The next morning, Finn got up early just as the small room she shared with her brother turned gray with pre-dawn light. Ruven was already gone, which was normal for him. Finn wondered if he ever slept, but probably he just meditated his fatigue away or something equally ridiculous.
She quickly rushed to the small fountain at the end of the barracks to do a quick wash of her face before heading back to her room and changing into the leathers that went beneath her armor. The armor itself was stored in the armory, and she would have to walk there to finish outfitting herself for the day. She waved hello to the other guards and soldiers as she stopped off at the old, wrinkled woman of the woods who sat behind a low table at the end of the barracks, her table overflowing with meat buns and sweet rolls and all manner of easy to eat breakfast foods.
"Thank you, Grandmother!" Finn shouted as she shoved two cheese buns under her arm. Her thanks bumbled together with all the other mumbled and shouted thanks of other young guards just getting up and getting their own hasty breakfast. She passed two beautiful sylphs, their shimmering blue skin and matching silky gowns glowing in the faint light of the first rays of the sun.
"Cheese bun?" she asked with a bow and proffered bun. They giggled and lurched together to the other side of the path. "No?" Finn asked as they passed her by, still giggling and throwing appreciative glances back over their shoulders. "Oh well. More for me," she said and happily shoved the bun in her mouth. The pastry filled her mouth with the taste of butter and dough and salt, and she moaned in appreciation.
The sun was just cresting above the tops of the lush green trees, filling the court with golden sunlight when Finn got to the armory, heading straight to the cubby that held her armor among a small gaggle of other guards. She was just strapping on her shin guards when the sound of Gurla, the Armory Master, calling her name distracted her.
Gurla was a short stout dwarf woman with thick blond hair twisted into an elaborate orderly braid that she tossed over one wide shoulder, her blonde beard equally neat and braided and ornamented with glass beads and metal twists.
"You won't be needing that set today," Gurla said, waving her over. Finn quickly unlaced her shin guards and put them back before curiously following Gurla.
Gurla led her deeper into the Armory, past rooms full of every kind of weapon imaginable until she got to a relatively small hall that was lined with shining polished steel full plate armor, all of them attached to mannequins that lined the walls. Finn stumbled as she took in the beautiful sets. She recognized some of them as belonging to some of the best knights in the court. She supposed it made sense that some of them may store their armor here rather than in their own sumptuous quarters, but she had no idea why Gurla had led her there.
But then Gurla was pulling out a step stool so she could reach up and begin to disassemble a set of armor from further in the room. It was a beautiful set, not as large as some of the others, but made of heavy nearly impenetrable steel, the pieces trimmed in careful curls of gold and painted here and there in bright crimson.
"Uh," Finn said intelligently.
"Try this on," Gurla commanded. Having finally freed the cuirass, she thrust it toward Finn. "I figure you and your brother are about the same size, but the torso is always the most finicky bit."
Finn cautiously took the piece of armor and, without much thought, started fitting it over her chest. "Wait," she said as she finished pulling the last few belts tight, "Is this Ruven's armor?"
"That's right," Gurla said, coming over to stick her fingers in between the steel and Finn's ticklish sides. "Your father suggested you could use his armor, at least until you have a few missions under your belt," she said with a raised eyebrow in Finn's direction. Finn dodged the look, pretending to be preoccupied with checking a strap on her other side.
Finn's brain worked over the implications there. Ruven was a full-fledged knight, so he had his own set of full plate armor. But it didn't fit his fighting style, so he almost never used it. Regardless, it was tradition that every knight get their own specially crafted set of armor. They were always knighted in it in a big ceremony by the queen herself.
So.
So...
"Gurla, why the hell do I need Ruven's armor?" Finn asked slowly, feeling the blood drain from her face.
Gurla gave Finn a look that said she thought Finn was being ridiculously slow, but whatever she saw on Finn's face made her expression transform to pity. "Oh, girl. Didn't your father tell you? I thought he gave you the orders yesterday."
"He gave me a mission, yeah, he sure did, but I don't see how that has anything to do with Ruven's armor," Finn blurted out, her voice going embarrassingly high as the chances of her being wrong got smaller and smaller.
"Finnea," Gurla said, putting both her wide, calloused hands on her shoulders and dragging her down to Gurla's height so she could look her in the eye. "You are to report to the Queen today to be knighted into her service. Because you are a good, strong girl, loyal to this court to a fault, and you have more than put in your time."
Finn opened her mouth to say something, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to get any words out around whatever her throat was doing. She snapped her mouth shut as she realized that if she didn't something embarrassing was going to come out, a sob or a laugh, she didn't know.
She was being knighted. That would move her out of the barracks. Ruven had stayed for her, so that meant they both could move out into their own rooms. She would be a real part of the court. She could attend dances and tea parties, she would get a real stipend to buy whatever she wanted. Holy shit, she would be off guard duty! No more standing around like a lump while her legs cramped, her eyes glazed over with boredom!
Her father's snub of not requesting that she have her own set of armor didn't even register. It was just like him to not tell her, to withhold congratulations and praise as much as physically possible. It didn't matter anyway, because she was a knight!
