Editing Battle of Breaking Iron (section)

==Father, what does that mark mean?==

Clear Moon's youngest daughter, Liantha, pointed at her father's shoulder.  In the flickering light of the hearth fire a scar was plainly visible, still red and raw from the branding.  It was a sunburst as big as a ripe plum, with five triangular rays extending away from it.  The old rider looked down at it and pushed aside his empty bowl of stew, nodding to his smiling wife.

"That's a long story, and my girls should be in bed soon.  The sun's been down almost an hour now, and there's plowing to be done in the morning.  I think I'm feeling tired too."  He faked a yawn with one arm thrown back in a stretch behind him.

The three girls, the oldest only thirteen and the youngest six, all cried out together.  "No, father, tell us!  The sun's just now going down.  Please!"

Clear Moon laughed and said, "All right, all right, I'll tell you, but story-telling is thirsty work..."

Liasta, the eldest, jumped up from her seat and ran into the kitchen after a tankard of beer.

"Hmm... well, mmm... thank you, but now I think my back is starting to feel a little sore."

Lianor, the middle child, leaped from the floor and stood behind her father and began rubbing his back with both hands.

"Good, ah... good.  But now my lap seems terribly cold, even with this fire.  What should I do about this?"

Liantha leaped onto her father's lap and hugged his chest fiercely, then looked up at him and said, "Please, father, tell us!"

"Yes, I think that's just about right.  Now listen closely my girls, and I'll tell you all about how [[Shouting With Iron]] set to settle the score with [[Storm of Amber]] by waging war on the Marukan, and how he proved his honor without losing a single man entrusted to him, how the great champion [[Nameless Ravine]] received his sword from the young wizard [[Rivers Between Us]], of the cunning of [[Leaf Shakes the Wind]] and the wisdom of [[Song of the Silver Wind]], and all the brave men who guard Marukan while the old Mahekos watched and our allies folded their hands."

Clear moon took a deep draft from his tankard and began his story.