Blue just nodded along as Astrid spoke, their arms crossed in front of them. They also agreed with her and didn't have Thadda's sense to keep such an opinion to themself. Mizzi fell off her chair and just decided to stay down there until it was all over and she wasn't at risk of bursting out laughing in the middle of the court room.

"Yeah, this is boring. You just said the same thing over and over again." Blue spoke up, putting their fists on their waist. The ooze's memory wasn't the best and they stopped paying attention pretty quickly when Baan started talking because of how boring it was to hear him keep spouting the same nonsense repeatedly, but even they knew the conversation was going nowhere just like Astrid had said.

Baan looked as if he was about to burst a blood vessel in his forehead, his eye twitching in anger. How dare these total newbies in the court dare speak to him so disrespectfully!? Who do they think they are!? What the hell did Thadda see in these fools to make them dignitaries of the region!? DID SHE CALL HIM MISTER?

"That's Lord Baan to you!" He shouted a bit less gracefully than he would have liked, his fist slamming on the desk in front of him. He cleared his throat and continued, trying to remain as calm as possible, but his voice came out in a seething growl. "Well then, co-representatives of Sky Peak Village, let's get right to it. I find him guilty. What do you suggest as this traitor's sentence?"

"Oh, right, sorry," she says with no remorse.

Astrid should not take any joy in antagonizing Baan. But she does. It reminds her of the dwarves who used to give her dirty looks, the ones Cantio so swiftly dismantled with a well-executed insult. Baan is no different. He's just someone who uses his power and stature to look down on people he considers beneath him. He doesn't like to be challenged. 

"Dunno how ya can find him guilty without no proof," Astrid says, adjusting her crossed arms to somehow look even more indignant and petulant. 

"Astriiiid," Thadda sings under his breath. 

"So what kinda things do ya do ta settle stuff around here, huh?" Astrid says looking around. 

Mizzi suddenly shoots up from her fetal position, hand raised in the air. "I propose trial by combat!!" she shouts with a big grin on her face. She knows well that Thadda doesn't take much liking to people who can't hold themselves up in battle, and if the girl wants to wear armor and talk big game, she must have something to back it up. Astrid and Thadda both look at Mizzi with wide eyes, but Astrid's surprise quickly turns into an amused grin.

"Aye, that sounds fair ta me," Astrid says, looking Baan dead in the eyes. "And since it seems ta me like yer takin' it out on this guy bein' tried 'cause of what we said, we'll take his place!" Looking at Blue, she asks with a grin. "What do ya think, Mister Wolfe?" 

Thadda looks distressed. "Astrid, Wolfe, if you two go through with this and lose, you will be punished in that man's place," he warns quickly. 

"We won't lose!" Astrid says with a face full of confidence.

"Sounds good to me!" Wolfe replied with a big grin of their own and a thumbs up. Finally, a fight would be way less boring than this had been! They were really good at fighting, just like they'd told Mizzi earlier. Was that why she proposed this? How thoughtful!

"We won't lose!" Wolfe stated confidently at the same time as Astrid.

Count Thadda couldn't do anything about their decision except shrug and sigh. They'd made their choice and they were technically acting as the representatives of Sky Peak Village instead of him right now. He couldn't overrule them if he wanted to, and he kind of didn't. He pretty much agreed with them. The only difference was that he had enough self control to stay calm and sit through the trial quietly unlike these two. Astrid, he could understand. She was literally a child. But, he wondered how Wolfe, a grown man, could behave so childishly. He had no way of knowing the ooze knight was even younger than Astrid despite their appearance.

"Very well then! Trial by combat it is!" Baan agreed to the proposal. He saw this as a perfect opportunity to get back at the two troublemakers in his court. Astrid was a child! There was no way she could stand up to one of his strongest guards. And this Wolfe person didn't even have any armor or a weapon on him. This would be too easy!

"Court will reconvene in the courtyard where we will see who wins. These two, or my two fighters." Of course, Baan had to do something unfair to stack the odds a bit more in his favor. "You will both fight one on one matches. If either of you two is defeated, you both lose and will face this man's punishment for him."