"AHhhhaha!" Finn screeched, throwing her arms in the air, sending Gurla stumbling backward in surprise for a second before Finn threw her arms around her and lifted her off the ground.
"Gods, girl!" Gurla shouted, though her reproach was lost under her own deep laughter, mixing with Finn's almost manic laugh as she danced them around the armory.
"A knight!" Finn shouted as she finally put Gurla back on her own two feet.
"Well deserved, like I said," Gurla said a little churlishly. "Since when did you get strong enough to pick me up, little Finny?" Gurla asked with a smile as she massaged her upper arms. Finny was an old childhood nickname, from when she had just been a girl in pigtails running around behind the other guards.
"I'll have you know I'm strong as hell," Finn said with an irrepressible grin, flexing a little for Gurla's benefit.
"Yeah, well. All that muscle makes your brother's armor a bit tight around the hips," Gurla grumbled.
"I'll just pad it, who cares?" Finn laughed.
"I care," Gurla growled. "You little hellion. Stay right there. Let's see what we can do," she added with a smirk.
----------------------------------------
Gurla was as good as her word and worked some kind of magic to make Ruven's armor fit her in time for her knighting ceremony. She was even kind enough to work Finn's usually ridiculous straw like hair into an intricate braided bun on the top of her head that made her narrow features and nicked up face look stern and tough instead of young and weedy. Ruven's armor also did some of that work. It was practically brand new, since Ruven only wore it for ceremony and even those he barely ever attended. It shone beautifully in the midday sun and bulked out all her dimensions, making her look wider and taller (since she needed lifts in her shoes for his greaves not to scratch the ground).
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The Queen's throne room was as beautiful as it ever was. At first, it appeared like a hidden clearing in an untouched grove of young birch trees. But no trees ever grew so carefully or uniformly, their branches intertwining to form walls and arched ceilings, butter yellow leaves filtering the hot summer sunlight into soft dappled patterns on the moss covered floor. Queen Titania sat upon a throne made of white jade, an oddly simple chair that, though made of an extremely precious stone, that didn't match the understated beauty of the rest of the room. The rumor was that the throne was older even than the Queen, and that was why her magic couldn't change it to fit her preference.
The Queen herself was as beautiful and regal as always. Her face was round and sweet with youth, her eyes a deep forest green that twinkled out over her assembled people, her mouth as sweet and dimpled as a child's smiled a quiet benevolent smile. Her thick auburn hair tumbled over her shoulder in thick glossy waves beneath a simple circlet of gold fashioned in the shape of young suckling shoots reaching up to the sun for light. The Queen’s dress was one of deep green velvet that shined and shimmered with delicate gold embroidery at the hems and sleeves. The folds were deep and soft and perfectly arranged above her delicate feet that just barely brushed the moss below.
The throne room was fairly well filled with court fae. Finn was happy to note the pretty sylphs from that morning were there near the front. She threw them a wink as she passed and was pleased to see them fall to whispering and giggling at the sight. Beside them, most of the generals and knights she worked with daily had shown up. Their own sets of plate armor shimmered in the soft light through the canopy above. Finn spared a thought to wonder how long this ceremony had been planned. A good while if there was time enough for so many accomplished and busy men to make time to attend.
But, she had to push those thoughts aside as she finally came to the end of the small dirt path that ended six feet before Queen Titania's perfectly formed feet.
Finn dropped to one knee and bowed her head. Her brother's armor clanked loudly, and the low susurrus of talk fell to silence as Queen Titania regarded the young warrior at her feet.
Queen Titania held her right hand out and a small sprite appeared out of nowhere to place a long glittering silver sword into her hand. The Queen rose to her feet in one fluid movement, her skirts rubbing together around her long shapely legs in a quiet rustling sound.
"Finnea Uriro," The Queen said, her voice musical as it rang through the silent room with an unnatural carrying power. "You have served me well and proven your bravery to all those who know you. In return for your loyalty, I have decided to confer to you the title of knight."
She paused, and the silence felt loaded. Finn panicked, wondering if she was supposed to say something. Gurla hadn't warned her, and she hadn't even known she was going to be knighted before that morning. The quiet murmuring of whispers confirmed her suspicion she had a line she was supposed to say, but she still had no idea what it might be.
Before she could spiral too much, the Queen continued. Raising the sword straight up to the sky, she said. "Lady Knight, do you swear to serve your Queen for all your days, to be unswerving in loyalty, to do all things for the service of the court?"
The words reverberated between the trees. All whispers had died beneath the weight of the queen's words.
Finn swallowed around a dry throat. "I do, my Queen," she said after a moment.
It seemed it was the right thing to say, because Queen Titania slowly lowered her sword to tap the flat of the blade to each of Finn's pauldrons with a soft clink.
"Then, I hereby name you Lady Knight Finnea Uriro. With your title, I confer to you all the responsibilities and rewards that come with it" intoned Queen Titania.
"Thank you, my Queen," Finn addressed her feet.
