Arthur Cousland

A week pass as Arthur returned to Highever. He was quite surprised that his father called for him since he was the spare for the spare heir.

He was quite surprised to find a giant ship in the docks but didn't want to pry on it since it was hissing a flag he didn't know. He sailed all over Thedas but never saw that flag before.

"Let's see what my father wants from me," says Arthur to himself as he walked toward the castle.

He arrived to see his nephew being followed by a chicken while a monster was looking over him.

He was about to draw his daggers when a dagger appears around his neck when he hears a voice behind him say, "You will put your daggers back into their sheaths, or I will be forced to kill you."

"Vlad, I think you are going to hard on the poor boy," says Vincent as he turns towards them and takes a closer look at Arthur seeing the same red hair as his brothers while having the same green eyes as his mother.

"You must be my guide," says Vincent as he stretches his hand towards Arthur and says, "I'm Vincent Highwind, Ambassador of the Highwind Empire and a Dragoon. Nice to meet you, Arthur Cousland."

Arthur didn't take Vincent's hand as he was quite suspicious of Vincent because of what he looked like.

"Fine then," says Vincent as he takes his hand back while walking away as Vlad walks behind Vincent making Arthur's eye open wide since Vlad was a normal human for Arthur.

"Uncle," says Oren as he walked towards Arthur and hugged him.

Arthur patted his head as Arthur was worried about his family since Vincent was around. He sees the chicken and asks, "What is that?"

"That's my Chocobo. Vincent gifted it to me. He promised me to gift it to me after he saved me. But he is still small. Behemoth is quite big it could fit at least four people on its back while Abel can mostly fit one or two when he is grown up," says Oren as he presented his Chocobo to his uncle.

"He saved you?" asks Arthur as Oren nods his head.

"I got lost in Denerim and he took me to the palace where he lived with the King. I also met the Queen she was a nice person," says Oren as Arthur was now worried that he offended someone important.

He couldn't connect Vincent to anything he knew and when Vincent talked about the Highwind Empire he didn't know what Vincent was talking about.

"Oren, can you bring me to your father?" asks Arthur as he was sure Fergus would be somewhere near.

"Yes," says Oren as he rushed towards his father that was in the main hall with his father and brother.

"Papa," says Oren as he jumped at his father who caught him and lifted him up.

"You know that you are a big boy even if Vincent can lift you up easily, I can't," says Fergus with a smile when he looked in the direction his son came from finding Arthur.

"The lost son is back it seems. How was your sailing trip?" asks Fergus as Arthur walked towards them nervously making them worry about what he has done now.

"The sailing trip was half bad. I should deliver some greetings from Grandfather. He stayed at the Stormcoast," says Arthur as he was quite nervous.

"And did you do something for you to be so nervous?" asks Bryce as he could see that his son wasn't really here right now.

"I might have offended a person when I entered the castle. He was playing with Oren and I thought he was an Abomination. I wanted to draw my daggers when someone stopped me," says Arthur as all adults in the room became pale.

The stories they heard from Vincent might have been downplayed by him. But they were still great deeds for a normal person to accomplish them.

"You did what!" shouts Bryce at his son when Aedan walks over to his brother's side and puts his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Good luck. I hope you don't disappear around Orzammar or Kinloch," says Aedan joking about that since he, Fergus, and Vincent had a bet running about Arthur's first meeting with Vincent.

Fergus couldn't hold his laugh back as he started laughing while putting Oren back down when he asks, "Did you at least shake his hand?"

"I did no such thing," says Arthur as both older brothers looked at each other.

"It seems we owe Vincent some money now because of you, little brother," says Fergus as he bet that Fergus would at least shake his hand with Vincent even if he didn't attack Vincent.

Aedan, on the other hand, was thinking that Arthur would try to attack Vincent and shake his hand afterward to apologize but it seemed both were wrong.

"You think Vincent won't hold it against him?" asks Bryce as both nod in agreement since they spend quite some time with Vincent finding out that he doesn't hold grudges.

"But its another thing about his people. His shadow guard might try to get rid of you," says Fergus joking about it.

"That's not funny," says Arthur as Aedan and Fergus were laughing quite hard.

"*sighs* Anyway since you already met with Vincent it will be easier to explain everything," says Bryce as he explained everything to Arthur about what he needed to know and that he will be traveling with Vincent and his men towards Orzammar and Kinloch Hold before returning to Highever.

