It was always interesting to hear how people of higher social standing referred to Nila and Greeves. It was often a subject of contradiction. In the power they wielded, both Nila and Greeves were undoubtedly higher than most Serving Class retainers around them, so it was impossible not to show them at least so level of respect.
She took her leave with those words, seemingly happy to have said sothing. Oliver smiled at that. They were always such a strange bunch, the Academy graduates. They were so wrapped up in etiquette to say what they truly ant. Kirsty had simply co to say goodbye, yet she was unable to bring herself to say it straightforwardly.
There was, however, another woman who could.
Before the door could close again, a small hand pushed it open, and a shock of red hair stepped through.
"Not allowing anyone to help you with your armour still?" Nila said. "You know, sotis your retainers simply want so way in which they can help you. It sets their minds at ease to have sothing to do."
"Giving advice on retainers now, are we?" Oliver said.
Nila shrugged. "They're not much different than employees. I figure we're dealing with similar sorts of problems at tis, no?"
"Perhaps," Oliver said. "Well? Have you co to help with my armour as well?"
Nila scowled at him. "Obviously not. If I had to help you with your armour, I'd put it on inside out."
"Quite a feat," Oliver said.
The girl looked away. "Are you really fine with not coming?"
"We've been through this, Nila," Oliver said. "I think we've both agreed that you staying behind is in everyone's interests."
"But… Because of you, I passed through the Second Boundary, or whatever it is you call it. I don't need to be a master swordsman to know the power that it brings," Nila said. "I'm far stronger with the bow than I ever was before… I almost feel like I'm wasting the gift."
"No, Nila," Oliver said firmly. "Your talent is your own. It is not mine. You already repaid back in full, in the battle against Talon. You didn't need to be there, but you were there and you kept alive. This isn't like the situation with Talon.
The odds are against us, of course, but I am surrounded by people far stronger than I. There are twenty thousand of us. You don't need to try and carry the fates of twenty thousand people yourself."
"I'm not trying to," Nila insisted. "I'm only interested in one of those twenty thousand."
She looked at him with unsure eyes, as she bit her lip. "I'm almost certain that I will regret this. You're going to be so far away, and for so long. It isn't fair. Why do you have to get sent away?"
"I don't hate it, Nila," Oliver said. "The High King might have interfered, but in the end, it seems that the battlefield is my place. It's the only place where I feel I can make a difference. I'm not just a man on the battlefield. I have the power to influence my own fate."
"I do," she said. "Even if you like it, I don't. I don't think I ever will. Even your missions from the High King, just a weekend, or a week at most – and still it was terrifying. As strong as you are, how can I still not worry? A well-placed arrow from your blind spot, and even you would…" She trailed off, unwilling to finish her sentence.
"I promised I would return within a year," Oliver said. "I will make good on that promise."
"…Really?" Nila said. "I regret forcing you into that. It was childish of , but…"
"I will," Oliver said. "I believe in the n that I'll be fighting aside, and I will spare no effort in making my own contributions. This will be done in short order."
"I hope so," Nila said, reaching out with a hand for Oliver's shoulder, as if to rember what it was like. "Just co back, Oliver. I'll have many surprises waiting for you when you do. The village will continue to grow, and I'll watch over it as I've promised to. You're going to be blown away when you co back."
"I look forward to it," Oliver said.
Silence descended, as they ran out of the words to say to each other. Each of them wanted to say sothing, but no topic of conversation could really run towards what they wanted to say. It wasn't enough.
Even as Nila said. "I will really, really miss you," the words hardly contained the full magnitude of the emotion. She wanted to see it ten tis more, with even more volu. She wanted to scream it at the top of her lungs.
"I will miss you as well, Nila," Oliver said, smiling gently. "You're a good woman to have around."
Nila nodded, truly running out of words this ti, but still, she seed unwilling to let go of Oliver's shoulder. It didn't feel like a good enough goodbye. She wouldn't be satisfied like this. Even if it was terribly awkward, and terribly sudden, she found herself forcing it anyway.
She snatched her arm around Oliver's neck, and ran the other around his back, burrowing her face in his chest, as she hit him with a forceful hug.
It left Oliver stunned for but a mont, before he ran his arms around her as well, and returned the embrace. In the place of words, it seed to convey far more. Nila drank in the sll of Oliver's chainmail, and his freshly washed surcoat atop of it, as well as his own odour beneath it, so very much like the pine trees of the forest.
She did her best to rember it all, closing her eyes as she forced her brain to record it.
"I will very much miss you," Oliver said again, more quietly this ti, as he patted Nila's head, feeling through her wild red hair.
A knock ca at the door, interrupting the mont before either was truly ready for it to end. Hurriedly, they distanced themselves from each other. Nila looked shyly away in the corner, before hurriedly replacing that maidenly look with sothing far more intense – she looked genuinely angry.
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