Chapter 1 - Getting Prep'd

Metal rings clinked softly as Aeris slid the chain-mail onto herself. Leather rustled as vambraces and boots were strapped to tanned skin. A soft yawn escaped her pink lips as she finished the buckles on her belt and sheath. "Alright! I'm all set and ready to go!" She smirked, sliding outside into the afternoon sun. "I'll miss you sun," She waved to the scorching orb in the sky, "I'll miss you grass," She ran a hand across lazy blades of grass, rustling small insects out of them, "But most of all, I'll miss you, Cool Breeze." She sighed and stretched out her arms, catching the breeze of a new autumn.

With her odd goodbyes said and done, she began taking long strides, crossing the roads at a nice pace. Faces went by of people she saw, but never knew, some waved, knowing where she was destined too, others shook their heads, expecting her fate. All said their silent good-byes to the tom-boy of their town, their girl-knight, Aeris Hawkrider.

Once out of the town, her steps slowed, till she was moving at a slow speed, smiling face gazing at all she was to never see again. The dirt road she traveled split many times, forming the pathways to almost every outlaying settlement, regardless, she stayed to her path. As the sun began to reach its apex, she ran into another soldier. Quite literally.

When she collided with him, they both went sprawling, she landed on her stomach, arms splayed and legs bent back at the knee, feet almost touching her back. He landed on his back, face dazed and arms wrapped around himself. "Well... That was a nice way to greet someone." He mumbled, sitting up slightly, shaking his head softly, and blinking at the girl.

She sighed, shaking her head, "Yeah, sorry Roul, I was busy, uh, staring at the greenery." Aeris muffled into the dirt, rolling onto her back. After a few moments she sat up, laughing nervously, "You aren't injured, are you?"

"No, I'm all fine. But Aeris, it's not green anymore, it's all autumn-y and bright gold. And I called your name quite a few times..." He sighed at her, rising to his feet. His dress was similar, but his short, loose blonde locks were a contrast to her brown, long hair, tucked into two pigtails. His callused hand reached out to her, and gratefully she took it, standing up.

"Thanks, anywho, we're going to be late at this rate." Aeris gazed up at the sun, "Let's move!" She blurted suddenly, grasping the man's forearm and taking off in an adrenaline spurred sprint. Roul was struggling to keep up, "Air-head! Calm down, we're not anywhere near late, it's tomorrow."

"What?" Her pace slowed slightly.

"Tomorrow."

"You told me today." She stopped and turned to glower at him.

"I knew you would end up like this if we left at a normal time. Don't worry, there should be room at the inn for tonight, it's not a busy time." He gave her an uneasy smile.

"Well... I have a few things to say. One: Don't lie to me about times, I hate mixing up when things are, and lieing doesn't help me sort it out any more quickly. Two: I know you want me in your bed, but you don't have to come up with some convoluted scheme to do that, well, you might, but it won't work," She snickered at him slightly, "Th-"

"Hey, hey, whoa! You may have a nice figure, Air-head, but getting you into my bed is not on my top things to do." He sneered back, a playful look in his eyes.

"I wasn't done yet," She snorted, ignoring his comment for the most part, "Three: don't call me air-head, I'm not stupid, and I've got enough 'nick-names' as is. Four... Well, I guess there isn't a four! At any rate, I'm not going back now, lead the way." She nodded, and proceeded to move behind Roul.

"Right. Let's go, Caw-" He started, a malicious grin on his lips.

"Don't even. Just go, or you may never be able to have a girl in your bed, virgin-boy." She remarked, prodding him forward with a slight nudge of her foot.

"Okay..." He mumbled, sullenly going forward.

Several hours later, when the sun was winking into the land, and whisperings of the forest had turned to the talk of night, the two arrived at the Silvermoon Inn. Already alive with party, conversations and heated, drunken debates were everywhere, but all eyes zoomed in on the two knights. Solemn shakes of heads alerted the two that their fate was known here as well. "News travels fast." He mumbled to her.

In the back, someone with a large, empty, mug in his hand shouted too them, "Lookin' to git some action, before you two are doomed to th' sandsh?" He slobbered out, electing laughter and cheering, and more bawdy jokes from the crowd.

"Lovely." Aeris murmured, pushing Roul to go to the inn keeper. She tapped her foot impatiently, silencing the drunken crowd with a cold glare, they eyed her, and she eyed them. That is, until Roul dragged her upstairs to their room.

"You're kidding me? I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you. I'd be quite fearful I'd end up with a child later." She joked, working some minor magic to retrieve a bag from a space that was far to small for her to have stored it in.

"I'd spill it on your breasts, rather than in you, I'd the one who'd be beaten by the commander, not you." He bawdily returned.

