased him away he was there for the next recruit drive hoping to get in. She didn’t know if it was because he was stupid or stubborn, either way she was getting tired of seeing him skulking around her. Annette usually defended him a little, saying that they really didn’t know why he was there and that perhaps they should give him a chance for once to see if he would be any help for them, maybe not as a Valkyrie but as some sort of branch of the unit. Lumia, of course, took issue with that too… there was enough military jobs for men around here, he didn’t need to be in an all-girls branch of it. Was nothing sacred anymore?
Granted that was probably what the men were thinking about them being in the army.
Sorcha was a little more constructive with her suggestions concerning Orpheus. He seemed like he had some good intentions being here, if he was a pervert then he wouldn’t be making himself so known to them. He didn’t seem to want anything more or less than what was given and she always got a sense of want in his gaze. She had actually approached him about joining the Dread Knights, but he seemed to want to join here for some reason. Maybe it was time to have the Queen step in. When the trio got to training grounds where they would be testing the skills of the girls, Sorcha broke off from the group and headed to the Queens location in the training areas. Her presence was a must here, after all, these were her bodyguards that they were picking, and she would have the final say on who would be the ones to pass and who would fail.
”Forgive my intrusion your Majesty.” Sorcha said. She paused when she noted that the Queen seemed to be… lost… in her own thoughts, she wondered if something had happened. The Queen was actually quiet the worrywart and had a poor poker face. When the Queen was pulled from her apparent daydream Sorcha bowed her head. ”The girls are assembled and are about to take part in the first of their trails… but there is one more who has returned despite our attempts from the last few times. Should we… chase him away again, your majesty or are you going to allow him to take part in this trial?”

Sorcha agreed to what her Queen had commanded, she bowed in acknowledgment and walked off to see the progress of those who sought to join their ranks. The afternoon was full of disappointments and quite a few embarrassments as far as this batch of hopefuls were concerned. It wasn’t uncommon for those who were blindly hopeful (or arrogant) about their skills only to show up here and be humbled greatly, it was a sad thing to see those dreams crumble to dust, but at the same time it was also to judge their character. How would one become a great warrior if one was so easily broken? That was why Sorcha and Annette were actually rather impressed with Orpheus in that regard, he just didn’t know when to give up when he saw his goals in front of him and he seemed to refuse to take ‘No’ for an answer to them. They had never seen his fighting style so they didn’t judge him on that. In order to get in, at least three Valkyries would have to sponsor the choice, then the Queen would have to approve of their fighting skills. Most of the girls couldn’t get the sponsors, the Valkyries were bloody hard to impress and for good reason, you really had to be a diamond in the rough to get in here. It was a sad but firm fact of things.

The afternoon dragged onto the early evening and Sorcha, Annette and Lumia were more or less nursing headaches, Lumia just happened to a little more obvious about it as she rubbed her temples and set her face into something of a deep frown. Lumia was a tightass through and through and she was one of the last people to ever approve someone. Annette may have been charmingly airheaded but she was no fool and she knew when someone displayed talent and when they were hopeless, she had a great feel for people, perhaps it was the gentle nature and the ability to see things with a purity that was lost on even a lot of the Valkyries. Sorcha was a little more open minded to differences in fighting style despite the uniform weapon of the spear that the Valkyries adopted as their own. She looked for a balance in fighting style or at least some level of thinking when on the battle front. But she was also hard to read on her thoughts. When the four of them called meeting about the poor display it was a quick meeting to be sure.
”This… was embarrassing, I can't think of a single girl who came close to cutting it this year.” Lumia fumed, still rubbing her temples. ”I say that none of them get in.”
”Don’t be so hard. I think there were three that held a good deal of promise,” Annette said with her gentle tone as she let the others see her notes. Lumia rolled her eyes but Sorcha took a closer look at them. ”Sure, they could use some practice and some more guidance in their fighting styles but they seemed to be doing their best and I think that with some polishing that they will be able to be great soldiers.”
”Ummm… I can agree with two of them, but that one just didn’t seem to have as much battle instinct for me to be comfortable in sponsorship. Maybe next year she will be a little more polished.” Sorcha replied before letting the Queen have her say about the choices. Once the Queen had her say Lumia gave an exasperated and frustrated sigh.
”What a pain!
Sorcha took a peek out of the tent flap. ”Speaking of pains… he’s still out there, M’lady. Are to too tired to see him this day?”
”Let me get rid of him your majesty, I’ll make sure he doesn’t come back!” Lumia replied with a grim smile. She could use the excuse to let out some frustration.

