Twilit Nightfall

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Prologue: Betwixt and Between

The mood was festive.

Unsurprising, considering that a massive celebration was being planned. The coronation of King Ephraim was fast approaching, and it marked the brightest spot in recent memory, considering the massive devastation the entire continent had suffered.

Even now, as the setting sun drenched the courtyard in hues of gold, harried members rushed to and fro, preparing for the event. Courtiers and pageboys scampered towards the castle, farmhands drove carts laden with foodstuffs towards the kitchens, and the knights supervised the proceedings with wry smiles on their faces.

Unnoticed amidst the chaos, Franz weaved nimbly through the thronging crowd, heading for the main castle gates, a wide smile etched onto his face. In his hand was clutched a roll of paper.

But this was no ordinary sheet of paper. Oh, no. What was contained within merited the care and concern the young knight was lavishing upon the flattened piece of wood pulp. Not that Franz actually knew what wood pulp was, but that's neither here nor there.

As he dodged a baker hauling a huge sack of flour towards the side gates, his grin widened as he caught sight of the person he had been looking for standing at the far end of the area. Quickening his pace, Franz closed the gap between the two of them rapidly.

"Amelia!" The blonde recruit turned at the sound of her name, a shy smile blossoming on her face as she caught sight of Franz.

"Franz? What is it?"

The knight merely grinned as he handed her the rolled up scroll. Raising an eyebrow, Amelia unfurled it, then turned back to Franz, a dubious look on her face.

"Franz, in your excitement to reveal this oh-so stunning bit of news to me, might it have slipped your mind that I can't read?"

It was standard practice for Renaitian knights to be taught how to read and write on at least a basic level. Franz had never questioned the uniqueness or validity of this standard, so it had come as a bit of a surprise to him that knights from the neighbouring countries had never been imparted with any such skill. In any case, Amelia had joined up as a foot- soldier and had never sworn any vow, so it was a moot point at best.

Taking back the scroll with a sheepish smile, Franz flipped it over so he could read, and began. "As of the third day of the fifth month of the first year of the reign of King Ephraim, Amelia of Silva, formerly a soldier in the Grado army, is to be knighted under the Order of the Silver Dragon and responsibilities and authority in accordance with her stature – "

He was cut off by a squeal of excitement from Amelia. "I made it? I'm a knight of Renais? For real?"

"I haven't finished yet." Franz replied with a wry smile. Taking back the paper, he continued. "Recruit Amelia is to be present at the throne room at the passing of the third watch one day after the release of this proclamation, whereupon she will receive the emblem and armour of office, and swear a vow of allegiance to King Ephraim, sole Lord and Monarch of the Kingdom of Renais."

He looked up. "Congratulations, Amelia. You did it."

"…" Amelia closed her eyes and let loose a long sigh of relief, calming down somewhat. "I thought for sure I'd failed. You know how tough the training programme was?"

Franz laughed. "You probably did better than me. I think I made it through by the skin of my teeth. You should go get yourself prepared, though. You'll need to shine your armour, wash up, and all that."

Amelia nodded and turned, heading towards the castle. After a few steps, she stopped and turned back. "Thanks for coming to tell me."

"Anytime."

"I do hereby swear fealty and loyalty to the King Ephraim, reigning monarch of the Kingdom of Renais, to serve him faithfully as my Lord and to love him as I would love myself, in living or dying, until my Lord release me, or death take me."

Franz, standing at attention, couldn't help but crack the smallest of smiles as he watched Amelia kneeling before the throne. Though he couldn't see Amelia's expression from his vantage point, he had a pretty good idea how she was feeling – especially since he'd been through pretty much the same thing about two years back.

Despite the nervousness she had to be experiencing, she uttered her oath with a clear, steady voice. King Ephraim, for his part, looked appropriately regal, stern yet kindly, the way a king preceding over the knighting of a subject should look.

"This I do henceforth swear." Amelia finished, raising her head to look at the King in the eye.

King Ephraim rose, and extended his scepter towards Amelia. If not for his disciplinary training, Franz might have smirked at this apparent display of pretentiousness – so unlike Ephraim, but ceremony was ceremony.

"This I have heard, and this I have accepted." Ephraim began. "I hereby dub thee, Amelia, a knight of the order of –"

KzzCHT! SKREEEEE!

Franz jerked instinctively at the harsh sound on his ears, hand automatically finding its way to his sword hilt as he glanced around to find the source of the strange screeching noise.

What he got was a sea of confused faces staring at him. No one else seemed to have noticed anything out of the particular, and Franz was left two steps in front of the ranks, looking like an idiot. General Seth, in particular, seemed rather chagrined that Franz would be acting such.

Slowly, his arm left his sword hilt. Stepping back into the ranks, Franz closed his eyes, feeling his cheek and necks burn. Ephraim had had the presence of mind to not let the ceremony be interrupted by one wayward knight, and his voice filled the air as Franz prayed desperately for the earth to simply swallow him up.

Amelia headed down the hallway, humming an indistinct tune to herself, when one of the guards she knew by name called her.

"Amelia! Congratulations on the promotion!"

"Oh, you heard about it, Jace?"

"I think just about everyone has. Everyone who knows you knew you'd make the cut."

Amelia smiled tiredly. "Thanks. I mean it."

Jace nodded. "So where are you headed off to now?"

"I need to fix something. During the knighting ceremony, it seems one of the RDF packets jammed and interfered with the sound output."

"Oh… Franz noticed, huh?"

"Yeah, he practically jumped two feet into the air and spun around looking for the source of all that noise. I have to make sure something like that doesn't happen again." Amelia rubbed her forehead tiredly. "In fact, I should probably go check up on him soon."

Franz sat in the castle gardens, whittling away at a piece of wood, and trying his best not to think about how he had made a complete and utter fool out of himself during the knighting ceremony.

Of course, he wasn't very successful at this particular venture.

"Franz?"

He looked up. "Amelia." Then he sighed. "Sorry about what happened during…"

"Don't be silly." Amelia grinned. "There was no real harm done."

"Not unless you count General Seth reprimanding me about proper behaviour during courtly proceedings." Franz managed a tired smile. "What about you? How do you plan on celebrating your official knighting? The day I was knighted, Forde dragged me to this wreck of a tavern and made me spend the night drinking rum. I didn't recover for a week."

Amelia let out a short laugh, before settling down on the wooden bench next to Franz. "I dunno, I thought I'd spend the day with my favourite person. Sounds like a good enough celebration."

Franz reached over and held Amelia's hand tightly. "Definitely like the way you think, Amelia."

The two of them sat in silence for several seconds, before Amelia spoke up. "Franz?"

"Hm?"

"I don't mean to drag you through that again, but why'd you suddenly jump during the ceremony?"

"Huh? Oh, it's just… there was this weird noise."

"Noise?"

"Yeah, it was a screeching sound of some sort. Sounded very close, like it was right in my ear or something. Did you hear anything out of the ordinary?"

"No, can't say I did."

Franz shook his head. "Whatever it was, it's gone now – no reason to make a big fuss over it."

Amelia seemed to consider this for a second before nodding and leaning in closer. "Yeah. No reason to worry, I suppose."

They sat there in silence, each enjoying the other's company.

End Prologue

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