Shafir watched as Eliqinor reprimanded every knight as they lay on the ground exhausted. The dark elf felt extremely lucky he had never been on that side of Eliqinor’s discipline. 

“Go have a break. Drink up and come back. We’ll do some sparring and then finish off with stretching,” Eliqinor boomed. The young knights groaned out a Yes Sir before carrying their broken and battered bodies about the training area. 

Shafir also deserved a drink after watching the insane punishment and keeping the snow elf entertained. As the dark elf peeled himself from the bench, the snow elf jumped down from where he was. 

“Something a matter, Sir Shafir?” Nyme asked as he followed Shafir to the watering station. When Nyme realized what was happening, he perked up. “Are you hungry?” 

“A bit but-” 

“I’ll be right back with something to eat! I promise I won’t be too long.” Shafir watched as the little elf ran off. Right as he was going to turn his attention away, Nyme tripped and fell. The dark elf almost wanted to see if he was alright, but the snow elf promptly got back on his feet and continued running as if nothing had occurred. 

“The Captain is such a ball-buster.” Shafir easily picked the voice up as he poured himself a drink. He stood by the well, eavesdropping for a while longer. The elf who had spoken up was still just a young thing, more than likely just out of the academy. Shafir wasn't sure how he got to be anything more than a gateboy. “I’d take the Vice-Captain beating me within an inch of my life than have to deal with the Captain.” 

His friend chuckled and Shafir took a sip from his water, eyes easily trained on them. They were talking about their captain behind his back? That was something that would usually make Shafir lunge for them. After tearing a stitch, he realized that Valneiros was not someone to be messed with. It made Shafir think twice before doing anything stupid. 

“Have you ever met the Vice-Captain? I heard he disciplined Folred so thoroughly he was eating slop like a pig for weeks.” The friend’s voice sounded concerned for the well-being of the first. Shafir couldn’t remember doing that… Though it wouldn’t be impossible that he didn’t either. 

“Bah, I’ve never seen him. Though I did hear he was quite the looker. I bet that’s why the Captain sends him on away missions.” They both laughed before the knight spoke again. "I would use my authority to get whatever I want if I had such a beautiful person assigned to work with me," The knight said, which made both of them laugh.

Shafir felt his skin crawl at the idea of Eliqinor bossing him around to do indecent things in the office. He wasn’t sure if it was because it would be Eliqinor or something else. It was time to shut this down. They could continue talking about this elsewhere. It was indecent to speak like this in public. 

“I bet he has already taken-” 

“That’s enough,” Shafir said before slamming his cup down at the little stand that held the mugs. “Chatting like this when you were only supposed to take a slight break.” Shafir was more than tired of the conversation at hand. 

“Who are you to tell me to be quiet?” The elf had signed his death warrant. The first rule any of the younger elves knew when it came to Shafir was not to address him so poorly. Shafir earned his position as vice-captain, so his subordinates shouldn’t rudely address him. “What division are you from? You think a hedge-born like you can speak to us like that?”

The fool seemed to get aggressive and walked toward the dark elf. Shafir sighed and patted his stomach. Hopefully, the stitches would hold up long enough for him to teach this twerp a thing or two. He prayed that Valneiros had stitched him extra well for a moment like this.

“How about you try me and see who I am?” Shafir stood tall, though he was a few inches shorter than the younger elf. He was still intimidating. The friend yanked at the idiot. Either he realized who it was or was all talk. Whatever his name was, shrugged his friend away and smiled. Ah, so he thinks he’s a- Before Shafir could finish his thought, the idiot came at him. He knew it would only be a short while before the other knights would notice the spat. If Eliqinor got involved, he could kiss his chance for some stress relief goodbye. 

Shafir had got his ass handed to him enough as a squire to fend off an easy opponent like this. The knight left himself too open and Shafir grabbed him by his long braid. It was easy enough to yank him to his knees. It had been a while since he fought this dirty, but what was he supposed to do? He still had a huge gash in his stomach, so it left his options a bit limited. 