Orpheus was standing there, as the day had marched on he was starting to get more and more bored and a little despondent with how everyone was getting a chance to shine but not him. It was more or less standing at a loose attention. He wasn’t going anywhere till someone chased him off or he got a chance to prove himself. He saw the tent flap peak open and sighed a little bit, it was almost like clockwork, Lumia would come out and threaten him before more or less grabbing him by the collar and the belt and throwing him out of the camp. Sometimes he didn’t know why he came back, but he reminded himself of why, it was a haunting reminder really. But he stopped himself from thinking those thoughts and stood firm, if the Valkyries wanted him gone, then by the Gods they would throw him out. He would stay out here the rest of his life in this one spot if that’s what it took.

When Orpheus was brought to the Queens tent, he knelt down as was custom to the kingdom. Bowing his head respectfully he listened to what the Queen was asking. "Its my fifth time, your Majesty." He replied with a bit of a proud smile. He had paused for a few moments as he looked around at the tent that was being used to house some sort of meeting. Orpheus looked up at the Queen, his eyes were not the soft and playful eyes that he had walked in with. Those eyes were replaced with a serious gaze that told her that everything that was going to come out of his mouth was going to be the truth.
“I want to do this, because it was my sister’s dream to become a Valkyrie. She worked tirelessly in her training and eagerly waited for the day when she could reach the minimum age to get into this Military group. However, before she was anywhere near old enough our village was attacked by the Blood Fist barbarian tribe. My home was utterly destroyed and my family was murdered, it was your Valkyries that saved what was left of the townspeople and take the lives of those who dared attack our village. My sister was one of the casualties of that village, her fighting skill was impressive enough that she survived the almost to the last, I remember her last words being so full of joy that she was able to fight alongside the Queens Valkyries before she died.” Orpheus paused for a moment, his gaze turned down for a while as the silence settled in around them. Looking up again he got that determined look on his face. “I was far too young to fight for myself, so my sister protected me at the time and it was because of me that she wasn’t able to get into the Valkyries… so I want to live out her dream for her, now that she can’t. I owe her my life, so I will give it up to make sure that he memory lives on through her dreams. I know that I am at odds here, I know that it may seem silly to you that I would do such a thing, but this is something that I need… no… something I want and must do. I will make my sisters dream come true, and I don’t care how often I have to come back to try again, I will become a Valkyrie and not only repay you for what you did for my village and others like it, but I will make it up to my sister who gave up her life for me.”

The tent was silent, Sorcha’s stoic mask was firm on her face, but Annette’s heartstrings were pulled, and her facial expression showed it. Lumia on the other hand, looked far from impressed with his little story and seemed like she was more than willing to beat the snot out of him and send him away. She wasn’t all that convinced that he was here for the reasons that he said he was. Her arms were crossed under her chest and she was glaring at him. Some of the other Valkyries in the tent seemed to be conflicted about how to feel. It should be noted that a lot of the women here were victims of male brutality or sensual appetites, Sorcha included, so there was a lot of women there that were more than a little leery about having a male join there group. It was a safe place for them after all, a place that was free from a lot of the soldiers who would take advantage of a woman. Lumia’s face was starting to contort into something of a snarl and she took a step forwards to Orpheus, he hand was already on the hilt of her blade. It was Sorcha who put herself in front of Lumia and put her hand over top of the hilt of Lumias sword. A glare and a shake of her head told the blonde haired amazon that this was not their place, the Queen would decide, and decide alone what was to transpire next. The tent was focused on Ana now, some of the looks were pleas not to let him come into this organization, others looked on with curiosity as to what Ana was going to choose, and then there was some, Annette included, who looked on almost in a pleading way to Ana that she may make an exception to the usual rule and give him a chance to actually prove himself here. In the end it was the Queens decision, and no matter her choice, it would probably end up causing some friction within the ranks.