"Fine!" Astrid says indignantly. "But we ain't gonna lose, I can promise ya that. Also, we ain't fightin' ta the death or nothin', right?" Of course, they're not going to lose. Both of them survived an encounter with a vengeful god. She's more worried about having to deal a deadly blow to someone else, which she definitely doesn't want to do. 

"The rules of combat will be established in the courtyard," Baan says, raising his chin and looking down his nose at the two dignitaries disrupting his deliverance. "You're dismissed."

As soon as the air settles in the courtroom, Mizzi lets out the laughter she's been holding in for the last several minutes. "Ya've got guts, both of ya!" she squeals gleefully, clapping Astrid and Wolfe both on the back. A devious grin spreads across her face. "This is gonna be fun." 

---

After a while, everyone has shuffled their way to the outdoors where a training arena for guards has a crowd around it. Most of the crowd is made up of members of the court and nobility. Some of them pleaded with Baan not to sentence a child to death, but he doesn't listen. If she wants a place in the court, she needs to earn it. As if she hasn't already. 

Astrid and Blue Raspberry are escorted by a group of guards to ensure they don't try to flee the challenge they set out. Once they're within the arena fence, the guards take up posts. Mizzi and Thadda wait just outside. Astrid didn't bother changing, because as soon as they get into the arena, she rips away the skirt of her dress to reveal the greaves underneath. Well-placed clasps make it perfect for this purpose - a bit of practicality built into the outfit by Cantio in case something of this particular situation ever did happen. He probably didn't expect it to happen so soon. She hands the skirt off to Thadda, stuffing the layers of chiffon into his arms without asking first. 

Then she turns and looks to Baan. "So, who are we fightin'?" 

Baan returns to her a wicked smile under his beard and introduces his fighters. Two crownsguard warriors of Thorock enter the other end of the arena. One is in a full suit of armor that covers every inch of flesh. He has a comically large build and stands nearly seven feet tall. He is certainly no dwarf as each of his arms seems to be the same size as any adult smallfolk. Beside him enters a more lithe figure with less armor, only his chest, arms, and legs have light leather armor to allow for swift movements. A flowy robe indicates he may be a mage. 

After laying out a few basic rules such as no blows to the nards or death blows, Baan looks to his adversaries and says, "As this is your challenge, you may choose your opponent."

Astrid looks at the two warriors across the arena, then she looks at Blue Raspberry. "Hm, what d'ya think?" she says. "I think I want the big one. Reminds me a bit of Buffalo." Her own wicked grin spreads across her face. 

"Hm. I wanted that one too, but it's okay. I'll take that one then." Blue replied with a shrug and pointed to the lithe one.

The lither figure looked a bit offended that both opponents were more interested in his partner and also stepped forward with an angry expression on his face, holding a hand in front of the bigger one to tell him to stay back. He was confident he'd have this handled on his own. The bigger one wouldn't even have to fight once this blue-haired weirdo was out cold. His opponent didn't even have any armor or weapon. What chance did he have?

Wolfe unbuttoned their vest and dress shirt and also put them into Thadda's arms on top pf Astrid's skirt without asking for permission. They wanted to fully change out of their nice court clothes made specially by Cantio. They didn't want to mess them up, but they didn't think it would be a good idea in the middle of the crowd. They just hoped their pants would be alright after this.

From the crowd, Mizzi let out a whistle as Blue stepped forward. "Could you please not mess up my pants, my dad made them for me." Blue asked their opponent, receiving a few laughs from the crowd, though they didn't understand why. They were being serious.

With both combatants ready, Baan shouted out for the fight to begin and Blue's opponent immediately sprung into action. Running forward while muttering an incantation and making some hand gestures, two daggers in their hands began to be coated in ice that made them freezing cold even sharper. He threw one dagger toward Blue's chest, expecting to end the fight in a two hit combo immediately.

But, the dagger suddenly veered off course with strange static buzz. His eyes opened wide in surprise, but it was no matter. He'd still land this blow on his own! He struck with the dagger in his hand straight for his opponent's throat. Before he could slice it open, his blade suddenly stopped, caught between two hands.

