Take one Lilies and call me in the morning.

Ahh....

After my last post, I felt a little.....underwhelmed with things in my SCA life. But after getting back from Lilies, my outlook has improved a tad. I had a good time. I got my fighting in, I saw some friends I haven't seen in awhile, I carried on a tradition, and I think I've started a new tradition.

Backing up, I haven't been excited about Lilies in a few years. I can't really put my finger on it. Every year it rolls around, and I get less and less excited about it, even though I go, and have a decent time. Hell, I was Hus'd at Lilies last year. Plus my good friend Maerwynn is Princess during this Lilies. You'd think I'd be more stoked (80's term folks) about it. But I wasn't. With things that have gone on recently, I was thinking about going one weekend, or not at all even. In the end, I day-tripped it up on Saturday.

I arrived on site around 10:15, which was a little later than I wanted to be there. Dumped my stuff, parked, and headed to the battlefield to armor up. I ran into Sir Ivan, that was my first good ju-ju of the day. Ivan is a great guy, and someone I really look up to and respect as a person and as a Knight. Why it was so special was that I didn't expect to see him there. He has basically retired because of he has a bad knee and elbow that won't allow him to fight anymore. So I didn't expect to see him there, but he was there for one last fight and party. We talked a bit, and said we would see each other later.

I proceeded to put on my armor and get into the fight, as the battles had already begun. It was a very sunny day. Highs in the mid to upper 80's, possibly low 90's. It was warm in the sun, but in the shade was decent, and there was a cool breeze coming off the lake. So it wasn't unbearable. I've definately been in worse, and hated every minute of it. So, another good ju-ju item.

I got into the fight, and I found myself waaaay out of shape and practice. As stated earlier, it's been about six months since I've been in armor and fighting in earnest. I was feeling it. Luckily, I don't think I embarassed myself too badly. I died more than I killed, but I did kill a few. And most importantly, I had fun. Probably the most fun I've had in armor in awhile. I tried to think of the experience instead of how bad I felt I was doing, and in the end, I had a great time.

One cool moment, which split into two, happened before the last battle. As we were resting between battles, a horn sounded on the field. It grabbed everyone's attention. Four long belts of the helm came from Sir Richard. Then a one-eyed man appeared in the woods behind us, claiming to be a god, and saying that he is here to claim the soul of Sir Ivan. The god was Sir Gilligan, a good friend of Ivan's and who recently moved away, but came back for Lilies, and apparently this schtick.

Gilligan gave a wonderful speech about how great Ivan was, and that his time was over and he was there to take Ivan to Valhalla. I'm paraphrasing, of course. Gilligan asked if there was anyone who would speak of his merit. Several people stood up and spoke of Ivan's great deeds and of his stature of a man. Then it was time for Gilligan to claim Ivan and take him to the afterlife. They dueled with six foor spears and Gilligan pierced the breast of Ivan, killing him on the field, with everyone watching. Then a scutum was brought to the field and several of Ivan's friends placed his body on the scutum, hoisted it on their shoulders, and carried his body into the woods, and into history. As his body left, the field broke out in Non Nobis. It was a very touching send-off for Ivan.

After Non Nobis, the Huscarls stood together at the entrance of the woods and sang Requiem for a Huscarl together. On the last verse, we all turned our backs and faced the woods and sang into the woods, towards the afterlife, and towards the soul of Sir Ivan. It was so awesome to be there and to be a part of it.

After that, there was an announcement that all the Chivalry and Huscarls were to meet with His Majesty on the top of the hill. So we all marched up the hill to attend our King. There he informed us that at Coronation, the guilds of the Kingdom had come to him with issues that needed resolving. He instructed them that they needed to work the issues out amongst themselves. But as it has been several months, and now that blood has been shed at this war between the guilds, he was tired of their in-fighting and thought it was time for their conflict to be over. So, he charged the Chiv and the Hus with the duty of quelling the guilds and to bring peace back to Calontir.

So basically it was Chiv and Hus versus the world. :) It was funny during His Majesties speech. When it was getting clear that we were going to face the entire field, people were ripping off their tabbards and sashes representing which guild they fought for and throwning them down at His Majesties feet. Some were saying "I already know how to make fire", or "I drink beer, I don't brew it", or "I was made to fight, not to sew." I believe it was Sir Halidar who said, "I do so love it when we get to be the bootheel of oppression." So in a cheer to "Long Live Calontir" we faced off with the world. We were obviously outnumbered, which made it fun. It was a broken field battle, we fought it three times, and we won two of the three times. And in the end, it was glorious and fun.

...more later...