Queen Titania handed her sword away to the same sprite who had initially handed it to her, and then reclined back into her throne with a slightly more relaxed posture than she had when Finn had come in.
"Now!" she said with a clap of her hands. From the entrance to the hall, a small swarm of servants flooded in, laden down with tables of food and bowls of wine and all manner of refreshments. "Let us celebrate!"
----------------------------------------
Finn only got to enjoy about ten minutes of her own party before her father was dragging her by the arm out of the room.
"You're obviously not ready for a title. Do you not even know how to address your Queen?" he hissed as he marched her down the hall.
"When the hell was I supposed to learn that? And from who?" Finn snapped, what little patience her party and her new title had given her evaporating under father's ridiculous critiques.
"You'll watch your mouth if you know what's good for you," he growled, trying to shake her with the hand he had on her arm. Unfortunately for him, the full set of plate armor had added about fifty pounds of weight to her normally thin frame, and it wasn't so easy to budge her.
She yanked her arm out of his grip in disgust. "Or what?" she goaded him. He returned her scowl with his own.
"Is this the gratitude I deserve for raising you from nothing?" he asked, his nose wrinkling with his own sneer.
"I think raising a child would entail more than just shoving them at the nearest person who didn't look too busy. Maybe I'll thank Grandma for the sweet buns when you didn't bother to feed me. Or, maybe I'll thank Gurla for telling me I was being knighted today, since you didn't seem to think it was important enough for you to bother with," Finn ranted, all the hatred and bile rising up in the back of her throat like a dragon summoning fire from its belly.
As a knight, she was no longer beholden to her father, not that she had ever particularly been as a guard. But a knight worked for the queen directly, took her orders only, even if they were sometimes passed down through others. A knight could ignore a general, especially if that general was being an ass.
"Ruven," her father said, not taking his eyes off of her furious face, "handle her," he said with a sniff, then turned on his heel and stomped off in the opposite direction. Back to the party.
Finn resisted the urge to stomp her foot like a child by the skin of her teeth. Her older brother stepping into her line of sight definitely helped.
"He. Is. So!" Finn said through gritted teeth.
"Not here," Ruven said softly, casting a cautious glance back down the tapestry adorned hallway toward the sounds of merry making still coming from the throne room. "The armory."
Finn followed Ruven out of the royal residence and across the court toward the armory and the guard barracks where they had lived most of their lives. Her hands were trembling faintly in their gauntlets, the metal plates clinking softly as they shifted with her shaking.
It was a long walk to the armory. It was almost on the exact opposite of the court from the Queen's throne room and the other buildings and residences that she used personally. Still, it gave Finn time to calm down, though the resentment didn't really go anywhere. It just settled in her stomach like a rock.
She wondered if she would ever be free of her father. Ruven had been a knight for almost five years, one of the youngest fae to ever be knighted. Even so, he still had to listen to their father's rants, to his dressing downs, accept his unreasonable demands, and humor his cruelty with good grace. He treated both of them like shit, and all the other fae just watched. What would they say about Jhaartael dragging his own daughter out of her own party? Probably they would just call him a real bastard, shake their heads and go right back to their lives.
When they reached the armory, it was dark and empty. The party would probably just be starting in earnest, but for all the guards who had to get up before the break of dawn, it was already time to be in bed.
Ruven led the way back to the room with all the sets of armor and set to helping Finn unbuckle and remove each piece by piece. Finn stewed in her frustration, but Ruven looked as placid as ever. The only sign of his own inner turmoil, if he was experiencing any, was a small wrinkle between his pale brows as he worked to unbuckle each piece of armor.
"It's not fair, Ruven," Finn mumbled as her brother finally removed the last piece, the chest piece.
"I know," he agreed quietly, sitting the chest piece aside before taking her by the shoulders and gently turning her around.
Finn's eyebrows went up as she felt him start to unwind the wrappings around her chest for her. He hadn't helped her with her bindings since, back when she was young and was just learning how to wear them. Back then his fingers were so deft and careful, his expression so solemn and unhappy, it made a deep impression on her how alone the two of them were while surrounded by so many people.
"Perhaps it's better," Ruven sighed as he unwound the last bit of linen and piled it carefully on top of the chest piece. "If you had stayed at the party all night, you would have had no time to check your equipment for tomorrow and would have been exhausted on the road."
"Oh shit!" Finn exclaimed. "My gear! I hadn't even thought about provisions or getting a map or-"
Ruven forestalled her with a raised hand and a faint smile. "Luckily for you, I figured you wouldn't have time to do all that. So, I got it ready for you."
"Seriously?" Finn asked. Another time she would have been embarrassed by how hoarse her voice sounded, but the armory felt so safe and isolated, lit only by the torches on the wall and with only her and her brother. "Ruven, you're a lifesaver."
Ruven's mouth twitched a little in amusement. "It's nice to be appreciated," he joked.
Finn punched him in the arm, a grin spreading over her own face at the rare sound of a joke from her stiff older brother.
At that moment, even if things weren't perfect, they felt pretty close for a short while. She had Ruven, and he had her, and somehow they would muddle through together like they always had.