"Flare, as you may already know, is a half-elf. Her mother was a human, while her dad was a pure blooded elf. Though I'm not knowledgeable on elves' nations, I was told he lived a peaceful life as a teacher deep in the forest that serves as the border between this kingdom and the next, in a community that was much similar to one you might find in a human town. However, as I'm sure you're aware, there was a war between some human nations and the elves. I suppose there's no need to delve into the reasons for it, seeing as a knight would be more knowledgeable than me in that matter."

Noel nodded in affirmation.

"Unfortunately, both this kingdom and the neighbouring one agreed to join this war, and as such the elves living in the forest that separated the two came into discussion. Eventually, they were deemed a threat and it was decided an army would be formed to eliminate them." the elder shook his head.

"A foolish decision, of course. I can only assume they were pressured by some more powerful nations to make an example out of them. I can't see any other reason to send an army into the homeland of a group of elves that hadn't shown any signs of hostility. In fact, I'm not even sure this particular community was even aware of the war in the first place… But I digress. Now, although the humans were well prepared and outnumbered the enemy by several hundreds, this was the forest, the home of the elves, and the human army soon had to retreat after suffering numerous losses due to traps and other surprise attacks. Some were caught and taken as prisoners, and among those was Flare's mother, who used to be a knight much like you, Lady Shirogane. Nonetheless, the elves were perhaps even worse off. Their infrastructures had taken quite the beating, many had died, and flames were pullulating in multiple places due to the humans' use of fire arrows. They scrambled to try and help the wounded, bury the dead or just put out the raging fires, but there was a lack of personnel everywhere. As such, some elves had to take on duties that they wouldn't have done normally. Flare's father happened to be one of those, having been selected to be in charge of some of the human prisoners."

"But how could he help guard prisoners? You said he was a teacher?" Noel interrupted.

"Yes, he was. A magic teacher, and, as such, he was more than capable of using offensive and defensive spells if that turned out to be necessary. One of the inmates he ended up taking care of during that time happened to be Flare's mother. The two started talking and found out that neither of them harboured any ill feelings towards the other; in fact, they both felt that the war was a disgrace and were angry that the arrogance of the rich could kill so many innocents. Her mother was a knight, yes, but she confessed that were she to get out of there alive, she would quit, for she did not enlist to slaughter people who had done nothing wrong." the elder continued.

Noel felt her heart race. It would be a lie to say that she had not had similar thoughts from time to time. Although she had never been asked to kill anyone, she was often forced to detain people whose only crime was having been too poor.

"And so, the months passed. In the end, no one came back for the prisoners, and there wasn't any message from the human nations for a long time. The two of them formed a kinship which went far past the one of prisoner and guard, and that soon blossomed into love. Of course, they had to keep it to themselves, as Flare's father would surely be in dire straits if their relationship was found out. At this point though, most elves were convinced that another offensive would not come. But one day, an elf guard came back from the frontier with terrible news: a second human army had been formed and was on their way.

This caused mass panic. The town was yet to fully recover, and were they to fight, it might be destroyed beyond repair. Although it was seen as shameful, many chose to flee deeper into the forest instead of putting their lives at risk once more. Flare's parents, too, wanted to do so. However, there was a problem: her mother, being a human, couldn't flee through the dense forest as fast as the elves could, and on top of that she had become pregnant with Flare. Not wanting to live their life on the run with a baby on the way, and out of any other options, the two decided to run as fast as they could in the direction of a human town. By chance, the army had rendezvoused in the kingdom that neighbours ours, and as such they fled the other way, hoping to find somewhere to stay, even if it had to be in secret. Eventually, they arrived in this village. I was but a young lad back then, and had taken the position of head of the village just a few years prior. You can imagine my surprise when an elf and a pregnant woman arrived, both in quite a disgraceful state, and asked for shelter." the old man's eyes gleamed with nostalgia as he retold the story.

"Now, our village had come in contact with quite a few soldiers during the war, due to being relatively close to the road that passes through the forest and into the next kingdom. These soldiers were almost always nasty and disrespectful thugs, and as such me and the other villagers did our best to try and stay out of their way. There happened to be some stationed here when Flare's parents arrived, meant to join as reinforcements in the incursion against the elves. I knew I was taking a risk by allowing an elf to stay instead of warning the guards, but I sure wasn't gonna refuse to help a pregnant woman and her partner because some fools in another country suddenly decided elves were evil. Still, it wasn't an easy decision to make. I called in everyone I trusted and we had a meeting, along with the soon to be parents. There were some who feared the village bearing the consequences in case Flare's father was found out, but, after he promised that he would take all responsibility, no further complaints were raised. And, for a while, everything was fine. They were given a house, and Flare was born safely just a couple weeks after their arrival. Since going out during the day carried the risk of being seen by the guards, many of us brought them foodstuffs, clothes, and whatever else they needed to live. In exchange, Flare's father used his magic to help with the crops, and let me tell you: not only did not a single person go hungry that winter, we were eating better than we ever had. By then, nearly every resident in the village knew of Flare's parents, and they both respected them and disliked the soldiers far too much to make a denunciation. Sadly, things didn't last for too long. A messenger arrived one day with an announcement for the knights who had been stationed in the village for the past few months. Apparently, the elvish army was so diminished the humans had taken over quite easily and did not have a need for any further reinforcements. " The man paused the narration momentarily, his face seemingly darkened.

