I Will Be the Greatest Knight

The red-haired knight hadn't meant to burst in while Felix was speaking to the apprentices, and she quickly went to the bookshelves after uttering a quick apology.

However, she couldn't help herself as she lingered with her hands on a book, but her eyes on the apprentices. Knighthoods' schedules were cyclical, even if it took a few years. It also meant that things had finally healed enough after the Monster War to return to how they were when she was an apprentice.

While the tables were different because the goblins who had been stuck in the library destroyed many things, they were still set up the same as before. Those were her first memories of Felix and Leif. How far they had come, how much they had lost.

She wasn't aware that her nostalgic, warm smile had turned to a frown, and a small line appeared between her eyebrows. Only when she was interrupted did she realize she had been staring into nothingness.

"Dame," Felix called to her, sure to keep her title while the apprentices were paying attention to them.

"Yes, sir?" she responded quickly, her head snapping back to the shelves. She hadn't even been aware of which book she had taken from the shelf. When she looked down, she realized it was an encyclopedia of plants in Polona—something that certainly wouldn't help her anytime soon, if ever.

"You were a bit lost in thought there," he gently explained. "Did you need me for something?"

"Was it that obvious?" she joked. "Actually, yes. There was something I wanted to talk to you about, if you're not too busy."

"These few were getting ready to read and take notes," he responded. "I can step out for a bit."

"Perfect."

The apprentices, ever eager to prove themselves, diligently dove into their various books. They had been given scenarios to escape from or ways to strategize certain battles. Strategy was an important part of a knighthood. Everyone who had faced the war knew as much, whether it be against men or monsters alike.

Felix shut the door behind himself as they exited the library, and they began a short walk along the second floor of the Duke's Tower, unlikely to run into much of anyone except maids or mages.

"Something the matter?" Felix wondered.

"The Commander seemed quite heartbroken after the knights from Hydrogia departed this morning," Irene began, easing into it slowly. She wanted to measure what Felix thought of everything before she presented her own thoughts.

"That very group was the one who found him when he lived in the peasant village," Felix explained. "That was a story I was told while we were traveling back to Chemois. I think the Commander was surprised when I didn't have much of a reaction. As if we hadn't all heard about the peasant boy who would be taking over as our leader, but he's much more than that, and it shouldn't make a difference to any northerner."

"Now I understand their closeness a bit better," she admitted. "It's more than the fact that Sir Trenton was his knight when he was an apprentice…"

They stopped walking forward at Felix's direction.

"It seems that you are still keeping something in," he realized.

Irene sighed and nodded.

"I want to be there for the Commander," she admitted. "I want him to feel about us the way he does about the knights in Hydrogia, but I feel as if there is a wall between him and me that I can't seem to get through. While it seems that you got through that boundary quite easily."

Felix nodded slowly. He had been the one who asked Irene to welcome the Commander to the best of her abilities, but there was also an uneasiness that was present whenever Irene and Henry were talking to one another as Commander and third in command. Sometimes it seemed Henry wanted more, but Irene was the one who was rigid. Other times, the roles flipped.

Felix had a few ideas of what it could be, so he gave Irene his best guess.

"The Commander didn't get years of thinking you were a boy like we all did," Felix reminded her. "Even then, none of us knew that we were simply getting used to you until you could present your real self to us. Now we can all talk to you as if nothing has changed. Knights like the Commander or those from Hydrogia don't have the same experience. He went from living alongside the most noble, and admittedly useless, women in the world to presiding over one of the strongest women in our kingdom. I imagine it's quite an adjustment. After all, you are a noble yourself, but you would rather die than allow any of us to carry you off to safety."

He didn't want to seem as if he was lecturing her, so he tried to lighten his words towards the end. To his relief, it garnered a smile from the knight.

"So, it's about him getting used to me, you think?" she asked, somewhat hopefully, confirming the thoughts she had already battled with before.

"Of course," Felix confirmed.

Irene was about to begin walking again, but she stopped and turned back to Felix with her eyes narrowed.

"Y'know, all of this is your fault," she reminded him, half-joking. "You could have warned him from the very beginning about me. Now we have to suffer through getting used to one another."

"Unsurprisingly, you were a passing topic in many conversations, but it seemed that I didn't zero in on the parts that the Commander was missing," Felix admitted. "I merely talk about you as you are, a knight, while those who aren't used to you expect me to rag on about how you're a woman doing all of these things right alongside us. Perhaps it's a compliment to yourself that you have aligned so well with the rest of us. Now I believe it's up to the Commander to get used to you and not for you to get used to him. I feel as though those things will get easier the longer you two are around one another. I look forward to the years ahead where we may all live comfortably under the same roof."

"That's truly all I want, Felix," she admitted. "I'm so thrilled to have such an active Commander. I was always jealous of the Knights of Hydrogia with Commander Lothian when we were suffering through the end of Duke Arlin's life, just as much as he was struggling as well, I suppose. I do feel terrible that we hadn't done more, but I believe an active commander is what we all needed."

"I agree," Felix stated. "Even at the sacrifice of the last Duke, I believe we are on to better horizons."

Irene nodded.

Their walk brought them back to the main tower, where the stairs were that would lead them back down to the lower level or up to the Commander's personal quarters. That was where Felix ought to go forward and check on the apprentices and make sure they aren't causing chaos as they get to the end of their assignments; however, he paused and narrowed his eyes at the woman.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping about now?" he asked. "Your night watch is over with, and you won't be able to get sleep until this evening if you're still awake now."

What the two of them didn't realize was that the Commander had cut his ride short and decided that he would rather be inside his quarters or study, chipping away at all of the letters and approvals that needed his signature. As much as he wanted to wallow in self-pity that his brothers were gone, he knew he couldn't simply go for an entire afternoon.

He had been walking from the main level up to the second, but he paused at hearing two recognizable voices. He didn't want to interrupt, but he also didn't want to run off in the opposite direction in case he was heard with his leather boots echoing down the stone stairs as he escaped. How awful would it be to be accused of eavesdropping on the two he trusted most?

He hoped they would merely pass soon.

However, he couldn't help hearing Felix's concern for Irene, and he wondered if it was a conversation he shouldn't be hearing at all.

"My apprentices are sleeping," she confessed. "But I feel restless and know I will be wasting time if I lie down. Can't I follow you around for the afternoon? I swear I will go to sleep early so I am not entirely useless while at practice tomorrow morning."

Felix joked that he was going to push Irene down the stairs to force the woman to go to sleep, but he stopped when she crossed her arms at him and spoke up.

"The apprentices are going to see you lay a hand on me and think it's acceptable behavior," she reminded him, referring to them thinking they could shove around their friends because the knights did it.

The Commander's eyes widened. He thought that everyone considered Irene to be a man, but it seemed not to be the case at all.

It wasn't his business, he reminded himself. If those two were having a relationship in secret, it wasn't his business to pry into. After all, they were both on top of their duties.

"Fair point," Felix relented. "Remind me to throw you down there later when there's no risk of getting caught."

"Felix!" she snapped.

The two sets of boots rushed down the hall, and if the Commander wasn't mistaken, he heard the sound of a slap as Irene likely slapped Felix.

The two of them were quite dirty, and he was rather surprised by that.

Again, he reminded himself, not his business as he waited for their footsteps to leave so he could escape to his quarters and try not to dwell on what he had just heard.