Winterfall

I didn’t mind taking charge of his guards for a brief period of time and besides there wasn’t much I needed to address to them. All I needed to inform them was that he was in bed resting for the day and any urgent business can be addressed to me and if needed I can alert him of any situation as I really wanted him to get at least a day's rest. After all, he deserves and needs it.

When it drew closer to seven I stopped by his bed chambers briefly before I went to his office and to my surprise he was sitting at his desk in his room.

“Théoden…” I grumbled as I stood in his door frame and crossed my arms. “Bedrest means bed.”

“I swear I slept.” Théoden groaned as he tapped a pencil against the desk. “I slept for an additional six hours after you sent me here.”

That I knew was true, however, I had hoped he would have received more. I sighed and walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him, giving him a warm hug. “Dear, you need to rest.”

“Ten hours. I have had ten hours of sleep.” He rested his head against my arm. I brushed my hand through his hair. It was a bit rattier than normal as he must of just woken up and not brushed his glorious hair yet.

“I still would like you to stay here. I know your body is used to the elven lifestyle of a four hour rest but I don’t even know if you are getting a full four hours anymore.”

“I need to protect the kingdom.”

“But you need to be healthy too.”

Théoden sighed and brushed my arms away from his body and stood up and walked over to his mirror and looked at himself. “I don’t see bags under my eyes.” He touched his face and then turned to look back at me. “Do you?”

I shook my head in response, “I’m not sure if this is your new found power or you have immunity to tiredness.”

Théoden shrugged, “I’m not sure either Maria, regardless, my guards are waiting for you.”

“Shoot.” I said as I quickly moved to his door and before I left I said, “It’s just one day. I promise.”

Théoden's facial features softened into a smile, “It better be, we saw what happened to me on a week of bedrest.”

I gave him a smile before darting out of his chambers and running towards his office. Any normal day I would typically walk it but I was already running late. The warm summer breeze felt good on my skin as soft rain bounced off.

I couldn’t help but notice some people giving me a weird glance as I was running. But that didn’t stop me nor did my dress when the breeze became too overwhelming and the dress wrapped itself tighter around my body. The material soon became wet and pulled in all directions as I ran but I didn't care.

In less than ten minutes I arrived at his office with around thirty guards already waiting for me outside his office.

“Maria!” I heard Quinn’s voice through the mumbling of the crowd and felt relieved when she approached me as I was about to turn the key to his office and let them file in.

“Quinn!” I gave her a hug as I swung the door to his office open.

“Is the Captain alright?” I could sense a wave of concern on her face.

“Yeah, he just needs rest.” I told her as I walked into his office flicking on the lights with a snap of my finger.

Quinn shook her head, “I told him he was pushing himself too hard.”

“He always does.” I said with a smile.

I walked to his desk and instead of sitting in his chair I climbed up on his large oak desk and sat on the edge, crossing my legs in a ladylike fashion so the guards didn’t get a morning show. Thankfully when I did this my dress had resumed its normal shape.

I waited a few minutes for them all to file in and quit. “Alright!” I tried to project my voice as loud as I could but it appeared unsuccessful. I cleared my throat and attempted one more time, “ALRIGHT!” I coughed a bit as I hadn’t shouted that loud before and thankfully, that got their attention.

“I am here to give a brief… Communication in regards to The Captain.”

“Is he alright?” A gentle female voice spoke up. I looked in the direction of the voice and didn’t see anything right away until I looked down. It was a female dwarf wearing a full metal chest plate.

I smiled softly down at her then the rest of the guards, “Yes he is alright. He just needs a day’s rest. With as much power he has been using recently, I felt it was necessary to give him a days rest.”

“Didn’t he just have a week's rest like two weeks ago?” A deep and gruff voice spoke up as a male half-orc voiced his concern. This half-orc was also wearing a full plate of armor, had a few swords on his belt and a bow on his back.

“Yes and that was for a similar reason. He used a ton of his essence in protecting the city that week, and needed the rest so his power could fully regenerate.”

“What did he use all that power for?” The same male figure asked me.

Tell them. Théoden groaned through the bond. I could sense he was a bit displeased with my own choice of wording but he knew at some point his guards needed to know the truth.

Are you sure?

Yes, they need to know.