When Ana gave her verdict the tent erupted into chaos. Some were opposed to the idea and where shouting their disproval, those that where neutral suddenly had an interest to where this was going and those who were in support were giving some level of cheer or clap. It took Ana to raise her hand and a few vicious glares from Lumia to settle things down. It seemed that once more, Sorcha was the one with the stoic resolve and fetched some weapons for them to duel with. Sorcha seemed more interested in the skills that Orpheus would bring to the table more than what his gender was, she was always the critical thinker and the problem solver as she saw trivial details as just that. Annette seemed wore her usual warm and comforting smile while Lumia was trying to make the boys head explode with her mind. Niccy had gone utterly unnoticed with the sudden and unexpected turn of events. When Orpheus was offered the swords he held up his hands with a smile.
“Thanks, but I brought my own.” He replied somewhat proudly before producing a pair of wooden replicas. The tent exploded into laughter.
“Oh come on! You still have your training wheels on?” Lumia snapped snidely.
“Nice weapons loser, does it come in mens… or even ladies?”
The laughter deepened, though Orpheus didn’t seem to acknowledge the sudden heckling of the majority of the crowd. Sorcha was busy making mental notes and keeping to herself as per usual and Annette was content clapping and starting to cheer for both sides, as was her peaceful nature. Sorcha intervened and offered the metal replica to Orpheus again.
”We give these swords to spare with to make sure that the candidates have the minimum physical strength required for being a Valkyries. Seeing as you prefer two weapon combat though, I’ll fetch you another practice sword.”
“Oh… um… sure? Are you sure that it’ll be alright to spare with the Queen with these?”
Annette giggled not far off. “Oh don’t worry about the Queen, she’s a tough cookie. We make sure that these swords won’t kill anyone so don’t worry about it.”
“Oh please! Let the loser have his wooden swords, the Queen is going to mop the floor with him anyway.”

Orpheus found out quickly that wasn’t going to be the most popular person in the group, but that didn’t stop him. He refused Sorcha’s offer of a second practice sword and opted for his wooden one in place of the second practice one. He placed his wooden sword in his dominant hand and the metal replica with his off hand and took a stance. The field was cleared and Sorcha raised her hand when the combatants were ready. ”Begin!”
It was painfully obvious within the first few minutes that the Queen was going to be dominating this fight, Orpheus seemed to take a strictly defensive stance in this fight, dodging and parrying the Queens sword with his metal replica while striking oddly out with his wooden replica, it was almost as though he wasn’t comfortable attacking the Queen herself. He wasn’t bad per say, but he wasn’t startling with his display, it was also rather obvious that he wasn’t used to the weight of the metal sword and it seemed to throw him off balance a bit, it wasn’t something that was too bad, it would be an easy enough fix once he got used to the weight of the weapons. As the battle went on, however, Ana’s strikes seemed to be getting less and less accurate on him and he was starting to dodge her strikes a little more smoothly. Maybe Ana was getting tired, or maybe she was just feeling sorry for the kid who had been on the defensive sense this fight started. Out of the corner of her eye though, Ana would probably note that Sorcha’s eyes were narrowed as if she was trying to see something that was hidden, it was a habit of hers when she was noticing something odd or quirky in the way things were going on. She got that face when the candidates were doing something sneaky or strategic, it was also the face she made when she was playing those chess games and their like. She was concentrating on the enemies movements and trying to predict their next move. This was something that didn’t happen often with Valkyrie hopefuls. Finally after what seemed like the end of the fight, Orpheus seemed to step up his game a little bit. He dodged a blow and made a slashing motion with his sword, Ana would easily be able to dodge it, though the very tip of his wooden sword gently scraped along the chainmail of her armour, causing it to chime gently when he did so. Orpheus put some distance between them and leveled his weapons again. He seemed to have achieved something and now he was ready to step up his game. Perhaps the real fight would being in earnest now.

