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It was difficult for the two to find a moment alone. Visenya, being the princess (and one actively attempting to help the commonfolk at that) was almost always inundated with attention and requests whenever she visited Raime at the Cardinal Fort. It was, in all honesty, more than a little much for her. She was always happy to help with the soldiers and their woes (especially about the golems that her father had increasingly come to rely upon to bolster their numbers), with a certain redhead being her favorite to help.
As for her beloved knight? It was exceptionally difficult to find a moment to speak to him here. As the king’s marshal, he was even more needed to be aware. Even on top of his routine duties (overseeing drills, keeping the mercenaries in line, making sure equipment was properly maintained, etc.), the knights and soldiers would often pester him about personal issues. In the end, they only shared an hour or two in the mornings and nights before needing to either get ready for the day’s events or to rest for tomorrow.
There were precious few places in the Fort that didn’t see frequent foot traffic. Visenya had been on the look out for one such place each time she managed to convince her father to let her visit.
“Your highness,” Raime announced himself as she was busy relating to an older soldier — a father worried about his son who was inclined for sorceries — that sorcery is every bit an honorable pursuit as the sword, “if I may steal you for but a moment?”
Visenya rolled her eyes. She knew he was doing it to get a rise out of her at this point. It didn’t seem to matter how many times she told him her name was fine, he was content to say it regardless.
“Of course, Sir Raime.” Annoyingly, even if the knight was not clad in his sable armor, Raime was much harder to tease, at least for her. She turned to the soldier with a fond smile on her face. “Your son’s path is his to choose. If the art of sorcery calls to him, you should nurture that desire. I have to see what the marshal needs; we can continue this later if it pleases you.”
The soldier nodded, though she noted he sat taller and more properly now that Raime had stepped into the stairwell. She had been searching for Raime when she was hailed down; if nothing else, it was a fortuitous stroke of luck. The fort was a labyrinth to her sometimes, and with it being so large it was always possible for the two of them to keep missing each other again.
She gave one final nod to the soldier before standing from the stool she had been sitting in and began to make her way to Raime, who stood at the bottom of the stairs leading into the inside of the fort.
“Fraternizing with my men again?” Raime teased, his arms dropping to his sides.
“Listening to them as ever, and hoping to bring some peace their worried souls.” Visenya corrected, as she comfortably fell into step at her beloved knight’s side. “I’ll have you know it is a good trait for a princess to have, Sir Raime.”
“Of course, your highness.”
“Raime…” She huffed as they entered the inside of the fort’s sea-facing wall. As per usual, there were a few dozen soldiers manning their posts, some more casually than others. Most did straighten out when the pair entered. Rather concerningly there were a few tinkering with the large turtle-like golem in the middle of the long room.
Visenya took a moment to see if Pyralis was standing at her post. She’d yet to memorize the schedules for the soldiers (at least the ones she enjoyed speaking to the most), but it seemed that for the moment at least the levy was absent.
“You’ll have to forgive this knight for wanting to show proper respect to his princess.” His voice had that light, affable air that told her he was teasing her. She felt a light flush rise in her cheeks, even as she lightly punched his lower arm.
“You would do that by respecting her wishes, one would think.” She felt her flush deepen when Raime gave his signature chuckle to her words.
“Fair enough.”
The passed into one of the fort’s many storage areas. Directly below was the main entrance to the fort. There were no expected deliveries today, so the elevators remained quiet and still. The stores were full for the time being, though Visenya prayed they would never need to be used for a siege.
“You said you had something to discuss with me, Raime?” Visenya asked, as she tried to pull her thoughts away from the idea of open warfare. Her father had become obsessed with whatever he went across the seas to acquire, and the giants had come a small handful of times, though they were repelled each time at great cost.
“Not so much discuss as to show you, Lady Visenya.” Raime gestured with the tip of his head to a small ladder. She was stopped from hitting him again for still being so cheekily formal by the realization she didn’t quite know where it went.
“That leads to a small chapel to some god or another.” The knight began to explain, “Don’t know why your father had it built; he doesn’t care for the gods, and most of Drangleic is the same.”
“Sir Raime!” Visenya pretended to be shocked, “Are you suggesting what I believe?”
“Depends on what you’re thinking, my lady.” She couldn’t see his eyes, but she knew he had that playful glint in his eye. “All I see is a place we can have some shared solitude.”
Visenya giggled at his choice of words. It was rather ingenious. Drangleic had little care for the gods — whatever ended up happening to them, even Visenya couldn’t be said to care overmuch — as their king preferred strength of arms and a kind of worship of the Flame. Why her father had constructed a chapel at all seemed strange to her. Perhaps it was simply lip service for the clergy he did keep within the kingdom.
