The Standard Bearer and her loyal Companion returned home. Their friends had held the keep in their absence, and the influence of the keep had attracted more people. A village grew up around the keep, but the Standard Bearer made sure that people knew for whom the keep was kept.
There was a rumbling among the people of the town. They understood the Standard Bearer, but they weren’t sure of this foreign king and queen in the tumbled down castle.
There were messages from the King and Queen. At first, the Standard Bearer received messages about her duty, and what a terrible and disloyal subject she was, what an ungrateful wretch to those who had given her everything in the world. Then there were the sad letters from the Queen, wondering how anything would be managed without the Standard Bearer at the castle. And angry letters. And cajoling letters.
But the Standard Bearer crumpled all the letters in her gauntlet.
“Surely, they will come. They will hear of our new keep, and see how we have made it for them, and they will come to this new, better place.”
“I fear,” said the Companion, “that the King and Queen may think it is better to rule a hovel than to live here in this world.”
“But I would let them rule,” said the Standard Bearer.
“Your companions would not. They see your worth, the worth that you don’t see. They would not see the worth of the King and Queen.”
“I built this for them! They must come.”
The Companion took the Standard Bearer’s hand in his own. “Perhaps they will,” he said kindly. “Meanwhile, let us do what we can here, now, for these people. They love you.”
In time, the missives from the King and Queen’s castle dwindled away. The Standard Bearer and her Companion married, and the lands around grew rich and peopled. But the Standard Bearer still wore her cast off armor. And, she decided she would bring the King and Queen here, by force, if necessary.
It was for their own good.
