Fox 4, 6105

Before the mansion stands a white male poodle dressed in hunting clothes: dark brown leggings and a pale pink shirt, with a short mahogany overrobe fastened in front, trimmed by pink satin ribbon. He is giving instructions to a Shepard groundskeeper in plain clothing, though similar colors, who bobs his head now and then to show his attentiveness.

A shadow passes by overhead, and the lord of the manor breaks off his conversation, shading his eyes as he looks skywards, then smiles, tracking the figure to the ground. A winged white Drokar curves in a close circle to come around over the wide driveway, then tucks his wings close to his body as he lands, hooves clicking on the cobblestones. The animal halts several paces before the pair, and the lord steps forward, bowing to the rider. "A pleasure to see you again, Lady de Bellefeuille. Thank you for accepting my invitation." He offers her his hand, to assist her in dismounting.

Lady Elise de Bellefeuille takes Lord Pink's hand, slings her leg over, and eases down from the winged Drokar to the stones of the driveway. She inclines her head to Lord Pink, smiling. "So glad you could have me, Lord Pink. The much referred-to 'Pink' is quite a deal more breathtaking than I had imagined, and I tell you I saw a great much of it from the air."

The Lord of the Pink bows over her hand, in greeting and acknowledgement of the compliment. "Thank you, my lady." One of the footmen from the front of the house marches forward to take the reins of the winged Drokar. Unlike his mistress, Secrets appears to have fully recovered from the damage to his wing in their last battle. "Would you care for any refreshment prior to the shoot, Lady de Bellefeuille?" the lord offers politely, straightening.

The lady reaches over and withdraws her cane from a saddle sling, and rests her weight on it against the cobblestones of the drive, considering. "No m'lord," she says, then shakes her head slightly, "I do believe I shall not have a beverage. Though Secrets would wish me, on his behalf of course, to ask to partake of some of this sugarfir you have scattered about here."

Lord Pink smiles and offers her his arm. "The groomsmen will see him well attended to, I'm sure," he says, glancing to the footman.

The latter bows and mumbles, "Yes m'lady," in reply, before leading Secrets away.

"Everything should be prepared at the range around back, if you are ready, Lady de Bellefeuille?" the male poodle confirms.

Elise casts a glance to her mount, smiles fondly, then accepts the lord's arm and moves her cane to her right hand. "Quite so," she answers. "It has been some time since I last held a rifle. Let us hope I have not earned myself a week of Temple re-training."

"Shooting is my favorite sport," Lord Pink remarks, guiding her along a stone path beneath an arbor towards the rear of the manor. "But even I do not indulge in it as much as I would like." They walk into the open behind the mansion, where the orchards give way to an expanse of green lawn. A young collie page waits with an older man, possibly his father, beside an elegant cart, complete with wheels and handles for added mobility. The top of the cart is a slanted case displaying a small selection of hunting rifles; below it are drawers and a cabinet, for storing ammunition and cleaning supplies. Further down on the lawn, another servant waits beside an array of cages.

Elise uses her cane to gesture at the cart. "I find … or perhaps I should say found my interest in the martial to lean towards fencing and swordplay. Though I tell you Lord Pink," she says, gesturing this time to her leg, "leaping after an opponent has never been more difficult. Perhaps I should take up the crossbow."

Pink nods. "A fine weapon. Not as elegant as the rifle, but more reliable if one travels much to the surface, as I understand you are wont to." He stops near the case and the two servants, glancing over the guns. "Do you have a preference in arms?" he asks. "I am partial to the Stromshot Mark II, myself, for creeker shooting like this. Smooth action, little recoil. Not the power of the Mk IV, but it doesn't take much to take down a creeker."

The noblewoman looks over the selection and taps her nail against the Drokar-shaped head of her cane as she considers her choices. "Hm. I do believe I shall choose a Donnergewehr I – first in the series after their experimental model was produced in quantity. Chronotopia certainly has a way with machinery, and firearms are no exception. It is a new model … but not unlike your older Stromshot II," she says confidently.

The case offers a selection of six rifles, five hand-crafted and of Sinai origin, with the names embossed on the side: three from Chronotopia, the two Stromshot guns and the Donnergewehr, a Gallisian rifle, La Tueur Belle, and a Rephidim-made weapon, the Drokar. All these guns have clean, elegant lines with inlaid designs, showcasing the individual craftsmanship, with the Gallisian gun being the most intricate of them. Lord Pink nods his approval of Elise's choice, and gestures to the two servants. The older collie takes the Donnergewehr, does a professional and thorough inspection on it, then loads it and offers it to Elise for her approval.

Elise untwines her arm from the lord's with a brief apologetic nod and accepts the rifle with her left hand before setting her cane aside to free her hands for a hands-on examination of the weapon. She turns it over to the side, then places the butt of the rifle to her shoulder and checks the sight for accuracy while turning slowly to track some phantom target. "It will do," she says approvingly.

