August in the palace was rather insufferable. It wasn't the heat that vexed Eleni; she'd known plenty of hot and humid summers on the Copper Isles. What was driving her mad was the silence. With three weeks remaining until the rest of the pages returned to court, she found the silence of the pages wing to be haunting at best.

Perci had been to visit her once after one of their training sessions, but his room was now in another wing on another floor. Lokejo was her only companion, and while she loved him dearly after her time in the city, she was desperate for younger company.

Tired of seeing his young charge moping about her room, Lokejo made a suggestion. "You could always go flying."

"Grandfather asked me not to," she replied into her pillow. Lokejo had told her that it wasn't proper for a young lady to lie on her bed that way, but then he'd been forced to dodge another pillow. "Something about patrols on alert to shoot down anything suspicious. Apparently, the mages have been setting wards to catch anything remotely not normal."

"And that would include you," he asked. Eleni just shrugged. "Right. No point in taking the risk to find out. Well, I will be heading out and enjoying life." Eleni's head popped up. "What? Did you think I stayed put all day while you trained? I've my own friends and acquaintances, chick." He leaned over to kiss her head and left the room.

Eleni was stunned. On some level, it made sense that Lokejo had his own life besides serving her and making sure she didn't start some international conflict, but it still baffled her. He'd been her guardian since the cradle days; she'd never thought about what he did for himself. With a small groan, Eleni flopped back onto her pillow.

She must have dozed off in the warm room, because she was startled awake by a loud knock. Eleni pushed herself off the bed with one hand and used the other to run the sleep from her eyes. The knocking got louder and more insistent. By the time she opened the door, that famous Trebond temper was flaring. Eleni threw open the door and growled, "What?"

"Nice to see you too, kitten." Ferenc of Nond hadn't changed much in the year and a half since Eleni had last seen him. He was giving her that same easy smile he'd given Myles at his first examination and holding out a small bouquet of lavender. "I'm glad to see that the spunk wasn't part of the disguise."

Eleni could only stare at his hand before staring at his face and back again. While she'd seen most of her friends in May, the ones that were out training as squires got secondhand accounts. And here was Eleni, a right wrinkled mess in a dress, half asleep and growling at him. Gods, what he must think. Realizing that his hand was still held out, she reached out and took the blasted flowers.

Ferenc kept smiling at her. He had admired her skills when he thought her to be a boy, but her exposure as a girl had only made him like her more. His aunt was the famed Protector of the Small, after all, and Ferenc carried a soft spot for female warriors. "Did I disturb you?" He couldn't help but notice that the little redhead was still rubbing her face.

Desperate to say something - anything - Eleni blurted out, "I think I was sleeping."

"You think," he asked. She really was a kitten. There had always been something small but vicious about her; Ferenc was truly overjoyed to learn it was a genuine trait of hers. "Well, if you don't plan on returning to bed in the middle of the day," he made sure to stress the last part. "Would you care to have lunch with me and Perci?" Still unable to speak, Eleni could only nod. Thankfully, Ferenc was never at a loss for words. "We'll meet you in the pages' courtyard in a few minutes? Let you get ready?"

Nodding most emphatically, Eleni closed the door and leaned against it. Sliding to the floor, she realized that she was clutching the small bouquet to her pounding heart. This is a first, she thought. But Ferenc has always been friendly; it means nothing. The palace and everyone in it excepted a softer and more feminine version of Myles. How were they to know that the mercurial redhead had always acted true to herself. She smiled at the flowers and got up from the floor. If they expected anything less than Myles of Pirate's Swoop, they were in for a surprise.

Eleni found both boys under the singular tree left growing in the courtyard. Although the rest of the courtyard was compacted earth or paved stone, that one tree had been left to offer shade to generations of pages. Under the August sun, the shade was welcome, especially for a lunch between friends. And if Eleni was honest with herself, she was happy. Truly and sincerely happy to be able to call those two friends, to have people waiting for her, eager to see her. Neither mentioned that she had traded her dress for pants and a tunic, knowing that Eleni was still trying to find her new place in the palace. But everything would be all right in the end, their friendship was a sign of that.

Halfway through their lunch, the conversation was dominated by Ferenc's most recent adventure. "My master really did make me scale the side of the mountain!" he insisted. "Said that I clearly had too much energy to make camp quietly, so he wanted me to work off the energy." Perci laughed knowing that the blond was always too jovial for most people. Ferenc leaned against the trunk of the tree and sighed. "It served all of us really, because wolves attacked the camp while I was up on the ledge. At least I got to prove myself as an archer." He leaned forward to loudly whisper to Eleni, "The Bazhir value a good archer."

Perci could now only shake his head at his friend. "He's only saying that because he prefers it."

"So do I," Eleni said with a smile. "But Sir Zahir does sound like a great knight-master. I hope I get to be that lucky."

Ference gave her a gentle pat on the head and said, "You will. They'll be fighting to take you on."

