Izzy The Brave

[Kitami Aklia]

The sweating, moving figures were like dancers to Isonette’s eyes. She stared as men sparred with various forms of weapons, shot arrows at targets such long distances away, and together practiced their forms with their swords or spears. It was magnificent to watch. Izzy greatly wanted to be like them. Stand among their ranks and fight. Fight for the weak, bring justice to evildoers. It had an attractive sound to it. Isonette du Ponteloc the Second, the Brave Knight! And oh how Papa would weep when he saw her decked in metal armor rather than fine dresses! It was sad and funny at the same time. Papa seemed to think this was a childish phase. It very well could be, but Izzy never felt about something like this before. In fact, she never gave her future occupation much thought. Perhaps because it was expected she someday become a noblewoman, stand by her Papa’s side in luxury and nobility. Of course as Izzy got older she realized the odds of that seemed slim. She was technically the illegitimate child of that noble. The odds of his mate, Lisa, allowing Izzy into their household seemed slim. Besides, why should she abandon Mama? Mama was the one there for her constantly after all. Mama taught her, fed her, kept her safe. Mama even let Izzy entertain her notion of becoming a knight and supported her. Kitami found the idea of her only pup becoming a knight wonderful, though Izzy sensed the idea scared her Mama too.

But her brothers seemed supportive. Pierre bought her the fine wooden sword she was currently hugging to her chest. Papa seemed uncomfortable when Izzy asked for one, but Pere and Jericho simply smiled and nodded. Days later a courier came and offered Isonette the finely carved sword, polished to a sheen. Izzy loved it, and had been playing with it since. She even slept with it the first night, but Kitami put that habit out when she said that Izzy could not sleep with her real sword in her bed. So she leaned it by her night table right next to her. Most girls her age would have a doll in their hands, assuming they still played with such toys. Izzy had her sword.

Today she pestered the servant girl Kitami recently hired to bring her to town. Hanna couldn’t exactly take the pup herself, being a mostly forest dwelling wolf, and Kitami wanted someone to be able to keep the home up and running and clean. This servant girl was much much better than the last. Izzy liked her. She was in her late teens, almost a woman, and had agreed to keep Kitami’s home at a decent rate, until the girl married the man she was to marry. It was an arranged marriage, to some rich farm boy outside of Avaleur, but the girl seemed happy and excited about it. And the boy seemed kind. Couriers would drop off small gifts now and then for the servant girl. The servant girl was doing some shopping for Kitami’s home while Izzy played by the knights. It seemed a good place to leave the child.

Izzy stared as two men sparred, swords clashing and ringing in the air. She blinked as one swung his sword, ready for the kill, but inches from his partner’s throat he stopped, declared the winner, and the two smiled and shook hands before they changed off, battling new partners. Izzy watched with wide eyes, smiling. Oh how she wished she could be one of them now!

[Leonardo]

Leonardo had been wondering what lead him here. Was it due to every town he went to being a dead end that he came here? Well that was a large part of it. His memory was still a blank, a massive large blank. The dog was sitting by his side and honestly, he needed to come up with a name for the fellow. Every time he tried, the dog looked unhappy with whatever name he said. The dog did know it's name and Leonardo needed to figure it out. He just was having a hard time.

"Okay, is it...Rusty?" Leonardo asked the German Shepard as he pulled back on the arrow, aiming for a target.

The dog made a whine like sound. That meant no.

"Timber?" Leonardo suggested as he adjusted his aim a bit.

Once more a whine. Leonardo thought it over for a moment as he tried to figure it out. So many names, all failures. Come on!

"Vinci?" Leonardo suggested as he released the arrow, only for it to land in the second closet circle to the bull's eye.

The dog barked several times and his tail was wagging. Causing Leonardo to be confused as he watched the dog. That was a new reaction.

"Vinci?" Leonardo repeated. "That's your name?"

Vinci barked with his tail wagging. Apparently it was.

"Well, that's one thing figured out." Vinci then took off. "Hey! Now where are you going?"

Leonardo took off after Vinci, only to find him looking at a little girl curiously. He wasn't going to hurt her. His tail was wagging and he wanted to play it seemed. Or just bug her for pets. Vinci always did that with children.

