The Enclave - Prologue

There weren't always dragons in the valley.

Dragons were rare, and hedonistic enough that when they deigned to dwell near humans, they settled at Enclaves, where they would be pampered as they felt they deserved. Besides, Enclaves tended to be far more fireproof than the average settement or dwelling, so one might argue that draconic snobbishness was a good thing.

Not that Tiera wanted a dragon. It was merely a thought to distract her as Tiera allowed herself to be guided down the hallway to the courtyard, glancing out a window and scowling at a sky that refused to be suitably dramatic to reflect the importance of the day.

She huffed to herself; the sky wasn’t the only thing that insisted on being almost offensively normal. Everyone in the Citadel was going about their business, and even her parents hadn’t done much more than dine privately with their children last night, rather than with the rest of the keep.

To the mind of an twelve-year-old child whose life was being upended, it all seemed terribly unfair. Was an overcast sky, to make her feel like someone shared her fear and unhappiness, really all that much to ask?

Tiera was leaving home for the first time, sent away to the Enclave to prepare for her future, leaving her brother and parents behind. Surely that deserved some kind of acknowledgement on the part of the greater universe. It was a horrible let-down.

Reaching the courtyard, where a carriage was already loaded with her things, she sniffed, and curtsied gracefully to her parents and brother. Tiera was reluctant to go, and didn’t care who noticed it. If it would get her out of the journey ahead, she would gladly sulk for all to see!

Beside and behind her, she could feel her cousin Mikhail shifting in place, bored and anxious to be away. It was all right for him, he had far fewer ties to leave behind, and the Enclave had actually sought him out for testing, unlike Tiera's ill-fortune of being discovered when she entered the room and the test responded to her, as well. Mikhail actually wanted to go to the Enclave, while Tiera desired anything but.

The Enclave was a new place, full of people and customs that Tiera didn't know. How was she to interact when she didn't know the social minutae? What if no-one liked her? What if she failed and was sent hime in disgrace?

As Holders of the Seat of Power, Lord and Lady Destrier couldn’t hug and fuss over their daughter in public as Tiera’s mother clearly wanted to. Nor could her twin, Cirne, be visibly upset at their separation. It would be beneath their dignity, and dignity was important for a ruling family. The Enclave would almost certainly expect it of her, and Tiera didn't want to give them more things to criticise her for.

Tiera accepted a groom’s assistance to mount her pony, and the guards formed up around her and Mikhail, riding out of the courtyard. The common folk paused their activities to bow and call blessings as they went past, and Tiera tried to paste a smile on her face and wave graciously, not trusting her voice to reply as she probably should.

She treasured her freedom until the light dimmed, and the children were ‘requested’ to move into the carriage until they arrived at the Inn where they would stay the night.

It was a proper Wayhouse that they would be staying at, rather than a just a tavern licenced to allow visitors to reside overnight, but Tiera couldn’t force herself to find joy in that. The Wayhouse meant that they had reached the edge of the farms, and were beginning the stretch of plain before the woodlands that marked the boundaries of her family’s Seat.

Mikhail and Tiera both grumbled about having to move into the carriage, but that order had come all the way from her father, who didn’t want his daughter riding when she couldn’t see the road properly, or out in the open when moving through bandit territory. No-one but her mother could counter such a command, so she didn’t bother trying to order the guards to let her continue on her pony. Perhaps it was a sign of things to come; giving up the freedom of childhood to embrace the responsibilities of growing up.

The Enclave, and their destiny, awaited them.

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