Chapter 3: Siblings and Bern's Protectors
'I've got some of grandfather's pie—' I push open the door to Zeiss' room after a few knocks, 'Zeiss?!'
My brother is writhing on the rug in front of his bed. He grunts with pain as he grips onto one shoulder. A broken broom lies under a pencil sketch of his wyvern Rubley which Ellen made.
'What're you doing?' I place the steaming pie by the circular metal bedside table.
'Mi... Ah,' Zeiss' ruffled hair catches lint from the rug, 'my angle was off...'
'Were you trying to practice your techniques with a broom?' I pick up the handle and try to match it with the head but both pieces are completely splintered, 'you should be resting. Besides, a broom and a lance are completely different.'
'You mean I have to waste away for a month?' Zeiss hauls himself up from the bedpost to a sitting position.
'Well, you'll be here even longer if you don't listen the doctor's advice,' I place the two broom pieces to one side and study the charcoal sketch. The texture of the scales, eyes and nails looks three-dimensional. A fork grates against plate as Zeiss starts shovelling pie into his mouth. I turn around with the sketch in my hand, 'have you been resting at all? Mother said the orphans at the church have been pestering you.'
'Ellen hasn't been here so I thought I'd help her and Father Renault out,' Zeiss peers over at the drawing, 'Rubley actually ate the first draft when I took Ellen out to the mountains to pick flowers. It's a great drawing, isn't it?'
'Especially that she doesn't own a wyvern herself.' The angling of the eyes, the jagged edges of the tail and the way it is tucked under Rubley are so distinct.
'Ellen always had a knack for capturing people's emotions. Adults, children, animals...' Zeiss rests his forehead on one knee, 'that's why she became a priestess, I guess. She has too much love to confine to a future husband and children.' Zeiss' chewing slows like a cow, despondent and ruminating, 'do women always know what they want so early in life?'
'People change their minds. Although, I always knew I wanted to be a wyvern knight,' I remember Zeiss had proposed to Ellen, though that was when they were 8 years old, 'anyway, Zeiss, there's no need to despair. You're a hard-working, earnest knight of Bern. Women will flock towards you when you land at any port with the troops.'
'You speak like I'm a lustful, prideful man who will run after anything in a skirt,' Zeiss crawls into bed, pulling the quilt up to his chin so it looks like a massive petticoat.
'I just said you were hard-working and earnest.' I sit by the bedside, 'I'm sorry if I mocked your feelings. I'm not good at talking about these matters either.' I recall Ellen praying to St Elimine about my 'deficits in all matters of the heart.'
'It's OK, Miledy,' Zeiss gathers pastry flakes in his fingers and tips them in his mouth, 'we're knights, after all.'
'Captain Gale visited, didn't he?' I ask. Mother forbade me from sharing her hypothesis about Gale being an Etrurian spy but I wonder if I could drop hints or if Zeiss has had any similar suspicions from a mentee's perspective.
'More to pay his respects to our parents and grandfather. But I spoke briefly with him,' Zeiss glances at the broom, 'he said the best way to improve my combat skills was to watch others who used the same weapons, in our case the lance and later the sword: cavaliers, foot soldiers— Captain Gale said he learnt the most from watching Pegasus knights during his travels through Ilia. Their motions are adapted for speed during high wind and blizzards.'
Ilia, the snow country: I wonder what Gale was doing there, 'how is he as a teacher?' I consciously lock my eyes onto his and steady my voice, desperate to hide any doubts about Gale's character that Mother has planted in me.
'I wouldn't be surprised if he became one of the leading generals of Bern later on,' Zeiss looks outside as Rubley's tail flashes at the window, 'Captain Gale is the quintessential knight of Bern, despite being from Etruria.'
'Do you think anyone objects to his being Etrurian?' I try to add casually while smoothing out a blanket fold.
'I'm sure some knights whisper about it — until they actually see Captain Gale's dedication to combat.' The blanket creates a tepee over the point where Zeiss crosses his feet, 'besides, he already has General Murdock's endorsement.'
I pinch a piece of fabric between my fingers. Zeiss is right: but why is Mother still so suspicious? Could there have been a time when General Murdock made a near-fatal error? 'Has General Murdock ever been wrong about anything?'
'It can't be,' Zeiss scratches his head, further ruffling the crimson hair, 'General Murdock has never been wrong in his judgement of comrades. Although if anyone were to betray—.'
'Th-That's not what I meant—!' What if he's caught onto my conversation with Mother?
'I know, I know,' Zeiss laughs. He seems oblivious to cause of my nervousness, 'I just meant IF anyone were to betray their country, it would be Captain Narcian. Even then, betrayal is a harsh accusation. Captain Narcian may be slimy and lustful, but he has too much to lose from defection.'
'I suppose...' I stare out at the blue sky opening up between clouds, searching for the umber scales of Gale's wyvern, 'a quintessential knight of Bern...'
'Ellen is right,' Zeiss grins, 'you really are quite fond of Captain Gale.'
'Please,' I grumble, lying horizontally across the foot of his bed, 'that girl is such a gossip. Still, I wouldn't trust anyone else to be a fellow lady-in-waiting to Princess Guinevere.' That's right: our first council meeting will be at the King's Court next week. The beams over Zeiss' bed become arched domes. Bird cheeps meld into the tense murmurs of high-ranking officials. Next week, I, Miledy will truly be stepping into the roles that my father and grandfather played as protectors of our great country.
