Note: /bangs on table chanting "ace!emmeryn and chastecourtlylove!phila!"
Apparently violets mean a ton of stuff in flower language but among those meanings are truthful love (implying a love that is hidden), devotion, innocence, and its association with humility eventually made it sacred to Mary in Christian theology. Good enough for me.
Emmeryn can see the courtyard from her bedroom window. Phila's brigade of pegasus knights is to leave for patrol shortly. They'll be gone two months. Her women, fully armoured, helmets under their arms, are kissing and embracing their families and lovers. They'll carry on this way until their captain orders them off to the stables.
Emmeryn turns to her. Phila looks so different now, with her hair pulled into its severe bun. She'd worn it loosely braided the night before, when she'd stayed—a very special occasion, anticipating the months ahead. She kept a careful space between them in Emmeryn's bed, one Emmeryn felt was perfectly-sized, but in the darkness their hands crossed the border so their fingers could intertwine as they nodded off.
"Please be careful," Emmeryn says.
"Of course, Your Grace. I will be back at your side the moment time allows it."
"And take this, for luck." She holds out her handkerchief. She rarely wears perfume, so she'd pressed violets into it, and their smell still lingers. Phila takes it with a bemused smile.
"I thought milady did not believe in luck."
"I shall be praying for you too, of course."
She doesn't want to admit that it's something to remember her by. Phila seems to understand in any case, and tucks the gift carefully beneath her breastplate, over the left side of her chest. For a moment both their gazes turn back to the crowd outside.
"I should join them," Phila says finally.
"You should." Emmeryn watches as one knight in particular is swept up by her late-arriving lover, who spins her around and presses a hard kiss to her mouth. "Shall I receive a goodbye kiss, too?"
Phila's smile widens. She lowers herself to both knees, ignoring Emmeryn's protests, and takes one hand in both of hers. She holds it for a long while, as if to memorize it, and then her lips skim Emmeryn's knuckles in one chaste brush. When she stands, Emmeryn blesses her, invoking Naga as she makes Her sign over Phila's forehead.
"Take good care of yourself," Phila says before she's gone.
For the next two months Emmeryn counts the days and keeps the vase in her room filled with violets.