"So I'm just a guide for them?" asks Arthur as Bryce nods.

"Exactly. You as a son of a Teyrn stand over most of the normal people and can convince the Banns and Arls to let you pass through their territory without a problem," says Bryce as he had written a permit that said the owner had to be seen as the Teyrn of Highever.

He handed it over to Arthur while he says, "Vincent is quite modest about his true authority in Ferelden. He doesn't like to be in the limelight like many other nobles."

"That's why you are giving me this," says Arthur as Bryce smiles and shakes his head.

"He has a permit from the King but like said before he is quite modest. He doesn't use it even if he could," says Bryce praising Vincent as Arthur was now quite pale.

"I almost attacked someone that had a Royal Permission," says Arthur not believing that he was still alive.

"He is quite a nice person," says Fergus when suddenly Vincent entered the Main Hall without Vlad.

"It seems you are all here. Since Arthur is here we should plan to march tomorrow," says Vincent as Bryce nods making Vincent say, "Good. I hope you rest well Arthur because tomorrow will begin a long journey. I will inform my people about it so they can prepare for the departure."

"Aedan, can you accompany Vincent," says Bryce as Aedan nods and walks over towards Vincent as they leave the main hall.

Vincent and Aedan left the castle as they went into the city. Vincent informed the Legat about the situation when the Legat nods and leaves to prepare everything.

"So what did you tell him?" asks Aedan as he didn't understand what Vincent said.

"Right, I told him to prepare the mounts for tomorrow morning," says Vincent as Aedan looked at him surprised.

"Mounts like that Chocobos," says Aedan as Vincent nods.

"Exactly, they are all still onboard being fed by the quartermaster," says Vincent as now Aedan understood why the ship was so big. It was not only holding soldiers but also their mounts.

"This is a warship?" asks Aedan as Vincent shakes his head.

"No warships are bigger. This is a trading ship. We use them to go to Akavir and back since they are the fastest in their class. A warship could hold half of a Legion and their mounts. This can only hold just a tenth of a Legion," says Vincent as they walked back.

"How many Legions do you have?" asks Aedan as he was curious.

"Originally we had 10 Legions representing the 10 Races of Tamriel but now we have 25 Legions ready. That's not counting the Militia that was created by the First Emperor. Every person is supposed to train at least for two hours a day so they can defend themselves and their neighbor if an emergency fall over the continent," says Vincent informing Aedan while Aedan suddenly was quite pale hearing that only a tenth of a Legion was right now in Highever.

"So you are saying that your people are born and raised to be soldiers," says Aedan as Vincent shakes his head.

"Not really. They can ve what they want but when the continent faces a great danger everyone becomes a soldier to uphold the order. That only happened twice so far," says Vincent as they arrived at the castle.

"If you excuse me. I need to inform the scholars and my wives about our departure," says Vincent as Aedan nods while Vincent left.

Aedan rushed back into the Main Hall as he finds Fergus and Bryce still talking there when Bryce asks, "What's wrong, son? You look like you met a ghost. Is everything alright?"

"Do you know how strong the Empire is?" asks Aedan as Bryce shakes his hand as well as Fergus.

"They must be as big as Tevinter right," says Fergus when Aedan hits his hand against a table before sitting down.

"The Empire stretches over two continents. You met with the soldiers right," says Aedan as Bryce nods since they were quite many when Aedan says, "Those are only a tenth of a Legion. They have 25 Legions in total."

This now makes all three turn pale after hearing that as Bryce says, "Are you sure."

"Yes, Vincent told me after I asked if the ship was a warship since they were carrying the mounts in it. He denied it by saying that it was a trade ship," says Aedan as Bryce began to have color in his face again.

"That's good," says Bryce as both his sons looked at him confused.

"They signed a treaty with Ferelden. That means they won't invade us. I don't think that the Empire would see us as a threat," says Bryce as both brothers suddenly sigh in relief as they didn't know about the treaty.

"I just hope that your brother doesn't a war with the Empire," says Bryce as both brothers were now pale again.

"I will talk to Arthur for a moment before he dooms us all," says Aedan as Fergus followed him to talk to Arthur about his earlier actions while Bryce had quite a smile on his face seeing his sons like that as a pouch of gold appears on his desk.