Orpheus watched the Queen with some amusement, bringing up his hand an rubbing the bottom of his nose with his finger. ”Well, I didn’t want to make you look bad in front of everyone so I figured that I’d start off easy and see how you did.” Orpheus sassed back playfully, his eyes had the sunny brightness of a child and he seemed fairly confident in himself despite what the others would think of him and this rather ‘pathetic’ display.
But Orpheus was no fool, as his name may have suggested.
Orpheus had been watching Ana’s body movements keenly; when she slowed down to ‘even out with him’ she was actually allowing him to read her body language much easier. He was going to have an easier time predicting her movements. Orpheus juggled his weapons so that the metal sword was in his dominate hand, and the wooden one was in his off hand. It was time to up his game. He held no illusion that he was going to beat the Queen in one on one combat, but at the same token, he still had his ace, and he was sure that that was going to get him into the Valkyries for sure. Right now though, he would do his best and show his still in earnest. When Ana brought her sword downwards he caught it with the metal practice sword that was now in his dominate hand, he guided it away with no small skill and struck out with his wooden sword so that the blade would go against the momentum of the fall and thus, cause a deeper cut. At least it would if he had real sword and everything went according to his plan, this was unlikely however, considering Ana’s skill level, but it still gave her a bit of a taste to his fighting style. Orpheus’ techniques were graceful and had some surprising strength behind them. Though Ana would note that his stance was ridged and he had holes in his defence, he would be pretty good soldier if he were to be polished up. Now that he had amped up his game, defensively, he was reading Ana’s movements like she was an open book. When the opportunity presented itself, he moved into her strike so that he blow would miss.

”Hey, did you know that everyone has a dominate arm, leg and eye? It’s obvious that your right handed, but you’re dominate leg wasn’t originally your left, you trained it to be didn’t you? I bet it was an old war injury… nothing serious – probably an arrow wound or some kind of thinblade the pierced your leg and required you to favour that one for a while. It would have been fairly serious in that it took you enough time to heal that you kept the habit afterwards. I noticed that you change to your right leg when you started to take it easy on me. Probably an old habit when you just wanted to take it easy in a spar.” Orpheus lashed out at Ana’s left leg with the metal sword, if he could agitate it, then perhaps he could gain the upper hand in this fight.

’So that’s his game… not bad, I have to say, but he still doesn’t have the skill set to beat her. He has a pretty big hole in his defence, though he guards it fairly well with his off handed sword. He was obviously self-taught, as his skill is rough and unpolished. Still… he’s hiding something, he still looks like he’s confident that he can beat her at this. Does he… have an element of some kind under his control? I’m actually kind of interested now… hell, I’d sponsor him to get in. He’s shown strategy, and though his skills need improving, he certainly is on part with the other two candidates that we approved… if not slightly better. I’ll hold back my judgement for now though, at least until I see what he’s hiding.’ Sorcha continued her mental notes, carefully watching Orpheus while he continued to pick up steam against the Queen, she wondered if he would have gone all out all at once if his opponent had been different or if he would have started out slow and worked his way up too. In a way it was a clever baiting, letting your opponent get over confident then suddenly picking up on your ability, it could be used as an intimidation tactic if used right.
Sorcha did her best to ignore the shouts of encouragement coming from Lumia, somehow… Sorcha didn’t think that the Queen was willing to just ‘murder him and be done with it’ as Lumia seemed to be demanding. Annette was happily being happy and cheering on both sides. Sorcha wondered if that would change if and when Orpheus used his element… if he had one. Sorcha was interested in what he was hiding and she was hoping that Ana would bring it out of him soon. The tent was starting to get a little restless, it had been a tiring day for everyone and with the animosity and tensions so high with Orpheus, it would likely result in some sort of blow out if he got in. Granted… Sorcha noted a few individuals whom had either gone quiet or had indeed starting to slowly cheer for the boy. This would be interesting to see at his grand conclusion.

