Is This Really A Punishment

[Knightly]

Closed to Aelin

“Knights, clerics, and mages oh my,” Gideon said under his breath as he took another step in the loose wet earth that was the path leading up to Camp Honor. Gideon struggled to gain traction in this preverbal quicksand of loose dirt. The earlier showers left the rolling hills around Gisela drenched and muddy, making this young knights trek to his superiors even more depressing. He knew he was walking into a stern scolding possibly fallowed by a painful demotion after his and Auron’s little vacation in Karibas.

He couldn’t count how many men he saw dotting the landscape. The recruiting must still be going on. he thought as he saw the crowd thickening up ahead. The sounds of both merrymaking and stern training alike filled the initiate’s ears and warmed his heart. These were his people after all, each man, woman and child was just like him. They were strong souls ready to do right by the people of these lands.

As Gideon reached the thickening crowd surrounding the militarized tent city of the knights he reached into the folds of his tunic. After a moment of fiddling around he found his summons from Knight Commander Jorrick himself, a paper that no Initiate ever wants to receive. He held a firm grip to his letter and began to push his way through the wall of soldiers going about their day. The foot and a half of thick mud made things difficult for everyone to get across a small path much less an ocean of armor.

“Might I peddle some of your wears?” the voice of a merchant hovered over the crowd as Gideon first made it to bizarre area of Camp Honor. This was where the merchants from all over try and make their weight in gold doing business with the knights. Blacksmiths, fletchers, ranchers, you name it and they were set up somewhere amongst the tents. “Or maybe you in the market for a new blade.” he heard again as the general goings on echoed around him.

With his combat boots thick with mood Gideon let out a sigh of both relief and regret as he saw the big white tents where his superiors worked. There weren’t many men walking the path to Knight Commander Jorrik’s tent so Gideon took these few seconds of elbow room to adjust his hood and shoulders to look as presentable as possible. There were two knights standing at either side of the doorway into Jorrik’s tent, both clad in armor and armed tooth and nail. These were Master Jorrik’s pristine guard, the finest men in all the Order.

“Hold Initiate,” the man on Gideon’s right said leaning his spear in front of the tents entry. “What business do you have here?” he said as his glare pieced through the slits of his helm. His partner stood resolute next to him matching his stance and body language.

“Whoa, don’t go slicing and dicing now.” Gideon said as he pulled from his tunic his summons. “I have been called, now if you don’t mind.” He said as he handed the guard his letter and lifted his spear from blocking his path. The guardsmen quickly flipped open the folded note and gave it a quick reading before allowing Gideon to proceed into Jorrik’s tent.

[Aelin Valth]

He shuffled through the texts with vague interest as men came and went from the tent. Aelin performed his daily duties as scribe and recordkeeper to the Knight-Commander as part of a recent promotion, intended to place him close to confident and seasoned knights. To his disdain, Aelin spent the majority of his waking hours with his nose buried in paperwork rather than a training yard. Mostly, the words came in the common tongue; occasionally, the young mage came across high elvish or dwarven, but language only made for a small obstacle. "Valth," Jorrick murmured with a twist of his gray and white mustache, "fetch me that missive, the one detailing the debacle on Keribas."

When he glanced up, Aelin saw the young knight carefully slip between two pikemen, head down in shame. "Aye, Knight-Commander," Aelin whispered in response. He moved several important looking documents across his desk before the seal of Commandant Felix came into view. "Found it," he spoke softly.

"Eh? Speak with some authority, lad. And bring that here." The Pyromancer winced as the rebuke hit him, but quickly stood and offered the paper to Jorrick. The withered knight broke the seal and read over the contents. His sunken eyes moved between the paper and Gideon critcally, and Aelin suspected that doubt flickered somewhere within the elder warrior. "You went to Keribas," Jorrick asked slowly, "and inadvertantly released an ancient evil?"

Aelin bit his tongue to stave off laughter. "It's hardly funny," the old man snapped, and Valth bolted upright. "But I seriously doubt the extent of this report." As he waved the missive in front of Gideon, his brow furrowed. "I will send a contingent of more seasoned veterans to review the situation and give me a more accurate report on the damage. In the meanwhile, explain to me what in blazes you were thinking with this most serious breach of protocol?"

Quickly, the fledgling knight sank back to his seat when the heated gaze left him, and he took his quill in hand. When Jorrick addressed a Knight, even an initiate, it became prudent to have documentation. That was the greatest purpose of keeping a scribe on hand, and nearly the only purpose the Knight-Commander allowed Aelin to remain nearby. Quickly he moved the ink across parchment, mirroring Jorrick's words on a more memorable medium.

His gaze moved slowly to Gideon when Jorrick stopped talking in order to allow the younger man to speak. The tent smelled of breakfast, eggs and half-burnt sausage, and the clutter gave it an air of importance in spite of the quaint exterior. It fascinated Aelin to observe the relative skill level of others in his position; to survive an encounter with "an ancient evil" required either extreme skill or luck, and af first glance, Gideon struck him as the lucky sort.

The reluctant scribe tapped the tip of his quill idly as the silence grew thicker. "Well?" goaded Jorrick, "what have you to say for yourself?" He stretched out his hand to retrieve the paper that the chastised youth fidgeted with in both hands. Aelin felt a familiar churning in his stomach and frowned as Gideon braced against the barrage of questions.

Though mistakes were common, Aelin had to admit they were usually not quite so... flagrant.

[Knightly]

“Knight-Commander you must listen to me,” Gideon spoke up giving the young scribe a devilish grin. He was going to be fun watching him struggle to keep up. “Our intent was pure, like any other of your knights we were only trying to help out the innocent like you trained us.” he sighed knowing that it really didn’t matter what he said, being just and Initiate left him with nearly zero credibility.

