Gazing At The Moon

Chapter 6

Val absent-mindedly strikes a leather punching bag with her fists, mind entirely elsewhere.

I was scared to remove my helmet in front of the princess, but of course I couldn't refuse her... But... I'm glad she made me do it. Without the helmet I can see her much better. And the way she looked at me, what was that about? It made me-

"Abel!"

She jolts out of her thoughts. "Huh?"

The commander glares at her. "Pay attention and stop fucking around."

"Yes, Commander. Apologies." She clears her throat, awkwardly glancing off to the side.

He waves her off and returns to another soldier, who's doing push-ups and clearly struggling to do so.

Val sighs. I don't like training. I can't wear my armour during this time at all, and while I am muscular, there's always a few people looking at me. I don't quite look the same as a man does.

Val usually wears a tightly wrapped cloth- a binder, if you will- to hide her chest, and while wearing armour that's not a problem, but in training she's not wearing a lot of clothes so the others could spot it. Regardless of how hot and sweaty she may be, she still has to wear something that covers as much of her torso as possible.

"Abel! Drop and give me 50."

"Yes, Commander." She drops and starts doing push-ups. It's easy for her, thankfully. She watches the sweat fall from her face and onto the stone floor. Once again, her mind starts to wander.

Why did she suddenly want to see my face? Was it just curiosity? Was she suspicious? She swallows thickly. ...Regardless, I feel kind of good about it. It feels like we're making progress. I think we'll be closer eventually.

"Alright, that's enough! Get yourselves cleaned up!"

--

A cold shower is just what Val needs. The problem, however, is that the bathrooms aren't private... so she's gotta wait until everyone else is finished. There's eight men currently in the showers, and they're quite loud, too.

With nothing else to do, Val puts her armour back on and wanders to Amaryllis's room.

I haven't seen her since she had dinner, I should check up on her.

The door to Amaryllis's room is cracked open a little. Quiely, Val peeks inside.

Princess? Something's wrong. She's not in the chair she normally reads in, or laying comfortably in bed. The curtains sweep with the wind blowing inside.

She's sitting on the edge of the balcony, curled up with her face in her hands. What's wrong, Lady? Her body shakes a little, Val can hear the quiet, breathy sobs fall from her lips. It strikes such a strong feeling of pain into her heart that she trembles. "Lady..." She whispers.

This is distressing. The Princess has never showed this much emotion since meeting her. Amaryllis looks up at the sky.

Val wants to rush in and comfort her. She wants to so bad. If only she could hug her, tell her it'll be okay. She'd help in any way she can. But I can't.

So instead, she knocks softly, pretending to have just arrived.

"Milady?"

She hears the shuffling of clothes as Amaryllis nears the door. The Princess doesn't look at her as she swings it open.

"...Are you alright?"

"...Yes." She moves to sit at the edge of her bed.

"...Can I assist you in any way?"