6/10 - Lunaires amongst Knight skies (part 8)
Johannes had woken early that morning, as any participant in a competition would, in order to prepare.
There were warmups to be done, stretching, final armor fittings, followed by the pieces being taken to the one-site smith for any final adjustments. Johannes would bathe, change, and prepare his weapons personally because he needed to trust them with his life, and he entrusted that duty to his hands only. Then he would be suited up in layers of leather, chainmail, and armor until he truly looked the part of a knight.
It was a routine he was familiar with; most days whilst doing fieldwork he would leave the leather and chainmail. Instead of spending days in the lighter under armour and only dismantling the heavier top layer after they set up camp for the night. It was more efficient, safer, that way.
In many ways the layers of protection were more comfortable to him than the layers of jewels, laces, and stiff fabrics he donned as a noble. The metal felt more of a second skin than any finery could.
Though Johannes could definitely become far more familiar with the usual finery if Vaevelia wished it.
“Lord Johannes! I have the competition order.” Finnian enters the tent as he usually does, knocking or waiting for a response from him. “You’ll be going first in nearly every round, battling the better fighters.”
“So the usual then?” Johannes didn't bother looking up; instead focused on polishing a slight nick out of the tip of one of his blades. “Did you check the stands?”
“And?” Johannes didn't need to specify what he was looking for, as Finnian had commented earlier that week, he was tailing after Vaevelia like ‘a lost puppy’. He didn't particularly agree with that statement, but nonetheless Finnian knew what he wanted to know.
“The Queen’s Academy's students have started arriving, I didn't see Miss Vaevelia amongst them…”
“But there were so many of them, we likely just haven't spotted her yet.” Petre eases when he sees Johannes stiffen. “Garin and Finnian will keep an eye out and alert you to where she is sitting.”
Johannes nodded, saying nothing as the younger knight left and as Petre began to set the pieces of his armour out on the mannequin in the center of the tent.
Every competitor was situated in one of many tents on the list field, giving the feel of a true competition week rather than a simple one for just the day.
“Have you decided how exactly you are going to ask for her favor?” Petre says after a moment, a touch of concern leaching into his voice.
Asking a maiden for a favor wasn't as straightforward as many may think. First, the chance of them denying it is a very real possibility, something which was incredibly embarrassing and could tarnish a knight’s reputation. The second issue in asking for the favor was what the maiden would give you and how you went about the winning (or losing, but Johannes didn't need to worry about that) ceremony of returning the item to her in victory.
Johannes, of course, did not intend to return the item to Vaevelia. It was a gift from his beloved after all, and he would keep and treasure it for all eternity. However, it was standard to at least give the young lady something, especially if you won the whole competition. There was no ‘tournament rose’ for this competition, so Johannes had other plans.
An invitation as his accompanying guest to this afternoon's East Garden Tea Party, wrapped in pale silver and blue ribbon, which was tucked safely in a pocket underneath his chainmail.
“I have. Vaevelia and I discussed this last night, so she is prepared for it.” Johannes scoffs.
“I mean no offense…” Petre starts with that same careful tone he takes when Johannes is doing something the older man thinks is incredibly stupid. Which he’s proud to say has only ever happened three times, four if we include this one. “But from what you told me of your conversation with her last night. It… it didn't seem like she had fully agreed to the matter.”
“I asked her to come and give me her favor; she said she would.” Johannes pauses in his polishing and turns to Petre, “What confusion are you having about this?”
“It… to me it seems more that Miss Vaevelia agreed to come as she was already planning on attending…” Petre sighs after this statement is met with a carefully blank look on Johannes’ face, “I simply do not wish for you to embarrass yourself should she deny you…”
“She will not deny me her favor, and thus I will not be embarrassed.”
Before Sir Peter could argue any further, the horns sounded, signaling the competitors to get ready for the sword-fighting rounds.
“Let us hope you are right then, Lord Johannes.” Petre shrugs finally, motioning for Johannes to stand so that the older man may help arm him.
Vaevelia hadn't truly been fully aware of what to expect from the competitions today. The joust had been louder than she anticipated, the horns were blaring more often than she had thought they would, and the girls around her were all but throwing themselves at the men in the center of the pit.
“Cordleia!” She scolds the young girl, grabbing her by the shoulder and hoisting her back into a sitting position, “You are engaged! Behave as if you are!”
“Have some fun, Vaevelia! This is likely the only time we’ll get to go to one of these!” she responds, pressing a small bundle of flowers into her hand. A few sprigs of lilacs and ferns, with a small pale pink rose at their center.
“I'm not here to have fun, I'm here to make sure you all don't ruin yourselves…” Vaevelia had never been to an event like this before, and she was finding she didn't much like them.
She supposes in the few moments of quiet between bouts of jousting that it's normal. As a Lunaire its second nature to avoid knights, and while the school had recently been full of them, she hadn't truly felt their presence until now. They had been dressed and acting like young gentlemen of nobility rather than soldiers after all, so this was the first time she had seen them behave as what they truly were.
Knights. In gleaming armour, bloody weapons, and sick smiles of violence.
It twisted something in her gut, something that was screaming at her -begging her- to run, to magic herself away to safety.
But she couldn't, for that would reveal more than anyone in this place could ever know about her.
So no, she wasn't here to have fun, and she truly wouldn't be able to find enjoyment in it. Not when every fiber of her being wished for her not to be here at all.
But her friends had asked, pleaded, begged her to join them.
Indrina had pointed out that after graduation, which was just months away, she would be back in her home country, Vaevelia would be in a convent, and the rest of their friends would be married and in their husbands' manors. "We're not likely to see each other again after that, so why not make the most out of this week?”
And Vaevelia conceded that the older girl had a point, something which had Indrina’s dark cheeks rounding in a smile.
So here she was, watching from the stands as boys no older than herself threw themselves at each other on horseback with little care for death or injury.
“Did you bring something for Lord Johannes?” Beatrice, the only one other than Indrina who was older than Vaevelia, asks teasingly, “He’s going to ask you for your favor, you know.”
“And it would be a terrible embarrassment if you denied him, especially so publicly!” Cordelia adds.
“I did…” Vaevelia's hands twist tighter around the small embroidered handkerchief she had brought along. It was a pale off-white with little ferns and blue-bells embroidered in all the corners, with tendrils of ivy connecting them alongside the edges. She had stayed up late for weeks to make it during her first year at the Queen’s Academy, and it was the only thing she could find that she thought would be suitable for a favor to a boy she wasn't overly familiar with.
“What if Lord Pel asks you for it?” Emma muses silently, almost to herself, really, but the rest of them still hear.
“He won't. He’s a very loyal man, and he’ll likely ask Lady Alice for it.” Vaevelia answers without a second thought.
Pel had been… well, perhaps it was overly rude to say bothering, but… he had certainly been around her more than he should have, seeing as he was engaged to another woman.
Trying to enter the dorm halls to speak with her, cornering her in classrooms and the dining hall, trying to find moments to speak with her privately, even writing her letters.
She had done her best to avoid him, staying with friends or teachers, walking away when he appeared, and sending back every letter unread and still with its original seal intact.
But he was persistent, despite her and Alice’s many attempts to stop him from acting in such a way.
And he was battling Lord Johannes in their second bout. With Pel battling a Sir Garin in the very first bout, and Johannes would be fighting the round after against a Lord Vos.
