Chapter 7. A word from Kevin

Scribe's Note: The following is an account from Kevin MacRork, one of the few men still living who traveled with Fiona from Fail to Alcatia.   Unlike Fiona's narrative, which has been cleaned up, it remains wholly unedited, at Fiona's request.  


When I heard tell the  lass was telling her own story, I  laughed until my belly ached, thinking about what she might think about some of the rubbish my grand kids go around believin from the tales theyd been told.   The real truth wasn't fit for children's stories, to be sure, but that mean the real story shouldn't be told.  

But, I'm not sure Fiona herself is really the best one to be telling her tale.  Its hard to use the word modest on a woman like Fious , but shes not really one to brag.  More'n that, the girl that knew  those many years ago in Fail was so dense to her own nature, that I can't rightly see her getting everything right. 

First time  I laid eyes on Fiona, she was standing there next to her brother, a strapping young blond haired man , wearing a raggedy old worn dress and tryin' for all she was worth, to look like a proper young normal unassuming girl obeying her men folk.  Thing is, that just weren't possible. Fiona wasn't normal even then.

I'm not just talkin' about her size, either, mind you.  She was half a foot taller than her brother and more than a foot taller than most of us, but for all that she was likely slumpin' a bit, she didn't move much but when she did, it was real graceful like.

'Twas partially all that long coppery hair  and those big green eyes  that made her stand outout amongst all them blonde haired blue eyed folk too.  

 Course, Red had big uns, and even though there was a dress coverin most of them monsters, they was impossible to miss.

Even practically wearing a sack,  I reckon if she'd demanded we get on our knees and bark like dogs, some of us'd been woofin' away and liftin' our legs, but she was holdin' herself like an innocent and respectable  young maid, or at least as respectable as those Northern girls get, anyway.  There was a couple of other girls about her own age, preening and making eyes at some of us, but Fiona likely had more eyes on her than the others without tryin.

We'd heard about her charging into a battle bare handed, ripping apart men and stuff, but  if she tells you the men stared at her on account of they were scared of her, she's telling only a small part of the truth. Fiona was a really fine lookin'  lass, worthy of starin at, even if she hadn't been so big.

Later on, we got to know her, and while I'm not going pretend just staring at her werent fun there was more to Fiona than just tits, ass and muscles even.

 After we all loosened up, she was fun, sweet and a little innocent, but not so much that she didn't laugh at bawdy jokes, and she didn't blush much or get self conscious when the jokes were about her, either.  She joked right back, and on the few occasions where some of us got out of line with her physically, she even laughed and told us it was for our own good as much as ours, not to bite off more than we could chew.

She had a temper mind you, and once she was comfortable with us, even a pretty sharp tongue.  But she never laid a hand on any of us, exceptin' in fun and sport.   We'd seen her  handle a  SeaTiger by then, but while we had a sense of what she could do, I don't think we really understood it until the first time we saw her stand up against another one of us mere mortal types.

We were at a tavern in Port Carl, and some drunken idiot at the next table, despite the fact that there were plenty of willing girls, kept on at Fiona about how he'd love to stick it in her huge fat ass and squeeze those big tits of hers.

"Sorry, fella, but no thank you" she said before turning her head and trying to ignore him, but the fool wouldn't give up so easily, stepped over put his hand on her forearm, tugging on her, saying something like "come on babe, you know you want it."

Fiona's right arm never moved, but her left hand shot out and grabbed the guy by his throat and she stood up, holding him up in the air with his legs and arms flailing.

"My ass is not fat" Fiona said angrily, even as she ignored a fairly solid kick he got in to her stomach. That didn't faze her, except maybe to piss her off some and let the man struggle some more.

Afore long, his face started getting red and he tried pullin' at his sword, but Fiona's right hand found his wrist  and squeezed, crushing bones like they was nothing. He started screaming like a baby and Fiona dropped him, stepping back and looking suddenly like she was gonna cry or something while his buddies came over.

Kirk and I got to our feet, telling his friends the way it went down,  and that we didn't want no more trouble, and seeing as there were a lot more of us then them, they took the idiot and left.

It took awhile to get Fiona smiling again, but she did, and after that, when we went back to drinking, we all  started to look after her some to avoid episodes like that.  It weren't that she couldn't take care of herself, but the look on her face when she realized she'd ruined that mans sword arm was pretty awful, and besides she was much nicer when she was smiling and cutting up with us.

I'm sure it rings odd, a bunch of guardsmen protecting Fiona, but she wasnt the most feared warrior the world has ever known, just a girl, no matter how big and strong she was, and, she'd probably say it's foolishness, but even after, when just her name made men quiver in their boots, I think that girl was still a part of her hrough it all. I'm not denyin anything about her prowess or her courage, but I think those of us who knew her then, we got to see a human side that others who got to know her later never did.

Of course, no one could protect Fiona from herself, and there came a time when even her oldest friends feared her, but I for one, still remember that sweet young lass who scared herself that night.