Knightly Observations

A Knighthood Fanfiction
by
Orian Johnson

“Every adventure is said to start with the first step outside the door.  I believe this is half correct, as there is first the decision to do so, followed by the action.”    ~Mao Laoren

Chapter 1:

	The early morning sun filtered through the leaves of the trees, seemingly dancing across the pathway as the wind rustled them ever so slightly.  The air was warm and crisp, a perfect day for traveling.  The faint smells that emitted from the plants of the forest were invigorating, making the weight of the many days of travel slowly slip away, giving the traveler a slight spring to his step.  It had been nearly ten years since he had last gone through an undertaking like this, and he had missed it dearly.  Many things had changed since then though.  He realized that, though that journey had been the beginning of the wonderful life that he now had, he could remember very little of it.  So, one day, he set out to once again walk that path that he had so long ago walked in hopes to rekindle the memories of that precious journey.
	Life as a Crest Knight had changed little in his day to day routines.  He still traveled from city to city, town to town looking for work and helping out where he could, never staying in any place for long.  Such was the life of an itinerant monk.  No title or task could change that.  That change happened when he had left the monastery at the age of 15, seeking out new things to expand on what he had learned in his time there and was the first major decision he had made in his life.  He had been left there, an orphan, and the monks had raised him well and had made him one of their own, but he longed to go out and try to find his own path as every youth does.  It was during this time that, unbeknownst to him, he would make yet another decision and start down that road that made him as he was today.  He smiled at the thought.
	The last ten years had seen many smiles like this.	Things had been very peaceful and, he hoped, would stay that way for many more years to come.  Still though, even through the peace there would be those who were like him.  They didn't really know one another, but they all served to protect the Crests.  They all shared the responsibility and as such were all tied to one another.  It was a comforting thought to him, knowing that others had the same purpose and, even if only on some small level, understood him as such.  His smile grew at the thought.  Yes, he had learned and gained a lot in this time.  Things he never would have dreamed of when he first set out.  He continued to wander, lost in the pleasant thoughts, for several hours before finally settling down to nap in the middle of a small field in a lovely spot warmed by the afternoon sun, the sound of the rustling leaves not far away slowly lulling him into sleep.

	As he lay, dozing in the sun warmed spot in the field, he dreamed heavily.  Events past, strange but wonderful twistings of reality and things that he could not be so sure weren't of things yet to come.  His dreams took him to his youth.  He could see himself, his not yet so long floppy ears getting combed for burdocks, with many more caught in the fluffy part at the tip of his tail.  Even back then, he had stopped using his eyes to see, much like the other monks of the Ahn'ten monastery.  They had long since striven to not rely on their eyes and instead saw by sensing the flows of life or 'chi' around them.  It was something that defined them from many other sects and sometimes alienated them, but that had been a part of their ways for as long as any could remember.
	He could see all of his friends, the other orphans, getting similar treatments.  Despite them all being scolded at the time, they were all smiling too. 