A nod from Pink, and the older collie bows, then loads the Stromshot II with similar care before offering it to his lord. The lord of the manor likewise inspects his rifle, then holds it easily while the Drokar rifle is loaded. When that's done, he glances to his guest. "Ready, my lady? As guest, you shall have the first shot, of course."

The lady gives a half, short curtsey in regard to the lord's politeness. "I would be pleased, Lord Pink," she tells him. She lifts the rifle to her shoulder, then nods slightly. "Release at will," she calls out.

The collie, still holding the Drokar rifle, nods and bellows, "Release!" to the servant down the lawn, beside the cages. That individual opens one of the cages, and a squat, ugly insect-like creature with a brown carapace and black wings flaps out, shrieking. For all its ungainly appearance, it quickly takes to the sky, winging towards hoped-for freedom.

Elise leads the target, then pulls the trigger. A loud crack worthy of the rifle's name (which means "Thunder Gun") echoes across the lawn. A split-second later, the winged insect explodes with a quiet splut, raining its bits down upon the distant range.

"Well done!" Lord Pink says approvingly. He nods to the servant, and raises his own gun to his shoulder. After the collie page accepts Elise's back for reloading, the older servant bellows another, "Release!" down the field.

The lady folds her hands in front of herself and grins, silently inclining her head to the compliment.

A second creeker zips into the sky, faster than the first, perhaps dimly fearing it will share the other's fate. But moments after it has gotten far enough from the keeper to be considered safe to shoot, Lord Pink snaps it out of the air with a clean shot. The Stromgun is quieter than the rifle Elise chose, and its target plummets evenly to the ground, rather than coming apart under the impact – but no less dead for that.

"An excellent shot, Lord Pink," compliments the lady. She glances sidelong at the poodle male and smirks. "It is quite safe to say I think you do have quite a bit of practice … or quite a bit of talent. Though I should expect no less from one of those in the running."

A nod of acknowledgement from Pink answers her words, as he hands his gun to the older collie. The page is carefully cleaning and re-loading the Donnergewehr under the watchful eye of the older servant. "In fact," Lord Pink says, "that very matter to which you refer is one reason I invited you here today,"

"Oh?" inquires the lady, brow raised. Her hand remains out for her rifle. "I fear my adventures have not gifted me with more than a touch of the sixth sense – and I do mean intuition, certainly not magic. The Collegia certainly could not abide that!" She chuckles good-naturedly and, as she does so, she watches the man for what he has to say.

"Yes." The page offers the Donnergewehr to his elder, who inspects it before passing it to Elise, as Lord Pink continues the conversation. "I believe I told you that I am a member of the committee that has been discussing how the Temple shall replace the erstwhile Knights Templar? We have offered our recommendations to the Bridge, and the Bridge has, in turn, approved our plans."

The woman smiles and nods approvingly before she takes up the rifle. "That is excellent news, Lord Pink. I had been hoping to see the resolution to the matter before my duty again took me elsewhere. I would hesitate to say that I am as interested in the matter as you are," she says before she raises the rifle to her shoulder again. The woman looks out, matches her gaze to the sight, and says, "Release when ready."

The servant passes Lord Pink his rifle, while the latter says, "Are you not?" in a tone of either surprise, or disappointment. He nods to the collie, and a moment later, at the collie's bellow, another creeker is desperately streaking out of the cage and towards the safety of the orchard.

The lady's rifle shifts and lowers, and something in the male poodle's voice strikes her odd. She ponders, and as she does so she finds that the creeker released before she even notices. Her brow her muzzle quirks in annoyance but her delay causes the fleeing insectoid to gain significant ground, and her shot goes wide. "Yes," she answers the man, sounding mildly annoyed.

Lord Pink does not comment on the failed shot, only raising his own rifle to his shoulder and leading the creeker with care. He squeezes the Stromgun's trigger, and the giant bug flops to the ground among the trees. He hands the spent rifle to his servant, and says to Elise, "I am sorry to hear that. The Temple will be reviving an old custom in testing the Knights of the new Orders. They will undertake ventures to recover lost relics of the First Ones, or to visit the sites of holy places to uncover new information. In this way, they shall prove their devotion to the Temple and the First Ones, as well as their value."

Elise's irritation at her failed shot doesn't last, and she hands off her rifle as she resumes smiling. "And you fancy to undertake these tests as well, Lord Pink?" she inquires, and again she turns to him in curiously.

"I do," Lord Pink replies, while the weapons are reloaded. "I had hoped that you would be interested in undergoing such a test, yourself."

"Oh, perhaps I might … ," agrees lady de Bellefeuille, and she gives him another sidelong glance as her attention turns to the range, "though I have no intention of joining the knights." Her head tilts back, and her gaze moves to watch somewhere far off in the sky. "Succeed or fail, offered or refused."

The rifles are returned to the two nobles. "There was a time," Pink says, accepting his, "when I understood that you felt otherwise. Did I misunderstand, or has something changed?"