"Vinci, I think she's doing something at the moment." Leonardo said to the dog.

[Kitami Aklia]

Izzy giggled as she watched two men playfully wrestle each other, one saying the other cheated through laughs. It was a tad scary since these knights to be were wrestling roughly, but both were able to take it. Finally they broke it off and left, patting each other on the back. Such comrades! That was another nice thing about it all. Izzy came from a loving yet broken family, where her role wasn’t quite clear to her yet and everything seemed distorted somehow. But here it was like a family. A real one. It’d be nice to be part of that as well.

Suddenly a canine scent filled her nose. She blinked and turned, nearly jumping with surprise as a dog stood by her. Mama would have been so disappointed! That such a creature could have approached Izzy and the child hardly noticed till it was so close! She’d have to work on that. Among other things. She turned as a man approached, speaking to the dog. Doing something? Not really. Mostly staring at training men wishing to be among their ranks someday.

“I do not mind.” She said softly, reaching out to pat the dog on the head. “I’m not very busy. I’m only watching.” She smiled, running her fingers through the dog’s fur. This dog was much nicer than the wild ones Mama always had to scare off. Those ones were feral, and they reeked of malice whenever Izzy scented them. They’d tear her apart in a heartbeat if they could. It was a good thing Mama was a werewolf and could protect Izzy. Mama was rather scary sometimes when she threatened the dogs. One time Mama had nearly had to shift into her werewolf form, when they first moved here, because the dogs had tried to attack Izzy outside. It had been scary, watching Kitami’s eyes sharpen and glitter in anger, fangs seemed to descend and claws grow just a bit. A wolfish look taking on the pretty face. The dogs needed no more encouragement to run. Kitami hadn’t had to shift, nor had she been close ever since. She made her point, and the dogs needed reminding every once in a while.

[Leonardo]

"Well you were still doing something originally, that counted as busy to me." Leonardo said.

Well she wasn't bothered by Vinci. And Vinci's tail wagged faster as the young girl petted him. Just a happy dog. Letting a sigh go, Leonardo sat down on the ground. Well Vinci would be staying with the girl for a while.

"He's a German Shepard." Leonardo told Izzy. "His name if Vinci, or according to him it is."

[Kitami Aklia]

“German shepherd?” Izzy asked. She never really seen a dog up close before. There were the wild ones but they were so dirty and mangy they looked the same. Were there different types of dogs? What was a German shepherd?

“Is a german shepherd like a rank? Like alpha, midwolf, omega, beta?” Izzy asked, scratching the dog behind his ears. It was weird seeing a canine like form and knowing there was only a certain level of intelligence behind the eyes. Vinci couldn’t very well think like Mama or herself. Dogs didn’t strike her as stupid or anything, but she didn’t see them making out mathematical equations either. Then again Izzy wasn’t the best at math. She had been neglecting to practice it lately.

“What do you mean according to him? Did he name himself?” She asked, patting the dog before looking back at the training knights. No new sparring matches started up again, so it wasn’t like anything interesting was going on. Actually, come to think of it, was she speaking to a knight right now? She eyed the man who she assumed owned the dog, trying to decide if he was a knight or not. He seemed a bit too lean to be a knight, but the bow told her that he specialized in that at least. Perhaps an archer for the knights? She wasn’t aware of any special ranks like that. She always figured knights were to be well trained in everything, but perhaps after they chose their specialty. He could be an archer for the knights. It wasn’t impossible.

[Leonardo]

"German Shepard is his breed. Dogs aren't all the same so they're separated into breeds." Leonardo explained. "It's not a rank but a breed."

How was he to explain it? The fact that he couldn't really remember.

"Well, my memory recently has disappeared for some reason." Leonardo explained. "Vinci here was with me and he's acted like he knows me, so I'm taking care of him. Every name I've called him got him unhappy except for Vinci. So that's his name I think."

[Kitami Aklia]

Izzy looked to the man then back to Vinci. The dog was staying with his master, even after his master lost his memory. Such loyalty! She smiled, running a hand down Vinci’s back.

