Legend of the Swords

12: Erilyn

The next few days were met with studying and spending time with Lord Varen and Dimitri. Lord Varen made sure to sit in my lectures and would take the time in the evenings to review information I wasn't familiar with. During these sessions I had learned a little about him as well, how much he too loved his kingdom and the people who served him. He told me of his younger brother and how, as they got older, his brother was slowly morphing into his father and picking up his traits of cruelty. 

Dimitri on the other had, seemed to be distracted anytime he was with us. I also noticed his demeanor seemed to shift, like he was stressed and contemplating something. I hoped everyday he wasn't planning on exposing me to the rest of the family and to have me end up in the dungeon, and every day nothing changed. It came to be that while I worried, he slowly seemed to be less and less stressed as he pieced together whatever was weighing on his mind, and within a week he was back to his usual self. Well almost. He still seemed hesitant to talk to me sometimes and any time I tried to bring it up he would change the subject. While infuriating, I backed off, letting him figure out whatever it was and telling myself if it was something he wanted to discuss with me he would come to me.

Surprisingly, Lord Varen never brought up the trip to the catacombs. Every now and then I would catch him in my peripheral eye studying me, or open his mouth like he was planning on saying something and then stop. I was tempted to tell him a few times, but knowing how Dimitri had reacted I wasn't sure how much detail I would want to reveal to a prince of a neighboring kingdom, especially given his father's involvement in Devil's Judgement. In the end, I decided to ignore it, focusing more on the tasks and studies at hand.

I also took the opportunity to study Lord Varen. Men were so foreign to me, the way they behaved and their perspective on everything. Sometimes I would think that decisions in history were so black and white, but Lord Varen would come up with some insightful comment that would produce a form of grey area into the scenario. He would get this half grin every time he would realize I was contemplating his viewpoint, and my cheeks would immediately go red as he looked at me. Interestingly enough, it was always at these moments that Dimitri would come to my rescue, making some sort of distraction so that I could shift my attention elsewhere. Despite my skepticism of Lord Varen's behavior and intentions however, my analysis of him resulted in the conclusion that he was indeed actually very handsome. I caught myself a few times too closely examining his figure or the shape of his lips and hands. The way he held his quill as he made notes in the book in front of me. The way he easily broke the space between us to show me something on a page.

By the end of most of our lessons I was an absolute mess, barely able to focus on the material and instead being mentally overwhelmed by this person beside me, praying for Dimitri to continue to come to my rescue. It was ridiculous, that after all of my years of training and darkness, one single man had managed to make me nervous and now I had to spend a large portion of time with him. And then on the other hand I relied on another man to help me keep my sanity and wits about me. My time spent with Dimitri gave me the space I needed from Lord Varen to calm my nerves. Sometimes we would go visit the children in town and check-in on their progress. Some of them had already been adopted into loving homes, and I always made sure to check on them as well to make sure they were okay and happy. 

One morning, after falling asleep over a book in the library, Dimitri woke me up in my bed with a bowl of fruit for breakfast. "Did you carry me back into my room?" I asked him groggily as I stretched and then let myself slouch. I was bone tired even though I had only been studying. Dimitri smirked as he walked over, handing me the bowl of peeled orange pieces. I immediately started eating them, grateful that I was able to eat more food recently and had put on a little weight.

"Well you're light as a feather. It was only proper anyway." Dimitri sat on the edge of the bed and even took a piece from the bowl as well.

"Look at you acting all familiar." I teased. His cheeks only went a little pink as he reached for another piece and shrugged his shoulders. "It's okay comrade, I see you as an equal too." This got a chuckle out of him, his eyes softening as he looked me up and down. He stood back up and went over to my closet.