Sealion 2015

Back from war

So much happen during this great event.
I was on site very early; it was magical to see an empty field turn into a medieval village.

Like every event, it was great to reconnect with friends and make new ones.

This was my first event as Yue Feng Xiao. It felt very strange to not be in my usual garb and not have my beloved axe Viðrtaka with me, but I had my guandao Xin Yue Long with me. It felt pretty good. 

Feng Xiao and Don Richarde Touchet de la Croix
comparing blades.

We fought under our new army badge, the Sea Wolf. The Sea Wolf has been a totem animal of several Native tribes of the pacific northwest of Canada. The beast is aquatic, extremely powerful - mightier than the orcas. I think it fits our army just fine.

The Seawolf

Our war commander, Ming Lum Pee made me 2^nd in command, it was a great experience and I’ve learned a lot. We aced the first battle. We lost the second one and for the third one, lay on was called when our troops weren’t even placed and ready. We lost the third one but we still managed to last long enough, for a group that barely had time to secure our helms on. On that battle I was hit pretty hard with a shield on my elbow, my armour shifted and when the sword connected, my elbow was bare. It’s all sorts of pretty colours today and it hurts a lot.

The rapier side was different; we won the war point on. It’s very different. It felt strange to point a gun at a human but it was still pretty fun.

After the war, just before sundown, two very good friends renewed their wedding vows. It was a simple yet beautiful ceremony.

Bridal party for Anne Greystoke and Seamus MacDonald

 Not long after that, there was some dragon jousting on the highway. A handful of us jumped the fence and controlled the scene until the police arrived. I think a lot of the drivers were wondering why the fuck there was people dress funny in the middle of the Hwy 17…

The bardic circle was fun. I finally managed to break free from my shyness and sang a bit.

I felt hung over in the morning. I’m under a lot of stress lately and for some reason my brain decided to bring back some pretty harsh memories. I have a severe case of iatrophobia, I’m extremely scared of doctors, nurses, paramedic and the likes. This is beyond being scared. It’s also a strong trigger when it comes to my posttraumatic stress disorder. My brain associated feeling bad with having to seek medical care and I lost it pretty bad. My brother and a good friend packed my car and got me ready to go in record time. Meanwhile a new friend and my brother (when he wasn’t busy packing my stuff) helped me go through the worst part of the trigger. I have close to no souvenir of getting home. All I know is that it took me about 45 minutes more than it should have because I got lost. It wasn’t my worst moment but not far. No body but me was injured. Today I have a hard time moving, I feel like a truck ran over me, the inside of my mouth is shredded, I’ve lost a couple of toenails due to clenching my toes inside my shoes, that cause some nails to lift and eventually rip off. I have fingernail impregnation on the palms of each hand. 

This was a very bad ending to an awesome event.

* Pictures by Leslie Eaton, Deb McKnight and Kimberly Grigg