Valor's Impasse

One Year Anniversary + Deleted Scene

Hey! Ivy here. To preface, I am pretty sure today is not the anniversary, but it's hard to put a date on it since I had this idea over a year ago and only started posting on wattpad sometime in July last year. Anyway, thank you to everyone who has read this story and enjoyed Valandi and Christan's journey. It's kind of crazy to think that this random story idea has grown into something I spend a lot of my time day dreaming and brainstorming about. I've also grown a lot in my writing and I can't wait for you guys to see more of my recent work. Like I mentioned before, Valandi's quest is far from over. I have so much planned for her and many interesting characters for you to meet. The next installment of Valor's Impasse is far from finished, so I won't be sharing it just yet. I will keep you updated when that changes!

In the mean time, here's one of many scrapped ideas, or deleted scenes if you will. This was supposed to take place during the Festival chapter after Christan gets off the horse in an interesting manner. I had many iterations of how I wanted that chapter to go because it was supposed to just be Valandi and Christan sort of living "domestically" together. I got the idea from an Instagram post I saw of someone wanting a scene where person A is dating person B and person B is part dragon and all the small, cute, domestic things that could occur. I realized though, that at this point Christan and Valandi were not very close. Sure an attraction was there, but they were very far from being domestic partners. I still named this iteration of this chapter "And Then They Were Roommates", since it was them learning more about each other and living with each other on the road. Please excuse spelling/grammar. This scene is unedited.

Well that was a long winded introduction, here's the scene:

"So why'd you choose to become a knight?" Christan was sitting near the stream bed in her undergarments playing with some grass.

"I already told you." Valandi said as she drew mud patterns into her legs. She had no female undergarments and wore her black binding over her chest and short, cloth shorts.

"I understand avenging your family. But why steal your brothers identity and become a knight in his place. I mean as a woman you could do a number of things. Lead your kingdom, continue the alliance with Camelot, write letters, I don't know. It seems like a lot of work to become a man."

Valandi stopped mid stroke. No one had ever asked her that before. Part of her had felt guilty for leaving her kingdom, but she did what she though was right. The war on magic was more than the affairs of one kingdom. Even with that logic Valandi knew it was more than that. Becoming a princess was never something she wanted to do.

"It was the only way I could be a fighter," she decided. "No offense, but the idea of telling a bunch of people what to do never apealed to me. When we were younger, my brother and I would always spar, pretending to be enemies. And I always enjoyed the feeling of victory."

"None taken. I feel the same way. The only upside of being locked in a tower for most of your life is you get to do what you want to do."

"Like what?"

Christan bit her lip in hesitation. "Okay, you may want to move back."

Valandi scuttled backwards in confusion. "Christan what are you talking about?"

Christan took a deep breath. "Just watch." She then looked away from Valandi as she inhaled again. But this time when she exhaled through her mouth a stream of flame erupted from it. Valandi's eyes widened in fear as the flames filled her vision. As she was taken back to that day she was frozen in fear. Instinctively she pushed past it and pulled out her sword, which she always kept near by. When she was ready to strike the flames changed shape. She gasped as the once deformed fire became a horse, galloping on air. Out of the horse grew two people riding on its back. One with long hair at the front and the other in armor behind her. It was her and Christan. Then it switched to another image of a dragon, then to another. She was mesmerized by the colours and shapes, flowing seamlessly like the stream between them.

Then suddenly it stopped. Valandi realized she was still holding her sword up to attack and dropped it.

Christan's mouth was shaped in an elongated snout with red scales. When the flames were extinguished her mouth returned to normal.

Christan grinned sheepishly. "Ta da."

"Wow." Valandi said. All sense of danger she felt earlier was replaced by awe. She had never seen magic being used like that before. It was... Beautiful. "That was amazing." She said.

Christan tucked some hair behind her ear. "Thanks."

"Could you... Do it again?" Valandi asked.

Christan nodded and took a deep breath. This time the shapes appeared to show a story. Valandi saw a family: father, mother and daughter. The scene shifted to show of a tall elongated figure looking over the family. Next thing she knew the daughter was in a castle, no a tower. This was Christan's story. She saw the girl in tears and watched her grow to a young woman. Occasionally she turned into a dragon, her curse. She saw homes being decimated, people and livestock alive being eaten by this beast. Destruction. Just as Valandi felt herself getting angry the next scene caused a wave of despair to sweep over her. There was a young woman, Christan, standing at the window of the tower. Then she jumped. Before she could reach her almost certain end she transformed into the dragon and flew away. But that wasn't the end of it. Ropes, knives and even suffocation did not bring her end. Her only hope, the knights who came to rescue her were promptly taken care of by the dragon. Until Valandi came along.

Christan stopped the images. Her face was red with effort and it took longer for her to change her mouth back to normal. A single tear could be seen on her face and she quickly wiped it off with her hand.

Valandi was fighting off tears of her own. "I'm so sorry." She said, her voice cracking.

Christan half smiled. "Well I mean you told me your sob story so I figure it's only fair I showed you mine." She rubbed her arm.

Valandi crosses the stream towards Christan and before she knew what she was doing she pulled her into her arms.

"I'm sorry." She whispered as she squeezed tighter. Christan couldn't hold it in anymore and soon she was crying. Her sobs turned into heaving cries. She shook in Valandi's hold.

"I-" but Christan couldn't finish her sentence. Her breathing turned into uncontrollable hiccups.

"Shh," Valandi massaged her arm and back. They stayed there in that position for what felt like a lifetime until Christan finally unlatched herself from a Valandi.

"I shouldn't have done that." She said between sniffles. Valandi shook her head

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I can't say this enough but thank you for reading. Please vote for, comment on and share Valor's Impasse!

- Ivy