"I don't know if it was the frustration of not getting to fight or from simply celebrating their supposed victory, but quite a lot of knights got drunk that night. Some left their tents on the outside of the village and started wandering inside. Fortunately, most of them didn't cause much of a problem, besides passing out on the streets. One soldier, however, was in an especially bad temper and started harassing whoever he saw passing by. He didn't cease when asked to, and even started trying to bother some of the younger women. I tried to stop him myself, but was just pushed away. I couldn't compete with a knight's strength, after all." the elder shrugged.

"As we prepared for the worst, Flare's father suddenly came outside. He quickly intercepted the man, taking him out with a single spell and carrying him back to the entrance. We all hoped he had been too drunk to remember anything, but the next day the soldier came back, insisting he had seen an elf the night prior. He also conveniently omitted his disgusting actions and swore the elf had attacked him for no reason. All lies, of course, but they seemed to be enough to convince their captain, who ordered a search to be done to the entire village. I implored Flare's dad to leave before they found him but he, honouring his agreement, made no attempt to run or hide and readily took all the blame for himself. He was taken as a prisoner and, after the soldiers returned to the capital, we never heard anything from him again."

Noel could do nothing but stare in awe. If all of this was true, then she could understand the distrust and coldness that the villagers had directed at her when she first arrived. She had simply attributed it to the natural conservativeness that comes with living in an isolated community.

To think there was a reason like this…

"Flare's mother stayed here. Though I'm sure she would have readily gone with her husband had she not had a kid to raise. Those two were really close, even for a couple." A glimpse of wistfulness could be seen in the man's face.

"She ended up dying just a couple of years later, of disease. She did not have a weak complexion, but the loss of her loved one affected her more than she was willing to show. From then on, me and the other villagers took care of Flare until she was old enough to live by herself. We always made sure she was hiding whenever knights or other visitors from outside passed by. I guess, in the end, she became the villages' secret." The elder heaved a long sigh and gulped down the little water left in his cup.

"And that concludes this story. Flare, do you have anything to add?"

The elf simply shook her head, her brown cheeks having been damp for a while now.

The village head nodded and turned to Noel, bowing his head.

"As I said earlier, I have no power to stop a knight. And so, I will simply ask of you; please do not arrest this girl."

"I.. never had any plans to." replied a baffled Noel.

"Excuse me?" the elder, who had looked so solemn and serious until a second ago, was now staring wide-eyed at the knight. Flare too displayed a look of incredulity on her face.

"You might not believe me, but I did not think about Flare's race until she mentioned it. I was simply afraid that someone could be staying in an empty house with the village being none the wiser. If that is not the case, then I have no more worries." Noel beamed a smile that left no room for doubting the authenticity of her words.

"Don't knights… hate elves?" Flare asked cautiously.

"Maybe some stuck up veterans and ignorant novices do, but nowadays most are indifferent. Honestly, I don't think the topic of elves ever came up while I was working in the capital. With that said, I can't imagine the suffering you and your parents went through. It might mean nothing to you, but I still want to apologize on behalf of the Knight Order."

"It's… it's alright. It was many years ago."

Noel knew she couldn't forgive them like that. There was nothing she could do to heal the grief caused by the loss of her parents. And yet, she wanted to make up for it.

"Flare. "

Noel suddenly got up, approaching the elf.

"Eh? What is-"

She stopped, astonished at what she was seeing. The knight captain was bowing at her.

"I'm sorry. Not just for the suffering other knights have caused you, but also for the one I did. All I wanted was to protect this village and its inhabitants, and yet I forced you to be in hiding for this long and even mistook you for a criminal."

"Wha… no, it isn't your fault, I- "

"From now on, feel free to walk around as you please. I will tell the other knights of you, and I can assure you will be safe. Please, go outside as much as you'd like."

Silence fell in the elder's house. This had come so quickly, Flare was barely capable of processing it yet, much less being sure of how to answer. Teary-eyed, the elf simply nodded.

Noel took a deep breath. Although she was speaking from her heart, the next words took quite a bit of courage to utter.

"And, uhm, if you don't mind… I would like to talk to you more. I-I know you might be afraid of me or hate me because I am a knight, but I would still like to be friends with you, if possible…"

The knight felt her face blushing. Now that she had said it, it felt a bit childish, but these were her true feelings.

"That's…" Flare hesitated. It still wasn't easy for her to accept everything that had happened, but one look at Noel told her all she needed to know.

There's no way someone could fake a face like that. she thought.

Flare got up, wiped her wet face, and extended her hand to the knight. The escape plan she had formulated earlier was now all but forgotten.

"Now that I have heard you speak, I can tell you have no hurtful intentions. As embarrassing as this is to say, you remind me of my late mother. I would like if we could be friends as wel-"

She was interrupted by a sudden hug from Noel.

"Thank you for giving me a chance."

"Eh?! Ah, no problem…" the elf replied, her cheeks almost as crimson as her eyes.

Seeing those two in an embrace gave the village elder an almost nostalgic feeling.

Huh… I guess I am old enough to see history repeat itself. He tittered to himself. The village was bound to get more lively from now on.

After the incident, the elder called for a meeting, in which he explained the situation to the other members of the village. Without the secret of Flare weighing on their minds, all the residents started treating Noel as one of their own, and even the Shirogane Knights, textbook examples of stoicness, slowly let themselves loose.

As for Noel and Flare, their lives were peaceful, but far from dull. The pair became good friends and started taking walks together frequently. This was much to the glee of the villagers, who rapidly took on the pastime of gossiping about what the two could be doing in the forest.

As time passed, Noel began to call this village her home. After all, she had people to protect, she had made friends outside of her knights, and she even had someone who she liked a little bit more than she had ever liked anyone until then.

And so, years went by...