Irene took to the trail early, not expecting to see anyone. However, as she left, she saw Gunnar and Felix waiting for her when she left her guest room and made it to the bottom of the stairs.
"Isn't it too early for you to be awake?" she asked the two in disbelief.
"I need to wake before the apprentices," Gunnar explained.
"And I'm not going to let you go into the great unknown without seeing you off," Felix insisted.
Irene couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips.
It wasn't that they were worried for her because they doubted her, they wanted to see her off because she was one of them. Ever since she was an apprentice, she was in the fringes of the group, but now that she was knighted, she had broken all the way in.
Their shared experiences were the best glue to bond. Brothers and sisters in battle knew the other at their lowest defeat and highest victory.
