"IN NO OTHER HOUSE WOULD I HAVE TO FACE SUCH MOCKERY!" The Dread Knight screams, tossing her noble lance to the floor. By the knight's stables, the Dread Knight paced back and forth, remembering the horrors of the arena game. "AND YOU! MAD KNIGHT. WERE YOU IN ON THIS?"

"It's a question more complicated than you think."

"I BASICALLY LET YOU WIN! Imagine if we weren't on steeds? You without a gun? I would have destroyed you in battle, Mad Knight! It would have saved myself so much embarrassment."

"I think forces beyond those you're thinking of needed you to lose your helmet today."

Timothy Drakken hobbles over towards the tossed lance. With a crutch in one arm, and his other hand occupied by a bridle to lead Duchess back to his stable, he doesn't know how to grab the knight's weapon.

The Dread Knight prepares to launch another onslaught against the Mad Knight when she spots Timothy's struggle. She walks forth to help, grabbing the lance from the floor.

But Timothy seems angered by this. Ears pointed back, he glares at the Dread Knight.

"I am sorr-"

Timothy is silent for a moment before mumbling "You deserve no good, leg breaker." and pulling Duchess along.

The maid, Olivia, who up until this point had largely been pondering how much of this conversation was appropriate for them to hear, approaches the knight next.

"Uhm, would y' wish this humble servant to 'andle that m..."

"...M'lord..."

There is obvious uncertainty in this phrasing.

The Dread Knight is quick to look away, as if Timothy had the power of Lord Boris himself. She turns to the maid. "Call me whatever you wish." She says, handing over her lance.

"TO BELIEVE IN THIS HOUSE THERE IS NO RESPECT FOR THE SISTER KNIGHT, WHO MUST ABIDE BY THE DUTIES OF THE SON UNTIL ONE IS BORN!"

"Uh....sorry, maid. I am yelling at the DAMNED world, not you."

"It is the lot o' us servants to accept th' lashin's o' our betters m'lord, no need t' worry on my account."

Olivia calmly handles the heavy lance, very little --if anything-- betraying any discomfort towards the Dread Knight's anger.

The Dread Knight ponders what the Mad one stated, before asking another question. "What did you mean that I was DOOMED to have my helmet removed?"

"I was....requested to find a...." The Mad Knight glances at the maid and stable boy, knowing it wasn't safe enough to tell the truth. "Sister knight for someone of particular tastes. I apologize."

"YOU'RE ADVERTISING ME TO SOME DISGUSTING NOBLE?"

"I suppose it depends on which noble you find disgusting, and which ones you do not."

"TO THINK YOU OF ALL PEOPLE WOULD STOOP TO SUCH LEVELS! YOU'RE A WOMAN WHO CLAIMS THE RIGHT OF MEN, AND AN ALIEN WHO CLAIMS THE RIGHT OF VAMPWELFS, AND I HAVE ALWAYS RESPECTED YOU, HAVE I NOT? AND YOU....YOU THROW ME UNDER THE HOOVES OF A JEERING CROWD, AND FOR WHAT? WHAT COULD BE SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU SHAME MY NAME AND MY FATHER'S AS WELL?"

Olivia was really starting to ponder if she should make a graceful exit about now, this was beginning to sound like something she really shouldn't be listening to.

But she did have the Knight's great lance to deal with...

The Mad Knight sighs. "I cannot explain, but the issue at hand appears to be bigger than you and me."

The Dread Knight thinks back to the crowd, the special guest in attendance known for being a bachelor despite his marriage. "Oh do not tell me it's Bela Elzenstein."

"No. That would be too far. Even for me. At that rate I rather die then submit to some kinslaying murderer of the Elzenstein family."

"Look, I cannot get into it, but I do believe this would be the best for everyone. Including you."

The Dread Knight whispers in hopes that the others do not hear. "You know I don't.......I don't know what man has been picked, but there is no possible world I would be happy with this."

The Dread Knight grits her teeth. "I DID NOT EVEN WANT TO BE A KNIGHT! I was happy taking care of my sisters, I wanted to be holy nurse, unmarried forever for reasons of course...., and here I am, sweating, training, and having to live up to my father's name!"

"I swear, it is some cruel joke, written by some subpar god that I, a person who only wished to ride in the back, to pick up dying men, and heal them with freshly picked herbs that the fey allow me to touch, am forced into this. My father doesn't even thank me."

"Once, he told me it'd be BEST THAT I DIE IN BATTLE. So that he could mourn, oh what a SAD DAY FOR HIM, HIS ONLY SON, DEAD!"

