Lightstar Family/Yleina/Roleplay 12
Emerald Daggers
Her mouth had been open in awe for several minutes now, and she still could not believe her eyes. For the eleventh time, the girl ran her fingers over the flawless craftsmanship laid out in front of her, mindful of the razor-sharp edges. She admired again the dazzling twin emeralds, one socketed in each of the twin daggers' hilts, where the blades met the grips. They were shaped like those of her family crest, a circle in the middle of three equidistant points.
The steward had informed her that these were made by no less than two blacksmiths and five craftsmen, the very best in the realm! The intricate flowers and vines running up and down the blood grooves of both blades attested to this very fact. Her brother had indeed spared no expense in the matter.
They were close to a foot-and-a-half in length, from tip to pommel, with the blades themselves measuring approximately a foot. Made primarily for stabbing, each dagger did, however, possess a curving-serrated edge, which allowed for vicious outward-tearing damage when the situation presented itself. They were not adorned with crosspieces; these lethal daggers were not meant to defend.
The steward's gentle voice pulled her out of her reverie, the first that actually did not involve Tharion!
"My lady, there is one more matter that you should attend to, soon."
She looked up with slightly-glazed eyes. "Not another surprise, I hope?" the girl replied, half-jokingly.
"Nay, this matter concerns the naming of your new troops. It is customary for nobles to give personalized names for their units, in addition to choosing secondary colors for the armors and an emblem for the banners. Have you a name in mind? There is no hurry, of course, but if you wish to join the main army in time for the siege of Ozrat, you should try to be quick about it."
Yleina bit her lower lip pensively as her gaze wandered back to her new, shiny toys, moving slowly down the flowery patterns before fixating upon the twin emeralds, which seemed to suddenly stare at her as if they were twinkling eyes. The name, so right and fitting, came to her immediately afterwards.
"Call them the Emerald Daggers. Dark green tabards on their present black armors will suffice, with red and gold bands around their biceps to signify the strength of Aenilia. As for the emblem, I would like to see twin daggers shown as similar to these as possible, side by side with both pointing vertically downwards, serrated edges to the outside.
"Make sure the emeralds are given proper attention to detail. I want them to sparkle as if they were eyes!"
"Excellent, my lady. I will inform the captain."
After the steward left, Yleina reverently picked up both daggers to test their weight and speed. After a few twirls, somersaults, and quick stabs at imaginary foes, she became quite satisfied with their feel. In time, these would be deadly weapons in the hands of a skilled assassin.
As she moved to put the weapons away into their sheaths, she noticed a peculiar groove in the bottom of one of the pommels. Checking the other dagger revealed a similar, yet slightly different shaped groove as well. Puzzled by this discovery, Yleina picked at one of them with a fingernail in an attempt to pry it out or open it, if that was its design. When that method failed to produce results, she instead pushed inwards with her nail.
Surprisingly, the groove depressed into the hilt in a circular shape as she continued to push. When it would move no longer, the girl released the pressure, and to her amazement, the groove sprung outwards from the hilt to reveal a metal cylinder that was perhaps an inch in length. Performing the same motion with her nail on the other dagger produced a similar effect.
Now, closely examining the two odd cylinders, Yleina discovered that the different grooves indented on each of them in fact could be matched up and locked. So she carefully joined the parts, and as she continued to push the hilts together, the two cylinders disappeared back into their previously hidden compartments. After the two pommels touched, the girl waited for something to happen. However, no noise sounded, so she released pressure, and the cylinders came back into view.
Refusing to give up yet, she placed the daggers down on the table and began thinking. Obviously they were designed with a second, hidden purpose in mind. That purpose looked suspiciously meant to join the two into one, so that both daggers could be successfully held and used with only one hand. But pushing them together yielded no effect.
What if she... twisted them? Suddenly inspired, Yleina joined the hilts again, but this time around, once the two pommels touched, she gently rotated the blades in opposite directions. Again, nothing seemed to happen again, until... click! Something had locked into place within! Gingerly letting go of the pressure she had been continuously putting on both ends to hold them together, the girl half expected them to just come apart again.
However, they stayed in placed, revealing an entirely new kind of weapon!