“You bitch-‘’ The Idiot ran his mouth as he struggled to stand straight, but Shafir just kept knocking him down on his knees. His hand wrapped tighter in the braid and he brought his knee to the idiot’s face. While it might be overkill, he did say he would rather get his ass whooped by Shafir than deal with Eliqinor, so he was fulfilling his request. 

There was a holler and Shafir heard the familiar cry, “Go get the Captain!” He sighed in frustration. Shafir sighed in frustration because there truly wasn't enough time to teach this punch a lesson before Eliqinor would stop him. Sometimes Shafir wished he didn’t need to do this but sometimes only idiots learned with pain. The jerk’s friend screamed as Shafir slowed down on his pummeling and then he saw the usual short blonde hair pop through the mass. 

“What are you doing?” Eliqinor pushed his way through the knights in front of the crowd. This was something like déjà vu for each other. How many times had Eliqinor broken up a fight involving Shafir? Too many. Shafir wished he would leave him be and let him do as he pleased. 

“He wanted a beating from me, so I’m fulfilling his wish,” Shafir said as he yanked the Knight’s hair until he was hissing. He wouldn’t say he took pleasure in beating this elf up, but he wouldn’t say it wasn’t good stress relief. 

“And?” Eliqinor knew that wouldn’t be the only reason Shafir would fly off the handle. There were times when Shafir would get provoked by someone's staring. However, Elqinor would usually dismiss it since they started it.

“I would use my authority to get whatever I want if I had such a beautiful person assigned to work with me,” Shafir recited word for word. Was he being petty? Yes, of course, why wouldn’t he be? Eliqinor didn’t seem convinced by what Shafir was saying. “He was insinuating that you must be having your way with me in the office.”

“...” Eliqinor motioned for Shafir to continue. To say such a thing was a great dishonor to the intended, but to insinuate a senior knight would do such a thing was a slap in the face to all. Shafir nodded and began wailing on the young knight again. With his bloody nose and tears in his eyes, Shafir thought he was teaching him well. 

The younger knights stared in shock as the Captain let Shafir have his way. It wasn’t like him to act too apathetically to Shafir’s crude discipline. The crowd didn’t know if he allowed it because it was true or purely out of the fact that it wasn’t. 

“CAPTAIN!” The idiot screamed when Shafir landed a devastating blow against his jaw. It went slack, but Shafir knew he hadn’t dislocated it. If anything, he must have hit a nerve in the process. 

“Alright, I think he’s learned his lesson, Shafir,” Eliqinor said as he pried Shafir’s hand from the elf’s hair. Frankly, the dark elf thought he could learn more, but he got everything out and let him go. The elf didn’t move for a while and his friend ran to his side, picking him up. 

“So worth it…” Shafir heard him say as he was being dragged off. If he hadn’t already beaten the shit out of him, then he would have in that moment. It seemed he had a fan, not that he cared. Who knew that someone would take pleasure in getting their ass kicked? Though he knew he didn’t mind beating them up. Shafir shook his head. There was no way he was into that.

Nyme soon returned after the disaster was over with some bread. His little forehead had a bandage slapped onto it. 

“Sorry, I was late! I got caught by the infirmary medic.” Shafir remembered the infirmary and wondered if the old man would remember him. 

“Who is this?” Eliqinor asked as Nyme looked between them with a knowing gaze. For a moment, Shafir panicked, worried that the squire might say something inappropriate in front of Eliqinor.

“A squire. I’m going to have him train under me,” Shafir blurted out to Eliqinor, unsure of what else to say. Eliqinor looked between Nyme and Shafir, smiling. 

“I’m happy you are excited to mentor someone,” Eliqinor said as if praising Shafir. A small shiver ran down his back. How could this man be so odd? Shafir decided to find something to occupy the squire so he wouldn't talk excessively.