“Given his permission…” Dang this was hard to reveal. I glanced over at Quinn and gave her an almost pleading look. I wanted her help with this.

As if she understood she pushed her way through the crowd and stood beside the desk. “I respect that you will treat him the same once you learn the truth.” Quinn snapped at her fellow guards causing a few of them to flinch at the harshness of her voice. “Otherwise you and I will have a few things to discuss and I am sure no one will draw a blind eye if I beat up another elite in the streets.” She crossed her arms and looked up at me and mouthed ‘you got this’.

I gave her a smile and looked back at the rest of the crowd, “Thanks for that Quinn.”

“Anytime, Maria.” She stood firm as she spoke, giving a look of death to the rest of the guards.

Quinn being up here made me feel better and gave me the confidence I needed to tell them. “You all know of the changes in the environment recently, correct?” They all nodded in agreement. “He was the cause of it. He utilized his abilities to craft a lair over our kingdom to grant an invisible safety net so to speak.”

“Lair?” The half-orc questioned. “What is he?”

“He is a dragon, one of the metallic variety.” My voice rang with pride as I announced this to the guards.

“A DRAGON?!?” The majority of the crowd burst as their eyes widened a bit in shock.

“Listen up!” Quinn snapped at them causing them to jump and turn their focus back to me.

“Yes, a dragon. A dragon who utilized a good chunk of his essences and created a lair to protect our fair kingdom.”

The half-orc raised his hand in fear of Quinn snapping at him if he spoke out of turn. “May I?” I nodded, “Why do ya seem so calm with all of this Princess Maria?”

“I have known since he has been here. He is my protector after all.”

“Ya still seem oddly calm.”

I shrugged, “No reason to be worked up about it.”

“Did ya parents know?”

“My father maybe. My mother, as far as I know, was clueless.”

“Huh.” The half-orc crossed his arms and murmured something that I couldn’t catch. “Ya, hiding anything else?”

I know I could tell them about the bond and that I am his rider but that was a conversation for another day. “Nope.”

“Well, is that it?” Another male guard asked.

“For now, yes. He will be on bed rest for a day. He may appear to be an elf but he still needs a full rest every once and awhile.”

“Fair.” A female voice piped up, “I ain’t mad that he hadn’t told us he was a dragon, I don’t even know if I am shocked to find out he is one. He has immense power and that power level can only be found in the ancient creatures.”

“Ain’t that the truth. The fact he is a dragon makes perfect sense.” Another male guard spoke up.

“You are elven right?” Another asked me.

I chuckled, “Yeah, I am pure elven.”

I sat on his desk and listened to the murmurs a bit before I tapped Quinn on her shoulder so she could get their attention one more time. She stomped her foot which caused the murmurs to die down quickly.

“I respect that this information will stay within the confines of this room. And I respect that you will still show him the same respect you always have.” They all nodded in agreement, “He wants you to perform your normal rounds, report anything to me if needed or you can report it to Quinn and Quinn will report to me or him. Try to only report to him if it is urgent.” They all nodded in agreement once more. “I will be around the castle today but I believe the majority of you have a stone or a way to contact. So utilize it to contact me for the day if needed.”

“Anything else?” The half-orc asked.

“Nope. He will be here tomorrow.” I said as I hopped off his desk and walked towards the door with Quinn following me through the crowd. I waited for them all to file out of his office, flicked the lights off and locked his office door once the last of the guards were out. “See ya all later!” I shouted as I began my trek back to the castle with Quinn following me.

“Quinn..” I mumbled as I wasn’t expecting her to follow me back to the castle.

“Sorry, captain’s orders.”

I rolled my eyes ,“Let me guess, he wants you to watch me today?”

“Yup.” Quinn piped up, “I ain’t that bad Maria.”

It wasn’t the fact that I didn’t want her near me today but I was hoping I could sneak some alone time with Théoden.

“Don’t worry Maria, he just wants me to walk you back to the castle.” Quinn finally admitted.

I gave out a gentle sigh as I was really wanting that time with him. Once she got me to the door she gave me a hug and left. Walking inside the castle I smelt him before I saw him. Damn it. I muttered beneath my breath as Marcel was standing in the grand hall with Crimson hanging on his shoulder.