I Will Be the Greatest Knight

Irene and her Commander were the only two left in the vicinity, and she found it unbelievably burdensome to have his undivided attention. It was even more unnerving than the conversation they had the night before he left, even though then they were truly the only ones there.

She nervously tucked her hair behind her ear, and her eyes returned to the letter.

"My father's worried I haven't written him in quite a while," Irene explained. "I suppose I ought to respond. I'm not sure how long this was sitting in my room. If I wait too long, he'll simply show up to see for himself how I'm doing."

The smile Commander Henry offered her gave a bit of comfort and she found herself unable to take her gaze away until he gave her a suggestion.

"If you'd like, you can respond to your father in my study," the young Duke explained. "Everything you need will be in the top center drawer."

Irene perked up at that, always surprised at his constant generosity.

"I appreciate it, Commander," she quickly responded.

"Good," the Commander stated. "Then I will see you again tonight in a much more relaxing environment."

"That would be nice," Irene responded. "I will see you then."

With that, she rushed down the stairs until she was at the main level. The Commander's study stood at the end of the hallway and she made her way all the way there.

The door was shut and when she stepped inside, she was pleased to see that the room was warm. The weather was getting colder with each passing day.

When she settled at the desk, she glanced around the space and her eyes landed on the painting of what seemed to clearly portray the Commander and the Princess despite the lack of detail in the painting.

Reminding herself it was none of her business, she opened the drawer the Commander directed her to and she was shocked to see that there was a crumpled up paper inside. She had to move it to get to the rest of the supplies, but what was underneath was a golden chain.

She pulled out the chain and placed it on top of the wooden, polished desk. Unable to help herself, her finger traced along the piece attached to the chain. It was clearly a dragon scale. Perhaps even one of Sylaron's from when she must have been smaller.

Not wanting to pry further on that, she took the crumpled paper and placed it on the desk.

However, her eyes reacted faster than she could control herself.

First, the Royal Family's seal met her eyes and she leaned a bit closer to the desk as her eyes continued and caught a few words. A particular paragraph stood out to her.

"This is the end for us, so I don't need to look at reminders of you each time I open my jewelry box…"

Irene quickly turned over the paper and looked away. Her heart was racing. She hadn't meant to get involved in any way but…

"How awful," she whispered to herself. "Then that must mean…"

The rumors of her Commander and the Princess had to be true. There was no other way to take the words on the page. They were together and now they were…

The Commander had gone to Hydrogia and had been told by the King to not return for a long time. It was really no wonder the Princess couldn't remain attached to him.

She tried, with great effort, to push those thoughts to the side. It really was none of her business. No matter how much her head or heart clung to this information and wanted to search Commander Henry for answers, she knew that she shouldn't. Even if she much preferred whenever he was happy, she knew it wasn't her duty to make sure he remained as such.

With a slow sigh, Irene grabbed a sheet of paper bearing the new ducal seal on it and she wrote a quick letter to her family. She made sure to fill up a page so that they wouldn't think they were neglected and, admittedly, her heart truly wanted to reach out and find someone on the other end who held her affections. Something about returning to her barrack and seeing a letter from her father made her feel lonelier than normal.

"My family,

I haven't forgotten about you.

The knighthood was suddenly called to Idona in fear that there was some sort of war brewing on the horizon. However, what we found was a surprise from Polona that no one in the entire world would ever expect.

There was a dragon, but fear not. Rather than the fire breathing monster that was sure to defeat the entire knighthood, we found a dragon that bowed to our Commander and chased away all the monsters in the vicinity. If anything, the knighthood has been bored despite all the travel we have been doing. We have a guard that either kills the monsters herself, or merely chases them into hiding.

I think we will be alright for a long time if the dragon stays with us for any significant amount of time.

I am doing well and I hope that all of you are too. I will write more often now that we are settling in for the season.

All my love

Irene Litharion"

She refused to address that she was using the Duke's stationary to pen the letter and merely folded it up appropriately and decided to see if Siverly could send it to her father's region for her. When the mage begrudgingly agreed after she gave him a few coins, it was nearing time to go to the dining hall with the others.

When she returned to the Duke's Tower after bothering the mage in the infirmary, which had been built up much more than when they left it a few weeks before, she found Felix waiting for her just within the threshold of the back entrance into the largest tower.

"What are you waiting for?" she wondered quietly.

"Making sure you're not working more than you should when the Commander told all of us to rest," Felix responded.

"I haven't done a single productive thing since returning," she assured the second in command. "Haven't even bothered with the apprentices or checked on another person. But you know what will help me relax the most?"

Felix merely raised his eyebrows, silently pressing her to go further.

"A lot of ale," she responded. "Perhaps wine if it comes down to it."

"Is that a challenge?" Felix wondered.

"This is my effort to relax for the evening," she insisted.

"I like the sound of that," Felix said. "Then let's get started."

As the two friends rushed forward to the dining hall, they saw their places at the Commander's right hand waiting for them. The Hydrogian knights closest to the Commander were sitting across from them.

Many more were filtering into the dining hall and a short time after that, the Commander appeared wearing a sage green tunic and light cream outer vest. He looked a bit more distinguished than before.

Irene decided in that moment to drink even more and take her mind off of these ridiculous thoughts she was having spurred by the loneliness that had struck her.

All she wanted to think about was sword fighting and how to improve herself as a knight and yet...