Celeste has successfully grabbed the plush toy without waking the Prince, and all that’s left is to return it to him without getting too close.

She knows what she has to do, but the pressure is getting to her. If she messes it up then there’s a good chance he’ll wake up anyway, rendering all her effort pointless. If her guess is right, then this will make the slowly waking Prince calm down again, and the crisis will be averted, allowing her to go one more day without having to interact with any child-things.

She takes a deep breath to calm her nerves, and lines herself up. She isn’t used to soft, oddly shaped items like this, but she’ll make it work anyway. The large woman readies the hand that is holding the toy, and in one swift motion she tosses it forward, the toy now flying in the direction of the bed. All she can do now is pray that her aim was true, as she watches it travel towards its destination, hoping that this will be the end of it.

The plush knight rapidly approaches the bed, and to Celeste’s relief it lands in the perfect spot with barely a sound. She managed to land it close enough to the Prince that he’ll realise it’s there while tossing and turning, but not so close as to hit him and wake him up, as well as being on the side of the bed facing the wall, so it’s unlikely to fall out again. It only takes a few seconds for one of his arms to make contact with the toy, and he subconsciously reaches for it, bringing it back into his arms and almost immediately calming down before returning to his deep sleep.

The knight has managed to resolve the issue, and can breathe a sigh of relief. It seems the toy was the key all along, and while she doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to understand how these child-things work, she’s glad she was able to avoid the worst case scenario. She sits back down in the chair, only now realising that the events of the past few minutes had caused her to start sweating. Her heavy armour probably isn’t helping in that regard, but even if she knew what she was walking into when she was summoned here, she’s more comfortable wearing her armour when outside her quarters anyway.

Celeste starts to wonder exactly how much time has passed, between the incident with the toy, and her own shameful display from getting lost in her own thoughts, when she hears the door handle, and the bedroom door quietly opens to reveal the Queen has finally returned. Celeste stands back up and salutes, but does so slowly as to avoid making too much noise, the display bringing a smile to her Queen’s face.

“I trust everything went okay?” She whispers.

“Nothing to report, my Queen.”

“Wonderful.” She walks over to her son to check in on him, and her eyes light up when she sees him sleeping peacefully with his toy. She gives him a small kiss on the forehead, and then motions to Celeste to follow her out of the room so that they can talk without waking him.

“I don’t know if you did anything, but he looked so happy sleeping away in there. He usually starts rolling around after a while and drops his toy somewhere.” She says, more than pleased with how everything seems to have turned out.

“There were no issues to report, he slept soundly the entire time.” Celeste states, not wanting to talk about either of the issues she ran into while watching over him.

“I’m so glad to hear that. I know this can’t have been easy for you, but you did such an excellent job watching over my child. I’m very proud of you, my knight.”

Celeste does her best to ignore the pain returning somewhat after hearing those words.

“Thank you, my Queen. I trust everything regarding the festival tomorrow has been resolved?”

“Oh, yes, of course.” She replies, almost as if she wasn’t expecting that question. “You’ll be joining us, right?”

“Yes, I shall be acting as your bodyguard throughout the event, as per usual.”

“Celeste…” She says, looking up into her knight’s eyes. Someone who was better at reading emotions might have noticed a hint of sadness in her face, as if there’s something she wants to say, but knows that it’s not the time to say it, and as such has chosen to put it aside. “Thank you again for tonight, and I will see you tomorrow. Merry Christmas, my knight.”

“Merry Christmas, my Queen.” Celeste says, returning the seasonal farewell before leaving the royal chambers.

On the way back, she decides it would be best to get to bed early tonight after all the stress she just went through, but she enters her quarters to immediately discover that something is amiss. Her quarters are much larger and more private than the living spaces of the other knights, but she’s barely taking advantage of that luxury. She only keeps items that are of practical use, so outside of some basic furniture all she has are a couple of bookcases filled with books she uses for study, and some light exercise gear she can use when she’d rather train on her own instead of going to the training grounds. On the table in her main room rests a colourful box of unknown origin that is tied up with a ribbon, which stands in stark contrast to the rest of her quarters.

Celeste has no idea what is going on, but she notices a tag on the top of the box that has her name written with impeccable, and very familiar, handwriting, which is enough for Celeste to know that there’s nothing dangerous inside. She unties the ribbon and opens the box to find a small ceramic jar alongside a note, which she decides to read before investigating further.

To my knight -

I apologise for lying to you about why I needed to head out tonight, but I knew that you’d never accept a gift if I tried to give it to you in person. I hope you can understand.

