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Today was the day. The day Janai had been working towards for years. The day she reaffirmed her oath in front of her sister. The Queen. It hurt, thinking about how Khessa was now her monarch. Even though it was expected for her older sister to take the throne, the circumstances surrounding her ascension were...Upsetting. To put it mildly.
Aditi, their grandmother, had disappeared rather suddenly. She had taken a routine trip and then was nowhere to be found. After over a year of searching, the Sunfire elves finally accepted that she wasn’t coming back. Khessa had been acting monarch during that time and her eventual coronation had been a somber event.
Janai wasn’t entirely certain how she felt. The grief kept hitting her at different times. Whenever she let her guard down, it felt like a new reminder popped up that another member of her family was gone. They had lost their parents so young that Janai only had a few vague memories of them. Her brother, Aodh, was just a baby so at least she had some memories. All he got were royal portraits and stories. Their grandparents had raised them, through their own grief.
Aditi was in fact the person who had encouraged Janai’s interest in combat. Cultivated it. Ensured that the young Sunfire princess had the best teachers available. Including the queen herself. Janai still remembered the feeling when her grandmother had let her hold her Sunforged blade the first time.
To hold the power of the Sun in one’s hands, it was indescribable. Janai still remembered what Aditi had said.
“This blade has been by my side for centuries, Janai. The things we make can last lifetimes. It is also a reminder of my responsibilities. This blade gives me an advantage over almost anyone I fight - so I must always wait to draw it. Wait, until there is no other option but to fight. With every sword drawn in combat you must be prepared to end a life. But especially with a Sunforged blade.”
As a child, staring in awe at the burning, blistering sword, Janai hadn’t really understood what her grandmother meant. Even when she first swore her oath as a Knight of Lux Aurea to Queen Aditi, Janai hadn’t understood.
She thought often of those words. But now Janai felt that those words would ring through her, every day for the rest of her life. Because today was the day she became the Golden Knight of Lux Aurea. The day she took her place at her sister’s side as commander of their people’s forces. The day she received her own Sunforged blade.
“Neverous, sister?”
Janai jumped slightly turning to see her little brother standing in the doorway to her rooms.
Aodh snickered. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
She scowled at him. The young man was often less serious than Janai would prefer - though he did take his studies seriously. Anything that didn’t have to do with healing or magic however was fair game.
“I am not nervous. ”
“Are you sure?” Aodh said with a playful smile. Janai huffed and turned to look at the portrait of their parents.
“I’m just teasing, sister. You shouldn’t be. You’ve earned this Janai. I think they would be proud of you. I know Khessa and I am.”
Aodh came and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He grumbled a bit at the fact that he still had to reach up. For a long time he believed that he would surpass Janai’s height, despite her being the tallest of their family. He hadn’t, and it still irritated him. Not as much as Khessa complained, however. Janai would never live down being taller than her older sister.
She smiled leaning into her brother. Perhaps most of her family was gone. But she still had her brother and sister. That was enough of a blessing from the Sun to be thankful for.
“Thank you, Aodh. It means more than I can say.”
“Hey, Khessa would be here if she weren’t preparing for the ceremony. Not that she doesn’t have everything memorized anyway.” His orange eyes shined with happiness as he smiled.
“You know our sister. A perfectionist until the end. Especially when I’m in attendance.”
Janai laughed. Often, Aodh caused trouble without even meaning to. One time, he had ruined Khessa’s clothes right before a meeting with Earthblood diplomats. The screaming was legendary.
“We love you anyway though.”
“Well, yeah, that’s what family is for, right?”
Janai nodded back, truly happy to be able to share this moment with her brother.
“I should probably go take my place in the Courtyard. Don’t be late!” Aodh gave her one more squeeze before rushing out the door. Looking out the window, Janai realized that it was time for her to head to the Courtyard of the Sun for the ceremony. The sun was getting close to its peak and that’s when she would be expected to take her oaths before her people again. It only took a few minutes to reach the place where she had to wait. She took the time to settle into a light meditation.
As she breathed she could feel her inner fire rise with each inhale and bank slightly with each exhale. Janai didn’t fully enter heat-being mode, there was no reason to, but even the slight sensations were calming. It was a reminder that she was blessed by the Sun, that she had strength beyond even the normal arcanum her people were born with. That she should have enough strength to take up the burdens and responsibilities that were being she was being asked to carry.
She only opened her eyes when the steward got her attention. After catching her attention with a “princess” - and what she wouldn’t give to leave that title behind - he said nothing. Merely motioned for her to enter the courtyard.
Janai breathed deeply before striding forward with confidence. The shining light of the Sun didn’t distract her, but the fact that it glinted off hundreds of soldiers’ armor almost did. Beyond even them, there were multitudes of civilians present as well. Janai wasn’t unused to such crowds as royalty but it was also eerie to feel all of the attention and the weight of so many eyes on her. It was normally centered on Khessa.
Janai took a deep breath and focused on her sister, standing at the end of the aisle she was meant to walk down. Aodh was standing to her left in his position as second in line to the throne. Even from here, she could see his proud smile that stretched across his face.
It felt like no time at all and minor eternity before Janai reached her Queen. Khessa was resplendent in white and gold. Her newly made crown, after Aditi’s was lost with their grandmother, glinting in the light of the noon day Sun.
Khessa broke royal decorum to flash her a small, almost unnoticeable smile before resuming her impassive visage as Janai knelt.
“Today, we are here to hear the oaths of this Knight as she ascends to the position of Golden Knight of our fair city.
“She has been tested, and tried, and now all that remains is for her to reaffirm her oaths.”
Janai lowered her head as she began to speak. The words flowed out confidently, without hesitation. She had practiced them enough.
“I swear by the Sun that I will in the future be faithful to the crown, the person wearing it, and the people they serve. I will never cause them harm and defend my monarch and people against all threats, until the day I die or am released from service. I will carry out my duties without subterfuge or misdirection, to the best of my abilities. This I swear on my honor to myself, my Queen, and the Sun itself.”
There was silence for a few seconds after Janai finished speaking. She had a flash of panic that she had perhaps misspoke that fear was dispelled when her sister continued the ceremony.
“This oath is accepted. Rise and take up you new blade to better serve our people.”
Janai stood, her smile more radiant then the sun, as she took the sword held out on her sister’s flat palms. It was still sheathed, the runes on the scabbard protecting them from its heat. It was different from her grandmother’s blade, thinner. Made to her specifications and strengths. It was amazing.
Khessa flicked one hand out toward the crowd with a raised eyebrow. Janai felt a blush heating her cheeks that she had been staring at her sheathed sword for longer than was perhaps acceptable.
She turned and pulled the blade out. Revealing in the wash of heat that happened as soon as it cleared the mouth of the scabbard. Janai raised the blade in a salute to her people as they began to cheer.
“Golden Knight! Golden Knight! Golden Knight!”
Her grandparents and parents had never gotten to see this day. But Janai had her siblings at her back, a Sunforge blade in hand, her people cheering before her, and the Sun shining down atop her head. Those were not small things.
It was a good day to be a Knight.