Lady Elspeth noticed the men around her and decided to try and make conversation. Couldn’t hurt to have a few more allies on her side for when her captors found her again. “Hello there,” she said to Jack. “What’s your name?”
Jack blinked, honestly a bit surprised that she had decided to speak to him first. He quickly smiled at her, probably looking like an excited puppy. "Hello there, I'm Jack Kinsley, at your service," he responded. "What's yours?"
“Lady Elspeth Beaumont of the Southern Isles,” she replied, ducking her head down. “It’s a little pompous, I know.” She smiled in return, twisting her fingers through the tail of her braid.
“It is a rather fancy name,” Jack responded. “So, tell me, Lady Elspeth, what brings you to this quest? Or whatever it is labeled as?” He chuckled at his words.
“Escape,” she said mildly. “Life has been… rather difficult as of late, and I needed to get away.” Lady Elspeth paused. “I actually don’t know why the king has invited me to embark on this journey. Surely there are dozens of ladies like me across the kingdom. Why do you think you have been summoned?”
Jack nodded, not sure he understood, but not pushing it. “I honestly have no clue. I’m not exactly great at adventuring or questing,” he said, his brows scrunching together in thought. Jack had tended to have some vibrant facial expressions. “I do have a lot of skills, I suppose. But it’s like the saying goes, ‘Jack of all trades, master of none.’ Maybe that’s it.” He attempted to shrug and almost fell off the horse, blushing a bit as he righted himself. He chuckled at himself, hoping the others wouldn’t think he was a clumsy mess.
Lady Elspeth chuckled gently at Jack’s antics. “You sound like a man of many talents, though I suppose riding isn’t exactly your strongest suit. However, your appearance might be more than enough to make up for it.” Her face turned a deep crimson and she looked at the dirt path under the horse’s hooves. She had already broken so many of the rules her parents had hammered into her, but flirting? A lady of her station should never do such a thing.
Jack raised his eyebrows at her comment. Was there something on his face? Or, wait a moment, was she flirting with him? Jack was horrible with flirting, so he blushed as well. She was pretty, but the last time Jack had tried to flirt hadn’t exactly gone well. Too bad there wasn’t a master of flirting he could apprentice. Oh well. “So, ummm, tell me about yourself, Lady Elspeth,” he said, flustered.
“There’s not much to tell,” she admitted. “I’m the daughter of the Baron and Baroness of the Southern Isles and I’m an only child.” She saw Jack’s obvious embarrassment and cursed internally. Has she messed this up somehow?
“That must be interesting,” Jack replied, the blush finally fading. Shit, now we’re just talking about boring stuff. This is totally my fault, he thought. “What do you like to do in your spare time?”
“I don’t have very much spare time,” Lady Elspeth commented wryly. “I have court functions to attend, meetings to sit in on, suitors to court-“ Elspeth stopped abruptly. “I’m a very busy lady, really.”
“Oh, of course,” Jack responded, blushing again. So she was just messing around, right? She obviously had way more fancy and handsome men vying for her hand. She was probably just one of those people who flirt casually. “I just wondered if you have any hobbies…”
“I like to ride,” Lady Elspeth said softly. “I really like woodcarving too, but my parents get worried I’ll cut myself and bleed out on the floor,” she joked. “What do you like to do? Other than being good at basically everything, I suppose.”
Jack laughed. “I never said I was good,” he added. “Passable is a better word. I haven’t found something I love yet, besides maybe writing, but that’s not really something I can make a career of. And I have a cat. Aspen. She’s a mess, but I love her.” Thankfully, he’d gotten his neighbor to watch her for him at the last second.
“I bet you’d be a fantastic writer.” Elspeth adjusted the feather and smiled. “And you have a cat? That’s lovely. Animals are wonderful, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, they are,” Jack sighed fondly. “Except when they almost chase away the raven giving you an important note.” He chuckled. “That feather looks good in your hair. I mean, almost anything would look good on you.” He blushed, glancing away. Here we go again, he sighed internally.
“Oh, uh, thanks? Thanks.” Lady Elspeth smiled. “I’m sorry, I’ve never really done this before and you’re very pretty and I’m afraid I’m making this awkward,” she blurted, clapping a hand over her mouth. Why did she do that?! Ladies weren’t allowed to do that!?
Jack’s blush intensified. Oh gods, why was he so bad at this? “What do you mean? Didn’t you say you had suitors falling in line?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as he glanced at her.
“Well, yes, but I didn’t have to do much, just read notes and nod politely at everything they said,” Lady Elspeth explained. “I’m not used to actually, you know,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “flirting.”
(Ooh I ship them!!)
The horses stopped at the palace doors and a servant was waiting to take them to the throne room. Once the guards helped the four down, the servant hurriedly took them into the throne room where the king was waiting.
"Ah, welcome to the Palace. I assume you all have questions about why you have been brought here? Well let me begin with you Lady Elspeth. After being taken from your home and being separated from your parents, you managed to escape and survive on your own for quite a long time. My guards have seen you talk to people and get what you want. That skill and your strength will be extremely useful." He smiled. The king then turned to face Jack. "You, Jack, have been laughed at by the other apprentices for not finding one thing to apprentice in but apprenticing with many has given you a basic knowledge of how things work and so you ha e skills in everything." He said, turning to face Hadley. "After surviving a fall off a cliff Hadley, you were thought to be a god but you stayed humble and stayed away from things that made you upset or made you seem too special. You made extremely important decisions and that is importent in this quest for we need a level minded person to help make decisions in harsh times." The king turned to Rowan, who in his opinion, seemed like he didnt want to be here. "As for you, Rowan, you are a thief. But your skills at standing in plain sight and not being noticed or picking up important information from common folk are very astonishing. You are skilled at taking things out of pockets, removing their content, then placing them back in without the owner noticing."
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Jack said, unsure how to react to that. He bowed awkwardly and then straightened again. “But if you may excuse me, I was wondering how we will get to the cave you mentioned? Is there some sort of map?”
Lady Elspeth’s expression darkened at having her history spilled out for all to see, but she was able to keep her emotions in check. “I appreciate the compliment, Your Majesty,” she replied with a deep curtesy. “Jack makes a good point, I’m afraid I’ve never seen this cave on any map.”
Rowan maintained a pleasant expression, but he was growing somewhat worried. "So sorry, not to bother, but I'm not - I'm not sure how I'm useful to this particular operation," he said, mildly confused.
"There has never been a map found however there is a riddle that's leads to the map."
'Brightest light in the night
Lead the way to the wise
Fail I may to find it now
But when I do, he shall rise'
Do you accept the mission?
[Yes/No]
(Now the story begins)