[color=goldenrod][i][h2][center]Gerard Segremors[/center][/h2][/i][/color]
[center][@VitaVitaAR][@PaulHaynek][/center]

[color=goldenrod]"You don't know anything of war, do you?"[/color]

An almost boyishly innocent question passed through the air between the five.

It was said without accusation, without vitriol, without even disdain. It simply [i]was[/i], posed as if to convey something so casual as having just figured out the time. Where the words might have seemed at home in a sneer that would cut her down like a cold blade, instead they were found in almost placid, contemplative murmur.

If Violette looked into Gerard's amber eyes, currently settled upon her, she would find no malice. Only a dawning recognition, an understanding that had always been under the current of his consciousness and had now [i]clicked[/i] into a place upon the forefront. He beheld her not as an enemy, but simply as the uninformed.

[color=goldenrod]"You're blessed for that. I hope you never need to."[/color]

Utter sincerity.

After all, it was in the end familiar[url=https://youtu.be/XSpMlpfmfo4?t=101].[/url] He had once been the same way, long ago, and though he dared not mention it so brazenly, he was willing to believe he would have been similarly disappointed. That she was a [i]noblewoman[/i] only made it all the more so— high society made for a very demanding employer, and precious few understood the ramifications of what they ordered. Anything less than the job done was a [i]waste[/i], in their eyes, regardless of the lives spent in doing so. Go out and earn your gold, or get out of my sight.

If you die, you die. Nobody will remember you. I sure won't.

You fools all even wear the same mask. How can you expect me to?

I didn't pay you to be cowards.

[color=goldenrod][i]...[/i][/color]

He doubted she was one of those callous ones, at least. Much more likely the naive. Someone raised upon tales of the greatest heroes and heroines, who looked at each and every man to don armor as someone who simply must have some shining moment to their name.

As he had been. Perhaps as he still was now. 

Nothing to do with class. This wasn't that. Everything to do with experience.

...It would be good if she never had to follow his path. Better she continue to learn from afar, safe from the pitch and fire.

[color=goldenrod]"Thank you both for your words of encouragement,"[/color] he continued simply, offering an earnest inclination of his head to the blondes. [color=goldenrod]"We'll carry them in our hearts to the next battle. It is a rare soldier who's still sane to risk their life without fear—"[/color]

Jarde was not wrong to have his misgivings about the prospect of fighting such a legendary creature. At the very least he knew that his limits, as they were now, would not allow him favorable odds. When faced with such a strengthened specter of death looming over you, it would be the mark of a fool to feel nothing. Fear was a primal emotion. Something that had existed in humanity for as long as humanity itself had. It was not so easily forgotten as many seemed to think, and had to be forcibly burnt out over a long, long time; [i]if[/i] one truly desired such a madness.

[i][sub][right][color=goldenrod]"It'll mean victory, won't it? Someone has to. Might as well be me."[/color][/right][/sub][/i]

That was all it could ever be called, madness. Lunacy. To cast off something so intrinsic to the mind completely... It was wrong. Knowing fear, understanding fear, recognizing fear— It all served to keep you alive. It was how your mind knew it you were in danger. Of course, if it paralyzed you, you were still as good as dead.

[i][sub][right][color=goldenrod]"This is insane... Six months and I [b]still[/b] can't believe I'm doing this..."[/color][/right][/sub][/i]

Yet when the time had come, Jarde quelled his fear and [i]fought[/i].

That was courage. Not forgetting, nor embodying, but acknowledging, wrestling, and overcoming. A process made easier with time and experience, which Jarde had yet to obtain. And already, he had proven himself willing to stand against a monster like Jeremiah when the need for courage called. She couldn't know how much that meant. Faced with an insurmountable hurricane on your first battle, even if he was "just a bandit", she who had never worried of bloodshed couldn't know what it took.

[i][sub][right]"On your feet, newbie! Snap the fuck out of it!"[/right][/sub][/i]
[i][sub][right][color=goldenrod]"I don't wanna die!"[/color][/right][/sub][/i]

But Gerard did. And he knew that it was a sign of things to come. As such:

[color=goldenrod]"—but I'm certain your faith in us will make conquering it, again and again, so much the easier. Enough that when we next meet, we'll both have many more stories for you. Something truly valorous. Enough to finally excite [i]you[/i] a little too, Lady Violette."[/color]

He meant every word.

Finally, well after the commotion had reached a fever pitch towards the head of the chamber, he too turned to witness the entrance of the Princess.