I Will Be the Greatest Knight

With each passing day, Irene’s hands changed little by little. The first phase was the most painful, because after her fingers turned white, the skin started to flake off easily.

Normally unable to sit still, she was forced to lie there in their makeshift home until the red, sensitive skin on her fingers sealed up and no longer oozed from the blisters. She made sure not to pop them so she wouldn’t make the situation worse.

While bandages were an option, they dried out too quickly. Letting her fingers heal in open air turned out to be the only option.

However, it wasn’t all bad.

Henry did everything for her. He would wake up and tend to the horses and even prepare the food, which he spoon-fed her first. The rest of the day they would laze around together. Occasionally, Henry read to her, or she read herself while she waited for him to patrol the surrounding lands and be sure there were no more wyrms to deal with.

This time around, Henry returned to the small cabin, closing the door behind himself. He pulled off his hood and cloak and then got to work taking off his outer coat so he could put it away, and the snow wouldn’t get all over the cabin.

"A snowstorm came in," he explained as he removed his boots. "From what I could tell, there’s still nothing out there. I really do think we will be safe to travel once you’re better."

"But how are you feeling?" she asked. "It’s only been three days, but you’ve already done so much."

"It stopped hurting the second you put the clove salve on it," he assured her. "As if it never happened in the first place."

Irene nodded, and a slow sigh escaped her lips.

"As long as it isn’t affecting you," she insisted.

Henry walked towards the bed and sat on the edge of it.

"I feel worse that your hands are in this state," he commented. "They’ve healed so much in a short time, though. Just a little longer and we can go home. We will have a few weeks to rest in the Duke’s Tower."

Irene’s gaze broke away from Henry’s, and she sat up. While she couldn’t grasp anything small, she could gently rest her hands on top of his.

"I have been thinking about something that will undoubtedly be selfish," she admitted. "I don’t want you to feel obligated. If anything, talk me out of doing something stupid."

"Look at me," he requested. "I’ll be your voice of reason."

The smile he wore was small. He kissed her forehead once her eyes were on him again.

"I want to go further north," she admitted. "I want to see that my family’s village remains standing. It’s been haunting my dreams that the wyrms somehow destroyed what was left. But I know it’s idiotic. What does it matter if those places are destroyed? No one lives there anymore."

Henry delicately placed her hands down, and he reached for his wife’s shoulders, gently massaging the muscles as he did.

"It isn’t idiotic," he insisted. "That’s your family’s history. If it’s destroyed, I will see to it that it’s put back together. I would feel the same even if everyone left the peasant village in Hydrogia and it was destroyed. It’s not about who lives there now, but what it represents."

"Thank you," she responded, meaning every word. "I will rest better knowing whether or not its in one piece."

She thought of her father and grandmother and how all this responsibility fell onto her shoulders to keep their history alive. How she wished there were more out there to carry this burden. Even Arne needed to focus on the kingdom in order to strengthen their late father’s estate.

"We have quite a few weeks before we’re expected back," Henry continued. "Let’s wait here for a week more to be sure that your hands won’t be further damaged and Sammy has more time to heal. We will only turn around if we see even the faintest hint that there could be more wyrms ahead."

"Now I feel giddy to show you my family’s home," she explained, finally smiling. "The places are like nothing else you’ve seen."

He brushed her hair over her shoulder and smiled.

"This entire journey has been like nothing else I’ve seen," he admitted. "I should thank you for bringing me, even though the original reason was more dangerous than fun."

"I think that also means that we must make a trip to the south sometime soon," Irene insisted. "I’ll show you the Sunstoian Region, and you will show me the peasant village."

"It’s nothing as interesting as here, I assure you," he explained. "But I would like to show you all aspects of my life from before the person you know me as today."

The two of them hugged, Irene minding her fingers as she pressed her palms into her husband’s back. It felt like they had discovered the meaning of true partnership even wider than the realm of marriage during this journey.

Somehow, they had taken down wyrms and survived together. They were healing and finally able to have a few slow winter days.

Slow winters felt like their payment for hard summers and autumns.

A week later, the couple finally bid their small hunting cabin goodbye. Unlike the time before, Irene felt sentimental about this place. It had been their safe haven for such a long time.

Another leg of their journey began with camping outside and remembering what it was like to sleep outdoors with feet of snow all around them.

By that point, the evidence of the wyrms was deeply buried underneath the snow.

A couple of days after they left, Irene was met with a familiar sight that caused her to stop Sammy. Henry followed her lead.

"What...?"

However, the Commander cut himself off when his eyes went to where his wife’s were.

Far to the northwest, there were boats more massive than anything Henry had ever seen in his life. The urge to explore them struck him, and he began to squeeze his knees to guide Froid in that direction.

"Don’t!" Irene suddenly shouted.

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