Artemis opened his eyes.

Why did he have to wake up? he wondered. He was having such a nice dream...

The bell rung again, not the loud toll of daytime, but rather the muted tone of night.

And then it rung again. And again. And again, and again, and again.

For one of the few times in his life, Arty cursed, softly. How had he managed to fall asleep? He was supposed to do be doing work... Sir Ervin had probably forgotton about him by now, and had gone to bed himself. But that was no excuse for him to shirk his duties. Sighing, and glaring (somewhat peevishly, although he'd never admit it) at the papers on the desk. He picked up his quill and began to write...

Elizabeth cursed herself. How could I forget to take this message to Sir Elthin. You where told to take it right after lunch, but what do you go and do? You forget all about it and go running around the market. She prayed that he’d still be in his office, if not she couldn’t imagine what would happen. She didn’t even know what the dusty piece of paper said. She looked around and didn’t see anyone when suddenly a boy lifted his head from a small oak desk. “Oh, excuse me. Is Sir Elthin around?” She asked hopefully.

[Hi Elizabeth! I'm assuming you're char is a page...

I was going to change Elthin's name to Ervin... Do you like that more? I was thinking that maybe he was the prime minister - or at least some important official - what do you think?]

Artemis blinked. He had just discovered that he had ruined his quill (a new one, too) by letting it sit too long without washing off the now dry ink. It would never be the same. Again, he wondered just *how long* he had been asleep...

He pushed his glasses up on his nose, and turned to the girl who had just addressed him. "Erm... no, I would suspect by now he is abed. But, I could certainly deliver it to him. I'm his squire, by the way. Um, I don't believe I've seen you about before, are you a page?"

[Edit: I just realized that she was a squire, although not necessarily in the same year, unless she's a first year too. Pretend he's a little blurry-eyed from the nap and didn't recognize her? Also, they may not have seen each other in a while...

Please tell me she has a knight-master...]

OOC- Elthin or Ervin is fine either way. He could be the Kings second advisor, not the best but still important, and still a desk knight. That's just an idea. My character does have a knight master, it's all in my bio. The Knight master part is in her sample post.

IC- "Arty, Artemis, is that you? Elizabeth asked somewhat hesitantly. "You dog! You don't recognize me! Me, its Elizabeth, of Tamaren." She hoped he hadn't forgotten her, he had been her closest and almost only friend while she was a page, being a of and not that social most looked down at her when she had been a little younger.

OOC- If you don't like my post just tell me I can edit it. :)

[Right. So I read through your profile twice, and totally skipped the sample post. Just too perfect.

So were close friends? Works with me. :)]

"Haha, very funny," he snapped. But then he remembered, that voice. Taking off his glasses to get a better look, he stared up at the girl in front of him, and realized that she hadn't been lying after all.

"Sorry, Elizabeth," he said, rubbing still-blurry eyes. "I just woke up. Er... you wouldn't happen to know what time it is?"


[His close friends call him Arty. Just for future reference.]

Elizabeth paused a moment in thought "All I know is that the midnight bell has already wrong." She looked at him a little worried, she couldn't believe he was still at his desk at this time of night.

"Oh no..." he whispered, still rubbing his face.

"This is why you make sure you get a knight master," he said weakly, trying to smile, but expression did not reach his eyes.

"But what are *you* doing around?" he asked, trying to change the subject. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

OOC- I am so sorry I didn't reply sooner. We've had lots of testing going on lately. - Then proceeds to grumble about stupid test and all nighters with stupid numbers that constantly ganged up on me-


Elizabeth gave Artemis a looked that said hang in there. Then she smiled slightly and said "I just got back from the Bazhir desert this morning. Sir Glenith has family that lives with the Sand Feathers tribe. We stayed with them for 2 months then we went to Persopolis for a month. I got to practice with the scimitar and the chieftain of the Sand Feathers tribe said I was a natural.” Then she asked with a jokingly dangerous voice “How have you been holding up? Been eating 3 meals and all your veggies?” Knowing very well that Artemis would skip meals to get pointless jobs done. That was one of the reasons she found it hard to believe no one would take him as a squire. He put fourth so much effort and always gave it his best.

"Erm... more or less." He grinned lopsidedly. "I do remember *some* of your lectures from second year." He made a face, rolling his eyes. "Still, I'm glad you're back."

[It's ok. I haven't been on too much the last few days myself, I have a major research paper due. *gulp*]

OOC: My bad