"Huh?" He stammered out in surprise while trying to pull his blade back, but it wasn't budging. Was this man's grip superhuman!? Was his blade glued in place!? Unbeknownst to him, the answer to both of those questions was yes.

"Hey, were you aiming for my throat? I thought we weren't trying to kill each other?" Blue asked with innocent curiosity. With a spinning motion, Blue yanked the blade from the man's grip and spun around to smack him in the side with a large, blue-scaled reptilian tail that was suddenly protruding from the base of their spine.

The blow caught the man completely off guard and sent him tumbling across the ground. When had this guy grown a tail!? He hadn't had one when he walked into the courtyard! Luckily for him, most of the blow was blocked by his leather armor, but he still didn't think he could take a hit like that a second time. He got back to his feet shakily and looked back toward the blue-haired man.

"Alright. If you're going to try to kill me, then I'll start fighting you for real now." Blue said as their fingernails elongated into sharp claws and blue fur sprouted on their forearms until their hands looked like they would be perfectly in place on a blue werewolf. Lightning arced between their fingers and across the fur.

"Fuck that, I surrender!" The lithe man announced, holding his hands in the air. Nope. He didn't want any part of that. This wasn't worth it, not for that asshole Baan.

Blue looked back to Astrid, Thadda, and Mizzi with a big smile and gave them all a thumbs up before starting to walk cheerfully back over to them. They were a little disappointed how boring the fight had been, but they won! That was something to be happy about.

Their tail retracted back into their back and their arms changed back to normal, the electricity stopping. "Thanks!" Blue said to an open mouthed Thadda as they took their clothes back and redressed themself.

---

Cold Touch (Enemy)
Dagger x2 (Enemy)

Static Field
Steel Catch
Slimy Hands
Bull's Strength
Prehensile Tail
Eldritch Claws
Lightning Armor

Baan’s face turns red with restrained fury watching one of his top duelists get intimidated by this clawed, uncultured buffoon. This wasn’t the fight he demanded! These challenges are for the life of a man accused of conspiring against his rule! They should give their lives to defend their Lord’s honor!

The very large armored man notices Baan’s expression and steps forward. Of course he’ll crush this cocky child for Lord Baan! Hefting a large greatsword across his shoulder, the knight points at the child. “Alright, girl, prepare yourself to face the wrath of Baan’s champion!”

Astrid finishes congratulating Blue on their win then she strolls into the arena without any weapons on her person. “Ooh, that’s a big sword,” she taunts. "Ya think yer gonna hit me with it?"

“Uh, Astrid, do ya want a weapon?” Mizzi asks, watching her strut into the arena.

“Nope, I don’t need it,” Astrid says confidently, sizing up the man in a lot of armor. He’s going to be especially slow in all of that. It looks well made and beating through it would be pretty hard with the hammers. No, she needs to take the magic route for sure.

“I’ll cut you into pieces!”

The signal is given to begin, and the knight charges forward, heaving the sword back and preparing for a downward slash. He aims directly at Astrid and cleaves into her. Or at least… he thought he did. His sword gets stuck in the grass, and through his helmet he realizes that Astrid’s especially hard to pinpoint. He could have sworn she was just standing there! The effect of Astrid’s armor gives her afterimages, and all she had to do was step out of the knight’s swing to avoid it.

In a show of absolute sass, Astrid grins and walks around him, looking at the joints of his armor while he struggles to pull the sword out of the grass. “It’s a nice suit, ain’t it? Covers all the soft bits, lets ya move around good enough ta swing the heavy metal. Not bad. Kinda borin’ though.”

Feeling his sword free, the knight whips around with the blade. “You little PUNK!” Air this time. In a blur, Astrid’s movement takes her behind him.

