Chapter 15: Not All Boys, But Certainly Some
"I don't think I've seen anyone as excited as you to wake up early," Leif commented as he and Irene walked down the stairs and headed towards the practice field where other apprentices were starting to line up.
"I have been awake for a while," she admitted. "Weren't you excited for your first day as an apprentice?"
"I didn't become an apprentice because I wanted to," he insisted. "My father made me come here and, well, it turns out I like it quite a lot."
"You were able to come straight in as an apprentice, too?" she asked in amazement.
She began ruminating over which noble households he was possibly from—a family with a decent history as knights...
"Don't make assumptions," he stopped her, breaking her out of her obvious contemplation. "I was killing a dire wolf a few towns over when the Duke found me."
"That's impressive," she complimented. "I have never even seen a dire wolf."
Leif raised one eyebrow and he really did begin contemplating if this child had it in him to be a knight. Could one of Sir Arthur's children really be made of soft cheese rather than hard stone like their father?
As they made it to the edge of the practice field and started approaching the other apprentices and a couple of squires, Irene saw Sir Gunnar at the front and she realized it was likely he who was overseeing practice.
She avoided his eyes. Did he remember her from that day? She didn't want to give herself away. Iro wasn't supposed to know him. It was Irene who had been there when he broke the news about her father.
Unfortunately, she wasn't so lucky.