Chapter 260: Wondering
"How?" Irene asked as they began to calm. "Why?"
"We are in a period of reformation of the knighthood," Sir Gunnar explained to her as he gently squeezed her shoulder. "Most of our knighthood is in the south with the Knights of Hydrogia. We expressed to them before they took the trip south after the war that, even though they are still part of our knighthood, their not being here for our knighting ceremony allows us to do what we see fit to the structure of our knighthood."
She wanted to vehemently disagree, but she knew that doubting his judgment could be considered insubordination, even though they were now both knights, she an even higher knight than he.
"I feel I am unfit to stand above you in rank, Sir Gunnar," she responded honestly and more calmly than she likely would have.
"I don’t feel that way at all," he insisted. "While most of the already established knights will remain closer to the Duke’s Tower until a new Commander is decided upon, we want you and Felix to act as our representatives across the duchy in protecting the people. You will take a more active role than we established knights. We also believe that your experience in estate management, which you undoubtedly had to participate in as the firstborn of a noble, has given you a unique perspective that none of us have. Only Sir Eitan was the other noble-born knight in our knighthood. If he were still here, then perhaps he would have your seat."
She was still in disbelief but managed to nod at this. It was good enough of an explanation because it was the only one she had for the time being.
There was a large part of her still feeling terrible that she hadn’t been there for the last months of the war. She felt below the others for such a thing, not realizing they saw her as the youngest and most necessary to protect. Her leaving the battle made sense, so she could come back to them a whole person rather than someone hollow.
Since the ceremony was continuing, they all sat back down on the mismatched benches, and she found herself next to Sir Gunnar. She would stay by his side to learn as much as she possibly could while she could. It seemed their intentions for her and Felix were to be on the road as much as they possibly could be.
However, any knight was still a knight. If it were asked of the older knights to hit the trail, they would always be willing to do so. She knew she always had their support no matter the circumstances.