Chapter 22: A vacation?

For the next several days, the dwarves went up to the castle every day to talk with the King. For everyone else, there was not much to do, apart from marking time. The friends spent the days talking or walking around the busy capital city of Tethe'alla—except for Ribs and Athan, who made a trip to Coliseum to test their skills. That, however, is another story and may be told another time.

During that week, the only person who really worked was Lloyd. The only times the group consistently saw their unofficial leader was breakfast and dinner and, even then, he didn't pay much attention to what was around him and ate while reading a book on chivalry and knighthoods. Occasionally, he'd accost one of his friends and ask them if they thought this sounded better than that. He spent quite some time with paper and some pencils.

After four days of this, Elpida felt moved to comment on it. "He's being so serious," she told Sheena and Raine as they sat in Zelos' front room. "If he's not sleeping, he's reading one of those boring old books."

Sheena didn't seem too concerned with her fiancé's sudden fixation on the written word. "He'll get done with it. I think it'd be better if he'd just stay out of his way."

Elpida shook her head wonderingly. "I'm just surprised he hasn't taken a break."

Raine stared into space thoughtfully. "One thing you have to understand about Lloyd is that he's not strong academically. He doesn't have the patience to acquire knowledge just in case it comes in handy one day. He knows that. When I was teaching him, he applied himself to learning something if he could see a practical gain from it—or because it's fun or interesting for him. He learned to read and write because he could see the use of those skills, but he never wrote a paper or report I assigned to him. Addition and subtraction were useful for dealing with money, but he wasn't enthusiastic about multiplication or division. He threw himself into any exercises I taught them at PE—he's always been interested in making himself stronger." She paused for breath, and smiled slightly. "Oh, and he liked Art. But history, higher mathematics, and science lessons were mostly wasted on him."

Elpida frowned. "What's that got to do with right now?"

"For the first time, Lloyd's have to really wrestle with words. He's never had to deal with writing down exactly what he wants to say, clearly and without any room to misinterpret it. Personally, I want to leave him to it—I'm interested in seeing how he does on his own." The half-elf settled in further into the chair.

Lloyd's labors over the details of his knighthood lasted a week. When he came out of the room he'd made into what was, essentially, his lair, everybody else was eating lunch.

Lloyd's nose informed him Athan had been cooking—he could smell the seasonings and spices that went into most of Athan's dishes. It smelled that like meat-noodles-and-broth he made; Lloyd didn't know what the formal name for it was. The smell, however, woke Lloyd's stomach up, whereupon it informed him in no uncertain terms that he had been neglecting it. He padded down the steps, into the dining room where everybody was enjoying the meal. Salivating slightly, he asked plaintively, "Hey, can't I have a bowl?"

The group apparently hadn't noticed or expecting him, if the start of surprise everyone gave was any indication. ("I'm so sorry, Raine," Elpida said later. "I didn't mean to spill it on you like that.")

Zelos waved at him. "Good to see you! I thought you were dead. I was just discussing funeral arrangements with your hunny here."

"Shut it, Zelos," Lloyd told the grinning man shortly.

Sheena looked at Lloyd inquiringly. "Have you finished?"

"Yep," Lloyd proudly held up the few sheets of paper he'd brought down with him.

"Let's hear it!"

"Not until I get some of that, too. I'm starving."

Athan ladled up a bowl from the large pot in the middle of the table, and passed it along to an empty seat. Lloyd sat down to it and tucked in at an amazing pace.

After everyone finished, the silence was thick enough to float a brick as they watched Lloyd try to catch up. Apparently not noticing a combined stare that could fry an egg, Lloyd devoured all the noodles and meat, and then picked up the bowl, tilted it, and drank the broth like that.

The clink as he set down the bowl seemed abnormally loud. He looked around at the staring faces. "What?"

The five shouted at him at once, "LLOYD!" Ribs, in his corner, watched with a certain amusement.

"Okay! You don't have to shout!" He pulled the paper to him.

"Um...right. The name of the knights will be the Knights of Yggdrasill, or the Kharlan Knights, and our sign will be the Great Tree. Our purpose is to fight against discrimination, care for the Great Tree, and keep the peace between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. Our vows will be 'Never abandon someone in need,' 'Work together for a peaceful world,' 'Never idly accept or allow the sacrifice of someone's life,' and 'Never allow discrimination.'" He hesitated, and looked up at his friends. "Does that sound all right?"
"It'll work," Zelos said in the silence. "What else do you have?"
"We'll accept any race, and commoners aren't excluded. You don't have to be a fighter to be let in—you just have to have proved yourself as believing in what we do."

