Ristridin—ridder Edwinem

Ristridin and Edwinem’s friendship crosses the political boundary between Dagonaut and Unauwen: one is a knight of King Dagonaut, the other a paladin of King Unauwen, yet they have ridden into danger together and regard one another as trusted friends. Ristridin’s recollection of their bond is also an account of its abrupt ending. Edwinem confides his suspicion of Eviellan’s ruler to him, then disappears into a mission from which Ristridin cannot bring him back.

Friendship Across Kingdoms

Ristridin names Edwinem not merely as a renowned knight but as his friend. When Tiuri asks whether he knew Edwinem well, Ristridin answers that they were friends and promises to tell how they met and fought side by side. The distinction matters: Edwinem’s fame belongs to the public world of titles and deeds, while Ristridin’s story offers a personal view of the man behind them. He remembers Edwinem as the Knight of Forèstèrra, the Invincible, and a paladin of King Unauwen, but speaks of those honors alongside his goodness and nobility.

Their friendship is not founded on shared allegiance. Ristridin serves King Dagonaut; Edwinem belongs to Unauwen. In the spring, Edwinem travels with a small embassy bound for Eviellan, and arranges for the party to pass through Ristridin’s brother’s castle so the two friends can meet. Their intended reunion has an ordinary, companionable purpose: Edwinem had promised to join Ristridin and Bendoe on an expedition into the Wilderness Wood, a place none of the three had visited. Instead, Edwinem must tell Ristridin that his king has assigned him a more urgent duty. Friendship is shown here through a plan postponed by obligation, not dissolved by it.

A Confidence Before the Mission

The peace mission sharpens the difference between public hope and private trust. Eviellan’s ruler has appealed to his father and brother for peace, and King Unauwen sends his leading knights as envoys. The company is welcomed at the castle for a day and a night; the other knights are hopeful, but Edwinem is withdrawn. He loves his distant coastal home, Forèstèrra, yet tells Ristridin that the thought of returning now brings him sorrow, because he believes he may never see it again.

Edwinem confides what he will not say openly: the ruler of Eviellan has long been his enemy, and Edwinem distrusts the offer of peace. He bases his warning on personal knowledge of the ruler’s character, while acknowledging that the man’s charm and resemblance to his brother, the crown prince, make his wickedness difficult to believe. Ristridin urges the possibility that the ruler may have changed; Edwinem hopes that this might be true, but does not abandon his concern. The exchange reveals the intimacy of their relationship in a specific way: Edwinem entrusts Ristridin with a fear he asks him not to voice, then tries to release his friend from worry by insisting that each should continue with his own plans.

Ristridin is not reassured. Edwinem’s fear passes to him, and he decides not to leave for the Wilderness Wood until the embassy returns. Bendoe also waits rather than set out without him. The friends cross the Gray River into Eviellan to seek news, finding rumors of reconciliation alongside a growing Eviellan force and a heavily guarded border. Their intended adventure is eventually abandoned as summer approaches and the time comes to travel to the City of Dagonaut for its great four-year gathering. In the account of their friendship, the journey they do not take is consequential: anxiety over Edwinem’s safety redirects Ristridin’s actions before he knows what has happened.

The Last Meeting and the Search

The last meeting takes place at sunset on a day when rain falls and the sun shines at once. Vokia, Edwinem’s old squire, paces uneasily, muttering about a dream and lamenting that he is not with his master. A stranger in black armor, with a black shield and black horse, arrives at Ristridin’s gate and refuses to give his name. Ristridin recognizes Edwinem without needing him to raise his visor, but does not name him before the gate; only when they are alone does their greeting become warmer. Disguise separates Edwinem from the public identity of the Unauwen envoy, while recognition allows him to enter the one place where his old friend can receive him as himself.

The account then follows the friends into a confused pursuit. Ristridin and his companions hear that an unknown black-armored knight with a red shield has joined the Red Riders. In a village near the Green River, they learn of a clash between two black knights, one carrying a red shield and one a white one. Edwinem had removed the black from his shield. The knight with the white shield defeated his opponent but did not kill him; a band of Red Riders then drove the victor into the woods. A member of the victor’s company later rode toward the capital. The shifting colors and secondhand reports make the search difficult, but also reveal that Edwinem has fought his way out of the encounter without escaping the larger danger.

Ristridin and Bendoe divide their efforts: Bendoe rides to the capital, while Ristridin searches the forest. Ristridin finds no trace of either a rider or the Black Knight with the White Shield, and goes on to the capital. There, he reunites with Bendoe, who has also failed to find the old squire. The king permits them to resume the search, joined by Ewijn and Arwaut, but the permission comes too late. Edwinem has been found murdered in the woods near the Inn at Yikarvara, where he had stayed briefly. Ristridin’s account makes the failure of the search part of the friendship’s ending: he follows the warnings, pursues the scattered signs, and still arrives after the killing.

Loss and the Shape of the Recollection

Ristridin remembers Edwinem’s death as a betrayal of the code by which he understood their world. Edwinem had fought many of Eviellan’s knights, yet, in Ristridin’s experience, none had behaved dishonorably toward him. That history helps explain why the possibility of treachery had been so difficult to accept, even as Edwinem privately feared it. His final defeat is not presented as an honorable victory in single combat but as a murder through cowardly betrayal; the danger he had confided in his friend proves real.

The account is intimate but incomplete. Ristridin’s story does not name the letter for King Unauwen, although the narration identifies that letter as the cause of Edwinem’s flight and death. This gap leaves a difference between what the friend knew and what the larger story reveals: Ristridin can recount Edwinem’s warning, disguise, flight, and the search, but not the full political purpose behind the final journey. His memories preserve the personal bond while exposing the limits of even close friendship in the face of concealed events. Edwinem’s death ends the companionship that had carried them side by side; Ristridin’s telling keeps its trust, divided loyalties, and unfinished plans central to how Edwinem is remembered.