I Will Be the Greatest Knight

Irene was frozen in place, wondering if she should pretend the Commander was some sort of monster because then she would be able to behave more confidently in front of him. When it came to orders and fighting, it was different, but this…

"You don't have to stand so far away," the Commander insisted gently. "She won't ever hurt you as long as you're not trying to hurt me."

Sure, Irene decided. It was best to have the Commander think the reason she wanted to stay far away was because of the dragon and not him.

Commander Henry's dark eyes fell to the dragon, who hadn't moved an inch since the mages were there. She seemed stressed out by what had happened.

Irene decided it was best to give him his breakfast so that she could escape just as quickly. With a bit of courage, she stepped forward and handed the Commander his bowl. However, she was captured by his gaze and unable to leave as she had expected.

"If you'd like to eat with me, you're more than welcome," the Commander explained. "Don't feel pressured because of my position."

Her head screamed no, but her heart raced. She immediately sat down and crossed her legs so that the bowl of porridge was balanced on one of her knees.

As she moved, she knew that the Commander was silently scrutinizing her. All she could hope was that whatever he was thinking wasn't negative about her.

Hoping to pull him from his thoughts, she couldn't help breaking the silence after taking a few bites of food.

"If I may say, Commander, you keep surprising us."

Her eyes hadn't lifted from her bowl, but when she did, he was casting her a curious expression. Despite that, he laughed. It was he who looked away. She was grateful for a moment to look at him before her own gaze returned to her food.

"I keep surprising myself, actually," he admitted softly. "There's no explanation for anything. I can only be grateful that you all still choose to follow me despite all the…" He chose his words carefully, which caused Irene's eyes to lift once more, "...Surprises."

However, the familiar, defensive feeling was coming back in full force.

"You haven't given up on us yet, either," Irene insisted as softly as she could. "No one wanted to take over the Knights of Chemois despite all the efforts to find someone else. Not even my father would."

At that, her Commander's eyebrows rose.

"There has been resistance from a few because of my lack of impressive background," the Commander explained. "If anything, it's an honor for me more than it's a privilege for the knights who serve under me." And then his eyes fell once more when the dragon behind and next to him heaved a sigh. "And now we have this large problem to figure out."

He was about to reach for Sylaron's head to scratch it, but it shot up from the ground and she stood up. Her wings rose and Henry's eyes snapped to Irene who looked on with wide, terrified eyes.

"Cover your bowl," the Commander urged.

The red-headed knight didn't register what he was saying at first so the Commander leaned forward so he could cover both he and Irene's bowls with his large hands.

It made sense when Sylaron took to the sky and dove into the forest. The aftermath was a giant cloud of dust flying into the air.

Irene's heart thudded. She was only a couple of feet from her Commander at that moment. She had to squeeze her eyes shut but she wasn't sure if it was more because of the dust or because she was unbelievably unnerved.

The Commander only moved his hand back when the dust had settled again.

Irene had looked so nervous at his proximity, so he had to quickly say sorry. "I apologize for that. I knew what was coming. I doubt you want to eat dirt for breakfast."

The woman's natural response came forth without her control. She couldn't help letting out a short laugh that caused her eyes to crinkle. It allowed her to release the nervous energy that had built up when the Commander came so close to her.

"You're right, that would be unpleasant," Irene agreed, tucking her hair behind her ear, a bit embarrassed that she couldn't hold back. The situation was just so unexpected. "Does she understand what you say?"

He had been silently regarding her after she laughed, but his gaze left her again.

"I'm not entirely sure," he confessed. "Only when it's convenient."

However, Irene's curiosity was compounding the more the Commander spoke, and having a more casual conversation than normal was making her feel at ease. She couldn't help questioning further.

"You found her as an egg?" she asked. "How big was she then?"

The Commander left his bowl in the grass since he had emptied it by then, and he held up his hands, measuring about a foot tall and half a foot wide.

"You said that was only a year ago?" Irene asked in disbelief. "She's grown this much in a year?"

The Commander was surprised to see Irene openly initiating conversation when she had already finished eating as well. Still, he had been eager to talk to her more and try to get a more comfortable relationship with his third in command. It would help with their communication on the battlefield, he justified.

It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that each time she smiled at someone, he felt a bit jealous that he could never get her so happy in front of him. It also had nothing to do with the fact that her laugh earlier made him feel so at ease that he wanted to sit beside her for a long time and see what else he could do to hear it again.

"Dragons don't seem to follow growth patterns as we understand them," he explained. "I was advised by a mage in Polona to throw her egg into the lava flow to hatch her. When she came from the lava, she was the size of a small dog. I'm not sure how much of her was in that egg. Perhaps only her magical orb—I'm not quite sure."

"A magical orb," Irene muttered with a small smile. "One of your many surprises, I suppose. Still, the amount she has grown in such a short time is quite impressive."

However, before much more could be said, Felix called to Irene.

"Want to help with these bowls while we get packed up?" the blonde knight asked. "Bren is taking the horses to the water in the meantime."

Irene had strangely forgotten that there were others around, and she cast Felix a shocked look for a moment as she came back down to earth and remembered her duties. She had an urge to sit in the soft grass and listen to the Commander speak forever. He had a lot of interesting things to say.

She knew better than that.

The woman lifted herself up from the ground and offered her hand to the Commander, offering to take his bowl as well.

"Duty calls," she relented.

He handed off his bowl and gave her a tamed smile. He felt quite satisfied with getting even slightly closer to the woman he still didn't quite understand.

"I suppose it does," he stated.

Only a short time later, the travelers were back on the trail and taking to the two day long journey that would bring them back to Idona.

It went off just as it did before. Sylaron left a couple of times per night and Siverly was smart enough to put a barrier around him the very first night.

Everyone was excited to get back to Idona and sleep indoors so that there would be a solid stretch of sleep rather than what they were currently experiencing.

However, the sight that met them when they arrived in the village was unexpected, to say the least.

They found the older Commander standing on a roof and looking a bit crazed as he tried to get Blade, the messenger hawk from Chemois.

"The rest of you ought to take the rest of the day off, and I will handle… this," the young Duke directed to the others and was met with a variety of affirmative responses.

As the others put away the horses, Duke Henry called, "Commander Lothian?! What on earth are you doing all the way up there?"

The large man stood to his full height on the rooftop and glared daggers down at the younger man, watching as the large hawk landed on Henry's shoulder.

"He's lucky you decided to show up in the nick of time," Callum called. "Otherwise, I would have eaten an expensive meal this evening."