Chapter Text
Part I: Dusk
A late summer day in the year 758 was uncharacteristically cool and uncharacteristically profitable for Nordion’s merchants. The ragtag fighting force commanded by Grannvale’s Lord Sigurd was staying there for a few days en route to fighting Mackily. Some Agustrians were suspicious that a foreign country’s army was taking garrison in the city. Nordion’s merchants were not among them; there were many weapons to be repaired, many supplies to be replenished, and many mouths to be fed.
The armorer found himself running low on lances. Desiring to clear inventory, he walked into the streets to catch the attention of passersby.
“Get yer weapons at the armory! We only have one steel lance left! Come quick!”
Two people responded to his request to buy the last steel lance. First in line was a young green haired Silessean woman. A pegasus knight dressed in a light gray, she was taller than an average woman and carried a trace of a commanding presence. Behind her was a blue haired young man who looked to be from Thracia. Dressed in varying shades of blue, he was likely one of the Leonstrians who came along to help Sigurd’s expedition. He was a bit taller than the woman.
“A customer! Do you want the steel lance?” the armorer asked.
“Yes, please,” the Silessean replied.
“Give me a moment to look for it.”
When the armorer went into the backroom to look, the woman leaned back. In the process, she accidentally elbowed the young Leonstrian man in his chest.
“Oh, pardon me. I didn’t see you there,” she said to him.
“Who are you, madam?” he asked.
“I’m Erinys, a royal knight of Silesse,” she replied. “Who might you be?”
“My name is Finn. I am a squire- no, I am a knight in service to House Leonster.”
Erinys faintly smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Finn.” The two quickly shook hands.
Finn cleared his throat. “I was here because my lord asked me to buy a steel lance for myself.”
“Is that so? I was here to buy that steel lance. If you need it more then please go ahead of me,” Erinys said.
Finn noticed that Erinys only had one singular weapon on her person. “Is that iron lance your only lance?” he asked.
“It’s the only lance that I brought from Silesse,” she said.
The armorer came back with the steel lance in hand. “‘Tis 3000 gold, ma’am.”
After thinking for a few moments, Finn waved Erinys in front of him. “No, I have other lances. You need the steel lance more than I do.”
“Ah, thank you so much,” Erinys said.
She stepped up to the counter and bought the steel lance; it took her a few moments to find an Agustrian coin given that her coinbag was mostly filled with Silessean coinage. Finn stepped aside and watched her pay for the lance. To his surprise, she returned to him after buying the lance.
“Thank you again,” Erinys said. “It was nice meeting you, Finn! I don’t have much time to talk right now because I have to see Prince Lewyn but I hope that I’ll see you soon!” Truthfully, Erinys had spent most of her time over the past few weeks with the other Silesseans: when she wasn’t chasing Lewyn, she was meeting with her subordinates. It would be a nice respite to become acquainted with a non-Silessean other than Sigurd.
“Likewise,” Finn curtly replied. “I would not mind speaking with you once more.” Introverted as he was, Finn was trying to make an effort to reach out to others in the army as well. Quan had encouraged him to do so; he said that it was good for “ca-ma-de-ree” or something like that.
“Until next time!” Erinys said.
“Goodbye,” Finn said.
They waved at each other as they parted their separate ways. But this chance encounter would be the beginning of something much greater.
A couple weeks later, Sigurd’s army had marched on Mackily and killed its Lord Clement. The army now set its sights on Agusti, the capital of Agustria, where King Eldigan of Nordion was being held captive. While Sigurd’s army was preparing to march on the capital, a certain Silessean and a certain Leonstrian crossed paths once again.
“Oh!” Finn exclaimed. “It’s you again, Dame Erinys.”
“What are you doing here, Sir Finn?” Erinys asked.
“My lord is out in town with my lady. I was going to train in the courtyard,” Finn answered.
“Hmm…” Erinys said. “You never told me that you have a brave lance. I only learned that from Lord Sigurd.”
“Ah, my apologies.”
“Hehe, don’t apologize!”
