[complete] Event 1 Task 1

[The Goddess Nike]

The day dawns bright and clear. A good omen, for clarity is what we seek today. Each of you awoke this morning with a shining Greek letter on your flank, matching you to your team mates. Don't worry, it will vanish when all is done. 

We gather now in the first arena. Crimson banners flutter in the morning air, and your friends and family fill the stands around you. They cheer as you walk in and take your place with your team. In a flare of golden light, the Goddess of Victory appears. 

"Welcome to the Beqanna Games! By the end of these trials, you will have witnessed your friends complete daring feats of Courage, Intelligence, and physical Strength. All good qualities in those we share our days with, wouldn't you agree?

Those of you who believe Courage is where your talents lie, step forward. Good. It is a simple task this morning. All we ask, in this first task of bravery, is to tell us. Clearly and openly, before all who stand here, admit to us what you most deeply fear. And to ensure that you speak only the truth..."

 She blinks, and ropes of golden thread appear about the contender's necks, bright enough for all to see. 

"Lie, and these will turn black, revealing your falsehood and losing your team points. So. Just be honest. Let the games begin!" 

The spot light turns on the field. Will you be brave enough to bare you fears before all? 

To prove it, answer this question:

Who was the "Princess of the West", and what was her TV horse's name?

Please post your 200 (or less) word response and the answer to the question within 24 hours of this post. 

PM The Goddess Nike with any questions. 

[Madelyn]

Madelyn somehow has found herself here in the admist of an event she would never be at. Something had intrigued her though. She had a yearning to be here.

She steps forward eager to speak and prove herself. Courage was something she somehow had grown to have over the years despite being most of her life alone.

“Hi I am Madelyn,” she says shyly, “I fear not having a family and dying alone. I was abandoned by my mother when I was young. And since then I never had anyone.” Her mother had left her. It was out of shame of a rape that she was left to fend for herself at a young age. But she’s still here. Somehow courage was given to her.

“To answer your next question.” She ponders for a moment, “The Princess of the West is Annie Oakley and her horse’s name is Target.”

[Khaedrik]

Khaedrik does not love the morning world -- for what right have shadows to wander in the sun's dominion? None, none at all -- but Khaedrik has no care for law, or beauty, or truth. They are pristine things, crystal and delightful to the ears of the heart: and so he hates them, as he hates all children of starlight and glory and promise. These things have lied to him, and stolen what he should have been, and given his dark eyes and immaculate skin to a smiling boy in sunlight, somewhere. He is the truth of Khaedrik, this boy; and his wraith is but memory and wrought thoughts, and all the abandoned secrets of the dark heart.

That is Khaedrik's greatest fear: that he is not real, not more than sensorial fodder.

"I fear" the boy answers the question; flutter-voiced and quivering "That I am no more than a nightmare; that I am not real. A monster in the closet and nothing else."

Annie Oakley is the princess you seek - and in the series she rode a horse called Target

[Valensia]

Annie Oakley;

historical name born with: Phoebe Ann Mosey

TV show actress’ name: Gail Davis

Target;

two horses played Target that were rented from the Ace Hudkins Stables

Actual horses were named: Hi Yo Silver, and Trigger.



Post: (200 words)

Valensia glances to those around her, the others begin sharing and the black roan finds that she must pause. What is she afraid of? There’d been some pretty scary things that she had lived through the last time a stranger came to beqanna. Would one of those be her fear? No she’d lived through it, and even if they still gave her shivers she knows she could go through it again and she’d survive. Maybe it wouldn’t even be scary second time around?



She turns her mind to other things like her brothers, and mother and father, Warrick and the rest of the kingdom horses she had met in her short years. I’m scared that my family might stop loving me. She looks boldly at the mare that asked the question. Her wings clamped to her sides, nares flared, and a determined steady gaze. She can feel her throat closing, her tongue sticking as if made of cotton, and her eyes burning to break her stare. She doesn’t though she keeps her armor inside even as she feels it itching to come out. She wouldn’t let this fear consume her, it’s a sentiment that she has already had to conquer.

[Nayl]

The arena erupts to life around Nayl as she steps forward, an entrant in the first event. Her side is marked with the golden letter of her team and around her neck lies a golden rope. She feels a prisoner in this moment, but it fazes her minimally. Nothing can truly contain her, not against her will. Magic pulses through her veins and her heart thrums.

Nayl glances among them, but her attention funnels on the one whom called them forward, who blinked and marked them for this journey.

It doesn’t take long for the former Queen to find her answer. It was a fear that haunted her, that kept her eyes locked on her children during her reign. At one point in time, her fear had been to fail Nerine, but the greatest fear dwarfed that worry. Inching forward with a heavy breath, Nayl replies, ”I fear harm coming to my family. I had enemies during my reign and I feared that my family would be used against me, that they would fall into the grasp of those enemies.” Fortunately, it never happened, but nonetheless the fear haunted her for years.

