The gardens of the Achilleon

Apollo: amantes et sapientes

Montgomery really slept in late that day, it wasn't until the early afternoon that he emerged from his bedroom.

Paris and his beloved Katharina were already out of the house, most likely preparing things for the wedding which will be held later this week in the garden of the Armstrong family estate. Springtime is coming around and nice weather is expected for at least a couple of days.

Montgomery got dressed in a pair of grey pants, a white button-up shirt, and a black waistcoat, with a grey tie tucked neatly into it. When he left the house he made sure not to forget his coat or hat, spring may be coming but it was still rather chilly outside and a gentleman without his hat was like a band without any instruments.

He went out onto the London streets and made his way to the train station. He had been home for a day and hadn't seen his father yet, Paris was not lying when he said he was very busy. Montgomery was used to not seeing him throughout the day but his father always made sure to join them for breakfast and dinner, Montgomery wasn't too sure about if his father had joined for breakfast, he had slept straight through that endeavour, but still, his father not attending dinner was completely out of the ordinary for him and he found it, a lack of class from his father's side.

Montgomery's thoughts carried on with their hiatus until he arrived at the train station. On his walk, he had decided to travel West to Oxford. He had studied there and always found it a charming place to spend time. Also, he needed a new pair of shoes for his brother's wedding and instead of just visiting a local shoe store in London he decided it would be nice to be out of the house for just a while and travel to Oxford for the occasion.

He got on a train and set out through England. The swaying of the train was therapeutic enough to almost make Montgomery want to sleep again, but he already had slept a criminally long time so he sat up straight in his seat and moved over so an older lady could come sit next to him.

She sort of looked like a cat... smelled like one too, she sat hunched forward holding onto her cane, her round and wrinkled face pressed into a permanent smile.

As the train came to a stop near Oxford University Montgomery stood up and shuffled past the old lady and then walked out of the train and away from the station. He looked at the majestic buildings of Oxford University... a place where he spend two years of his life studying physics before he gave up his studies to join the war effort. A place where after the war he hoped to return and finish his studies.

He walked around like an aimless chicken for a while having completely forgotten the layout of Oxford. Eventually, he stumbled upon a nice small shoe store near the university. He entered and saw two men standing at the counter.

"I'll be right with you, sir". The store tenant said and Montgomery nodded in acknowledgement "Take your time". He responded as he looked at the different shoes and had a hard time deciding which colour would fit best with an army green uniform.

"Back to you, sir... it's about time you pay this tab, two years is really pushing it, sir". The tenant said and it made Montgomery wonder why this man would wait two whole years with paying his bill. "I'm incredibly sorry, I was so eager to get back home, I completely forgot I still had a tab open".

That voice... that accent.

It made Montgomery do a 180° and wip his head around in a motion that was most likely too fast to do when you've still got a small fracture in your skull and he felt a bit dizzy but ignored it. "Freiherr von Richthofen?" He asked in disbelief as he looked on at Manfred, plenty of questions ran through his head.

"Herr, what are you doing in the UK?" Asked Montgomery and Manfred looked at him with piercing blue eyes which could kill a man. "Oh, Sir Armstrong... I studied here at Oxford for a while before returning to Prussia for my military service, I still had this tab open and I returned to pay it". He said and Montgomery nodded in response...

Montgomery realized something and couldn't keep himself from asking: "Wait-... you studied here at Oxford? So did I, in what year did you study, here? If I may ask?" Manfred was pleasantly surprised to hear Montgomery also attended Oxford.

"Well, I attended from 1909 up until 1914". Manfred responded and at first it didn't really click in Montgomery's mind but then he remembered Manfred was four years his senior... but there were more important matters.

"Impossible-... I went here from 1912 until 1914". Montgomery said, they looked at one another for a while and the store tenant was giving them a rather strange look... Manfred couldn't help but chuckle, "Well Montgomery, I guess we crossed paths more than once". He said in such a slick manner that it almost sounded teasing and it made Montgomery raise an eyebrow and look at Manfred with confusion...

His words made Montgomery laugh softly, not that they were funny but he was caught off guard. "What is that supposed to mean?" He had asked Manfred, finding himself getting along quite well with this enemy ace... thinking back to his times in Greece with him...

Walking the island at his side... visiting the beaches and climbing the cliffs just to jump off the rocks into the cold water of the Ionic sea.

"Well... I'll have to excuse myself, sadly enough, I have other places to be", Said Manfred. ", until next time Hermes".

Montgomery stood a bit perplexed at his words... did Manfred seriously call him by his callsign? "Until next time... Red Baron". He responded, trying to be equally slick as Manfred.

All of a sudden... he didn't want to buy shoes anymore.

[The thing with the unpaid shoes, is a real thing that happened only, in the real world it took 100 years something years before an ancestor of the Red Baron paid the bill for him, I forgot the name of the shoe store but it was a shoe store in Oxford near the university]