Becoming Her Knight

Chapter Two

The next morning, Finn got up early just as the small room she shared with her brother turned gray with pre-dawn light. Ruven was already gone, which was normal for him. Finn wondered if he ever slept, but probably he just meditated his fatigue away or something equally ridiculous.

She quickly rushed to the small fountain at the end of the barracks to do a quick wash of her face before heading back to her room and changing into the leathers that went beneath her armor. The armor itself was stored in the armory and she would have to walk there to finish outfitting herself for the day. She waved hello to the other guards and soldiers as she stopped off at the old wrinkled woman of the woods who sat behind a low table at the end of the barracks, her table overflowing with meat buns and sweet rolls and all manner of easy to eat breakfast foods.

"Thank you, Grandmother!" Finn shouted as she shoved two cheese buns under her arm. Her thanks bumbled together with all the other mumbled and shouted thanks of other young guards just getting up and getting their own hasty breakfast. She passed two beautiful sylphs, their shimmering blue skin and matching silky gowns glowing in the faint light of the first rays of the sun.

"Cheese bun?" she asked with a bow and proffered bun. They giggled and lurched together to the other side of the path. "No?" Finn asked as they passed her by, still giggling and throwing appreciative glances back over their shoulders. "Oh well. More for me," she said and happily shoved the bun in her mouth. The pastry filled her mouth with the taste of butter and dough and salt and she moaned in appreciation.

The sun was just cresting above the tops of the lush green trees filling the edges of the court when Finn got to the armory, heading straight to the cubby that held her armor among a small gaggle of other guards. She was just strapping on her shin guards when the sound of Gurla, the Armory Master, calling her name distracted her.

Gurla was a short stout dwarf woman with thick blond hair twisted into an elaborate orderly braid that she tossed over one wide shoulder, her blonde beard equally neat and braided and ornamented with glass beads and metal twists.

"You won't be needing that set today," Gurla said, waving her over. Finn quickly unlaced her shin guards and put them back before curiously following Gurla.

Gurla led her deeper into the Armory, past rooms full of every kind of weapon imaginable until she got to a relatively small hall that was lined with shining polished steel full plate armor, all of them attached to mannequins that lined the walls. Finn stumbled as she took in the beautiful sets. She recognized some of them as belonging to some of the best knights in the court. She supposed it made sense that some of them may store their armor here rather than in their own sumptuous quarters, but she had no idea why Gurla had led her there.

But then Gurla was pulling out a step stool so she could reach up and begin to disassemble a set of armor from further in the room. It was a beautiful set, not as large as some of the others, but made of heavy nearly impenetrable steel, the pieces trimmed in careful curls of gold and painted here and there in bright crimson.

"Uh," Finn said intelligently.

"Try this on," Gurla commanded. Having finally freed the cuirass, she thrust it toward Finn. "I figure you and your brother are about the same size, but the torso is always the most finicky bit."

Finn cautiously took the piece of armor and, without much thought, started fitting it over her chest. "Wait," she said as she finished pulling the last few belts tight, "Is this Ruven's armor?"

"That's right," Gurla said, coming over to stick her fingers in between the steel and Finn's ticklish sides. "Your father suggested you could use his armor, at least until you have a few missions under your belt," she said with a raised eyebrow in Finn's direction. Finn dodged the look, pretending to be preoccupied with checking a strap on her other side.