Ordo Sylvanus
The Exile of Lothar
-An Excerpt from Codex: Mini Me
That summer was a lonely time for my friend Lothar. The Mantis of the Rose had disbanded, with each principle member on his own agenda. Aeolus was spending time in solitude with his new wife. Roland and Tiny were off to the wastelands, in search of military conquest under different allegiances. The Princess was also on a mission in the wastelands, to save her younger brother from his own ways I suppose. Meanwhile, Hecubus and I were busy fashioning Buntaro’s pub into a respectable shop to trade wares. That left our leader, his brother Bob, and the two students Leon and Genjuro. But Bob was taken under by a terrible affliction, which rendered him comatose, perhaps a relapse of the injury to his skull. Our lord took leave of us. He set Genjuro out to begin his own fellowship, that perhaps the Samurai could avoid the mistakes that we made in the past.

I remember the last words Bob told Lothar, right before he fell comatose. "If you really understood what it meant to be my brother, my comrade, would you still want it?" I'm sure those words rang in our lord's head as he journeyed. Bob so rarely spoke, and never spoke words as clearly as he did that day. 

We may never know exactly what Lothar went through during those few months. All I know is that after he left, the townspeople spoke of a wandering healer that was capable of incredible feats of heroism and chivalry, who had copper skin and strangely white hair for a man of his age. And that when I met him at his return, he seemed more focused, strangely more powerful than ever. He did recount to me the day of his return.

Our lord was walking the road just south of the Yew cemetery, north of the Valley of Orcs. It was a cold autumn day, the winds were shaking the red and gold leaves from their branches. He walked his usual pace, thinking to himself and looking at the foliage surrounding him. As he neared the intersection, he heard the laugh of a woman nearby. He looked around and noticed nothing peculiar. Just as he began to walk again he saw a white colored blur streak past him. He drew his sword and let his mind enter a higher level of awareness, ready to strike with his blade. He heard a voice.

"You wouldn't use that on your own wife now would you?" As he turned, he saw the Princess who sprung upon him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You know, no matter how hard you try to get rid of me, or the rest of us for that matter, you will never be able to. Leaving us is as foreign to you as dropping that sword of yours once and for all. It's not in your nature, cotton-head." She lead him to her palace in the woods, where a small group was waiting to pledge allegiance to him. Bob, recently awaken from his long slumber, stood among them. Genjuro bowed before his daimyo, and the Order to the Forest had begun. My sister was right about Lothar.
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