Orpheus continued to try and keep up with Ana, though she had speed and skill that was above his own. He had become silent and his face filled with concentration, it had been a long time sense he had someone to spar with and he was rather enjoying it. When Ana lashed out with the flat of her blade, he had tried hard to get his other sword to block her, but she was just too fast for him and the painful, meaty slap echoed in his ears and he yelped a little bit before Ana backed off and got into her original pose. Orpheus took the time to rub where the blade had slapped and were a bruise was more than likely going to form. He listened to Ana while she mentioned that a warrior’s strength was flexibility. Orpheus gave a big grin.
”My grandpa used to say something like that… but it was slightly different… how did it go again?... Oh yeah! You must be a mountain when your opponent is like the river and the river when your opponent is like a mountain. I don’t think I get it, but he’s a lot wiser than me so he’s probably knows what the hell he’s talking about.” His big goofy grin was accompanied by a rub to the back of his head. When she said that it was about time to give it his all, he stopped and looked at her for a moment. Guess it was time to bring out his ace, he thought that he was doing so well too… oh well. He had heard that it was notoriously hard to get into. Orpheus almost looked disappointed, though there was still a smile on his face. He had a lot of fun facing the Queen herself, and if he didn’t make it this year he would just return again next year and practice harder till then. He lowered his hand and planted the metal replica into the ground while ‘sheathing’ his wooden practice sword.
”Give it my all huh? Alright… thought I was hoping to pass without my super-secret weapon…”

”A super-secret weapon? Puh-lease! You could have the ultimate weapon in your back pocket and you’d still be too stupid to know what to do with it. Just finish this your Majesty, this charade has gone on long enough!” Lumia was never afraid to speak her mind, and obviously she had no ability to stop the venom flowing from her lips whenever Orpheus was around. Lumia ignored the others who were glaring at her, this was such an obvious waste of time, there was no way her Majesty would allow the name of the Valkyries to be so tarnished by a man of all things. Why she was even entertaining him at all was beyond her.

Sorcha sighed and brought one hand to her temple and rubbed, trying to dull the headache that Lumia was starting to give her with all this nastiness. It was safe to say that Sorcha, even despite her history, didn’t see eye to eye with Lumia and years of being forced to fight alongside each other changed nothing. Thankfully, she was such a lower rank that Sorcha didn’t have to bother with her a lot of the time. Sorcha clenched her eyes closed for a moment before she looked at Orpheus. Though the way he described what he was hiding made her chuckle a little bit, she was going to save either her disappointment or amazement for later. She did note how Annette was suddenly quiet and giving this fight her full attention now, maybe it was the anticipation for the winner or maybe she just sensed something that the others could not. Annette was far more in tuned with the magic of the world that anyone else she had ever met. So maybe something was going on?

”Geez… what’s her problem?” Orpheus almost pouted as Lumia proceeded to try and tear a new hole in him, thought he was too upbeat and innocent to let something like that get him down.
”Don’t mind her Orpheus, just show us what you got left.” Someone called out from the crowd.
Orpheus got into a relaxed posture. ”Well… I guess it’s time we wrapped up then, huh? Too bad… I really enjoyed our spar. But now, I will end it with these three fingers.” Orpheus held up his right hand, though only his thumb, index and middle fingers were raised. ”Sorry you’re going to lose this, your Majesty, but I hope there are no hard feelings!”
The tent more or less erupted into laughter at the thought of Orpheus beating the Queen, though he still had that confident look in his eye. He placed his thumb behind his middle finger and placed his unused hand in his pocket in a relaxed manner. With an amused look on his face, he snapped his fingers and everyone quietened down.
”That was it? Pack up and go home loser, you wasted enough of our time!” Once more the Valkyries took sides and chaos all but erupted once more.

Ana would be feeling something strange though…

While still in her hand, her sword started to vibrate violently, the handle absorbed most of the vibrations but the blade itself seemed to whine at the frequency that was unheard among the sudden uproar of the Valkyries, this went on for a few seconds before Ana’s blade exploded into dull shrapnel, her armour too, vibrated until the links couldn’t take anymore, the pins and joints of her armoured boots gave way first, reducing them to nothing more than useless scrap at her feet. With one snap of his fingers, Ana had been disarmed… and dis-armoured.
The tent went dead quiet.
Orpheus placed his other hand in his pocket and grinned. ”Hey, did you know that If the sound waves have the same resonant frequency as an object, and the strength in intensity, amplitude and loudness is high enough, that it can and will destroy and object?”
Orpheus bowed his head for a moment before turning slightly away from the Queen. Well, that was his ace, his sound element was out of the bad… so to speak… and there wasn’t anything left to show her. He had displayed his skills to their fullest potential, so he wasn’t ashamed on what he had or had not accomplished today.