The thought that she once caught a soldier in the fort murmur a prayer to someone she wasn’t familiar crossed her mind, but she found the thought ran for the hills as she stared up at the harsh metal ladder leading upward into Raime’s proposed ‘haven’.
Visenya found herself wishing once again that she had been able to perfect her levitation spell more quickly. While she was not as physically frail as some of the castle staff liked to believe (some still fussed over her whenever she returned from afar), she did not much fancy the idea of climbing up the ladder. Just as she was about to idly complain as such to her knight, she was suddenly swept off her feet and into Raime’s left arm — his sword arm, she knew.
He was always good at subtle but profound romantic gestures like that.
“Wh— Raime!” she blustered. This close, she was able to see her partner’s smirk beneath his helmet. The scar across his face seemed all the more dashing beneath the torchlight of the storeroom, this close and lightly obscured by his helmet as it was.
Her face was fully flushed, she knew. That he had been so forward…! She found her heart beating rapidly as he began to, with only one arm, carry her up into the chapel.
“A knight should not let his lady toil so.” His voice was light and resonant when he pulled them through the hatch. He kicked it close with the back of his leg. “I’d say it’s a knight’s duty.”
She was tempted to stick her tongue out at him for being childish, but she found herself drawn instead to the statue at the back of the small room, beneath the slowly growing tree. She scowled as she took in its detailing; was that Lady Death?
According to her father, he had discovered a crypt far underground where Light was not allowed. There he found a people — the children of the Great Dead One — that found great solace in Dark. Their crypt was filled with statuary similar to this. Was it intentional on her father’s part; a sort of veiled insult? It could have also been any other number of gods; she knew the goddess Caffrey was sometimes depicted similarly…
“As you can see,” Raime gestured and shook her from her academic questions, “not a Soul finds this place worth visiting at most hours.”
“You’ve staked out the chapel in your own fort, Raime? Have you not other duties to attend to?”
Raime gave a good natured smile. “A knight’s first duty is to his lady, I should think.”
“You’re impossible.” She couldn’t keep her smile from her reprimand. She turned to him to see him begin removing the straps from his helmet. Visenya gave a light sigh before she batted his hand away and started easily removing them herself.
“Senya, that isn’t—“
“If it is a knight’s duty to tend to his lady, then surely a lady’s duty is to her knight. Now quit fussing.”
She removed the helmet and held it in her lap, allowing her to get a full and proper look at her knight’s face. Not that she hadn’t seen her beloved’s face a thousand thousand times, but each time she felt her heart skip a beat anew.
His raven hair was as wavy and unkempt as always. It didn’t seem to matter how many times she ran a comb through it, by midday it would become the mess it was now. His stubble, too, was a constant problem. She’d heard it called a five o’clock shadow by others, but Raime’s stubble would grow back in by midday.
Most striking, of course, were the soft and gentle eyes Visenya saw herself reflected in. His confidence, his love, his desire to make her happy; all radiated from them as easily as he breathed. It was no surprise, of course.
Each of them were in her own eyes, if a little colored by the deep flush that came to play its way across her face as she continued to stare at her lover. In time, she hoped her father would let her take him as her husband. She had confidence the Kingdom would endure, he’d see through Nashandra’s lies, and life could return to how it was.
“Do you believe me then?” Raime asked, his voice soft and low. Visenya took another look around the room and saw little evidence that anyone had ever came here for worship.
“Hmm… I suppose, my knight.” The white haired princess teased, “You aren’t Father’s right hand for nothing. Surely your scouting was thorough and true.”
“But of course, my princess.” Raime caught on immediately, “I would never bring you where danger was.”
“I can take care of myself, Raime.” She countered, sighing wearily, “Yet, if my knight wishes to be so valiant…”
“Oh, but I do.” Raime leaned a little closer. “I should think I failed if my lady had to cast a spell for her own defense.”
“Raime…” Visenya leaned in a it closer as well. She felt their breath mix and mingle. There was a strong mint scent on her knight’s breath; he had at least been smart enough to chew some before taking her up here, even if the scent was a touch stronger than she would have liked.
“And if I should cast one in your defense…?” Her own voice grew soft, barely above a whisper as he propped her against one of the pillars. Clearly he had some passionate plans for this rendezvous…
“I would welcome my dove’s worry for my safety,” Raime’s chuckle, so close to her lips, caused her to shudder a touch with anticipation, “for a raven cannot watch all sides…”
Visenya’s lips were mere moments away from Raime’s now. Their breath was warm in that space, and Visenya closed her eyes. She imagined them together officially: the raven of Drangleic and the dove queen. White and black feathers to replace the scales of dragons.