“My lord Quan gifted it to me when we entered Agustria,” he continued. “It was quite an honor.”
“I bet it was! A brave lance, whew. It would be a dream come true to wield one. Not even my sister has gotten her hands on a brave. You must be talented if Prince Quan can trust you with such a valuable weapon.”
“I assure you, I’m not that good,” Finn responded.
“Are you sure about that? I want to test my skills against you,” Erinys proposed.
“Against me?! I would be no match against one of the Heavenly Knights!”
“You know that I’m one of them?”
“My lord told me as much. He thought you to be very skilled when he saw you in battle.”
Erinys’ face took on a faint pink hue. “I see…But don’t you want to at least try?”
“If you think I have a chance…” Finn grasped his wooden training lance with both of his hands. “I will try my best. Let us spar!”
The battle was hard-fought in the close quarters of Mackily’s courtyard. Finn found Erinys to be tougher than any other opponent he had faced before, short of Lord Quan himself. She dodged nearly every move that he made.
“Gyah,” she grunted as she sidestepped another one of Finn’s thrusts.
Erinys just could not connect with the finishing blow. Even when Finn was off balance, he found a way to somehow miss her attempts to knock him down. It was as if luck was on his side. She was becoming frustrated as the match wore on.
“Hah!” Finn made contact with Erinys’ lance; just like that, Erinys was disarmed. He smirked.
“Ah…I still need to become stronger for Prince Lewyn.” She shook her head.
“You are a tough opponent. It doesn’t surprise me that you have earned such a high position.”
“I suppose so, but I still need to prove my worthiness for the prince.”
“You’re worthier than I.”
She smiled a bit.
“And as for the brave lance…” Finn reached to the lance, unhooking it from his belt. “Here it is. Do you wish to feel it?”
Erinys grabbed the handle of the lance. “I can sense the power in it.” Under Finn’s guidance, she pushed the lance forward. She felt it move twice even though she only shoved it forward once. “It’s a very nice lance. Thank you for letting me feel it.” Then she let go of the lance.
“My lady once joked that she wanted to use lances so she could take this from me,” Finn said.
“Your lady?”
“Lady Ethlyn, the wife of my Lord Quan. She’s a very kind woman. You should meet her one day.”
“Oh, right. I forgot they were married. I sometimes wonder about Prince Lewyn but he’s nowhere near ready,” Erinys mumbled.
“I am curious: how is Prince Lewyn? I have yet to meet him myself, but my lord had some choice words to say about him.”
“He’s erratic,” she replied. “Sometimes it seems that he wants to go home. Other times he acts like he wants nothing to do with Silesse. We need him back because he’s supposed to be our king! He won’t do it because he thinks he would do bad even though he’s the damn heir to Forseti. But all he’s doing by staying away is making people lose trust in him. It’s like…”
“A self-fulfilling prophecy,” Finn said.
“Yes! That’s the word I was looking for! It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. He says that he doesn’t deserve to be king, but he doesn’t deserve to be king because he refuses to be king.”
“Ah…”
“It’s a hassle to protect him too. Sometimes he loses me and I find him with that dancer girl. Does he not care about the scandal this would cause at home?” Erinys stopped herself to catch her breath. She realized that she was dangerously close to violating her knightly vows by speaking against her prince.
“Princess Lachesis is a bit like that as well. I understand how annoying that can be.”
“What about her?” Erinys asked.
“My lord asked me to guard Her Highness on his behalf. Unfortunately, she is adamant that she does not need protection,” Finn explained. “She says she doesn’t need a babysitter yet I find that she is still inexperienced in combat. She would stray into the wrong places if nobody guided her.” Finn did admire Lachesis to an extent but he could not help but wish that Lady Ethlyn would guard her instead; the two were friends and it would be less of an annoyance for him.
“At least she stays with you,” Erinys answered. “My prince could learn from her when he’s not trying to be a drunken lout."
