Courage

Inside the blacksmith’s store, an unusual group was huddled together around the wooden counter while discussing both work and woes. While Reinhardt spoke with Geralt about his armor, Elaine had just finished hearing Rionara’s worries.

“So you left her alone?” Elaine said rhetorically. “Gods be great—I don’t know if I should be sad or mad at you.”

“B-but…”

“She wasn’t mad at you for goddess’ sake. If anything she was angry at herself for failing you.”

“Huh?” Rionara tilted her head as her eyebrows furrowed in a confused gaze. “But… I said those things and-”

At that point Elaine brought her hand into her own face as she shook her head and sighed tiredly.

“A knight’s honor is their meaning for existence, or at least, most of them think this way. The sole reason she felt angry at herself was her inability to protect you.”

Reinhardt looked over his shoulder at the two of them before fully turning around and speaking with conviction.

“‘Protect those who cannot protect themselves’—that is the oath all knights under the Queen are supposed to make. Their existence is closely tied to the people, without them there is no kingdom.”

Rionara glanced down at the sheathed sword on her lap. She felt a bit of resentment towards Priscilla’s Queen growing within her chest.

‘Someone so gracious as Pris shouldn’t be tied down to mere words…’

“This is…” She whispered between her teeth—her brows furrowed in anger of both herself and Priscilla’s oath. “This isn’t fair…”

Her eyes started to tear up as her arms tensed against her thighs as if she was trying to swallow the urge to cry.

“Such it is knighthood.” Elaine glanced at Reinhardt, who hung his head low. “The kingdom lost a great knight because of it.”

“Elaine.”

Reinhardt was about to scold her, but the elf simply raised both hands.

“I’m just stating the facts.”

It took a few more minutes, but after Rionara calmed herself down, she stood up and bowed to Geralt—who was finishing taking the knight’s payment in order to fulfill his maintenance order.

“Thank you, sir Geralt. For letting me stay here.”

“It ain’t nothin’ Lass. Come back ‘ere if ye need anythin’ else ye hear?”

She nodded with a faint smile on her face.

“Are you heading back to the inn?”

Reinhardt asked the high elf—which made Elaine glance sideways at him.

“Yes.” Rionara answered with surprising confidence in her voice. “I shouldn’t have left her side in the first place.”

“I see.” The knight straightened his posture and looked at Elaine as well. “Let’s head there. From what she told us, Miss Priscilla needs a hand.”

“Oh, now you’re going to heal her?” The elf smirked, but her smugness was quickly met with a light slap. “Ow.”

“Heal?” Rionara looked at him with mild surprise. “Can you heal people, sir Reinhardt?”

“Well… yes, in a way.”

She was about to question him, but Elaine intervened with a forced smile holding half truths.

“Now, now—” she said while pushing them outside the blacksmith shop. “We can talk once we are close to Priscilla.”

“Huh? But I-”

Ignoring Rionara’s protests, Elaine forced them to go back to the inn.

The walk itself was short, most of the people buying food as well as the stalls selling them, were gone. Only a few patrons were browsing some of the already closing shops.

Things were also quiet at the inn. A few customers were finishing eating and paying for the meals before heading out of the hall.

Many of which turned their heads around once they saw a black-haired high elf flanked by a tall muscular man and an elf wearing gambeson and a kettle helmet.

“Is she important?”

“A noble perhaps?”

“A noblewoman wouldn’t be using peasant clothes, you idiot.”

A few murmurs started to erupt amongst the patrons left in the hall—making Rionara feel uncomfortable, but not intimidated. Karla saw her and gave a slight nod accompanied with a small wave.

Rionara answered back with a discreet wave of her own as she headed upstairs. Her heart was pounding faster against her chest. Each step she took brought her closer to the woman that meant the world to her.

She stopped in front of the doorway and knocked twice.

“Pris… can I come in?”

There was a brief moment of silence before a faint voice came from inside.

“Yes, come in.”

As she opened the door, she was greeted with both Priscilla and Ren inside. The royal knight was sitting against the bedframe while the physician was caring for her wounds—replacing the used bandages with fresh, clean ones.

