Chapter 324: Irene and the Apprentices
"Just a few years ago it was you up here with all of the apprentices," Irene observed as she looked out across the practice yard, not yet full of apprentices and the knights who optionally attended. Although, it would be soon.
Sir Gunnar had taken to night patrol with another knight and apprentice, but when he saw Irene out on the practice yard bright and early, he decided to see how things were going.
The old knight smiled at that but it caused him to sigh lightly as he held onto his helmet.
"It was only a few years before but children grow so quickly. I’m only relieved that the practice yard has been cleaned up and the Commander has taken to focusing on sharpening even the weakest in the order," Gunnar admitted.
Irene nodded slowly. Both of their eyes were on the practice yard but she soon turned to look at the knight with a questioning expression.
"You went all the way to Hydrogia to escort him north, how do you think he is doing?" she asked.
"He was cautious at first," Gunnar explained. "Perhaps even a bit timid. I thought that he wouldn’t last. I especially thought he wouldn’t last because we were taking him from such familiarity. Yet now I see a duchy that has changed exponentially. Not in appearance but the morale of knights and subjects. When I have the opportunity to go out, I see people eager to see the knights and monsters scared into the forests rather than openly pillaging even the smallest villages. I think that’s important."
"I agree with you," Irene confessed. "He has grown into what we needed even if he was questioned at first. I feel all I can do now is support him."
Which was why she was staying behind while the others participated in an adventure.
In the nearly two weeks they had been off, she had learned to completely accept her Commander’s decision. It was true that the apprentices came to her for many things. She oftentimes wondered if it was because they were young and missed their mothers, only to find that she wasn’t going to be soft on them.
As apprentices started to appear, Irene turned to Gunnar. "You ought to get some food and rest, Gunnar."
His eyes crinkled as he smiled at her. Yet again, the scripts had flipped and it was no longer him fussing over her eating or sleeping.