Chapter 79: Summoned
Irene returned to her barrack, racking her brain for any sign of anything else that had changed that she was unaware of. Could even the decisions made around her life during the time make others behave differently than expected?
Her grandmother passed away in the house she shared with her family because Irene was someone who took care of her in her final moments. This stubbornness to stay where she raised her family was a new aspect that she had never seen before.
There was a real urge to run away from her duties and try to find answers for herself but she didn’t want to disappoint any of the knights. Sir Gunnar seemed to be on edge as he walked away after finding her burning a letter in a fireplace.
All the thoughts amounted to Irene simply sitting in her bed and staring at her desk where the paper and quill her father gave her sat, unused.
She felt extremely alone, having no one she could be honest with about what her thoughts were leading her to. How could she tell her father that the dream she talked about was more like an entire life in her head? It affected her every thought and every decision. Seldom was there a time when she was fully in the moment and not weighing who she felt in the present to who she saw in the future.
Not sure how much time had passed, Irene finally went to the table in her room and crafted a response to her father that didn’t quite reach just how awful she felt, but she didn’t want him to worry about her while he was also worrying about the woman who brought him to the world.
"Dad,
Please don’t worry about me. I have everything I could possibly need here. By the time you see me again, I will have mastered my bow even better and then you and I will be able to spar.
Tell grandmother that I am thinking of her every day and can’t wait to see her again. Perhaps Sir Gunnar will allow me to go to the north central region sometime soon. I will only go once you retrieve me again.