At that moment what sounded like a cacophony of drunk caroling reverberated through the courtyard. The two knights turned their heads to see many of the townspeople – among them a few of their comrades – stumbling around in a frenzy. Leading them were Lewyn, dressed as a bard again, and Silvia.
“You could lighten up a bit, Erin!” Lewyn shouted.
Erinys ran after Lewyn, her face tinged with a hint of crimson. Finn shook his head: he did not envy her responsibilities.
Erinys and Finn encountered each other several more times in the last stage of the Agustrian campaign. One time, Erinys helped Finn finish off one of the Agustrian cavaliers. Another time, Finn saved Erinys from a bow knight that she didn’t see in time.
A third time, they encountered each other at a staff meeting convened by Lord Sigurd. Finn was accompanying Prince Quan at the meeting while Erinys was accompanying Prince Lewyn. Although they were on opposite sides of the room, their eyes drifted to each other, bored by what Sigurd was saying. The lack of armor gave a better chance for them to appreciate each other’s form.
That stopped, though, when they met each other’s gaze. They jerked their heads away, hoping that they didn’t notice that they made eye contact.
“Finn, are you alright?” Quan asked in a hushed voice when he noticed the sudden movement.
“Mm-hmm,” Finn answered. “It’s nothing.”
When everyone was filing out of the tent after the meeting, Finn and Erinys bumped into each other. Their arms touched and they could even feel their hands brush against each other for a second.
“Sorry!” Erinys said, looking away in embarrassment.
“No, it was my bad,” Finn replied as he tried to put distance between them.
“Come on Finn!” Quan said behind the knight. “You can’t run away every time you’re next to a pretty young lady. Keep moving.” Quan pushed his squire forward. “We all need to get out of this hot tent.”
When they exited, Erinys did her best to get as far away as possible. She was too embarrassed to be seen by anyone, let alone by Finn. Her thoughts were too concerned with whether Finn realized that they made eye contact. She would eventually need to make a better apology to Finn about the elbow-bumping incident.
As for Finn, he was relieved when he saw that Erinys was nowhere to be seen when they exited the tent. He felt much the same way: he hoped that Erinys did not realize that he was staring at her. Better yet, he hoped that Erinys would not discover his silly feelings about her – it would be nothing more than a distraction.
There were still tasks to be done, among them being Erinys’ evening meeting with Lewyn at supper. It was the first time that the two were with each other since the staff meeting that afternoon. She was happy to see that Finn was not in the room. Yet there was still a trial awaiting her.
“I agree with what Quan said about you,” Lewyn told her.
“...Hmm?” Erinys said.
“It’s no wonder that the boy likes you,” he added. “Hard not to fall for a pretty lady.” He grinned after that, well aware that his retainer was flustered.
“Are you trying to say something? Because–”
“Relax! Lighten up. I was joking.” Lewyn laid a finger on Erinys’ cheek to quiet her down. “But I have to ask if you like him,” he teased.
“I–I don’t! It would be wrong to like someone else. I must be focused on my duties.” Despite her vain attempts to hide it, Erinys’ embarrassment seeped through. “Lewyn can’t know that I kind of like him,” she thought. “It would be impossible to get over.”
“Your expression says otherwise,” Lewyn replied. “I approve of you being with him. It would help you be less serious.”
“Even if I could, Lord Quan would not be happy.”
“So what? If he isn’t then he’ll have to put up with it.”
“But Lewyn, it would still be wrong.”
“Wrong? What’s so wrong about loving someone? Let yourself loosen up, Erin! It would make you less of a nag.” Lewyn got up from the table. He made a lot of noise while doing so. “If you’ll excuse me, I have someone else to talk to.”
Erinys looked down while Lewyn walked over to Silvia’s side to happily chat with her. Loath as she was to admit it, she had a lot of thinking to do on this newfound feeling; running away would not suffice forever.