Rionara remained at the doorway, waiting for Ren to be finished, which prompted Reinhardt and Elaine to look confused at her.

“I’ll be there in a moment.”

As per the physician’s words, after he finished looking after Priscilla, he went to the doorway and started to rub a rag doused in alcohol on her clothes before putting the same rag on the floor for her to step on it. He did the same for Reinhardt and Elaine, who followed his instructions after a brief introduction between themselves.

“So, I gather that you are a former knight?” Ren inspected Reinhardt’s clothes and gear—nothing really stuck out as ‘a man of the church’. “It’s rare to see non-priests perform miracles.”

“You could say that.” He glanced at the physician. “Are you sure about what you’ve said regarding the goddess’ blessing? That it can kill people even though it heals them?”

Ren nodded firmly.

“I’ve seen it happen right before my eyes. Open wounds should not be treated with miracles, only bruises and fractures pose little to small risk.”

The knight looked at his hands before closing them tightly.

“I see.” He stood beside Priscilla and kneeled—looking at her eyes. “My apologies, Miss Priscilla.”

“Why are you apologizing?” She raised an eyebrow. “Even if you healed me before, it would just end up on a bed regardless.”

“No, but… I could have eased your pain.”

“Be that as it may.” She looked at Ren and then back to him. “If you heal me now, I’ll be able to fight again. So there was no harm done.”

After Ren confirmed the wound was clean and that it was safe for Reinhardt to heal her, he stepped to the side and clasped his hands together while lowering his head to them in a silent prayer.

The knight extended his hands forward and started to chant.

“O graceful goddess of light, bestow your mercy upon this child, Heal!”

Golden particles unraveled from his fingers and slowly settled on Priscilla’s stomach. Her skin started to glow ever so slightly with the same color and the puncturing wounds in her stomach were starting to close. The flesh that was rendered apart was growing out like small tendrils—intertwining and filling the space that was once the wound.

“Woah…”

Rionara watched in suspense as flesh and muscle knit themselves back together as if they had a life of their own.

“Miracles are truly something.” Elaine let out a quiet sigh. “I wish I learned it as well.”

“Quiet please, I’m trying to concentrate.”

Reinhardt said, his eyes closed. The room remained silent through the whole process. Priscilla sat there pacing her breaths as she could feel a light discomfort from the act.

‘It’s like having something wiggling inside my wounds…’ She thought while trying to remain calm. ‘I expected miracles to be more comforting…’

But despite her mind trying to endure it, her body was feeling strange. She felt an uncanny urge to itch the wound and the more she tried to ignore it, the worse the urge became.

“Ngh…”

She grunted under her breath as another uneasy crawling sensation started to settle on the skin around her wound. She wanted to scratch it, it was an agonizing sensation akin to torture. But unlike flaying one’s skin—she was the one seeking to do the flaying in a sense.

Her fingers dug deep into the mattress beneath her body while her toes curled inward. Cold sweat started to form on her forehead as her mind was fighting her body’s urge to escape that overload of sensations.

The wounds were no deeper than a fingertip at that point, but something bothered Priscilla.

‘Why do I feel so… hungry?’

Her body felt weak and on edge. A slight tremor was taking over her extremities before she forced her muscles to tighten in order to keep her limbs from shaking.

Despite her attempts to mask what her body was going through—Ren was noticing those signs. He stood up and said briefly.

“I’ll head downstairs for a bit. I’ll be back in a minute.”

They nodded to him and he quietly left the room.

In the meantime, Reinhardt kept steadily healing Priscilla. Rionara and Elaine watched it unfold from the sides.

The high elf held her sword tightly. She wasn’t religious, or rather, she didn’t know about prayers, but she was hoping with all her might for the royal knight to be on her own two feet again.

Though, contrary to her wishes, Priscilla shakily raised her right hand as she asked.

“Sir Reinhardt, stop for a moment… I need… I need to gather my breath…”

He stopped as requested. The royal knight looked down to her stomach and noticed the original perforation was no more than a mild skin gnash with a large, fresh scab covering it. A wound not uncommon to someone familiar with combat such as herself.

“How are you feeling?”

He asked.

“Very hungry. But I'm feeling much better now.”

