Extraordinarily Pleased

Caged Honor

Clatterclatterclatter!

Fergus's head shot up in startled reflex from where it lay on the ground. His bleary eyes fell upon the three trays of "breakfast" on the floor of the cell, dropped in from a thin slot. His vision then raised up to the knight who had done the clattering. The anonymous soldier's eyes rolled in disgust behind the slit in his helmet as he turned to leave, clanking down the hallway and around an unseen corner.

Groans emerged from the two other bodies laying around the long, shallow cell, as Felicia and Farkle pushed themselves up off of the hard granite floor where they'd slept with varying degrees of soundness.

Even in an ideal universe - one in which they were not in the Duloc Knight Department's custody - the siblings hadn't given much thought to how much uninterrupted, concentrated time with one another Leaving together would entail. And now, behind bars, that time was mandatory and inescapable, in a single, cramped space, no less. They hadn't slept in the same room in nearly a decade, and even then, they had mattresses, pillows, and the comforts of home.

What little pride and excitement the teens initially felt at being arrested and shaking things up in a stuffy place like Duloc, quickly evaporated as the monotony of incarceration set in.

The knights making their rounds of the prison weren't fans of chatter amongst inmates, and were keen to curb any remote signs of it, as the ogres had quickly learned. Not wanting to give the knights the satisfaction of yet another thing to police, the three kept to themselves. This was relatively easy, as none of them had been particularly interested in interacting with their additional two cellmates who'd helped land them there in the first place.

The siblings' eyelines did their best to avoid the others', and if they happened to miscalculate and cross glances, they were quick to avert.

Fergus finally rose to his feet, not wanting to prematurely tire of his main daily activity of sitting. His head raised to the iron-grated window high on the cell's wall. It was just past sunrise, as it had been the past three mornings they'd been rudely awoken, courtesy of Duloc's finest. Grasping the bottom button of his well-worn overcoat, he etched a third hashmark onto the filthy brick wall.

As he blew away the dust of his tally, he caught a low but unmistakable scoff over his shoulder. Fergus closed his eyes as his mouth set in a firm line, not turning his head toward the sound's contemptuous source. "What?" His low utterance contained no upward inflection, no hint of intrigue.

"Dramatic much, Gus?" Farkle's blasé jab was nearly drowned out as his urine stream hit the chamber pot he stood over in the corner of the cell.

Fergus didn't acknowledge his brother's lame attempt at derision. He turned away from Farkle's direction and reclaimed his sleeping spot on the hard floor. He closed his eyes as his back touched down, just as he remembered the food left for them. He considered undoing his expertly executed unaffected gesture in order to claim his portion, but decided to commit. He laced his fingers atop his chest and sighed, hoping to perhaps fall back to sleep to eat up another couple hours instead.

"It's a month. We're not gonna go insane. Chill." Felicia inserted her opinion where it was neither requested nor appreciated as she waited for the commode.

"That's rich, coming from you." Fergus kept his eyes closed as he spoke. He knew where he was treading, he just didn't care enough to resist.

In a blink, Felicia stomped her way over to Fergus. "And what does that–" She suddenly stopped herself from what was sure to be a scathing evisceration. "Forget it. You're not worth it." Fergus opened his eyes as she shot him a contemptuous glance over her shoulder, just as the knight had done earlier. He quickly glanced aside at the wall, giving neither sibling the satisfaction of any more attention.