“Good dog!” She said. She turned to Leonardo, looking him up and down. “And what about you? Are you a knight? Are you training today?” She asked, eying his bow and quiver of arrows.

[Leonardo]

"No, I'm not a knight to my knowledge." Leonardo answered. "I am practicing with my bow and arrow though."

What was he? He didn't know that in terms of species or profession. All he remembered where simple things and how to use his bow.

[Kitami Aklia]

Izzy looked from the stranger before her to the training knights. None of the knights gave them more than a curious glance. If the stranger was a knight then the others would probably have said something to him, wouldn’t they? Perhaps. She eyed his bow, before looking to her own play sword. She wondered briefly what it would be like to shoot a bow, then dismissed the idea.

“Well, I am Isonette du Ponteloc the Second.” She said, giving the man a polite but small curtsy. “I’m just here watching all the knights practice. I’d like to be a knight someday!” She said, smiling. Perhaps she should ask that Roland man she had met. He was a knight commander after all! He could at least point her in the right direction.

[Leonardo]

Rather long name in Leonardo's opinion, then again. His name was mostly unknown to him. He only remembered the first name. Pretty sad.

"Well it's nice to meet you." Leonardo said.

She seemed like a nice girl and she had a dream. That was a good thing to have.

"That's a long road in order to reach that goal, but if you train hard enough I'm sure you'll get there."

[Kitami Aklia]

Izzy looked to her fine wooden sword a moment. The man said she had a long road to travel. She knew that already, everyone made a point to tell her this. But she had no one to show her the way. It had been a hope of hers that she’d find a knight to teach her a few things.

“I know. I wish I had someone to help me. Mama doesn’t know the sword and Papa and mon frères are noblemen. They aren’t knights.” She said. Besides, with them all being werewolves why would they bother with weapons? They had sharp teeth and razor claws and brute strength to rip an opponent apart. Izzy supposed when she grew up she’d have all these attributes too, but she couldn’t exactly use them could she? She must keep her werewolf form a secret for some reason she had yet to understand.

[Leonardo]

"I think you'll find others to travel the road with you in time." Leonardo said. "When I first woke up after losing my memory, I had no idea on where to go. So I just wandered about, Vinci here stayed with me even though I have no memory of ever owning him."

Vinci barked as he laid down, resulting in Leonardo scratching behind one of the dog's ears. He wondered if he really did own Vinci. His memory on the matter never came back, so he was unsure.

"You'll find someone, some day." Leonardo added.

[Kitami Aklia]

Izzy smiled at Leonardo and nodded. For a guy who barely remembered his name he was awfully nice. She looked to the dog, and patted him again. Vinci had to belong to Leonardo. Why else would he follow the guy around?

“Well, that is reassuring. And I’m sure one day you’ll get your memory back. If not, you could always start a new life.” She said. “Maybe become a knight, or shop owner, or something. You never know.” She added. Plus, he didn’t look old enough to have a family somewhere. And if he did have a family they’d be searching for him. Probably would have found him by now.

[Leonardo]

Leonardo smiled, it was nice that Izzy thought he could. He hoped that he could get his memory back soon. That would be a rather helpful thing. Then he could go back to his home, see his parents and apologize for not contacting them and explaining the whole story to them, and actually be certain of things in life. Vinci liked the attention Izzy was giving him, he wagged his tail faster when she patted him again.

"Hopefully it will." Leonardo replied. "I think archers are jut positioned on the walls. They aren't knighted."

He could be wrong.

[Kitami Aklia]

“Not knighted?” Izzy asked, blinking at Leonardo. After a moment she smiled. “Well than you can change that!” She turned to face him, drawing her wooden sword and pointing it to him.

“Become the first knighted archer! It’ll be great! And when you regain your memory you can go home and show people what you did!” She said, grinning before turning and swinging her sword in a few basic sword maneuvers she saw the other knights do.

“Imagine! Leonardo, the first knighted archer! Nothing is safe from his arrows!” She said, giggling before turning to face him again. “And don’t forget his trusty hound, Vinci! He could get his own armor and everything! Like the mounted horses that ride into battle!” She walked up to Vinci, looking down at him. “Would you like that, boy?”