The lady accepts the rifle though she does not ready it just yet. Instead she answers the question, saying, "There was a time I would have been more than glad to become a knight, you are quite correct in that. But that time has passed. I have come to understand I am not truly fit for the knights – or nay, that my path lies with them. You see the knights, they are … " She makes a circular gesture with her free left hand as if putting to motion her search for a word. "… examples to us all. Yes, they are to be shining heroes as well as a martial force. They are soldiers but also are bound by the strictures of appearances and fame. It seems to me that, in my time away from Rephidim, I have come to understand such fame can be a very dangerous thing, such high expectations to be well … a burden upon the execution of the mission. And even the unnoticed and subtle or, yes, even the condemned actions are those of the highest value to us all. So you see Lord Pink, I am simply not knightly material, though the knights shall always have my faith and support. I do dream of a day when knights again ride our streets. I do wish to believe in them."

Following Elise's cue, the lord holds his rifle at rest. "I see." He turns to the range, then says abruptly, "No, I do not see. You speak as one who would refuse the burden of being an example, so that you might skulk unnoticed, engaging in acts that society would condemn if they knew of them."

The lady's ear twitches at the man's suddenness, and she shakes her head though not entirely in disagreement. "There are those who are examples, Lord Pink," she explains, "and then there are those who act. There is appearance and there is action, and how often does that burden us as nobles like weight upon our shoulders?" She watches the man for a moment, then turns away. "Had I kept appearances," she says with almost tangible distaste as she lifts her rifle to her shoulder, "my sister would now walk with the First Ones – loose when ready!"

At her command, a dark bug bursts from a cage, wings swiftly beating to bear its ugly, spiny body away, a tiny bit of foulness in the blue sky, surrounded by beautifully kept grounds.

Elise's expression darkens, her eyes narrowing, her jaw setting. The insect has scarce time to ascend much at all before the thunder clap of rifle fire heralds its demise, and it pitches from the sky with a dead-center hit neatly burrowed through it. When it falls the lady leans back and moves to hand her rifle off, and by the way she nearly glares at the bug one might think the shot was something of a point in and of itself.

Lord Pink watches the dead creature fall with steady eyes. "It is the duty of knight to do what is right," he says, the barrel of his weapon pointed to the ground, away from the people, "not to do what will be approved of by the masses. Are you ashamed of saving your sister, Lady de Bellefeuille? You did not act it. When the Temple inquisitors and investigators swarmed upon your house, you did not forbid them entrance or seek to impede their investigation. You have been charged with no crime and accused of no wrongdoing – at least, that I am aware of. Why do you think that a Knight would stand aside and let your kin be murdered?" Though the words are calm and civilly spoken, his voice is clipped, almost angry. He readies his rifle and nods to the servant.

A creeker shrieks and darts low across the lawn. The noble fires almost as soon as it is away from the keeper, but his shot goes wide. Brusquely, he exchanges the spent Stromgun for the loaded Drokar, still at ready, and his second shot sends the insect fluttering to the ground, keening.

"Yes. But what is right is not always what should be," quite nearly snaps the lady. Her tail moves behind her in agitated flickers of motion. "I am … I do not wish such events to come about again. The knights, they should not need to act so, they should not be stained by actions that become necessary by failure or chance. I will not have it." The lady turns then, her movement bringing her to face the world again. "Do you think I wish license to act so? No, I wish the freedom to make such action, such mistakes, as they come to pass. Truly will I always act according to Temple dictate but neither can I think to, to … stain the knights so. Surely it is resentful, but it is necessary! That does not mean that the knights should endure it. They … " The lady's hand tenses, and then she whips it through the air in a gesture of harsh dismissal. "… should be beyond that! But someone must, someone always does. It is not a peaceful world, Lord Pink. Our enemies skulk in shadows and do not venture to fight nobly. They must be hunted down, and seen to as is necessary for peace. But not by the knights, they should not dip so low. But neither can I ignore what should be done."

"A knight who shirks from what must be done because he would not get his hands dirty is no true example for anyone, Lady de Bellefeuille. Avoiding blood because it might stain is just another kind of cowardice." By now the reloaded rifles have been returned to the pair. "So is avoiding scrutiny because of what it might bring to light. After what you have undergone, Lady de Bellefeuille, I would not think you a coward, of either sort."

The lady simply glares at the other noble in silence, rifle accepted but left forgotten in her hand. The moment passes, and the lady offers the weapon back to the page and as her features ease from anger she exhales, turning away to move the weight of her gaze elsewhere. "I have considered becoming an Executor," she says, sounding faintly tired. "Simply: I do not wish to hide what I do, but neither do I consider myself ready for knighthood. I hope that is more clear."

Lord Pink glances down the barrel of his rifle before lowering it. "I disagree, my lady," he says, firm, though not angry. "The committee has selected a number of individuals to whom to extend offers to undergo these trials. Your name is among them, and the offers will go out soon. You may decline or accept, as you choose, Lady de Bellefeuille; for my part, I promise to hound you no more on it. The day is fair and I have another score of creekers yet to be released. Let us shoot, and speak of other things?"

She nods slowly and holds out her hand to accept the rifle back. "Very well, Lord Pink. Should the offer come… " Elise shakes her head a little. "Other things, yes. Let us shoot and enjoy the day."