With the defeat of Orpheus, he was lead out of the tent and out into the waiting area with the rest of the candidates. It had been a long day, and everyone was sitting on pins and needles hoping that they would get into and obtain their dream of someday raising out of their pervious lives and into something arguably more glorious. Orpheus, was pleased with himself, whether he would become a Valkyrie this day or not, he gave it his all and even managed to spar with the Queen… though getting flipped over her shoulder then put in a painful hammerlock was something that he would have lived without. Luckily his constant pounding on the ground and crying ‘Uncle’ was enough to apparently make the Queen back down and NOT dislocate his shoulder. All that was left to do now was to wait for the verdict.

Inside the tent, the Officers of the Valkyries all gathered around the table that was in front of the Queens chair, there was a hushed murmur about them as they all tried to decide the fate of the Orpheus, when the Queen asked what the others thought of Orpheus, Annette opened her mouth and started to say something before Lumia rudely butted in with an explosion of disgust and a slamming of her sword on the table, the blade was pointed towards her, a vote for ‘No’.
”It’s obvious what we’re going to do with him!” Lumia barked, ignoring the glaring pout of Annette as she puffed her cheek out as if she was chewing on some foul words that were meant for her inferior officer. ”We’re going to take him around back and beat the hell out of him to make sure that he doesn’t disgrace us again with his sorry excuse of an existence. You’re Majesty, we were promised a safe space away from those damnable men that have scarred and taken advantage of us. To think that you are even entertaining this thought is beyond vile! He’s nothing more than a pervert who will prey on the womyn of this company, and it would be a disgrace and dishonour to our units to allow the likes of a man in here. There is no doubt –and I know that every womyn would had a bad experience with a man will back me up- that there is no place for something like Orpheus in the Valkyries. Lumia looked around the table and saw about 1/3rd of Valkyries place their swords in an identical position as Lumia’s, she smirked to herself, though turned a darker look to Annette… she was a weakling man-lover, so she would probably humiliate herself and the others by allowing Orpheus to come into this sanctified space. Her face twisted into something of a snarl when her hunches were confirmed and Annette placed her ornate Dagger with its blade pointing away from her, a vote of ‘Yes’.

”I think that it would be unfair to let Orpheus try only to have no intention of letting him join, we are many things, but we pride ourselves in not being cruel, do we not?” Annette asked those around her, causing a few to exchange looks between themselves before turning their attention back to Annette once more. ”I may not know much about close combat, so I won’t say much more than I think he did well enough to be considered, he was certainly on par with many of the other candidates we welcomed into our ranks so far… but the thing that I must draw attention to and point out, is his impressive control over his element of sound. I know enough about the element that it takes discipline and self-control to wield the element. Then there is the fact that, even though it could have literally killed out Queen, Orpheus had total control over it despite the distractions of the Valkyries who were present and watching. Based on these observations, I think that Orpheus can –and will- go far in the Valkyries if given the chance. Many of us were shunned and persecuted because of being women, so what right do we have to do the same thing to a man when all he wants to do is honour a fallen family member and fulfill a dream that she had. I get the feeling that we can trust Orpheus, if he was just a pervert then why would he present himself as such and try to put himself in a very controlled environment instead of just remaining hidden where we may not have found him at all?” Annettes eyes softened and a small smile formed on her delicate features. ”Besides… I think Orpheus could very well be used to heal some of those wounds inflicted upon some of our sisters by showing them that not all men are horrible and evil...

”Bullhuey! ALL men are horrible and evil!”

