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How could he trust us? Why would he trust us?
Katsum watched Ser Aymeric as they entered the Lord Commander’s office, waiting to see his reaction when he saw them. She tried to gauge what he was thinking by his expressions, but his trained political mask was as fortified as her own. Just as he was when they first met in Coerthas, she couldn’t read him. Even now, she couldn’t and it worried her. She could say one thing for sure though. Katsum knew there was no way he would trust them with this. Estinien maybe as he was his good friend, a trusted friend, but she and Alphinaud? Hardly.
She’d seen the looks of the temple knights as they had passed. Some were angry or annoyed, some were scared. Others, just like the knight that strode past with Ser Aymeric’s orders when they arrived, had just stared as they passed, watching the foreigners as they walked by. It was the same look that Lucia was trying to hide. They were runaways, hiding from someone who wanted them dead. A child who thought he could lead an army of diplomacy without need to fight for anything and just to keep the peace and a soldier just fighting to run from her past and not look back. No matter what good they had done in the past, who in their right mind would put their faith in them?
No one. No one would.
She watched as he looked up and saw the three of them standing there, and he…smiled, “Ah, ‘twould seem I have visitors - and unlike those massing beyond our walls, these ones are welcome.”
Katsum was astonished to see the warmth in his eyes, but surely that was meant for Estinien alone, not for her and Alphinaud too…but he had spoken of a group, not just one.
This confuses her, and she ponders over it as Alphinaud speaks, “Pray forgive us for interrupting you in the midst of your preparations, Ser Aymeric, but we have come because we believe there may be a chance the invasion might be halted before it can even begin.”
Aymeric’s eyebrows lifted and he crossed his arms in interest, “Oh?”
Alphinaud nods, “I can divulge little more at the moment, but I ask that you advise the Holy See to refrain from launching any preemptive counter attacks whilst we seek to put our plans in motion.”
Aymeric narrowed his eyes and sat up straight. Now he looked at Katsum would have guessed, so now she could start to worry, “I will gladly lend my support to any endeavor that could spare the blood of my countrymen - but I would know more of the cause you would have me champion first. Will you not share aught of this mysterious undertaking?”
“Know that I have offered them my lance to aid them, Ser Aymeric,” Estinien spoke plainly, drawing the Lord Commander’s attention, “I cannot claim that its success is assured, but its actions should serve to delay Nidhogg’s advances at the very least. Which is more than what can be said for the ill-conceived counterattack the See’s more vocal crusaders. They offer glorious death but little hope of victory.”
Aymeric nods, “Aye…their proposal does not inspire confidence. Our resources should rightly be spent shoring up the city’s defenses, not creating another burial ground for our soldiers.”
He looked down in thought, and something sparked in her heart to speak, and so she did, “As forward as it might seem, Ser Aymeric, I ask for your trust in this endeavor. As hard as that trust must be to give…I still feel I must ask you for it.” He looked up and met her gaze evenly as she continued, “You and yours have offered us sanctuary when you could have cast us out in the snow or even turned us over to the Crystal Braves. For such kindness, I would do all I can to repay it and the best that I have to offer is my strength. So again, I ask for your trust if you are willing to give it.”
Their gazes were locked for a moment, her icy blue eyes locking with his sapphire blue ones, trying to read what he was thinking. Then…then he smiled the warmest smile she believe that she had ever seen appears on his lips, “There is little reason to ask for it, Lady Almor, for as much as you have done for us already - even before we brought you into the city - my trust has already been won. Indeed, you have already earned it.”
He…he already trusted her? But he barely knew her. She was an outsider, a foreigner who had lent her strength maybe once or twice in the past. How could he trust her already with something like this? This could mean the fate of his people, his home, himself, but yet…
He trusts me…
Katsum felt her heart shutter in such a strange way that she froze, her eyes widening and showing the shocked expression she felt. What was that feeling? What did it mean? What had caused her heart to skip like that? She was not sure, and that worried her. The Miqo’te woman quickly hid her expression again behind its stoic nature and nodded.
Aymeric nods as a thinking expression covers his face, “Hmmm…The Azure Dragoon and the Warrior of Light, sullying forth together to face the dreaded wyrm, Nidhogg…” He crosses his arms and ponders for a moment, “The mere thought of it does much to dispel my misgivings I must admit. Go then - carry out your plan. I shall do what I can for you within the Holy See.”
All of them nod. As the three of them turn to leave, Katsum’s feet almost halt. She was still in awe of how he could trust her, still desperately wondering why he was able to trust her so. Her heart wished to stop and speak her most heartfelt thanks, for it had been so long since she felt such honor…and so undeserving and unworthy of it. Yet she did not act on the wanting of her heart. To do so would open the gates for an arrow to strike her heart again. It had done so before, and it would do so again. And it was terrifying to even think of it…
As they left his office, she spared a glance back, seeing Lucia turning to pick up another stack of papers for him, and then to be caught again in his sapphire gaze. He smiled at her and nodded, a trusting smile; an encouraging one. She would not let his trust go to waste. She would see this through to the end.
And maybe one day, far into the future…she would be able to tell him how much she appreciated his trust.
But that day was not today.