I Will Be the Greatest Knight

It was getting as cold as Sir Alix had said, but Irene felt she was just realizing it after being inside of her head too much since arriving in Chemois.

The knights climbed off their horses after they traveled up the first foothill. This was where the few Chemoian knights would leave the Knights of Hydrogia. A breeze swept through the hills and disturbed the slowly drying grasses. It brushed some of Irene's hair into her face, and she was sure to get it tidy once more.

Admittedly, Irene was a little sad to see the men go. She had started getting closer to Alix, Trenton, and Maximus for different reasons, but she was now understanding why her Commander held those knights in particular so dear to him. They were good men, as simple as that. Hydrogia was lucky to have them. Commander Lothian certainly needed his best knights back.

There was a whoosh! that filled the space around, and Irene pulled her outer coat closer to her body as she saw Sylaron swooping down from the low, foggy clouds that had been stuck in the valley since early that morning. They were the very ones who left snow on the highest peak and made the valley freeze for the first time. Fortunately, it wasn't frozen in that moment, but it was still a bit frigid.

"Sylaron!" the Commander called.

The dragon was even more obedient than the most dutiful apprentice, and she dove and landed next to the Commander, who had remained on top of the pale brown horse he rode.

All the others backed away a few steps, but he was ever undisturbed by having such a massive creature flying around and landing so close to him.

"Sit," he directed the magical beast, and, surprisingly, she obeyed him. "You are to follow the knights until they make it to the other side of the mountains and are safely in the valley. You will listen to Trenton and do anything that he asks of you. I do not want to see you until you are certain the knights have made it safely. No matter what I'm feeling, don't come to me until the job is finished."

More surprising than her obedience was the way she seemed to groan at this order, and she tossed her head as if she was in disbelief at what she had just been told. The act in itself caused a smile to spread across Irene's lips. Never in her life would she have ever expected to see something such as this.

Commander Henry responded by clasping her mouth shut with his gloved hands, even though they were nowhere near large enough to actually stop her noises.

"If you don't listen, I'm going to be very mad at you," he warned.

The beast then shook her head so that he was forced to let her go. She took to the sky shortly after.

"I think that's her acceptance," the dark-haired knight explained. He then turned towards the Knights of Hydrogia and seemed divided at having to see them go. His voice was full of emotion that he was clearly trying to control but failing to do so. "Now you must go and be safe. The monsters won't go anywhere near you while you have a dragon with you. Safe travels. You need to make sure Commander Lothian hasn't gotten rusty since he's been relaxing. Make sure to tell him that's from me."

Goodbyes had already been said closer to the Duke's Tower, where it was a bit warmer and nicer to talk to one another. It was fine for these ones to be short and sweet.

"Then we'll go forth," Trenton called to the knights. "Soon we will be home."

For a while, Felix, Henry, and Irene stood there, and they stared as the Knights of Hydrogia went further and further up the hill until they were concealed by trees and well on their way into the harsher part of the mountains.

Each person seemed to be completely absorbed by their individual thoughts. It wasn't until another breeze flew through that the knights seemed to be dragged back to the present. They all shivered as they pulled cloaks and outer coats higher.

Henry turned to the two who had come along with him.

"Now that the dragon is gone for a short time, it's time we get back to tracking down the last of the monsters before the weather gets too cold," the Commander explained. "Sylaron blindly hunts, but it's time we take a more thoughtful approach so that the warmer seasons aren't hard for us."

"I look forward to it, sir," Irene was the first to respond. "It's been ages since we've been back up in the mountains, it feels like."

"Don't get hurt like the first time," Felix urged with a faint smirk, although he was certainly using humor so that it wouldn't hurt to think about what had happened to Irene when they were apprentices.

Irene rolled her eyes at the knight. By that point, their Commander had begun his departure, so Irene climbed onto her horse and quickly followed. Felix was on them shortly after.

In an hour, they were back at the Duke's Tower, and the Commander was pleased to see that the well had been uncovered. He allowed them to go to their midday meal, but the apprentices would be tasked with returning after eating and finishing the building of the well house so that it wouldn't get filled with snow when it snowed or any sort of debris.

Since there was nothing more for Irene to oversee, she decided she would eat something as well before she had to report for the evening patrol.

A voice stopped her before she was able to get more than one foot into the Duke's Tower.

"What Felix said before…" the Commander mused. "You were hurt during a monster culling in the mountains?"

Irene was pierced on the spot by dark brown eyes, and she only moved further so that she could shut the door and keep the cold outside. She looked up at the Commander miserably, wishing he would stop caring for her so well. It was making it impossible to get over this feeling she had given to herself all on her own.

But rather than ignore him, she decided to explain what happened as they walked to the dining hall together. Even if she didn't want to be at his side because then her crush would grow worse, she would always respect him and always give in to whatever he asked of her.