Flowersmith!! My boys!!

He is dragged down the well, all the way down and to the little house that his knight had briefly shown off. It is in a better state of repair than the rest of the kingdom, with furniture and a cramped little bedroom.

"Sit," his knight orders Scott, nudging him towards the chair surprisingly gently. "Do you need anything?"

Scott shakes his head, then realises he cannot be seen.

"No..." he whispers instead, carefully perching on the chair.

It would be really easy to murder him down here. Nobody would know for months, thinking the conscript had just run away.

"Right," his knight hisses as he says the word, clearly deeply displeased - of course he is; anyone would be, tasked with Scott and his unstable magic, compared to the gracious Eloise or delightful Shandrea. "Fuck, I hate this."

Scott can only watch as his knight clatters around the tiny house, either looking for something or trying to burn off steam. He has the suspicion that he is supposed to talk now, but he really does not know what to say. Instead he pulls his knees up, tucks his chin against them, and waits.

"I have to say, don't I?" Scott's sharp ears pick up the muttering, just as his knight returns.

Scott cocks his head, even if it cannot be seen.

"You're... I'm just going to assume you're still there," Scott's knight looks in the direction of the chair, sighing as he leans back against the wall. "I'm Nom, and I'm a blacksmith, not a knight, so please just use my name."

"Oh." That... All mages are assigned a knight, though? Scott is a bit confused, but maybe Nom is like him! Defining himself differently? "I'm Scott. I'm a florist by trade, I just have a bit of magic so the mayor sent me here when the old king asked. Um... I'm from Barrowhill? It's three days walk from here."

Nom nods, still looking deeply, deeply unhappy. "You were supposed to be assigned to Graecie, but then two more mages showed up unexpectedly, and shit happened. Now you're stuck with me."

"We're stuck with each other...?" Scott tries, hoping desperately to lighten the mood of the man between him and the door.

It does at least cause Nom to crack a grin.

"I have done most of the knight training," Nom answers, after a moment. His grin fades a bit at the end, however. "But, because I'm not a knight... A lot of the protective stuff we use? I can't do it. Given you clearly can't protect yourself, we'll be stuck here. Me at the smithy, you enchanting gear and brewing and that stuff."

Scott has no idea how one brews or enchants gear, but he is a quick study; given he was recruited into the army, there are much, much worse jobs he could be performing. If they really are short of knights, he is almost surprised he was not assigned to one of the rogues and sent to spy instead! It would not be what any of the paperwork says, but keen ears and invisibility is something easy to exploit...

Instead he nods slowly, unsure if he can be seen or not, and answers "oh, did you just not finish your training before the battle or something? I've never been trained at all, so we can learn together."

Nom freezes in a way that can only mean something in there made him uncomfortable. He does, however, force a small grin.

"Or something," Nom agrees, shifting as though his armour is digging in. "There might be a couple of books left in the mage tower? If not, one of the others can probably help you out."

Scott glances at himself, and finds his body still tense but visible. He forcibly relaxes, putting his eyes into his knees.

"You good?" Nom asks him, tone actually worried beneath it all.

Not wanting to lie already, Scott just wriggles his hand.

"... if you leave, I'd understand it," Nom replies, anger seeping a little back in. "I know it's not exactly... /Proper/, giving you to me. You deserve a real knight, one with experience and can help you study."

"I can't," Scott replies. "Blue Kingdom owns me, now. If I try to leave..."

If he tries to leave, they kill his father, and then come back for him.

Not that Scott will say that part aloud, but hopefully Nom understands; no matter what, Scott has to stay. Even with this angry blacksmith instead of a real knight, Scott has to stay, and fight if ordered too. He has no illusions that once the fighting breaks out he will still only be on the enchantment table, and if he cannot even control his invisibility...

"Right, you're the conscript," Nom looks deeply unhappy about that, lip bitten almost to bleeding. "Which, is why Owain said for me to take you, because even though you don't have a knight, you still have to fight."

... While both Eloise and Shandrea could leave if they wanted.

"Well..." Scott hesitates. "I'm still learning, and you're still learning, so it makes sense...?"

Nom's pause is long and painful, the man sliding down the wall a little. Finally he replies "you deserve better than me."

"We'll make the most of it...?"

... The laugh Nom gives in response to that is when Scott finally, finally relaxes.

"Sure," Nom replies. "It's a while before dark, but feel free to stay the night. I can help you find somewhere of your own in the morning."

Scott would offer to stay longer, but this house is barely big enough for one. Instead he looks up, tucking some hair back into place, stroking his mother's lilies as he does.

"I have a bedroll...?" he offers, reckoning he could probably just put it outside; the cave is sheltered from rain, and the heat from the house should warm it enough.

"How long have you been on the road?" Nom's eyes narrow on him.

"Three days."

"You're getting the bed," Nom ushers him towards it. "I also have a bedroll, and you're the guest."

"I'm pretty sure legally Eloise and Shan are guests, while I'm here to be used."

"In my house you're a guest," Nom replies, insistent.

"We could both use the bedrolls?"

"There's a perfectly good bed! Only one of us should wake up with pebbles in our spines."

Scott blinks twice at the not-a-knight before him. "Do you not clear the land before you sleep...?"

"They always come back! Just because the grass likes you."

"It doesn't, it cut my fingers earlier."

It did do that, but Scott means it as a light hearted joke. What actually happens is Nom turns sharply, staring at Scott's hands with full intensity. He shoots over, pulling them from Scott's legs. Each is cradled gently as it is examined, searching for the mentioned wounds.

"It's okay," he whispers. "It was just a small cut; it's probably healed already."

Nom squeezes Scott's hands, then permits them to return to place.

He looks every bit like he is about to fight every blade of grass in the entire country. Scott, not wanting that, reaches out and tugs on Nom's gauntlet.

"Scott?" he asks.

"Teach me about my responsibilities here?" Scott asks, reaching for any topic he can trap Nom with, just as Scott himself is trapped. "And how this works? Barrowhill doesn't have knights, and I was the only mage, so I imagine it's very different..."

Nom is successfully distracted, shifting to sit on the floor, also by the little table.

Lyrics:

I am heaviness

You are light

You are softness

I am the kingdom’s strongest knight

I am heaviness

I can no longer tell my callouses

Apart from my armour

My skin has become as hard as wood

I could cry but my tear ducts run dry

My body just gets tougher and harder

I would lay that weapon down if I could

You grow life

From the ground

I take life

From other people

I put them in

In the ground

You are so, so strong, my friend

I know you don’t believe it

But take it from someone who is currently destroying himself

You’re the anchor of this storm-torn kingdom

Even my blind eyes can see it

I might be strength, but my muscles have always belonged to someone else

You are everything

Delicate and beautiful

I am everything

That has been hardened into steal

You couldn’t change a thing

Please don’t blame yourself

It’s not your fault

It’s not your fault

Again- It’s not your fault

Again- It’s not your fault

It’s not your fault