	A growing noise overhead slowly roused the sleeping fellow from his comfortable spot in the grass.   “A plane out here?” he thought to himself, quickly recognizing the sound.  “What interest would anyone have out here?”   His curiosity piqued, he started towards where the now low flying plane seemed to be heading.  His face was yet again sporting a very large smile.  The thought of actually catching up to the plane hadn't actually crossed his mind.  He chased the plane much as a child would and for the same reasons:  because he could.  His smile widened even more as he felt the child like glee bubble up in his chest, eventually bursting forth into a playful laughter that he hadn't had since the burdock incident of his youth.
	He did his best to keep up with the plane but very quickly lost sight of it and had to keep track of it by sheer sound of it's engines.  He leaped over fallen trees and rocks trying hard to not drop his pace, or himself for that matter.  As he ran it occurred to him that the craft had been flying low. “Hmm, out for a joyride, maybe?  In trouble, perhaps?”   The speculation made him giggle anew as he continued to race on towards the sound of the aircraft.  “Whatever the cause of it, flying that low means they're likely landing and soon, or crashing.  It wouldn't do for me to not check and make sure that everything was alright.”  he rationalized.  “Wouldn't do at all.”  With a brief nod to himself, having now justified his behavior, he started to push himself to run harder.  He began actively seeking ways to travel farther in shorter periods of time.  A jump from a rock here.  A quick duck under some low hanging branches there.  In all of his life he had been trained to be fast and light like a feather, but as solid and as powerful as a rock.  He wasn't sure that he had ever really lived up to that, or that he ever would, but he took a certain amount of pride in the fact that he would have never dreamed that he would one day be able to move as fast as he could now. “So many things I never believed possible back then are a reality now.”
	Life had not always been so good for his race, the primes, he knew.  He wondered if this is how the primes who first established their place on this planet felt.  His thoughts drifted to the first primes, and then, to the High Prime herself: Ambar.  He smiled warmly at the memory of her face, but was quickly given yet another lesson in wisdom, much as he had been when he had last seen that face.
	Thud!
	“Right.”  he said to himself, as he slowly picked himself up off the ground after face planting so solidly into it. “Pay attention to where you are, and what you're doing.”   He looked back to the branch that he had tripped on and scowled at it a bit.
   	“I bet you think you're awfully clever.”
   	The branch didn't seem inclined to respond.
	He dusted himself off and prepared to start running again when he noticed that something had changed.  He could no longer hear the sound of the aircraft he had been following.  Dismayed, believing it to likely be far away by this point, he began to look about.  He could see a clearing in the distance and decided to make his way towards it.  He was hopeful that he had not fallen too far behind the object he was chasing, and that everything was alright with the aircraft.  “If I'm lucky I may be able to spot the plane or get some sign of it from the clearing ahead.” 
	The brush was getting thicker as he moved towards the edge of the clearing.  High grass and bushes hindered his movement and he was becoming thankful that he had tripped on the branch earlier, as running into this would have been far worse in his opinion.  He waded forward slowly, the brush growing increasingly higher, even in comparison to his healthy height.  He stood a head taller than most folks, last measuring in at six feet and two inches excluding the massive ears that rarely stood up anyway.  Despite that the brush was beginning to get to chest height.  “It must be due to the easier access to the sunlight here.” he reasoned.  He shoved his way through the mass of vegetation, finally spotting a clear route and pressed forward through it.
	The clearing that came into view was, to say the very least, massive.  He could see the trees on the other side of it, though only barely.  The grass and vegetation was low here, barely cresting his knees, and it continued to subside towards the center of the clearing.  As he continued to scan the clearing, he was surprised to see a very large looking yellow aircraft.  It was clearly the one he had seen earlier and, much to his relief, seemed to be just fine if not pristine.  He let forth a sigh of relief that quickly turned into a grin. 
	“Not bad for having tripped.” he said to himself, puffing his chest out proudly.
	“Rather impressive indeed.  I've still got it.”
	As he continued to compliment himself, some movement near the plane caught his attention.  Someone was getting off the plane.  He crouched down low instinctively and craned his neck forward, blocking the sun from his eyes with his left hand, though it had no effect.  He could make out the figure fairly clearly.  She was young, much younger than he.  Long chestnut brown hair was tied together behind her back, with loose strands here and there, all of it gleaming beautifully in the sun.  The hair framed a face with fierce, determined looking eyes and, he mused, some of the thickest looking eyebrows he had ever seen.  She was clearly speaking to someone and seemed to be experiencing a variety of different emotions.  Her posture was shifting and her expressions were a myriad, but still, she seemed very confident and cock-sure to say the least. “Ah, youth.  The world will be yours or you'll beat it into submission until it is.”  he chuckled quietly to himself.  The girl seemed to be clutching onto something, he couldn't make out what it was, but she seemed protective of it.  A scroll maybe?  He had seen one before and felt that it was likely that was what she was holding.  Her other hand was grasping onto the straps of a backpack that he had only just noticed was slung over her back.  Was she going hiking here?  Maybe some spoiled rich kid getting dropped off for a weekend hike?  He dismissed the thought.  Looking at her face as she spoke to the unseen person on the plane showed that she was clearly confused.  This likely wasn't something she had planned.
	He was paying so much attention to the girl, that the sudden restarting of the craft's engines nearly startled him enough to cause to fall back onto his rear. “She's being left here alone?”  He stood up, about to rush forward to find out what was going on and if this young lady needed help but froze in his tracks.  As the ship rose up, it began to turn and as it did so he was able to catch a glimpse of a face that he wouldn't have believed if he had seen it with his physical eyes.  A face that, coincidentally, he had only just minutes ago thought about.  The situation quickly resolved itself in his mind and as the pieces fell into place, he felt a rather large smile form.
	“Well now, this is quite the coincidence.”
	He chuckled to himself.
	“Or maybe not, knowing her.”
	He stepped back towards the bush he had emerged from, considering what he believed he was seeing.  It all made sense.  This young lady was about to start down the path that he himself had walked all those years ago, and was trying to now relive.  He thought of the wonder and fear that he had felt when he first left the monastery.  About how precious that decision had ultimately become to him over the years and the path it had set him unknowingly down.  Looking at this young lady sparked his memories and he had to fight to not lose himself in those early days.  “Maybe I'll just tag along at a distance.  For a little while, of course.”   he reassured himself. “This journey is hers and I won't interfere with it, but maybe this will help me remember those days a bit better.”  With that though, he backed off towards the tree line once again, hoping to stay out of sight.  He felt lighter, somehow.  “I think this is going to be a lovely journey.”  he thought as he skipped back in to the forest, softly humming to himself.

	Keeping a fair distance away, to the point of even losing track of the young lady a few times, the man continued on, his thoughts and memories keeping him company.  He recalled the confidence he had when he had taken his first steps  out of the monastery, and was reminded of how quickly that feeling passed.  He had been not a half a day away from his former home when the doubts had begun to set in.  He wondered if the young lady was having the same thoughts, even now.  She had been wandering for a good many hours now, speaking with people she found along the way,   Each conversation seemed to leave her more disheartened than the last.  “A rough start, it seems.” he paused in his thoughts a moment, “Though, I suppose it wasn't meant to be easy.”  he recalled the blisters he had gotten on his feet only hours into his first real trek out into the world due to his poor choice of wearing the thin-soled slippers that he wore about the monastery.  In truth, he hadn't even thought of shoes at the time.  “It's not the big setbacks though.  Those actually tend to make one stronger and encourage one to go further.  It's the little ones.  The ones that wear at you slowly, and over time that will break you.” he paused in his thoughts again as he weaved his way around some rocks and a rather large fallen branch.  “If you don't either face them, or fix them, they'll end even the most spirited of endeavours.”
	“Only weeks into my journey, I was without food and had to take up begging.” he said aloud to himself.
	“I nearly turned back then.  I was so hungry.”
	He stopped for a moment, wondering what had brought that thought on.  The answer then presented itself in the form of a very long and loud grumble from his stomach.  “Ooops.”, he said with a bit of a sigh.  “I suppose I should do something about that.”  Looking about, he noticed that it was getting to be quite late in the afternoon, and that evening would soon be upon him.  “Best find some food, and set up camp for the night soon.  Hopefully the young lady does the same.”   He quickly set about gathering any edible thing he could find.  “If only I knew then, what I knew now” he mused,  “I wouldn't have faced those hard times, but there likely would have been other troubles to take their place.”
   “Trouble always finds a way of cropping up.”
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