“Yes, okay, but why did you and Auron head across the sea in the first place?” the old Knight said as he fiddled with the report he held. He no longer seemed to be angry with Gideon, only a tad bit annoyed that his men acted so hastily.

“Well firstly there were the reports of these nasty drakes ravishing the livestock around the village. And when we heard that there was money to be made disposing of the beasts we couldn’t resist boarding the first ship heading there.” Gideon knew that leaving the continent required level three clearance from Knight-Commander Jorrik himself and he also knew that the last Initiates to pull something like this off were revoked from the order. There were small beads of sweat forming around the black haired initiate’s brow as he waited for his head master to address him.

“How about once you were there?” Jorrik asked as he stood and walked toward his scribe who was fast at work recording everything. He had such confidence in everything he did leaving all, Gideon included, happy to call this legend of a man Knight-Commander. Jorrik looked over Aelin’s words double checking what was being recorded, “Did you find these drakes?”

Gideon sat up in his chair and cleared his throat to properly answer the question, “Yes, once we met with the leaders of the small hillside village we made way to the last place where the drakes were sighted.”

“And did you find them?” Jorrik retorted with hesitation.

“Yes Sir, Auron and I engaged the enemy like we were trained and after a blunder or two we managed to force the beasts off the livestock and into a retreat.” The sweat that formed on his brow now moistened his face. Bringing his sleeve up to his face Gideon wiped off the moisture and pushed his hair up and out of his face. “This is when we made way to finish the job.”

Jorrik looked over Aelin’s words and then his own report of the account, noticing that Gideon was fallowing the story to the letter. He looked over this overconfident young knight and knew that he was telling the truth. He sighed out of disappointment, knowing that if he didn’t deliver some form of punishment he wouldn’t me doing his job to protect the next generation of knights. After a silent moment Jorrik tossed the report to Ailen and walked over to Gideon slowly. The young knight didn’t dare to make eye contact with his superior and waited for the harsh words he knew were coming.

“Gideon Masterson, you have disobeyed one of our tenants and traveled to a separate continent with little to no protection and without clearance.” he paused placing a hand of Gideon’s shoulder. He looked up to see a genuine expression of compassion on his superior’s face. “And still you come back unharmed and ready accept a new mission, I like your enthusiasm, but this cannot go unpunished.” He paused before continuing. “I received a letter recently from some nobles here in Corone, it seems like they need so manual labor done and you seem to be the right person to send.”

Gideon swallowed deeply; he knew where this was going. As punishment for having one of the grandest adventures of his lifetime he was to now spend his days working as a carpenter or something or other as repentance. What a disappointing turn of events, off to work in the hot sun it seems.

“Now this is you punishment, make sure that these people are happy and content with your work and when they dismiss you, you may return to accept a more suitable mission.” As the last words left his mouth he removed his caring hand and ushered Gideon up and towards the door. On his way out Jorrik whistled and tossed the unsealed letter across his cluttered tent at Gideon. He turned in time to catch the letter soaring through the air and caught it in a unflattering flail of his arms.

[Aelin Valth]

"Ah, a moment," Jorrick called after the crestfallen novice. "There is another matter."

While Masterson was preoccupied with the unopened warrant, the Knight-Commander took the precious seconds to deliver yet another crippling blow. "Initiate Valth will be accompanying you as my agent." Both of the young men looked up aghast at the statement, but before either could protest, Jorrick continued. "Aelin, you are to ensure that his punishment is carried out to the fullest degree, and that he does not stray from it or evade it in the slightest."

With a low groan, Aelin responded, "sir, I do not fully understand why you are sending me for this duty." He glanced toward Gideon, who did not make eye contact with him. "I am hardly the most capable out of the lot, and if it comes to enforcing the punishment, Initiate Masterson could very well overpower me."

"I have faith," Jorrick spoke slowly, "that you are the proper knight for this duty. Gideon will not stray from his duties while you are watching, because he knows that you will relay to me the truth and without sparing a detail." He heard the gulp in Gideon's throat as the Knight-Commander spoke, and Aelin felt terrible for the errant youth. "Also, consider this part of your training, Aelin," he added, "the people need assistance. Helping the meek is one of our most ancient and greatest tenets. If they require your strength, lend it to them. If they seek knowledge, endeavor to find and deliver it. That is your goal as a team in this effort."

Aelin and Gideon locked eyes for a moment. The intensity between them dissipated when Gideon let out the softest of chuckles. "You are aware," Aelin responded, "that I cannot even wear armor, or heft a sword to wield it properly?"

Jorrick rose from his seat and walked between the two knights, hunched over and draped with robes rather than armor. Emblazoned on his back was Gaia's symbol, the mark of Chosen knights who led sects of the order. "I am old," Jorrick answered softly, "and my body is hardly the vision of strength and valor it once was. But Aelin? My mind remains sharp, and my body answers the call when it is needed."

Aelin bowed deeply at the Knight-Commander's back. "Sir, I meant no offence-"

"And you caused none," Jorrick spoke in a reassuring voice, "but you fail to see the true strength within yourself. Strength is not what you can lift, nor the number of men you can fell." He turned his gaze on both of them before his voice croaked again. "Perhaps both of you will come to see that when you are among the people," he said. "Go now."

Aelin turned his gaze toward Gideon. "Alright," he began, "I have only seen this village on the maps. To the northeast of the camp, but less than a day on foot. Aurelia. Have you ever been?"

Together, they walked from the tent and the folds fell shut behind them. As they went from his sight, Jorrick smiled softly and shook his head. "Ah, the collective hard-headedness of youth," he mused. "Perhaps Aelin will take something from Gideon's shrewdness."