A.N.: Ask and ye shall receive a Kent/Lyndis chapter. A special thanks goes to Talren for providing the inspiration for this one.
Begin
Something wasn't right, but Kent was thoroughly unable to discover what.
The red knight of Caelin quickly cast his gaze over the room. Nothing looked out of place. The tapestries and ornaments were still in their proper places and showed no signs of having been tampered with. The servants were going about their business without any hint or sign of a dawdle. His soldiers were at attention and performing their duties well; the Lady Lyndis... correction: Lyn looked thoroughly miserable within the confines of Lycian formal dress (an expression that Kent knew would vanish the moment that the other nobles appeared). Everything seemed to be normal within the Caelin throne room.
Perhaps he was still on edge from the Black Fang Wars. Now that their struggles against Nergal had ended, he did not have to be as wary as he formerly was. There was no shadowy group waiting to ambush them at every town, nor was there any fear of Nergal suddenly deciding to rain morphs down upon them. Everyone's focus had moved from the military threat of Nergal to handling the political fallout of their recent adventures. Maybe he was still thinking too much like a warhorse instead of a guardian.
The red-haired knight willed himself to still, to find peace with their current situation.
He failed. This was no figment of his imagination, there was something very wrong with the throne room.
Kent studied the room again, visually checking every trinket, object, servant and guard within the vicinity. His studies yielded little fruit and failed to point him towards the source of his consternation.
The red knight looked over the rough, stone walls and the candlesticks embedded thereon. He glanced over the various tapestries and rugs. Nothing was out of place. The tables also looked fine, as did the throne itself...
His heart melted a little as Lyn fell under his watchful eye. Tender emotion welled up in his chest at the sight of her, and he permitted the barest hint of a smile to play upon his lips. He loved her.
Realization that she was being watched settled upon Lyn, prompting her to look up and catch her friend's gaze. Their eyes locked.
As he stared into the depths of her green eyes, losing himself in their marvelous depths and warmth, Kent fell in love with his Lady all over again. She had a heart and courage that few could match, which was carefully balanced by her kindness and compassion. He loved everything about her. She meant the world to him.
The rattling of a door's opening brought the two back to reality. Kent regretfully tore his eyes away from the lady that he loved and became the professional soldier that he was now required to be. He carefully schooled his features to their customary somber expression. He had to remember his place, and not stray from it.
It was frustrating that society demanded that they leave their feelings behind and play out their assigned roles. The red knight of Caelin looked forward to the day when they could leave society behind. He had already decided to return to the plains with Lyn, and he was certain that he could learn to live anywhere so long as she was also there.
But none of this told him what was wrong with the present situation.
Perhaps, if his eyes were failing to tell him the problem, then it was not something that could be seen. It was probable, often one sense could find something that the others failed to indicate. He had nothing to lose, he might as well try it.
Although he retained his watchfulness, he devoted a small measure of his attention to the sounds that filled the air. Maybe his hearing would explain what his eyes could not.
The customary clatter of boots upon stone was normal, as was the rustling and bustle caused by the servant's work. He could hear the noises, animals and conversations of the outside world penetrating through the castle's windows, but those were not cause for concern.
Kent frowned. Maybe his instinct was wrong?
No, his instinct had saved him more times than not. He needed to listen to it.
The red knight of Caelin took a deep breath in an effort to calm his nerves. Exercising proper military discipline, the red-haired knight was careful to keep his mouth closed and his intake shallow as he breathed through his nostrils. He could not be seen giving any indication that anything was amiss.
Two seconds later, he realized what was bothering him.
Their situation smelled wrong. Lyn smelled wrong.
It was a rather strange thought and a realization that prompted Kent to feel awkward. A blush threatened to spill upon his cheeks, forcing him to devote several precious seconds to combating that potentially embarrassing development. Once he had regained control of his composure, and sternly reminded himself that there was nothing wrong with noticing such things about the woman he loved, the red-haired man steadied himself and began analyzing the situation in detail.
As bewildering as it seemed, the cause of his concern was, in fact, the way Lyn smelled. During their time together during the Black Fang Wars he had come accustomed to certain things about his comrades and fellow warriors, so much so that it had become an identifying part of them. He had become used to the presence of the aforementioned things. Now that they were back under formal etiquette, he found himself missing those identifying idiosyncrasies.
Lyn's scent was one of them.