I had a lot of trouble trying to find a good gift for someone like you. After all, you barely talk about yourself or what you’re interested in outside of your duties, so in the end I decided something practical would be best.

The last time I was healing your injuries, I noticed that one of the old scars on your arm seemed to have become inflamed and looked quite sore, and I also noticed recently that you appear to be in pain after moving that arm in certain ways. Inside this jar is a special soothing lotion I acquired from a local shop, so whenever your arm is in pain, I ask that you apply the lotion to the scar, and the pain should subside before too long.

Getting a gift from your Queen may be an unexpected occurrence, but you’ve been nothing short of marvellous in the time we’ve been working together, and I couldn’t bear to let another year go by without getting you something to show my gratitude. Your efforts have had a profound impact, not just on the kingdom, but also on myself, and I can only pray that I can continue to rely on your strength and diligence until the end of days.

Thank you for all that you do, my knight.

From your Queen,

Charlotte Ahleah

…

Celeste is almost in shock, the Queen really saw right through her. She thought she had hidden her pain well, as it became easier to ignore as she got used to it over time, but it turns out that the Queen knew about it all along. She also knew that Celeste wouldn’t normally accept outside help, even for something as minor as this, which is probably why part of the letter is phrased like a request. For as stubborn as her knight can be on these matters, she’d never say no to a request from her Queen.

That assumption was spot on. Not wanting to disappoint her Queen, Celeste starts removing her armour, and then takes the lid off the jar, applying a small amount of the lotion to the scar that has been acting up. It starts working immediately, the reduction in pain serving to remind her just how hard she had been trying to ignore it, and a cool wave of relief washes over her, causing her to shiver from the unfamiliar sensation. She hates to admit it, but the lotion is indeed a great help.

Celeste would struggle to get much sleep that Christmas night, as all the things she’s been through today have left her with many thoughts running around her head. She’s happy she was able to complete her task, as unusual as it was, but she’s ashamed of the fact that her own discomfort almost jeopardised the whole thing, as well as her inability to deal with the unidentifiable pain in her chest. She admonishes herself for showing enough weakness around her Queen for her to realise she needed help, so she’ll have to steel herself more in the future. After all, between the lotion and taking care of her wounds, how much more would the Queen be willing to put up with before getting fed up with her and casting her aside?

She has to do better than this. She needs to do better than this. There’s no other alternative. She needs to be perfect, and she can’t expect help from anyone else, nor should she require it. As the knight lies in her bed, she can’t help but ask herself the same questions ever and over.

Why is she so weak? What’s making her feel this way? Why can’t she just toughen up and ignore it like she used to? What changed after she became the captain that made her like this? How is the Queen able to find her weaknesses so easily? How many more will she find, and what will happen as a result? Why did she choose to give her a gift regardless? Is it a warning? What did she do to deserve such a thing as a Christmas present? Why did the gift make the pain in her chest even worse? What does she need to do to get strong enough? What does she need to do to stop the tears that have been flowing ever since she read the note?

Eventually, exhaustion kicks in, and she falls into a restless sleep.

She wakes in the morning, not feeling particularly rested, but the pain seems to have subsided, and the plans for the day commence as planned. As usual, the King takes no interest in the festivities in town, and stays in his own chambers the whole day. Queen Ahleah is experiencing the festival to the fullest, constantly being led around by the Prince, who is eager to see all of the stalls and attractions, finding something new and exciting in every direction. Celeste follows behind, maintaining a safe distance from the child-thing, and keeping an eye out for any danger as the bodyguard of the mother and son, although no trouble of any sort would rear its head on this day.

She never mentions the gift, but the Queen doesn’t mind, as she didn’t expect Celeste to want to talk about it anyway. She notices that the entire day goes by without her knight wincing in pain from moving her arm in a specific way, and that’s enough for her, at least for now. In truth, she couldn’t be happier with how last night played out, as while Celeste still isn’t comfortable being near children, she’s not watching the Prince quite as vigilantly as she normally would.

The Queen hopes that this means she’s starting to get used to him, even if it’s taken a few years just to get her to this point. The thought is enough to fill her with joy, and strengthen her resolve. She still knows so little about Celeste, and what made her like this in the first place, but she swears she will do everything in her power to save her knight no matter what happens, and she won’t let anything get in the way of that.

The prince eventually manages to tire himself out, so the Queen carries him back to the castle, and thanks Celeste for once again watching over the both of them. She can only wish that next Christmas will be as good as this one, but more than anything she hopes that by the time it comes around Celeste will be more than just a bodyguard.

SyntaxSpeedway

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