Hark all Ye Faithful, the Lords blessed with Spring Snow

(this thread is for Maddox Oldenburg )

A dust storm was kicking off as weak streaks of lightening licked across the training yard sand, in the center of it all was Jemos Ravenbrow. In her hand was a large double headed ax poised to strike, which she did crashing the ax down across a shield of a man sparing against her. He wasn't the only one, she was facing three others at the same time. One was struggling against the dust filled winds, another had just been stunned by a bolt of lightening, and the third was running toward Jemos as she defined against the fourth.

A few yard behind Jemos was the Prince, Max, the two were the same age and had also became friends years before she personally protected the Royal family. He was often used by Jemos when she wanted to run a training session. What better way to prepare yourself for defending the Royal family then having one to actually defend.

Max was very safe despite the true persistence of the four soldiers trying to make a tag on the Prince, he was shielded by a wall of wind that circled around him. Jemos fought two attackers at the same time redirecting the combat away from the Prince, and Jemos fought as if she were doing a dance that was second nature to her. Even if they scenario was a mock, the Ravenbrow in her wouldn't allow for a mockery of failure. What kind of Royal Guard would she be if that happened.

Jemos was definitely among his closest friends, specifically in the group of people that knew his true self, Prince Maddox Oldenburg. They had got along right away, even though she had been a bit quiet in the beginning, Max wasn't deterred and instead spoke twice as loud to make up for her lack of volume as they joked and teased and one day he realized that he had made a really amazing friend in a royal guard. That had certainly never been something he'd thought he'd say.

Today he stood behind her as she worked her blessing to create a dust storm. As well as Jemos knew Max, there was one thing she didn't know: Max was blest too. He grinned as he watched the other soldiers trying to fight her. He had always admired her skill as a guard, with or without the use of her blessing. The girl had mad game. She was a fierce little thing to behold. Max had more than once imagined what it would be like to wrestle with that fiesty spirit of hers in bed but they had yet to actually cross that line. Not that the energy hadn't been there a time or two. At least.

Max could handle a weapon and would have loved to be there fighting with Jemos to fight off an enemy. But that wasn't the point of this drill. So instead of just standing there looking like a damsel in distress, he started messing around. He'd skip about, do little twirls, a couple of cartwheels, and general idiotic tomfoolery. Even goading the soldiers that were trying to prove their worth.

Jemos was definitely trying to focus on the battlefield, Max wasn't making that easy but that didn't mean she couldn't mess with him back. She dodged left with a quick juke rolling again further left as one attacked came down with his claymore, he had missed and as it smashed into the dirt Jemos with the flat side of her ax gave the man's behind a hard spank. It was hard enough to chatter teeth, he'd be fine. The temperature slowly began to drop in their little area, but the dust storm slowly died, and the wind grew cold and still one man was defeated by the wind as it carried him in a tumble out of bounds.

"Best to keep moving Prince, I feel a chill in the air," Jemos shouted over the winds, dancing around her last opponent with dual swords. He was fast and rebounded with good precision, he was trying to circle her away from Max he thought Jemos hadn't noticed. She pivoted with a back spin and ducked into a split. Snow began to fall. It wouldn't matter for her opponent as Jemos swiped the man off his feet and a quick pop back to her feet she laid her ax to his chest. He laughed with a torrid of hot steamy air, yielding.

The Prince in his little protective barrier would begin to get a little chilly by now. Jemos smirked.

The winds she kicked up tugged at the strands of his hair and Max seemed to be dancing with the movement as he continued to move around, his hands up in the air, feeling the wind move through his fingers as he spun in slow casual circles, ignoring the other soldiers entirely as they came for him. He knew full well they'd never actually reach him. He'd seen Jemos get better and better as each year passed and it had been a long time since he'd seen her make a big enough mistake to end with failure of her task.

Goosebumps rose up on his skin and he did start to move around more quickly as it got colder and colder and he saw snow starting to fall. He'd soon be shivering but it would be worth it to see how the soldiers reacted to this change in weather.

The snow had laid a thin layer across the training grounds and everyone bur Jemos and Max would struggle in the cold gale gusts of wind. The soldier under her ax had yielded so when a force of wind echoed across the field knocking everyone but Max down. Then just like that the weather around them changed and then was gone, only the sun above and a light wind remained.

"I win," Jemos smirked and gave each of her opponents a bow, "Thank you all for the challenge, I think that's enough for the day."

Jemos would turn and walk back to Max a small smile on her face, "Good job being a target Prince, I hope I left you feeling protected," she would, if Max allowed her, dust some snow off of his shoulder while bringing the heat up a little around them to warm him back up.

Max had always been so fascinated by the blest of Almeran and Jemos was no exception. The way she controlled the weather around her had never failed to amaze him. She didn't know he was blest too but he never failed to compliment her whenever she did something particularly impressive.

He watched as the other soldiers bowed and walked away, some a bit grumpy and others smiling at the reward of such a challenge. It made Max smile too. "I never felt more protected than when you're around," he said to her with a playful flirtatious grin. This wasn't new. Max seemed to flirt with anything that moved, but he also meant those words sincerely. She was a force to be reckoned with and he never felt more safe than when he was with her.

His shoulders softened as he felt an increase in the temperature as she warmed them back up and dusted off the snow. He ran his hands through his hair to do the same, watching the now water droplets cascade towards the ground. "That was awesome," he said with a delighted little chuckle.

"Your compliments mean a great deal Prince," and they truly did and his flirty smile always made her smile, Jemos for years felt far more closer to the Royal family than maybe even her own, "But those boys rarely try anymore when it comes to these exercises, perhaps they are afraid to attack a Prince or they think because I am a woman that I may break," the thought would warrant a small giggle from Jemos maybe even Max as they both knew better, "They probably don't understand our friendship either, a Ravenbrow besties with the Prince, who would have thunk?"

Jemos stepped back from her handsome young best friend and began to remove the chest plate of light armor, "So...don't say anything but I had the most interesting conversation with the Queen, your sister, we were just idly talking about marriage and well uh, she asked me if I could ever handle it...with uh," she was getting tongue tied and a small glow of red kissed her pale cheeks, "Well you..."

Max did indeed laugh at the idea that Jemos would ever break under the pressure of anyone. She could easily be overlooked because she was a woman, and a pretty woman at that, but those who underestimated her would always end up being put in their place. "Well then it's good we keep forcing these practices on them. They shouldn't be holding back if they want to actually prove their worth."

He had always enjoyed his friendship with Jemos. She was his guard, yes, but she had been so much more than that over the years. Being the same age was helpful for their bonding and they were soon spending time together whether she was on duty or not.

As she stepped away to remove her armor he pulled out a waterskin and opened up the lid to take a refreshing drink. A drink which he was soon coughing on as she revealed the topic of conversation she'd had with his sister. He pounded on his chest with his fist and forced himself to take another drink to soothe the cough. He didn't even know what to say to that and he struggled to find some sort of reply. "With me?" he finally asked. "And, uh, what did you say...?"