It was very odd. As crude as it sounded, he'd never paid the slightest bit of attention to the way that she smelled before, and yet now that her scent had changed, he could identify what was missing without a moment's hesitation. The Lyn of the Black Fang Wars carried the subdued scent of steel and iron, a byproduct of their constantly warring state, along with a hint of the earth, and a dash of the wind itself. Blended among those other features had been a quiet, yet pervasive, bitter sweetness- a telltale leftover from the many vulneraries they used.
It had been a strange mixture of odors that had followed Lyn about as surely as any fancy perfume could. He had come to expect it of her, and somehow it had become a fairly dear scent to him- perhaps it was the sweetest thing he had ever breathed.
As he thought about it, Kent realized that he had come to identify that scent as the perfume of his love's presence, much the same way that a strong odor would always serve to trigger a memory. The absence of such a smell was now putting him off-balance.
He felt like a schoolboy for worrying over such things- a disobedient schoolboy who should be chastened for neglecting his studies to worry over his first puppy love. He quickly shook his head and ignored his feelings of unease. He was in love with Lyn, had admitted it, and she accepted it. There was no harm in his thoughts.
Still... he couldn't help but wonder...
The red knight of Caelin slowly, in an attempt to preserve some amount of his dignity, inhaled a deep breath and took careful attention to examine the many smells that tickled his nostrils. What did Lyn smell like now?
Never had he experienced such a contrast before.
The scent of his Lady before him was clean... sterile... and lacked any real sense of depth. There was a hint of some spice or perfume, but it was so slight as to be barely noticeable. There was no real way to identify her presence based upon her scent.
It was one of the most depressing things that Kent had ever experienced. Now he fully understood Lyn's frustration. Never had her two lives been as real to him as they were at this moment. Intellectually, he had always known that Lyn of the Lorca had led a very different life than Lady Lyndis, the Noble Lady of Caelin. Now he was brought down to the stark contrast between those two lives- and just what those differences meant to her.
Their scents told it all.
Lyn of the Lorca was a woman who loved the land that sustained her, and enjoyed the freedom that the plains brought. Her life was simple, dealing with little more than any day-to-day needs. She was happy there. This was, perhaps, the true Lyn- the Lyn who smelled of the soil and the wind.
Lyndis of Caelin was a very different person. She was called upon to be a person that was foreign to her; to attempt to fit into a society that she knew nothing about, to deal with customs and manners that meant nothing to her. Her attempts to fit into those roles left her with nothing, as evidenced by the sterility of her present scent.
Was it any wonder that she preferred her original name, Lyn, above that of her title? Now he knew just why she had balked at his initial attempts to love her. To her, pursuing a sterile title, and not the woman who laid beneath.
Kent was certain that Lyn loved her grandfather and enjoyed spending time with him; but it was the rest of this life that did not suit her. She might have been able to fit into this world after much effort and practice, but as it stood now her heart was on the plains and it was there that she would return.
For the first time, the red knight of Caelin caught a hint, a glimpse, of the enormity of the struggles that Lyn had faced. Again, intellectually, he had known them to be there, but only now were they becoming real to him. Caelin exercised marginal acceptance of her while Lycia as a whole frowned upon her presence. Trying to fit into this mold must have been frustrating beyond degree.
It made him want to catch her up in her arms and protect her from the rest of the world. He had been given the title 'The Crimson Shield' upon his promotion some time back, and now he wished that he could, indeed, shield her from the rest of the world who despised her presence. He wanted to spare her that pain and hardship.
Unfortunately, he could not. Not at this point where society and rules dictated that he had to remain on the sidelines, where he could do nothing but wait and watch. He was supposed to remain alert and silent, a presence but not a participant. Whatever Lyn may have to face in this meeting, she would have to do so without his intervention. His chest ached over his helplessness, but there was nothing he could do.
But eventually. that would change, Kent vowed silently. When affairs were put in order and Ostia had completed its takeover of Caelin, he would see Lyn back to the land that she loved- to the life that suited her. She would be free to leave Lyndis behind and to assume the mantle of Lyn again. She could once again wear the scent of the earth, the wind, and the toil of her life without fear of repercussion; if she would have him, he would be by her side and do his utmost to make her happy.
-Soon, Lyn.- The red knight promised his love. -Very soon we'll leave this place, and return to the land of Sacea... just hold on a little longer...-
And somehow, Kent was certain that she would.
End
A.N.: Just a quick heads-up, unless something changes, the final sense isn't going to be as fluffy as the last four pieces have been. It will probably be more of a tragedy than anything else.