Rionara smiled while letting out a faint sigh of relief as she heard those words. Moments later, the door to the room opened with Ren carrying a tray with bowls of meat broth, boiled eggs and sliced pieces of bread. He glanced at Reinhardt and asked.

“Are you done?”

“Almost, but her wounds are closed.”

“Oh, good.” He stepped inside and placed the tray on the nightstand beside her pouch. “Can you eat?”

Priscilla chuckled sourly.

“I’m starving.” She tried to turn to her side but her body felt extremely weak and she was only able to turn slightly on her left before eventually falling back on the bed. “Ugh…”

“You might need someone to feed you.” The physician looked at Rionara—who was on the verge of saying something, but she still didn’t have the courage to. “Miss Jeanne, can you help her? I have urgent business to attend to in the city with my companion.”

“Ah- I… yes, I can.”

Reinhardt and Elaine glanced at each other before coming into a silent agreement as the elf said.

“Me and Rein will grab some food downstairs as well. We’ll be back later once you two are done.”

And just as fast as they came, everyone else left the room, leaving both Rionara and Priscilla in an awkward silence that was only interrupted by the chatter coming from the street below the window. The knight looked at the high elf’s expression, there was an unspoken pain beneath her otherwise glad expression.

“Rio…”

“Pris.” Despite her pain, she spoke firmly and with conviction. “Stop blaming yourself.”

“Huh…?” It surprised Priscilla as much as it surprised Rionara herself. “What are you-”

“I know your oath means the world to you, but just as it does to you, you mean the world to me.” She settled the sheathed longsword beside the knight’s rapier against the wall and sat on the wooden stool on her bedside. “I… I was sad when you told me to go away.” As her eyes were about to tear up, she took a deep breath and forcibly swallowed the urge. “But, you’re still the ‘Miss Knight’ that proved to me that there are still good adults in this world… so please… don’t blame yourself. You protected me more than anyone could, you gave me a reason to keep on living, but… my safety is not your responsibility alone.”

After hearing those words, Priscilla remained looking at Rionara’s eyes—her unwavering conviction was something the knight wasn’t expecting from the little timid girl she once was.

“You… you’ve changed a lot, Rio.”

She smiled quietly. There was a sense of pride in her heart. Although Priscilla thought she was protecting her this entire time, the ‘little girl’ proved to be more than just an unfortunate child of a tyrant. Instead, Rionara was now showing the grit of someone who was ready to face life head on.

The knight extended her hand towards her as she asked.

“Can you help me?”

There was a moment of pause before Rionara smiled warmly as she nodded.

“Of course.”

Priscilla took her time to eat. While her wounds were closed, the fatigue was something she could only compare to her days training under commander Leonard. Each bite and sip of water gradually calmed her body down as the uncanny tingling and crawling sensations were giving way to the comfort of the inn’s food and the warmth of Rionara’s company.

It took a few minutes, but Priscilla managed to eat her entire meal.

“Thank you, Rio.” She leaned her back against the bedframe and let out a relieved sigh. “I thought about what you said to me, but I feel like it’s my obligation to tell you.”

Priscilla’s red eyes had a serious glint to them.

“I won’t stop being a knight for the people. That is something I promised myself when I became a knight for my Queen.” Those words made Rionara’s chest tighten, but the moment she was about to lower her eyes—Priscilla placed her hand on top of hers. “But, I won’t forget your conviction. I have witnessed your determination, Rio.”

“Pris… I… I just don’t want to lose you…”

“Haha, have you forgotten who I am?” She brought her open palm atop of her breast. “I’m a Royal Knight. Although I may have lost the potion my Queen gave to me, my spirit lives on burning brightly.”

Priscilla's smile started to fade as fast as she smiled. It gave place to a somewhat mournful expression as she took a deep breath.

“That being said, I will have to head down into the dungeon sooner or later. I don’t know when, but there will be a time where I won’t be here with you. Will you be able to handle things on your own when that happens?”

There were tears forming on the corners of Rionara’s eyes, but she simply wiped them with her clothes’ sleeves before looking at Priscilla with a pained smile.

“Yes, I will. Pris.”