Arcaea/Dining Hall/Edara's Edifying Elocutions
The first thing a new scribe would notice, were he or she to transcribe the records of the household of Princess Ashkeyana Aerywyn Bedwyr-Kindon, was that she had a ridiculous number of retainers for a child of three. Jenred’s insistence that her household be independent of her parents’ (though they still funded it) meant that all of her people were sworn to her rather than the King or Queen. In addition to the expected household servants were a veritable slew of tutors, nursemaids, companions, grooms, bodyguards, and, as of her third birthday, a dog-handler and pair of Talexian Wolfhound pups.
Edara had encountered the somewhat alarming looking dogs on any number of occasions. They were intelligent, adaptable animals originally bred to hunt boar and wolves in the forests of Talex (a purpose which they still served), but were widely used as guard dogs. It was a rare crofter’s home that didn’t have at least one of the fiercely loyal beasts within it. She herself would never have considered bringing one of the ‘hounds anywhere near her precious daughter were it not for the suggestion of the Captain of Ashkeyana’s personal guards.
She had personally chosen Captain Kenner (with the assistance of her good Captain Lambert, gods rest him) to form the nucleus of the guard shortly after her baby’s birth. His demeanour and credentials had impressed her, and she had given him rein to recruit and train his own people. If Talexians tolerated Arcaea, and were fond of Edara, they adored Ashkeyana; she was their very own Princess. Ashkeyana’s loyal guards would have laid down their lives for her merely on that principle, even before they fell in love with her chubby, infant self.
When Captain Kenner had come to her, Edara was initially appalled by the idea of the dogs. The average male stood over two-and-a-half feet at the shoulder and even the bitches weighed in excess of a hundred pounds. But, when the typically laconic Talexian unbent enough to speak on a topic for more than two sentences, she felt compelled to pay attention. A visit to his brother Foster’s kennels was the final convincing factor.
Whilst putting a pair of adult dogs through their paces, Foster had explained that while the Wolfhounds could be deadly to strangers, they were reliably gentle with their own people. Raised within a household and properly trained, they would be loving and loyal for life…which they would gladly sacrifice for their master or mistress should they be called to it. His arguments were persuasive, but it was the warm, dark eyes, and soft, multi-hued fur of the puppy he had placed in her arms that truly won her over.
Edara had had Foster sworn into Ashkeyana’s service on her birthday. Counting the dogs as sworn retainers rather than “livestock” was her own conceit, but Foster’s presentations of what a well-trained adult dog could do had convinced her of the truth of his assertion that Talexian Wolfhound’s were “t’ cleverest dogs that ever were ‘n’ smarter ‘n many a man”.
Lady Edara Kindon Duchess of Talex