“Problem is, it’s real heavy. Hard fer ya ta move. That’s why ya can’t hit me.” She peeks under his arm to look up at him. “Don’t feel too bad about it. I’ll put an end ta this quickly.” Her body starts sparking with lightning, but it seems like the knight doesn’t notice this because suddenly, his foot kicks her legs out from under her. She falls, but so does he as a paralyzing wave of electric pain travels through his armor and up his body. He barely manages a scream of pain, and Astrid narrowly zips out of the way before he collapses on her.

The cocky child dusts herself off while her opponent writhes in pain on the ground, unable to move or formulate words properly, taking her time to get blades of grass off of her sleeves before she looks at the knight. “Ya gonna get on yer feet yet? I thought I was facin’ yer wrath or whatever.”

Electricity continues to spark off of him, even as he starts to recover from the paralysis, and finally, he pushes himself to sit up. It’s a clumsy, clunky motion. “You little bitch,” he seethes.

“Now yer name callin’? That ain’t nice, mister.” Magic moves Astrid’s feet at inhuman speed, and in a blur, she’s in front of him, grinning into his helmet. “Yer grumpy. I think ya should take a nap.” She touches the knight’s helmet and more electricity courses into the metal, this time with full purpose from Astrid as she charges it with magic. Combined with the lingering charge, the blow is devastating enough to knock the knight completely out. With her foot, Astrid pushes on his chest to make him fall back in the grass.

“So… anyway, I think we won, didn’t we?” Astrid says, looking over at Baan. “Are ya gonna keep yer word an’ let that guy go?”

---

Diplopia armor (afterimages)
Bullet Dash
Storm Lord + Extended Charge
Charged Object (cast on helmet)

Baan seethed. He looked as if he was about to pop a blood vessel in his face as he glared down at Astrid. He didn't want to let the man go. He didn't want to admit the two disrespectful, ignorant, overconfident new dignitaries of Thadda's had beaten his best men and easily at that. He wanted to just say no, sentence the man to death, and watch their faces as he did so.

But he couldn't. One glare from Thadda and Mizzi was all it took. He couldn't go back on his word. Not in front of this whole crowd. Not in front of the other two leaders of Dragon's Cradle. He'd stated the conditions in the courtroom, even made them unfair, and they'd still fulfilled them. If he backed out on this... No, that wasn't an option. He looked to the accused with almost as much hatred as he had looked at Astrid and Wolfe with.

"Free to go." That was all the words he could manage to cough out at the moment when all he wanted to do was yell angrily and go on a tirade, but he had to control himself. He didn't even have a gavel to bang on a podium to help him vent a little right now since they were gathered outside.

Watching Baan go through the mental motions, trying his best to avoid a tirade, and finally just relenting brings a grin to Astrid's face. "YES!!" she shouts, throwing her fists into the air. She tromps over to Blue, Thadda, and Mizzi with a face full of pride and accomplishment. "We did it!"

"Good job, you two," Mizzi says through a laugh. "Made quick work of those guys! No wonder ya made names for yourselves so quick." She pats Astrid's shoulder and Blue's side. "Bit hot-headed, but that makes these things more fun, huh? Ya have yourself a couple of good ones, Thadda." 

Thadda smiles a little at them in acknowledgment, but his brow remains heavy as he watches Baan. While he feels that Baan was being unreasonable, especially without any proof, he worries about what this could look like if it turns out the man is actually involved with the conspirators. Astrid and Wolfe very quickly made apparent their opinion of Baan, and he's sure that won't change anytime soon or easily, especially if the man keeps stooping to their taunts. Still, it could make things tricky for them in the future. Or it could make them targets. 

He has a lot of work to do. 

The accused man is freed from his shackles, and he glances around before spotting his saviors. It's obvious he's anxious as he approaches them. "U-Um... Lords and Ladies..? I just... Whatever reasons you had for helping me, th-thank you." 

"No problem. Those guys weren't even that tough." Blue replied nonchalantly as they finished sloppily tucking their shirt back into their pants shamelessly. They didn't think very hard about whether this would be considered indecent. They didn't know much about clothing except that they knew they shouldn't walk around in public without it. The especially didn't know about fancy clothing.

"Fighting them was a lot less boring than listening to Baan talk though. I thought he was never gonna stop."