192 words

Answer to the question:
Annie Oakley and her horse, Target

[Sarkis]

The Goddess begins her speech, calling the courageous forward. It would seem that is my opportunity.

Her question is simple, what do i most deeply fear? I almost wished she would have asked what I don’t fear for that would be easier for me to explain. I must think quickly but my thoughts race in circles inside my head, making me dizzy.

I feared losing my mother, the only person who understood me and loved me unconditionally. But losing Scorch was something I had endured. Though it broke my spirit and drained me to the core it is the reason I am able to know what I fear now more than anything.

I find my voice and raise it to voice my thoughts, ”I believe what I fear most is that I may never be who I used to be, that I may never be the version of myself I loved the most again.”

I smile to myself, perhaps I was a little nervous to speak to such a large crowd but I have always been vulnerable enough to share my feelings with others.

word count: 184 words
answer:  miss Annie Oakley, and her mighty Target.

[Eros]

The golden stallion takes his place amongst the event competitors.  His amber eyes graze the stands nervously.  They were filled with friends, family, herd members.  All there to cheer them on to victory.  A tight knot twists his gut as he realizes his family would not be cheering, his friends as well would be silenced by death.  A death that was brought on by a selfish war that tore apart his icey homeland.  Shying his eyes to the ground before him, he hears his task spoken.  Fear. Truth. How could a war horse admit that war was his worst fear?

As his name is called upon, he inhales a deep breath.  Amber eyes still lowered in shame.  A heavied step is taken forward, his head now rising proudly.  With a deep sighed exhale of the breath he held, the truth falls from his lips, “I fear war… I fear the unnecessary destruction of my home.  The loss of my family and friends for a selfish desire of power.”

There is immediately a weight lifted from his broadened shoulders, but uncertainty befalls his face at what they would think of him now.  Weak. Unworthy. Useless.


Word count:194

Born Phoebe Ann Moses, Annie Oakley was her stage name and was known as “the princess of the west”. Her TV horses name was Target.

[Mosrael]

They had come to participate in these games, to test their mettle against others who share Beqanna, but she was somehow not expecting to be separated from her brother. But teams had not been chosen by participants, but randomly assigned; she has awoken with the shining Beta on her flank, and Belgaer has instead an Iota.

Her own teammates are the black Jesper and the black-and-white Castile. She glances at the boys and then steps up to take her task. Courage – the courage to tell this large group of strangers her deepest fear, and hope they won’t use it against her in the future. Others begin to speak around her, but she takes a moment to consider – what is her deepest, truest fear?

“I fear death,” she finally speaks into a the silence; “the unknown of what is beyond this life, that is my greatest fear.” It is the uncertainty of the whole affair; not really the dying itself or her own mortality, but having no idea what happens in the afterlife – or lack of one. That is what Mosrael fears the most.

The Princess of the West is Annie Oakley, and her horse in the TV portrayal is Target.

[Wishbone]

She is practically vibrating under the harshness of both spotlight and prying eyes. The banners above her head drag through the sky by the force of the wind, creating a rhythmic sound that matches the frantic beating of Wishbone’s heart. She is not in Tephra anymore, but that excites her more than she can comprehend.

She waits to speak her turn, listening to their responses with wide sunset eyes. When it is her turn, the yearling steps forward on eager, dainty feet. “I fear boredom.” She pauses for a moment, inhaling a deep breath and centering herself on the feeling of the breeze toying with her autumn-dipped locks. “I fear I will never see the world, that my adventures will be minuscule in comparison to the complete nothingness of my life.”

Her heart grips, thinking of living her life within one room and never experiencing the mountains or lakes or oceans or deserts or forests the world might offer. Although her family dying might be devastating, to see only the same trails seems worse to Wishbone. Death is something she can face with bravery, but the inability to travel sends terror so deep into her bones she might be paralyzed.

Word Count: 200.
Answer: The Princess of the West was Annie Oakley and her TV horse’s name was Target.

[Kagerus]

I hadn't been aware that my family would be in the crowd today, as the first event takes place - their presence causes my stomach to flip, and not because of the baby. My nutmeg eyes flash to Khaedrik, my brother, who has already spoken his fear: that he is nothing but shadows. And once, maybe that would have been my fear, too.

But my fear is different now. It lays just beneath the flesh on my barrel, a terror in the form of a baby - but no one knows that I am pregnant.

No one but Khaedrik.

I squeeze my eyes shut, knowing that if I lie right now, I will likely lose points for my team - and although I feel no allegiance to them despite the greek symbol we all share on our flanks, I recognize that this competition may have effects in the real world, too. Politically.

I grimace.

"My biggest fear is the child growing inside of me. I am scared of the death it heralds. I am scared that it will resent me for abandoning it... And I'm scared that it will grow up knowing only the darkness, and not the light, too."

Gods, help me.

--

Word count: 200

Answer to question:
Annie Oakley is the princess of the west, and Target was the name of her TV horse.