"Just wait," Perci agreed. "But for now," he said looking at Ferenc. "It is time for our lessons. Can't be a squire if you don't know how to use a sword."

With just a little grumbling, Eleni got up and went to retrieve her blade. The two squires remained behind to tidy up from their lunch. And to have a serious conversation.

"You know, don't you?" Perci asked.

Ferenc gave a grim nod. "Who doesn't at this point?"

"I think our little friend might count as one, but that's because she's never aware of her surroundings," he replied despondently. "I worry about her."

"I do too. Even as Myles, there was just something good about her." Ferenc still didn't know what had drawn him to the little redhead. He had played it off as brotherly admiration for a young page who was always practicing, but that wasn't the whole of it. "Do you plan to tell her before the rest of the pages arrive?"

Perci closed his eyes to concentrate. He'd had a long summer. Certainly, it felt longer to his knight-master and the others who had lost family, but Perci had been at the center of the storm. He'd rather avoid a new one with Eleni.

"I'll have to," he said. "You've never seen her temper. Trust me when I say it's safer to avoid her wrath."

Page and squire were both exhausted but smiling. After two weeks of training her, Eleni was once again gaining ground. It had taken patience, from both of them, to slowly let her body adjust to training again. Her wounds and exile had undone some of her work over the past two years, but it was trivial. All she needed was a patient and dedicated mentor. Perci was only too happy to help her. Despite her initial lies and the emotional challenge of not overanalyzing every instant of their friendship, Perci had to admit that he wouldn't have been able to ignore her. Either as Myles or Eleni, the redhead was a good person, so he would do what he could to help her be a good knight.

"You've gotten better," he offered. He knew she was still upset with herself for not progressing fast enough, but that was the way of things; one had to walk before they could run. "You might even be able to best Devin when he returns."

She perked up at the mention of her friend. They were due to start arriving soon and she couldn't wait. Ferenc had been called away to the desert with his knightmaster, and while Perci was wonderful company, she missed her yearmates.

"You think so?" she asked. "I know I can take on Schuylar, but a bout with Devin would be interesting."

Perci had to agree. "As my new protege, I would expect you to win." Eleni grinned even wider. Perci let out a long breath; he hated having to dampen her joy. "And as my protege, I must also offer a warning."

"Don't stab myself with my blade?" she joked. Ever unaware, Eleni missed his darkening tone.

"About a new page," he responded. He lowered himself to sit against the old tree. Patting the ground, he commanded her to sit. "There will be a new page," he began. "That I know of, at least. I wanted to warn you so that you weren't too shocked the day she's introduced."

Eleni was listening. She couldn't imagine anything being worse than the pages who had already paraded through the palace, but she let Perci go on. He seemed to think it was important.

Perci could see his words weren't having the desired effect. He was skirting the issue, because he didn't want to be the one to tell her and see the dam break down, but it would be worse if she didn't know. "You know Miuko, or at least met her before," he finally blurted. He saw her breath hitch and decided that it would be best to get it all out before she stopped listening. "She's recovered enough from the attack in May. She said you and Tirragen inspired her to train for a shield. Sir Nealan wasn't pleased and Queenscove was a right battlefield while we were there, but she won - " Perci stopped his rushing words. "Eleni?"

She couldn't think. She was cold and couldn't breathe. All Eleni could feel was sweat and a pounding drum in her chest. She was seeing silver flashes and her grip on her blade tightened until it hurt. She tried to shake her head and looked down to her hands but they were covered in blood, silver and crimson.

Perci watched Eleni, hoping she'd give some kind of response soon, but he quickly noticed her spiraling into herself. Her eyes were pressed shut and she was shaking. She wasn't in the courtyard; her mind had taken her back to the forest, to a day she'd almost died twice. He shouldn't have been the one to warn her, but no one else wanted to even try.

"Come here," he gently whispered. Perci had never been one to be affectionate, but his older sisters had often comforted him as a child. He was no stranger to the good a hug could do. Carefully he opened her hands and took her sword from her cold fingers. "You're fine now," he said into her hair as she began to cry.

Eleni never really took the time to process that day. By the time she'd been discharged into the care of her grandparents, she'd been physically fine. As such, neither had taken much time to dwell on the day; the healers had mended her and not much more was needed. They should have known better. While others had lost much more than Eleni, her experience that day was extraordinary and she had yet to feel the full effect of its consequences. She'd tried so valiantly to rescue Kyle, she'd tried to fight off Pier, she'd tried to make Alex's sacrifice worthwhile, she'd tried to do something - anything - to save the courtiers in the clearing, she'd tried and tried and tried to no avail. So many had died and she had been too weak.

Perci let her cry against his shoulder, knowing that this was necessary. He'd watched his knight-master go to war with his emotions for weeks; this was part of a process in order to get somewhere better. Eventually she'd feel lighter.