Tatiana de Foix - Estrella

The War was my fifth SCA event and my first camping event. My goodness, I LOVED it!

My friend Ysabel and I arrived around midnight on Thursday night after a long (and very trafficky) drive from Lyondemere. We'd sent our tent ahead with two friends who kindly set it up for us. That made life much easier, because by then, all we wanted to do was lie down and sleep like the dead. Unfortunately for us, Ysabel's air mattresses had been stabbed by something-or-other in her garage before Estrella, and we spent the night on some very hard (and COLD) ground.

Despite our tired and frozen bones, we woke by 7 a.m. when the sun was rising. Although the night had been pretty miserable, we were both so excited about finally being at War that we got up. I'd intended to spend most of the day at Collegium, but soon realized that burnout comes quickly! After three classes, including introductory belly-dance (which fortunately could be done even in my Norman attire), I resolved to slow down a bit and spent a more leisurely afternoon beginning to check out the merchants. And hoo boy were there merchants. Just about anything you could dream of was there to be bought. I filled out a bit of my feast gear requirements and spend a lot of time window shopping. (Q: if there are no windows at a merchant's pavilion, is it air shopping?)

By late afternoon Ysabel and I pulled out our mattress and found the hole. Wal-Mart was out of patch kits, but luckily for us, His Excellency comes prepared—Baron Jamal had a patch kit, and our air mattress finally behaved. The rest of our nights were spent more pleasantly cushioned and insulated.

The party at Caid Royal was much fun—particularly the sumo wrestling championship. I was rooting for the Skinny White Guy—some of you out there who watched the matches will have to fill in his name for me. At last it came down to Jamal and Beorn, both very worthy opponents. Beorn asked the crowd for water. I offered my bottle, and he thanked me kindly, told me the Japanese word for such an offering of water, which translates in English to "strength water". I was glad to help and wished him the best of luck. But when he returned to the ring I nearly smacked my own head—I'd offered strength water to my baron's opponent, and my baron promptly lost! Of course Jamal laughed and forgave me—and I can tell that Beorn is very honorable and kind man who deserves the title of SCA Sumo Champion. I'm sure he'll wear it well.

Unfortunately two of the Saturday Collegium classes I wanted were canceled, but I spent time wandering and exploring, highly interesting activities at one's first War. That afternoon's shower lines were particularly long for the ladies—best estimates were an hour to an hour and a half to wait in line. My friend Patricia and I decided to try an alternative—the open-air showers near our camp. We dug up long dark T-shirts to cover ourselves (realizing too late that bathing suits should have been on our packing list) and lathered up—quickly, very quickly. Let me tell you, that was some of the coldest water I've ever felt! But cleanliness is a delightful thing. Ahhhhhh...

That evening Ysabel and I wandered around to several parties, but besides our own campfire at Lyondemere, didn't find anything for which we wanted to stay. A lord from the Morbid Deviants group kindly escorted us to the southern areas of the site while we looked for the West's encampment and a rumored party, but our search was unsuccessful. When we returned to the Morbid Deviants encampment, their party was starting to live up to the group's name. When Ysabel and I saw the young, er, ladies who were now topless, we decided it wasn't really our kind of party and moved on. (M'lords, now you know whose encampment parties to seek out next year!)

I volunteered as a water-bearer for Sunday's heavy-weapons battle and had a wonderful time. I felt truly needed, learned a bit more about the preparation and hard work that goes into battles, and met many kindly and thirsty people. I even received a marriage proposal. I'm told that's not incredibly unusual for waterbearers, but as it was just the second proposal I've received, I took note. Sadly for me, I didn't actually hear the lord's proposal—either his helm was doing a good job of shielding his words from me or I was simply incredibly dense, for my friends had to tell me about it afterward. So if anyone knows an extremely tall fighter with horsehair on his helm who fought with Caid or Atenveldt, kindly let him know that the rather, um, unfortunate reception of his proposal to the petite lady with the copper circlet and dangling beads was not deliberate. [chuckle]

Incidentally, since almost everyone on the field was significantly taller than I am, I thought it quite chivalrous when a fighter either knelt for the water to make my task easier or took the weight of the water/Gatorade jug while he/she drank. I *don't* expect that, since waterbearing is my job, fighters are working hard and get tired, swords and shields must be dealt with, armor is very heavy, and kneeling when armored up is not likely an easy task—but I wanted to let the fighters out there know that when the gesture is made, it is noticed and appreciated.

Sunday evening, as expected, was much quieter. Ysabel and I visited friends of hers from the West, then wandered a bit. Atenveldt held a "Last Survivors" party, and Atenveldt's Queen Elzbieta belly-danced by the fire. I was rather impressed with that, as we heard that she'd only begun to learn how to belly dance two weeks before. I'm sure that took courage, and she danced with grace.

Our intentions of going to bed early weren't quite met—I think neither of us was really ready to let go of Estrella. At last Monday dawned cool and partly cloudy. Ysabel and I packed up, hugged our fellow Lyondemarines, then left the War playing period music in our car. I was sad to leave and enter Mundanity again—but I am very much looking forward to Potrero, and I'm eyeing other camping events like Black Oak Lodge. It's such a wonderfully different experience to be able to immerse yourself in the Society for several days.

Alas, due to an obnoxious plague of spammers who did not cease their assault despite IP banning and required approval of posts, I had to disable my guestbook. :-(