"Oh my, I have a love, or is it sex, struck partner! Oh woe is me. Whom shall save this fair maiden, and take her for his, or her, own?" She dramatically spun, vanishing, with the bag, into an off-shoot room.

"Maiden? I think not!" Roul scoffed at her, receiving an indignant grunt in return. A few moments later, she returned, dressed in sleeping clothes, armor haphazardly stuffed into the bag. "Whoa, I-uh, wow. I thought he was joking." Roul remarked, eyes locked onto his friends chest.

Aeris rolled her eyes at him, "You shouldn't be so blatantly obvious, it would be rude to most women. And yes, I am a maiden. And what was he joking about?" She jumped from topic to topic.

"Well, uh, Walter told me that you, uh, sort of, err, used a," He cleared his throat, a flush on his face, "Well, he said that you used a boob 'reduction' device, so that they didn't get in the way of combat." He rushed out, eyes still lingering on the protruding globes.

She giggled, "Well, someone needs to stop snooping in the female's gear!" She walked up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, putting on a pouting face, "What? Are they not to your liking?" She whispered, pressing against him.

"Aeris..." He mumbled, vision alternating from her face to her tits. "They are quite amazing, but we're partners and we need to be ready tomorrow, and-" He was cut short by a quick peck on his lips.

"Oh calm yourself." She turned, a hand lingering on him, before she waltzed to the bed, lieing on it with her rear in the air, "You can have me later..." She mumbled. With a last glance at his face, she dissolved into laughing, rolling onto the bed. "Oh, that look on your face, I don't know anyone else that I could do that to, and get as good as a reaction as I got there!"

He sighed, his blushing face reddening even more, "You're a jerk." Roul marched to the bed and flopped onto it, back first, groaning as the metal armor poked him. Murmuring annoyances, he stripped down to some boxers and laid back.

"Well. Someone has a right to feel good in boxers." She commented, her eyes on a rather impressive bulge in the man's shorts.

"You should be focused on sleeping, we have an early day tomorrow." Roul's voice was tinted with embarassment.

"Such a worry wart." She groaned, slipping under the blankets and laying against the pillows, soft sleeping noises emanating from her mere moments after she settled. And soon, he followed suit.

As the sun peered through the curtains, Aeris yawned awake, arms stretching outward. A hand drifted to scratch her head, her brown hair still, mostly, design she had left it in when she laid down.

She flopped onto her side, opening her mouth to speak, and stopped, her partner wasn't there. "Looking for me?" A voice ventured, situated in the off-shoot room.

"Oh! there you are Roul. I got worried that I might've lost my partner!" She sighed contently, laying back on the bed. "Oh dear, we have to go to that, uh, thingy, for the march to the desert, hmm?" She said, slightly upset by this change in plans.

Without missing a beat, she popped up and rushed into the off-shoot room, bag trailing behind her. Moments later, Roul came stumbling out, and narrowly catching the bed before he fell. "You should respect whose there first..." He remarked, smoothing out his gear and tidying up the room. Rushed noises came from the room, metal clacking and leather bumping around. After a bit, Aeris came out herself, missing the bed-catching part that Roul had managed, and crashing into the floor.

He burst out laughing, staring at his partner, in such a silly performance. His hand, though shaky from the laughing, was extended toward her, as his guffaw continued.

"Quiet you." She glowered, taking his hand and rising from his crashed position. The wooden floor creaked as she stomped across it, yanking open the oaken door and storming through the inn into the beaming light of day that resided just beyond the faint translucent blue curtains. Roul jogged to catch up, looking at the bar, and noticing how desolate it looked, aside from those passed out a few tables.

"C'mon Roul!" Aeris shouted from outside, and he obeyed, dashing out of the inn, a resolute expression on his face. A similar look was on his friend's face. They both knew what they were about to go into, and what would likely happen. She nodded at him, and he at her. Together they took the streets of the empty city of Silvermoon, to a tower, gleaming gold in the light of the sun. Streaks of steel and real gold were embedded in swirls along the side, crimson blasts stuck out amongst the white marble walls, which extended up to a beautiful azure dome. The gateway, an expansive hole in the wall, shaped to appear as a fancy, open door, was decorated with swords and shields of the sin'dorei, which now rested on the back of Aeris Hawkrider and Roul Brightfinger. With a determined huff, they ascended stone steps to the door, and briskly walked into the building; the crystal tassels didn't distract them as they marched forward, the azure tinted light that was air in the building didn't agitate their eyes, the beautiful armaments and paintings that adorned the walls didn't draw their focus, no, they headed right toward a large wooden door, gilded with wings of a phoenix.