Mizzi stifled a laugh as she looked up to see that Baan had managed to overhear the conversation and was staring at Blue with disdain. Thadda also noticed and sighed. He might have more work to do keeping Baan from seeking revenge agaisnt these two than he'd thought if they were going to keep badmouthing him in his own courtyard. At least this time he seemed to have learned his lesson and didn't walk right over to argue. Baan walked off, out of the courtyard, presumably back to his own home.

"Well, thank you." The accused man said nodding to them both. Getting out of a boring courtroom wasn't the answer he'd expected, but at least he was free. He glanced at Astrid, wondering if she had a real answer for their reasons for helping.

“Yer welcome,” Astrid says with a grin, then her expression becomes only slightly more serious. “Sorry ya had ta go through that though. Didn’t seem like the trial was all that fair ta me.”

The man glances around for prying eyes and listening ears. “It…would be foolhardy of me to speak ill of Lord Baan.” Astrid seems a bit confused by that, judging by her furrowed brow, so the man leans in and whispers. “That’s how these things tend to go with him…”

Astrid pulls back and crosses her arms. “All the more reason fer us ta step in,” she says confidently.

The man fidgets with his hands a bit. “Well… Thank you. Both of you. Erm, what were your names again?”

“I’m Astrid, an’ this is Wolfe,” she says, extending a hand to shake. The man takes it with a cautious nod.

“It's nice to meet you... Though I should be going,” he says. “It’s… probably best if I lay low for a while” The man looks at Thadda and Mizzi and offers a nod of acknowledgement to them both. “My Lord, My Lady.” Then he quickly leaves the courtyard and disappears through the gate.

Astrid turns back to Mizzi and Thadda. “Well, I think we did good fer our first outin’ in Court!” Before Thadda can agree or disagree, the fully armed and armored knight in camouflage painted armor approaches with heavy steps, and Astrid looks at them. “Oh, I like yer armor, mister! The paint's well done, ain't it?”

“It’s miss,” a feminine voice responds. "But thank you." The knight removes their helm and reveals a strong-jawed woman with a crown braid holding her brilliant red hair firmly against her head. She has a few scars on her face and hazel eyes. “Call me Cassandra,” she says. “Interesting turn of events here.”

---

Cass color dc4f4f

"Hi." Blue said with a small wave of greeting. They'd been interested in the knight before, wondering if a conversation with them would help enlighten them a bit on how to become a knight themself. Now was a perfect chance to talk to her.

"So, uh, you're a knight of-" Ah shoot, what did Thadda say she was a knight of? It was something with a 'T', wasn't it? Tepid? No, that wasn't it...

"A Knight of Tegrid, yes. I was here to oversee the trial. It got a lot more interesting than I'd been expecting, mostly because of the two of you." Cassandra mercifully finished for Blue. She seemed nice and spoke very politely.

"This is our first time in a court."

"Well, for your first time, you both made quite the debut. You both fought very well." Cassandra looked to Astrid and then to Wolfe. "A shame your fight ended a bit early though." She finished with a slight shrug.

"Yeah...." Blue replied. They wanted to ask about becoming a knight like she was, but they didn't know exactly how to bring it up 'gracefully' as Cantio tried to teach them. She was an actual knight working for a king and everything! They wanted to make a good impression on her.

Welp, it looked like they already had made an impression even if they hadn't been trying to. They decided to just go ahead an ask even if it wasn't all that tactful. They didn't want to let this chance get away from them.

"Can I become a Knight of Tegrid too? I want to be a knight." Blue just blurted out suddenly.

Cassandra’s head tilts in surprise at Blue’s outburst, but a grin quickly spreads across her freckled face and she lets out a laugh. “I like your enthusiasm!” she says, clapping Blue on the shoulder with a firm hand. “You have the guts and the gusto for it, but being a knight is more than just settling disputes, wearing armor, and fighting. Knights are honor bound to their values and the values of their order.” She takes a step back.