"ALL BECAUSE HE WISHES TO HIDE THE FACT THAT THE FEYS HAVE CURSED HIM WITH THE BIRTH OF ONLY DAUGHTERS! AND WHOSE FAULT IS THAT? HE SHOULDN'T HAVE CHASED THE KINSLAYER SO FAR INTO THE WOODS!"

"The fey would have killed the kinslayer anyway, but no, father ALWAYS needs glory. I hope he DIES without a son to his name at this point!"

"I......ugh, I think the worst part of it all was." The Dread Knight covers her face. "Seeing what happened between Belladonna. I gave her an Elzenstein rose in public, and...." The Dread Knight digs her claws into her face ever so slightly. The Mad Knight pulls her hands away from her terrible habit. "....and she laughed at me, Mad Knight. Many days and nights I only kept my honor for the virgin Princess Belladonna, and here I am, MADE A FOOL! She had LAUGHED at me. A HORRID LAUGH!.......it was actually kind of a cute laugh in hindsight but it was aimed at me!"

".....I would ride to a DEADLY LANDS so that I may be killed with honor, but Drakken land IS the DEADLY LANDS, and NO ONE will kill me with honor now, because the people here do not believe in the honor that comes with a sister knight!"

"One thing I will state is that as I rode back, knights of other houses had ridden alongside me for a while, and informed me they did not know sister knights were so disrespected in this family."

"Everyday I wish I was born to another family, BUT THEN I WOULD HAVE TO BE THE ONLY DEALING WITH DRAKKENS AT MY DOORSTEP! A woman truly cannot win in this world."

"...Misstress Bellodonna laughed?"

The oomn muttered aloud, thoroughly baffled by the concept. They'd never heard the mistress laugh once in their entire life, they tried to picture it.

"Tha' jus' d'nt make any sense..."

The Dread Knight turned to Olivia, slightly shocked she was still there. "IT'S WHAT SHE DID! TRULY! You're her maid, aren't you not? Why do you think she wouldn't laugh? It was a bit....strange of a laugh but one cannot mistake it!"

"Eep, er' sorry m'lord knight, I d'n mean to be doubtin' y' but-but uh, no, I jus' can't picture it in m' head at all, Mistress Bellodonna has ne're laughed at nothing since I've ser'vd her."

"Uhm well is' jus't.."

The oomn pressed one finger against the other in a show of nerves, she knew she shouldn't have said anything about it... the best thing to do when a vampwelf pressed you for something was usually to just say "Yes'm" but she was sure that wouldn't work here.

"That makes it eeeeeeeeeeeeeextra embarrassing! The old gods damn me! Just kill me now where I stand!" The knight whined, her falsified voice cracking.

"Oh, uh, please m'lord knight, don't cry, uh... I'm sure there's some sort o' misundertandin' 'ere, I'm sure the misstress weren't laughin' at you... not tha' I... uh... know what th' mistress would' laugh at..."

"I'M NOT GOING TO CRY! I HAVEN'T SHED A TEAR SINCE MY BIRTH!"

"You cried a little today."

"DON'T TELL THE MAID THAT. HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU INTENDING ON BETRAYING ME TODAY!?"

"Night's young."

"Now tha' I think' about it... the mistress did seem' awful upset 'bout somethin', shooed out all o' us o 'er rooms an' everythin' I thou't it were a bit strange..."

Olivia mumbled absentmindedly to herself.

"Yes, she was SOOOOOOOO DREADFULLY UPSET THAT I MADE HER LOOK LIKE A QUEER IN FRONT OF THE ARENA BY GIVING HER THAT ROSE!"

"Eh a rose... t'were it a black rose, m'lord?"

"It was." The Dread Knight paused. "She kept it? Truly?" She lowered her ears. "Maybe it is to bring her the laughter again."

"I HAVE MUCH TO THINK ABOUT, MAID. Thank you for your service. I will make sure to thank you for this information in due time. Now, if you don't mind......"

"Ne're you mind it m'lord knight, our's is t' serve."

The Dread Knight whispers to the Mad one, "It wasn't Belladonna right? Absolutely not? She knows she's going to get me killed right? I mean, I suppose that death would be nicer than most."

The announcer, Aegon Drakken enters the stables to hand off his steed. He appears worse for wear. The paint upon him clearly losing its pigment. He glaces only for a second at the Dread Knight, before she has grabbed him by the collar.

"You. Who are you to enact such absurd rules and embarrass me today?"

The low class vampwelf is unphased."I will give you some advice Dread Knight."