Zelos frowned. "People might not like that bit about commoners. I guess they'll get used to it."

"There's more stuff—about not letting Exspheres be used, and we're supposed to keep things from getting so bad that we have another Great War. We don't need this all to happen again.

From his habitual place in the corner, Ribs nodded. He was in costume, apart from the mask and hat. Definitely, his hands said.

Lloyd squinted at the undead. "Ribs, I'd like you to do me a favor."

Name it.

"Can you make my coat of arms and the crest of the Knighthood?"

The grinning skull nodded, and the gloved hands gave him a thumbs-up.

"Thanks, man." Lloyd stood up. "I think I'd better go to take this to his Majesty."

Sheena stood up. "I'll come—you owe me for this time you spent away from me."

Outside Zelos' mansion, Sheena turned to Lloyd. "Want to walk around a bit?"

Part of Lloyd's mind registered something in her tone, but the controlling part of his brain said, "I have to take this to—"

The dark-haired woman crossed her arms. "The King will be there, Lloyd."

That part of Lloyd's brain finally got control of his mouth. "I didn't think of it like that, Sheena—sure, let's go around."

They walked down to the commercial quarter, where all the interesting things were. Somehow, as they were passing the bakery they'd visited a week earlier, Sheena just happened to mention that she had a craving for something sweet. Lloyd heard an inner voice go, "Hello-o-o! She's dropping hints! Buy something! Pay attention to her!" Oddly enough, the inner voice seemed to sound much like Zelos. In response to its urgings, he said, "There's that bakery. Want to go in, love?" The term of endearment also was in response to that voice's advice; if the way she smiled at him was any indication, he'd have to use that trick more often.

When they came out, Sheena magnanimously broke the pastry Lloyd'd bought her in two, and gave him some. As they walked to nowhere special, Lloyd chewed reflectively, and swallowed. "It won't ever be the same, will it?"

Sheena swallowed hurriedly. "Huh?"

"Like you said the last time we walked out here. We've all come a long way. But a part of that means we can't go back."

They turned a corner. "You're right," Sheena said. "But...heh, this'll sound corny. But we'll be together when things change."

"Thanks," Lloyd said gratefully.

Sheena patted his cheek. After a moment, she said brightly, "Well, let's go see his Royal Slyness."

A bit later, up at the castle, in the library, the King read through Lloyd's notes. "You're being very...unconventional about this, you know."

"Yes, sir. I know. I read a few of the books on knights, and saw some mistakes people made with the other orders."

"Are you sure you want it like this?" the aging man asked intently.

"Yes, your Majesty. The Kharlan Knights, or the Knight of Yggdrasill, whatever you want to call us, will work for everything my friends and I have worked for, to make sure the same mistakes don't happen again."

The King smiled and nodded. "All right, Lloyd. I have to publicly ratify this. Anything you want to talk about before we lose all privacy?"

Lloyd glanced at Sheena questioningly. She shrugged almost imperceptibly.

"I don't think so, your Majesty."

The King's face had a suggestion of a smile, for only a moment. But, whatever amused him, he said, "Very well. Let's see to this, Sir Knight."

An hour later, Lloyd come out of the castle, feeling...liberated. "I'm glad that's over with," he confessed.

"Yeah...hey, Lloyd? Do you want to...take a vacation?"

"Huh?" Lloyd looked at his fiancée.

"You know, a break from all this?"

"But—"

"You're entitled to a bit of rest, Lloyd. It'll be fun!"

"Where would we go?"

"Altamira, maybe. But..." she shuffled her feet a bit guiltily. "I want to go back to the Monastery, too."

"Why—"

She let out a breath. "My mother's there. I want to meet her, Lloyd." When she looked at him, Lloyd realized something about his fiancée. She normally kept up a shell—a cheerful, friendly shell, but one that let her shrug off disappointments and protected her nonetheless. Right then, Sheena didn't have her shell. "I didn't go and see her last time we were there because there were things we had to do and I didn't want to get sidetracked or take a chance on something coming up to complicate things."

"Thank you," He told her quietly, realizing the sacrifice she'd made for the sake of him and his quest. "Is there anyone we should take with us?"

"Athan, for sure. And anyone who wants to go, I guess."

Lloyd smiled. Now that he thought about it, he realized he'd been wanting a break before another crisis came up. Sheena was at it again—she sometimes seemed to do a mind-reading act, knowing what he wanted or needed before he did. "Let's go tell them—I'll race you back to Zelos' house!"

Sheena's shell came back into place. She punched his shoulder. "You're on!"