Those Who Fare Forward (band creation)

The familiar voice of Aesir delivering a sly comment brought a smirk to Valkyrie's lips. She turned to watch him approach. "Well, hello to you too," she said dryly. "I won't even tell the others you've already picked favorites." She harrumphed - then having spied Eldi as he approached - decided to use his name to needle Aesir. "How generous." Her tone turned wry. "No doubt Eldi will appreciate your discretion too; can't have the others thinking he's getting special treatment."

"Indeed it is," she answered Eldi with an excited grin. "Today..." She caught herself and shook her head before smirking at him. "I better save that for after the others arrive." And there would be others. The future was full of uncertain things, but if there was one thing she was certain of it was the loyalty of her friends and family. She'd spent months recruiting and was confident many of those who had shown interest would join her, but she wasn't counting on their appearance today.

 

Then came Okami. They'd had a rocky first encounter but Valkyrie was pleased to see that she'd gotten the attention of the tall, pale woman. To her Valkyrie gave a solemn and approving nod.

After Okami came her aunts. The first, Eisleif, was without her companion. Thorne had shown interest in the band and Eisleif had vouched for her, so Valkyrie expected she would turn up eventually. "Eisleif, welcome."

Alfrun addressed her and though Valkyrie still had her reservations about the aunt with the distant gaze, they were family and she had no doubt she and her aunt had been brought together for a reason. While she wasn't one to discount luck, it seemed more likely to her that fate played a bigger role here. After all, she had been guided to Boreas for a reason. "You humble me, aunt," she said with a solemn dip of her head.

Valkyrie waited a bit longer to address the band but finally she couldn't take the anticipation any longer. She stood tall and proud before her those who had gathered and at last began to speak. "You all honor me with your presence."

"I'll be brief because most of what needs to be said has been said already and we have much to do." To get to this point, to have felt compelled to answer her call, most had heard her speak at length of her plans. "Some of you have already pledged to join me, some have just made your interest known. If you are the latter now is your chance to walk away if you aren't prepared to swear to me your loyalty." Valkyrie gave those words time to settle in before continuing. "Should you stay you will become part of something bigger than yourself. We will raid the packs of Boreas and make a business of trading the spoils. We will amass wealth and prestige," Or infamy, depending on who you asked, "And we won't be easily forgotten when our time here is over."

"Glory is not free. I expect every member of Hjarrandi to pull their weight. We will train regularly and I expect every fighter to answer the call to fight. If you do not fight or contribute in some way, then you will not reap the rewards of a successful raid." The spoils would be split among them equally either immediately after the raid or later after the items/persons were successful traded or ransomed. "While everyone is free to come and go as they please, there are laws I will expect you all to follow so that one doesn't dishonor all." ((OOC: read the rules HERE and pretend Valkyrie outlines them here in her speech.))

Valkyrie made a point to meet the eyes of each of the prospects before throwing out the challenge. "If you find our pursuit and my terms acceptable, now is the time to swear your loyalty to me and to Hjarrandi."