“The Knights of Tegrid pledge their allegiance to Eclipse City, but to the Primordial World. We protect and serve to create a better future, to find a balance between nature and society, and to be a neutral party between other knighthood orders, but also between denizens of Charon. We protect and serve the world, not the crown nor the nobility.” Cassandra looks Blue Raspberry up and down then meets their eyes with a glistening ferocity in hers. “If that sounds like something you’re interested in, then find the Order’s base of operations in Eclipse City. You can tell them I sent you.”

With that, Cassandra fits her helmet on her head, just noticing Astrid taking a closer look at the paint on the metal. “I bet I could do this fer ya, Wolfe,” the girl says. Then she notices Cassandra’s noticed her and takes a step back. “Erm, sorry. I’m a smith.”

“A smith and a fighter? Mind my asking, but how old are you?” Cassandra asks, flipping up her visor to keep up the conversation.

“Twelve!” Astrid declares confidently.

Mizzi spits out her drink. “Thadda, ya brought a kid ta court?! I-I thought she just looked young!”

“She’s plenty capable, as she’s proven,” Thadda says simply. “Could use a few more lessons in Courtly etiquette though.” Astrid’s expression grows sheepish, and Cassandra laughs.

“Quite the interesting bunch here in Dragon’s Cradle,” the knight says. “Perhaps we’ll meet again. Safe travels, and good luck.” She turns her visor down and walks off.

Astrid watches her leave and says, “She was kinda cool, huh?” Then she looks at Blue. “Ya wanna be a proper knight? I’ll help! I-If ya want…”

Blue did their best to listen to and remember everything Cassandra was saying about the knight order and what they did. They nodded along as she went on. Honor-bound to their values. Well, that was easy! Blue was super bound to all the valuable stuff they had, so bound that it was inside them! And they were sure they could fit all the order's valuables in there too. No problem! Protecting and serving, they could do that. They pretty much did that already! They were glad to hear they wouldn't need to serve Eclipse City. Being balanced between nature and society didn't sound that hard, probably. They'd eaten lots of nature. They even had a whole tree in their stomach. It was a little surprising to hear they didn't serve the crown. Blue thought knights were supposed to work for kings, but these knights did sound really official even without doing that. Sounded fine to them!

"Yeah! It sounds good. I'll do that." Blue replied excitedly. Blue waved as she walked away.

Blue also looked a bit sheepish when Astrid asked if they wanted to be a proper knight. It was a goal of theirs that'd they'd suddenly started having when they'd heard about it from Cyran's apprentice. Astrid hadn't been with them then and they hadn't thought about bringing it up with her.

"Yeah, I want to be a real knight. Everyone always calls me a knight since I always wear my armor, so I guess I just wanted to actually be one. The Knights of Tegrid sound nice." They replied sheepishly. "Yeah! I'd be really happy if you helped me! Do you want to join too? You think our armor would look cool too with that paint on it?"

Astrid puts her hands on her hips and grins up at Blue. “Aye, I think bein’ a real knight is right up yer alley,” she says confidently. “Then we can call ya ‘Ser Wolfe’!” Her arms cross as she considers how she might paint their armor and seal it so it doesn’t scrape off if they take a hit. That’s going to be a new challenge for her, she’s never painted armor for her.

“I dunno if I’ll join, though it sounds kinda up me alley too, maybe that’s somethin’ we can do together!” Astrid looks down at her cuirass, feeling the dappled surface. “I dunno if paintin’ this is the best idea, though.” Then she shrugs. “We’ll figure it out! Gotta figure out how ta join first.”

Thadda looks around at the emptying courtyard. “Well, I think Baan unofficially ended this Court session… Perhaps we should make our way out.” Before Baan tries anything else. “I’d say this was an eventful first Court session for you both.” Successful? Maybe less so.

“I’ll agree ta that!” Mizzi exclaims. “Let’s go have ourselves a drink ta celebrate!”

“I suppose that wouldn’t hurt much,” Thadda says, ushering them all away. Hopefully, the next Court session they all attend is slightly less…eventful. He avoids thinking about what kind of allies or enemies they could have made themselves on this day.