Summary: A knight of the Brightvale guard keeps watch over a young Brynn during her first patrol, and finds himself thrust into the middle of one of her more memorable first encounters.

Aaand here's part 2! It took a little bit longer than I'd expected as I was beginning to feel a little dissatisfied with how the earlier portions (as well as part 1) played out, but I think it ended up all right. I might end up going back and trying to smooth the transition between it and part 1 for the NT short story version, but as a two-parter here it seems to be working pretty well as is. Enjoy!

Chance and Fate – Part 2

He kept one eye on the girl as she walked her first patrol.

It was that time again – time for the fresh young guards who had completed their primary training to finally begin taking on their first real duties. Truth be told, Sir Gregor was a bit worried about this simply due to the fact that the bulk of the Thieves Guild was currently settled in Brightvale… But then again, that was what the knight masters who guided and tutored their less-experienced squires were for.

Actually, Gregor wasn't really too concerned for his own squire. The purple Draik knew how to read people – could quickly figure out their strengths and weaknesses, how they would handle the situations thrown at them and grow over time – and he'd singled out and chosen this one after hours of careful observation during her early training. Brynn was her name, and at thirteen years of age she was as young as was permitted in the guard proper. To him, that showed a dedication and maturity beyond her years; a dedication that, along with her quick thinking and natural skill, she had since proven to him time and time again.

Gregor swore she'd make Captain one day.

For now, however, Brynn was held back by her youth and lack of experience. The Kougra's eyes roved the market square, clearly trying to take in everything that happened around her. What she did not see, however, was the small streak of blue creeping up directly behind her.

Gregor smiled inwardly, though he kept his expression indifferent. He figured he would let the thief get as far as nabbing her money pouch before letting both him and the squire know that he'd noticed; the experience, after all, would make for a far better lesson in watching your own back than any drill he could run her –

SMACK.

Gregor blinked in surprise and turned toward Brynn, who quite suddenly had one hand firmly gripped around the boy's wrist as she twisted around and met his wide-eyed stare. Gregor read the looks in their faces: Brynn was numb with shock at both having nearly been stolen from and having actually caught the perpetrator, and the boy with terror at his discovery. The knight was impressed – the boy, a small blue Ixi now that he looked at him properly, couldn't have been much older than his squire, yet besides failing to account fully for Gregor's line of sight he hadn't been doing a half bad job.

Brynn must have suddenly remembered herself, because she turned the kid around and twisted his hands behind his back to cuff him. The boy yelped in an unfamiliar accent, "No, wait! Have a little heart, I'm just poor and starving and needed a little money to buy food."

Brynn paused for a fraction of a second and glanced up at the knight, knowing that she still had to do her job but unsure just how to respond to that. He shook his head.

"Nice try, kid, but I doubt that when you've got clothes as fresh as those. Even if it were the case, there are better ways to get back on your feet around here. The prison wardens will keep you well fed while we track down your parents."

Brynn nodded in silent agreement. The boy huffed and looked away, his ears pinned back as he muttered, "I don't have a family."

Gregor cocked an eyebrow – he could tell the kid was still lying, but also that he wouldn't get anywhere by trying to press the matter further.

Brynn managed to inject some authority into her voice as she said, "Well, you still need to come with us. Let's get going."

The Ixi continued to pout as she came around behind him and began to lead him off, and Gregor fell into step beside her and kept one eye on him. After several minutes of awkward quiet as they walked, though, the kid craned his neck around to look at her and said, "I'm Hanso. What's your name?"

The squire scrutinized him for a moment before replying, "...Brynn..."

The boy – Hanso – grinned. "That's a cool name. Do they really let kids be knights in this place?"

Brynn's fur bristled slightly. "I'm not a knight yet, just a squire. And I'm not that young!"

Hanso seemed unfazed. "You still get to do patrols and stuff. That must be pretty neat. I bet you're good at it too, because I totally had you back there, and then WHAM! If I wasn't in handcuffs right now I would think that was the coolest thing ever."

Gregor chuckled to himself. Perhaps once this kid's sentence was up he'd manage to get him to join the guard and put his skills to better use, if he was so interested in knights and squires. The Draik wasn't sure he believed in fate, but it seemed a handy thing that the two teens had managed to run into each other when they had.

For her part, Brynn still seemed perplexed, although her expression had softened a bit since the start of the conversation. Even so, her next words were, "You're not just trying to flatter me into letting you off easy, are you? Because that's not going to work."

Gregor had to hold back a laugh. That's my girl! Sharp as anything.

Hanso had less success, and burst into a fit of delighted cackling. "You mean people actually do that?"

Even Brynn allowed herself a tiny smile in response to his humour. "I don't know, I'm still new to this, but you did try something similar earlier."

Hanso continued to ramble, and Gregor let him be. This whole chatting-up-the-criminals business was a little bizarre, and a part of him was wary of letting his squire get too comfortable with the boy. Yet she was a smart girl and had been holding her own just fine so far, so he figured this wouldn't be any harm.

Besides, if fate really did have a hand in what was going on here, then who was he to interfere?

You know, between this and BFF I've been having an interesting time trying to write for a younger, less familiar with one another Hanso and Brynn. I figure he started out simply admiring her and trying to outright be her friend (perhaps in part because he'd just moved to Brightvale and didn't really know anyone else in my headcanon), and it slowly morphed into the sort of half-flirting, half-teasing attitude we see early in TFR as he got older and more comfortable with her. For her part, I figure she pretty much spent all of their pre-TFR acquaintanceship being confused and a little frustrated by his attempts at friendship with the person who kept locking him up, but unable to deny that a part of her enjoyed his company. I dunno, just giving my two cents. Also, if I ever end up writing another pre-plot story for them it'll probably take place when they're around 15 or so, and quite possibly during the time when the Darkest Faerie attacked Brightvale. That must have been a crazy adventure for all the Brightvale guards, huh?

Anyway, all that aside, just thought I'd warn you that it will probably be a little while before I get to the next oneshot in the series. I've been kinda neglecting my chapter story Those Who Remain while writing these, and would like to get back on track with that and possibly finish it before getting distracted by oneshots again, heheh. However, the next oneshot on the list is one I've been looking forward to for a while now, so you can bet that once I get to it I'll work dang hard on the story to make it the best it can be!