Amerea was settling well into Sunflare's Burning Sun Clan. She had never thought of herself as a warrior before--she'd thought of herself as a lady, as a sister, and as a daughter (not necessarily in that order), but being a warrior, a knight, was something she had always assumed was for the men in her family. Her little brothers were no doubt being trained in the warrior's way right now, and being turned into proper knights. She, on the other hand, had always assumed that she would live a quiet life, marry a husband of her father's choosing, and carry more demure wives and honorable knights.Her mother had changed that, in a way, by her dalliance with the stablehand and the subsequent birth of her little half-sister. Wink was probably the most important person in the world to her; she had been a playmate, and her plight had awakened Amerea to the plight of so many of the world. She had given Amerea a reason to fight, and a reason to push for victory even when it didn't seem possible. Back then it hadn't been a physical fight--she and Wink had merely been trying to mend the break in Amerea's parents' relationship that had been torn asunder by their mother's foolishness. The feeling of victory was just the same, though, as if it had been an actual battle, and the girls had toasted each other in secret triumph at the raucous party Lord Kelbore had thrown for the birth of the twins.
But now that she belonged to the Sunflare herd, Amerea was learning all sorts of things about herself. She had learned that she, too, could be a physical warrior, and that she could change the world. She had learned that she had vast reserves of strength even she had never known about, and that she was braver, much braver, than she had ever thought possible. She was growing up fast, and learning fast, and she was proud to say that Rhia Sepaia respected her. Certainly she was respected enough to be allowed to patrol alone. True, it wasn't as if she was patrolling the dreaded Eastern Border, but she was patrolling by herself nonetheless, and that was a big deal for Amerea. She gleefully plunged forward, careful to keep an eye out for anything, especially enemy movements, but enemy action was far from her mind that afternoon.