She felt the slightest bit of tension press against her lips. His own lips, gentle and tender and chaste as they always were at the beginning of one of their kissing sessions… For however long, it would be just the two of them in a way they hadn’t enjoyed since their early days kindling a relationship, when she could sneak away from her studies and he could excuse himself from his drills.
That little room under the stairs, hidden behind an illusory wall, had become something of a private sanctum to them both…
The main door, that led towards the service entrance to the fort, opened with a loud screech of metal on metal. Visenya’s eyes snapped open to see Raime’s own horrified expression. They had started in full display of the entire room, and it was impossible to hide that they were about to start kissing.
‘Please don’t be Commander Drummond or one of the mercenaries…’ Visenya pleaded to the Flame as her eyes slowly drifted towards the now fully open door.
“OH! Uh… s-sorry!” Pyralis’ voice registered before her beet red face, her gloved hands flying to cover her eyes. “I didn’t— I mean I thought no one— I really should have knocked but it’s a metal door and—“
“Pyralis…” Raime started, his own face an adorable shade of pink at the situation.
“I was hoping to have a small ceremony to Que— I guess it isn’t really important, and I should be resting for the drills tomorrow and—“
“Pyralis…” Visenya tired to cut in. The redhead’s helmet was swishing around dangerously as she threw down her face to hid her embarrassment. Visenya locked eyes with Raime. It seemed unlikely being gentle about this would end the stalemate. Especially since the levy was the kind to not shut up when she was nervous.
Visenya supposed she could sympathize. She was the crown princess, Raime was the right hand of the king and one of the best knights in the kingdom. If she displeased either of them it could end poorly. That she was one of the few in Drangleic to openly worship a god was… interesting to the princess. She’d have to ask about it at a later date.
“I should really ju-just go before I make it more awkward! The princess and her knight doing some— I mean you were probably just talking about something private and I’ve completely ruined the mood so I’m sorry again and I hope you didn’t forget what you were about to say because I marched in like I own the place—“
The two nodded as one and at the same time said in a firm voice: “Pyralis!”
Which finally managed to get the levy to shoot ramrod stiff, at something more than attention.
“It’s fine, Miss Lykos.” Raime shook his head, his raven hair brushing over his shoulders. “You were going to use this place for its intended purpose.”
“It really is fine, Pyralis.” Visenya reiterated. “We were looking for some privacy, but that doesn’t mean you suddenly have to be afraid to enter public rooms in the fort.”
The woman shifted on her feet a little, jostling some items in the bag slung across her body.
“We can always move upstairs,” Raime offered, “so you can do your… ceremony, was it?”
Pyralis nodded stiffly. “I… I know gods aren’t seen kindly around here, sir, but I’ve… my family’s always worshiped him in small ways, so I thought maybe it’d be nice to do something in a chapel, sir!”
Visenya shook her head. “I think your scouting was incorrect, Raime.” She poked his right cheek, displacing some of the flesh.
“At ease, soldier.” Raime waved his free hand. “You aren’t in trouble.”
She seemed unconvinced. Her brows were uncharacteristically bent in worry, and she was trying her best to remain at ease but not as she would otherwise had been.
“I think Sir Raime and I will need to speak somewhere else in private…” Visenya giggled at the exasperated sigh from her knight and the way her groused ‘Senya’ beneath his breath. “If you would be so kind as to let us through…?”
“Hm? Yeah, of course! I’ll— I mean of course I will, your highness because this fort belongs to the royal family and—“
“It’s fine, Pyralis.” Visenya said once again, a softer smile on her face than she had dealing with the older man just a few short moments ago. “Neither of us are mad. I hope your god hears your prayers.”
Pyralis stiffly stepped in and out of the way of the door. “Thank you, ma’am— I mean your highness!”
“Why does everyone insist on not calling me by my name…?”
“It might have something to do with your status, your highness.” Raime commented a bit louder. As they passed, Raime gave a wink to the levy, which seemed to relax her greatly.
It did leave him vulnerable to being surprised by a peck on the cheek when he turned back around to check where he was going.
“Consider that your punishment, Sir Raime. For failing to properly scout.”
Pyralis released a brief chuckle before she quickly snapped her mouth shut when Raime began to stammer out a response.
It wasn’t quite what she had hoped when he took her away, but… well, it wasn’t every day she got to see the fully flushed face of her loyal raven. She’d have to think of a way to properly thank the levy later…