”Enough! You’ve said your piece, Lumia.” Sorcha gave her lower officer a vicious look that made her back down. One by one the Valkyries said their piece before choosing a side, or not side at all as quite a few of them seemed. Finally it came on Sorcha, when she was asked, Sorcha closed her eyes for a moment. She of all people had every right to hate men, she was enslaved and brutalized on a regular basis by them… but she was also saved by them. She understood where all sides were coming from and it made the choice that much more tricky for her.
”I… don’t like the idea of men being allowed into the Valkyries. I wish to shield the other girls from their influence as much as possible because of what I’ve been though. My personal feelings are that we shouldn’t let Orpheus in to protect the other girls.” Lumia sneered, thinking that she had won something with Sorcha being on her side. She could always count on Sorcha with this sort of thing.
”However…
I am also a Commander of the Valkyries, and I can’t let my personal feelings get in the way of my judgement nor my duty to serve and protect those women who are under my care. As a result, I will be looking at this from a genderless standpoint.” Lumia’s sneer fell off her face, replaced by deep frown, it was obvious that she wasn’t expecting this. Sorcha continued: ”Orpheus’s skill with the blade is above normal, though he is still rather rough and unpolished, he fights too tensely and he has rather large holes in his defence. That being said, he as the raw talent that we could shape, I think that he would do well under the right Valkyrie and perhaps some more privatized lessons with a specialist in duel wielding blades. He has shown a quick and sharp eye in combat that he uses well to his advantage, this is a very under-rated trait among soldiers and warriors and I commend him for it. He has also demonstrated the ability to think under pressure which is a rare trait even among our higher ranking officers.
My final thoughts are as follows: Even though he still has much to learn with his physical attacks, he has a good foundation that I think will bring a great skill set to us as Valkyries. He may arguably be our brightest and best candidate we’ve had for a few years now. I think it would be foolish to turn him away all things considering. Therefore, I am willing to be a sponsor for him.”
Sorcha placed her blade on the table, point facing away from her for her vote, the room had gone quiet, it was a very bold move for a Commander of the officers to stick her neck out and Sponsor someone like Orpheus. Lumia was not pleased, she was not pleased at all. With the last of the blades being set to vote, Sorcha did a quick count.
”It’s…. a three way deadlock. What is your wisdom, your majesty?”
One thing was for sure, the Valkyries were pretty divided about Orpheus.

The Valkyries, having had their decisions made slowly broke apart and started to go their separate ways, the new girls and Orpheus had been decided, though who would take on the other two girls was still unknown. There was a hushed murmur though the tent that slowly started to disappear with the last of the girls. Lumia started outside but pulled herself away, she wanted to have a chat with Lorelei when she was ready, though by the looks of things, it was Sorcha the womyn traitor who was going to be talking to her first. She would wait till they were done before she approached the other girl. Lumia had no intention of actually letting Orpheus into the Valkyries and was already scheming things up to make sure that he ran away and never came back again.

Sorcha watched as the girls went on their way, spare Annette who was walking over to the Queen, her usual carefree smile as bright on her face as always. Though it was Lorelei that gave her pause for concern, her scars were still fairly fresh, and although Sorcha respected the Queen choice, she was still a little worried for her sister Valkyrie. She sighed gentle and walked over to the girl and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze, before bringing her index finger under her chin and lifting it gently so that Lorelei was looking at her. She gave a weak, soft smile at the girl to try and reassure her.
”I understand your reluctance to train Orpheus, believe me. If you need some help or just need a break from him for a while, just come and find either myself or Annette. We won’t keep you two out of our sight until he’s proven himself or the contrary. You’re a smart and capable young lady, I have every faith in you.
Sorcha would remain by the girl until she was sure that she was okay. If she needed a few moments then that was fine. Sorcha had most of her duties done and could spare some time for a sister in need, she wanted to make sure that she knew that this wasn’t some kind of punishment and that they were going to be making sure that she was going to be okay. They wouldn’t throw her to the dogs so early… so to speak.

Annette almost glided over the Queen, ever sense the girl had joined the Valkyries, the two of them had gotten along swimmingly. Perhaps it was because they seemed to think very similarly, or maybe it was just because of Annette’s charmingly airheaded persona that put the Queen at ease and allowed her to warm up to her. She was one of the few people who even Ryuu actually seemed to like. It was so easy to see her as perhaps as an older sister or perhaps even a second mother that she seemed to get along with most people. When Annette made it over to the Queen, she placed her hands behind her back and leaned forwards with that gentle smile on her lips and eyes.
”I’m glad that you let Orpheus have his chance, your Majesty, I think it would be really heartbreaking for him if we just flat out refused him… not that he would have taken no for an answer.” Annette giggled, her hand coming up to cover her smile. ”Are we still on for tea today, your Majesty?”