As Jarde opened the door, what greeted him was [url=http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=282294]the sight of a girl in her twenties, with long, blonde hair and a slightly tanned complexion. She wore a rather elaborate outfit with a quite puffy hat upon her head[/url].

"Ah, hello, I was expecting the Captain, er," she gave a slightly awkward laugh, "No matter, I'm certain a loyal knight can pass along the information to her."

She cleared her through, then reached into a pouch hanging from her waist and withdrew a sheet of parchment. Unraveling it, she read it aloud.

"The Presence of Knight-Captain Fanilly Danbalion and her Iron Rose Knights is cordially requested tomorrow at Princess Eliabelle Tanenway Falthaen's Royal Ball," she began, "The Princess understands that you may not be able to bring every knight, and as such you may choose whomever you desire from your order to accompany you. Please come in your finest attire, though the Princess desires to see Knight-Captain Danbalion in official wear, and eagerly desires to see an assortment of weaponry used by knights."

[hr]

Her mind had drifted from topic to topic. While she still felt guilt from the death of Sir Rickard, she couldn't deny she wanted a bath. She wanted to get clean. To try and focus on what was ahead.

Fanilly was not necessarily an expert on other lands, but as far as she was aware there was a similar practice in distant Akitsushima. However, that was less out of necessity(they simply din't have enough room for every single bath they'd need to give everyone their own) as it was in Candaeln and more due to a cultural belief. Regardless of the reason, Fanilly became abundantly aware, as she stepped into the room, that she had never used a communal bath before. She had used private bathes before, and even bathed in front of a few of her maids(though that made her feel somewhat awkward as she got older as well), but that was... different.

Fanilly stood in the room designed to accommodate equipment and clothing for those who wished to bath, and stared, unmoving for several moments, towards the bath. The water was said to be blessed by Mayon, and as far as Fanilly knew it was blessed by her priestesses at least, a gift given during the Iron Roses' past as a religious order. This was signified by a few matters: It was a dark, crystalline blue, it was always clean no matter how dirty those who bathed in it were, and it kept its warm temperature even on the coldest day.

A few knights were already in the expansive bath. Fanilly was having trouble even taking a step towards it, or shedding her armor. Despite its elaborate design, one of the many bonuses of the armor that Fanilly wore as captain of the Iron Roses was that it was relatively easily removed by her own hand. As she stood there, the girl became more and more aware of how unclean she felt. Sweaty and hot from battle and travel.

Finally, she relented to her desires of cleanliness.

A few moments later, Fanilly's armor was set aside. Its remarkably light weight was now fully apparent, she'd lifted it only with light effort to place it down. All her clothing was gathered and placed to the side, even as the small blonde blushed furiously in embarrassment, her hair now hanging loosely down to her waist. Beneath, she was pale, and almost had a fragile look to her. Certainly it wasn't entirely what one would expect from a captain of such a famed knight order.

She looked small, and harmless. Not like someone who had, not too long ago, fought and killed men and led the knights to the righteous defeat of those who would kill the innocent.

In a rather meek, silent fashion, the girl slid into the lightly-steaming waters and sat silent, attempting to work through her embarrassment and not look totally meek.

She was captain. She had to. She couldn't let this get to her. She had enough to think about without this weighing on her mind as well.

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