Sir Finn and Dame Erinys both welcomed the respite that battle gave from their awkward feelings. Though they saw each other a few times, there wasn’t much free time to waste with embarrassing encounters: the fight to complete the campaign needed the full strength of everyone in Sigurd’s army. It was only during the tenth month of the year, the month of Thrud, when Agusti was finally taken by Sigurd’s army. With this victory, most of Agustria fell under Grannvalian control. Soon afterwards, Lord Sigurd was appointed as the Governor-General of Agustria. On top of that, he and Lady Deirdre learned that they were expecting their first child.
All the more reason for a ball to be thrown in Agusti.
As the guest of honor for the ball, Sigurd insisted that all of his soldiers could attend, even the commoners. So all of them, even the free knight hired from an enemy regiment and the scantily clad dancer that hung around Lewyn, dressed themselves up in finer clothes and descended upon Agusti Castle. For dinner, the guests were fed classic Agustrian cuisine. After dinner, everyone enjoyed live music from the Agustrian royal orchestra, a fitting reward for “liberating” the nation that loved fine arts the most.
Finn sat in the corner of the expansive ballroom with his liege lord. Tonight was a reprieve from Finn’s normal duties since Lachesis spent the evening with Eldigan and his wife. At the moment Ethlyn was dancing with Sigurd in place of her sister-in-law since the latter was not feeling well enough to do strenuous activity; Finn took the time to rest alongside Quan.
“You know, I keep forgetting to apologize for embarrassing you the other night, Finn,” Quan said.
“About what?” Finn asked.
“About Dame Erinys. It was juvenile for me to joke about that. Although…”
“Although?”
“It would be fine by me if you decided to look for someone.”
“Would that not be improper?”
Quan sipped from his glass of wine. “You’re old enough to fall in love, Finn. If you want to court someone, I have no right to object. Do you have anyone like that in mind?”
Finn cleared his throat. “No, my lord.” This wasn’t entirely true. Part of him wanted to spend more time with that same Erinys but he didn’t want to admit this to himself, let alone to others.
“If you ever do want to try for someone, let me know.” Quan playfully elbowed Finn, winking at him. “I can give you help.”
During a break in the music, Quan was called upon by Lewyn. Though wearing better clothing than usual, the Silessean prince still seemed to be disheveled.
“What do you want?” Quan exasperatedly asked.
“Is your retainer free?”
“You mean Finn?” Quan put a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “What do you need from him?”
Lewyn grabbed Finn’s wrist, startling both the young knight and his lord. “Do you see that good-looking young woman over there?” He pointed towards the woman in question, a familiar green-haired woman wearing a simpler red dress. “That is my knight, Erinys. She seems quite bored right now. Perhaps you could entertain her?”
Finn was speechless.
“Come on, let me bring you to her.” Lewyn pulled Finn towards Erinys.
“Lewyn, wait!” Quan protested. He ran towards Lewyn only to be blocked by a throng of people who were dancing together. Soon after that, he lost Finn and Lewyn in the crowd.
Lewyn emerged on the other side with Finn in tow. He whistled in Erinys’ direction, making the greenette turn her face back towards him.
“Prince Lewyn! Why do you have Sir Finn with you?” she asked.
A mischievous smirk resided on Lewyn’s face. “Finn, this is Erinys,” he gestured. “I’m sure you already know her,” he said. “And perhaps you could use some company for once,” he said to Erinys.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I want to see you smile.” Lewyn shoved Finn’s right hand on top of Erinys’ left. “He can dance with you during our next song.”
Erinys took her hand away and crossed her arms, frustrated by Lewyn’s antics. “Hmph,” she grunted.
“You two know each other already – you would be perfect partners! I’ll make this next song slow just for you.” Lewyn ran off into the unknown, leaving Erinys alone with Finn.
“I’m sorry, Erinys,” Finn said. “If you would like–”
“Come on, let’s get this over with. I’m better than that,” Erinys interrupted. “I’ve had little training at dancing but I’ll survive.”
“It’s fine by me if you want to dance,” Finn responded. “I have experience learning from Lady Lachesis – just follow my lead and we’ll survive.”
A low note rang out. It was from Lewyn who was now leading the orchestra. He began to play a slow ballad on his lute and the rest of the orchestra followed his lead.
