Celidh

Greetings all, I have lots of posts to make so you should see a bunch between now and Monday, but we start with Celidh. This is a small event in Fort Leavenworth that I had never been to before.

I had heard that you could crash on site so after a day of looking at stuff in Columbia I got to Leavenworth about 10pm. I hadn’t really thought about it, but this probably wasn’t the wisest thing in the world, and the security guards were a little questioning but one of them came over and said there were already a bunch of us there and that this was normal so I made it through the checkpoint without a problem after that. I have a huge problem being nervous at such checkpoints after my first two experiences going up to Canada, but no real problem this time.

Anyway, to get to Hunt Lodge, where the event is at, you drive around Fort Leavenworth, past the Buffalo Soldier Memorial, which I’d really like to stop and look at closer some time, and also you drive through a US Army cemetary, which in the night is amazing. You see white headstones gleaming from the car lights as far on either side of you as you can see. It’s awe-inspiring.

Finally get to the event site and there’s hardly anyone there. Apparently, the crash thing is for Saturday night. Oh well, there are a few people there, and I sat around and helped assemble the feast tokens until finally crashing in my car. There being no showers, I woke up the next morning and put on garb. Since the day was supposed to consist basically of a morning court and then Katrine, Eric, and I running off to the Fyrd Retreat, I decided to just wear the Champion’s Tunic all day.

Of course, best laid plans and all that, we actually didn’t leave until 4pm, but that’s getting way ahead of the story.

The morning was spent greeting people, especially Vatavians. Katrine had actually given me the day off, had I wanted to go to the Fyrd Retreat. Caillin, who just got fyrded at Gulf, but who normally is one of Tristram’s retinue, did indeed go to the Retreat. However, this was also to be the Investiture for their new Excellencies Vatavia, Thomas and Cerridwyn. Given that Vatavia’s my home, I wasn’t going to miss that.

Anyway, there were a lot of my friends from Vatavia there and it was good to see them. Maeve had a bit of a panic attack because the event staff posted that court was at 10am, when Their Majesties had told all of the Vatavians that it would be at 11am, so that’s when all the Vatavian preparations were scheduled to be ready. However, it was just a mistake by the event staff and court was indeed scheduled for 11, which made everyone happy.

His Majesty rolled in around 9:30, and suddenly I became realy really busy. People kept asking me to do this or make sure this is in court and so on. Cerridwyn wanted her whole named pronounced in court. Don’t blame her. The problem is that her name is Welsh and goes back like 8 ancesters, so it’s incredibly long. We had her write it out phonetically for Eric to say in court. He got it all right, except, humorously enough, the Cerridwyn part.

Got stuff organized and at about 11, Her Majesty showed up. I’m surprised she had the energy to do court, she’s an accountant and she’d been working 100 hour weeks for the past month during tax season. She had originally decided to take the 16th off and recover, but the need for the Investiture meant that she had to be there. She’s a trooper though.

Court started fairly soon and it went fine. After a few Dun Ard awards, Wulfric was called up. Wulf’s a good friend of mine who had been the Vicar of Vatavia for the last eight months or so, and he brought up the Baronial coronets which he had had in trust. Once those had been given back, Tristram gave Wulfric a King’s Favor. Since Tristram’s an armorer, he gave Wulfric an awesome great helm. After that, Thomas and Cerridwyn were invested.

The rest of the day was spent in socialing and waiting on Her Majesty. Had fun watching the fighting and talking to a bunch of people. While it was fun though, Eric and I were itching to get to the Fyrd Retreat. Celidh was fun and the people of Dun Ard did a great job, but a Fyrd Retreat is something special. And it is another entry.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.