Erinys momentarily turned her head to look at Lewyn before Finn pulled her back towards him. “Keep looking at me and hold onto my hand,” he whispered into her ear. He stepped backwards before turning around in a circle. Then he felt a pain in his right foot: Erinys accidentally stepped on him.
“Oops!” she said.
“Keep going,” he whispered, continuing to push forward as if nothing happened.
There were surprisingly no hindrances for the rest of the dance. The two even attracted the attention of others for their gracefulness. As the music came to a close and Lewyn slowed the tempo, Finn brought them to a gentle stop. Unaware of the attention they were receiving, he slowly bent forward, allowing Erinys to drop towards the ground. Just before her head hit the ground, he caught her in place, their faces close enough to feel each other’s breaths. They felt a sense of accomplishment as they looked into each other’s eyes.
“THAT’S MY FINN!” shouted the shrill voice of Lachesis.
Finn was so flustered that he accidentally lost his balance, causing him to fall on top of Erinys. He quickly pushed himself off her and, wanting to avoid the other guests’ prying eyes, ran out of the ballroom.
Erinys pulled herself off the ground. She was startled to see that Lewyn was at her side already; it was almost as if the wind had taken him there.
“So? How was it?” he asked.
Erinys looked around for her partner. She noticed an open hallway in the direction where she heard him dash away. “I need to find Finn.”
“Erin!” Lewyn shouted. “Where are you going?!”
She ran off in the same direction that Finn did, ignoring the shouts of Lewyn and the others. After several minutes of dashing through various corridors, she found Finn outside, not far from where the stables were. He was sitting down with his head in his lap.
“Finn!” she called out to him.
“I’m sorry,” Finn whimpered. “I botched it at the end.”
“What are you sorry for?” Erinys sat down next to Finn. “That was amazing! I didn’t know that you were so good at dancing.”
He looked up at her. “Do you really think that?” Finn scratched the back of his head, his face flushed from embarrassment. “I am not a good dancer; it’s merely that Lady Lachesis is a good teacher.”
“Come on. You have at least some talent.” Erinys playfully tugged on Finn’s neatly made cravat. “Plus, you look handsome in this outfit. I didn’t mind having you on top of me for a few seconds.”
Both of them became even more red though it was scarcely visible under the night sky.
“You don’t look bad either, Erinys.”
“You can call me Erin,” she winked.
Finn turned his face up towards the sky. “When I was younger, I liked to watch the stars after everyone else had retired for the night,” he said. “Erin, do you want to do that with me tonight?”
“I would love to!” she answered.
They both laid back, deep in thought as they gazed upon the stars. They thought about their respective lieges, about the upcoming reconstruction of Agustria, about their homelands, and about each other. Then a shooting star burned across the sky.
Finn turned towards his left. “Do you have a wish?”
A mischievous thought came upon Erinys’ mind. “I do.” She grabbed Finn by the collar, pulled him towards herself, and planted a kiss on his lips. “That was my wish.”
Her heart was beating rapidly as she thought of the consequences of this impulse.
Finn was caught off guard by Erinys’ sudden move – in fact, his eyes were still open when they kissed for the first time. However, he found that he enjoyed the kiss too.
“I think that I know mine too.” Finn leaned in to kiss Erinys, this time with his eyes closed.
Both Erinys and Finn felt oddly relaxed after trading kisses. After spending more time staring into each other’s eyes rather than at the stars, they joined for another, far more passionate kiss. In the course of that kiss, Finn fell on top of Erinys once again. This time, they didn’t mind. Erinys found it wise to undo Finn’s cravat and his jacket in the course of their activities; Finn responded by doing the same to Erinys’ gloves and her shoulders.
By the end of their encounter, there were two things that they were grateful for. They were grateful to be on the solid ground of Agusti’s courtyard rather than on dirt and they were grateful that the cover of night made it nearly impossible for anyone to see them.
Thus was how two knights forever became lovers under the light of the stars.